Veronica Mars
These episodes were the last two before the show took it's mid season break. Most times those episodes are pretty exciting. Will these be? Let's find out.
"Drinking the Kool-Aid"
Wallace Fennel: "You better recognize."
Veronica Mars: "Thank you for being my own personal Springer audience. Should I check myself before I wreck myself?"
After meeting with Abel Koontz, Veronica is determined to find out if Keith or Jake Kane is her father? She also learns that Jake Kane's head of security, Clarence Wiedman, was the one whoo took and sent the threatening photos to Lianne. Meanwhile, Keith is tasked by a rich couple to look into a cult that their son has seemingly joined. Veronica helps out and goes to the cult against Keith's wishes and the more she's there, the more she realizes that maybe this "cult" isn't as bad as it seems.
 |
| Funeral time. |
We get another famous face on this episode of "Veronica Mars." Supposed cult member, Casey Gant, is played by Jonathan Bennett. You probably know him as heartthrob Aaron Samuels from the movie "Mean Girls." Bennett's fine as Casey Gant. He's really inoffensive. He's got this like every guy quality, so it's easy to see why Veronica sort of, not falls for him, but finds herself on his side right away. I think the issue with Bennett being so congenial, is that it's hard to buy him as a shitty, '09'er douchebag. They show flashbacks of him where he's mocking Weevil's poetry and calling him out for plagiarizing it but like, I just don't buy it. It's just not something that he can play.
The cult plot line doesn't really feel very fresh. It feels very we've seen this before. Veronica goes in expecting to find the normal cult trappings, but instead finds a seemingly supportive group of people even if they are kind of hippie dippy. There is no polygamy or weed growing or anything that Veronica expects to find. Instead, Veronica finds herself drawn to it and trying to save the cult and its members from her dad. I think the episode feels like this is a huge twist, but its really not. You see it coming and that's kind of disappointing because I feel like even though its only been nine episodes, the show is smarter than that.
There's this idea that Veronica is going soft that is brought up by Wallace. It's something that I think the episode could have really explored, but instead it's kind of mentioned as a joke and then kind of dropped. It could have introduced a new angle that could have made up for the generic plot. The whole thing just isn't as tightly plotted as I'd like it to be. The episode ends on kind of a unclear not with Casey being kidnapped by his parents by a deprogrammer so they can keep control of the fortune he inherited from his grandfather. At school, he's back to driving his sports car so it's implied that he's back to his old ways.
In the season long story line of Lilly Kane's murder, Veronica is reeling from the revelation that she might be Jake Kane's daughter. She figures out that it was Clarence Wiedman, head of security at Kane Technologies, that took the photos of her and sent them to Lianne. She tricks Keith in to giving blood so she can perform a DNA test, but shreds the results before looking at them.
This feels a little tacked on. Its like its just here to remind folks that this is still a storyline that is important. I don't think we need to have something about the overarching case every episode. It feels very much like a first season issue that will get resolved as the series progresses.
Grade: B-
"An Echolls Family Christmas"
Veronica Mars: "Hey."
Eli "Weevil" Navarro: "See, there you go with that head-tilt thing. You know, you think you're all badass, but whenever you need something it's all, "Hey."
Veronica Mars: "Just be glad I don't flip my hair. I'd own you."
Weevil buys his way in to a poker game with Logan, Duncan and two of their rich friends. Weevil wins but when Logan goes to give him his winnings, it's missing. Weevil is not happy and begins stealing the other players things as recompense. When Duncan tells Veronica the laptop Weevil stole contains an online journal that she is heavily featured in, she gets involved to try to find the culprit. Meanwhile, Keith is hired by Lynn Echolls to find out who is stalking Aaron.
 |
| The best strip poker game. |
It's really the end of this episode that is what makes it stand out. Everything that has been building throughout the episode comes to a head at the Echolls Christmas party. Veronica and Weevil come in to the house to get food and while there, Veronica confronts Jake Kane about Clarence Wiedman and her mother's leaving. Veronica is pretty calm, cool and collected so it's something to see her freaking out on Jake Kane. No matter what she said at the end of the last episode, this is clearly taking it's toll on Veronica and its nice to see that.
The episode ends with Aaron Echolls being confronted by the woman that he had an affair with. She's one of the waiters at his wife's party and she stabs him at the end of the episode. It's definitely a shocking ending. You expect Keith to make an appearance and save the day. It's quite the cliffhanger to leave the audience on going in to the winter break. You don't know for sure if Aaron is alive or dead and that is how you keep them coming back for more.
The "who stole the poker winnings" plot unfolds in a "Rashomon" style way with Veronica talking to everyone and getting different stories from all of them. I love seeing Veronica interacting with these rich white boys. She is not intimidated by them at all. She sees through them and she is willing to do whatever it takes to get her man. I feel like in this episode we really start to see the beginning of the shift in the dynamic between Logan and Veronica. They are still antagonistic towards each other, but Logan's comments seem less vicious and nasty then in the previous episodes.
It is nice to see some of Logan's actual friends calling out his awful behavior, whether it's Connor calling him out for his racist comments towards Weevil or Duncan pointing out that he's just generally become a huge asshole. I kind of wish this rift between Duncan and Logan would have lasted longer than this episode. Duncan being vocal about Logan's behavior made me like him a little bit more. Though, I guess it's difficult to stay mad at someone who wears the same underwear as you completely unplanned.
Veronica reveals that it's Sean Friedrich who stole the money. The boy that everyone assumes is one of the richest kids in Neptune is actually the son of the help. This is where the episode loses me a little bit. You're telling me that a town that is as hung up on money and status as Neptune, none of these kids realized that Sean wasn't actually wealthy? That seems a little fishy, as does Veronica's motive for helping. Was there really something on that laptop that was so juicy that she'd help? I mean, could it be worse than any of the rumors her classmates were already spreading?
Aaron Echolls continues to be trash. He's the stereotypical awful movie star. He's banging multiple women around Neptune with complete disregard for his family. I really have to give it up to Lisa Rinna here. I'm so used to seeing her on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" that I forget that she is actually an actress and a pretty good one. She's not playing super against type here, but she gives Lynn some nuance that I really appreciate.
Grade: A-
Next up, Veronica gets entangled with a classmate's paternity secret and discovers a secret society on campus.
What do you all think of these episodes? Do you need movement on the Lilly Kane case every episode no matter how big or small? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment