"We Used to Be Friends" Re-Watch: "Ruskie Business" & "Betty and Veronica"

 Veronica Mars

I feel like after the winter break of its first season, "Veronica Mars" really found its stride and just kept getting better. Let's get to it.

"Ruskie Business"

Wallace Fennel: "What is it with you girls and your girly-girl drama? What are you now? A love detective?"

Veronica Mars: "Wallace, if you do this for me, we'll be best friends forever. Come on! Don't you want us to be BFF?"

Love is in the air in Neptune. Veronica is trying to help a Russian internet bride track down the husband that she didn't think she'd end up falling in love with. At the same time, she's trying to determine who Meg's secret identity. And through all that, Veronica is also trying to help Logan determine if the person using his mom's credit is her.

Veronica and Logan... cooperating?

This is a great episode despite the "case of the week" that Veronica investigates. I can see why they decided to go with this. There is a definitely love theme happening in this episode. It aired not too long after Valentine's Day, but it is definitely the least interesting part of the episode. I understand the point of it. Veronica is trying to bring people together instead of tearing them apart. It's great and it fits the theme of the episode, but you just know from the beginning that things aren't what they seem and that things are going to go sideways. I definitely didn't see the woman being affiliated with the Russian mob, trying to track down someone who dropped a dime on them. Veronica and Keith trying to save someone who was almost outed in Witness Protection is not usually what we get here and it just seems a little too off the wall. It's not that it's awful or anything, it just seems tonally off a bit from what we are used to seeing.

It's been really nice seeing Veronica have a real female friend at Neptune. I love the relationship between Veronica and Wallace (something I'll touch on in the next recap), but there is something about Veronica having a real girlfriend that hits differently. It's so great watching them be there for each other and seeing Veronica let those walls down that she has put up. You know that it can't last. 

It is fun to watch Veronica and Meg pal around and try to solve the mystery of her secret admirer. It's a fun storyline and it's got some funny moments. Wallace takes the pitfalls of being Veronica's best friend in stride. I always have a good laugh when he's caught with the jock strap in his hand. It's always nice to see the jock strap get some airtime. We get a guest spot from "Home Improvement's" Zachary Ty Brian. He is really good at playing rich, asshole, white-bread teenagers. This is pretty much the same role that he played in "The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." He's a stereotypical Neptune jock. I did think it was funny that Meg pointed out that she would look good on his arm, but he was a douche. I think that the episode tries to make some solid points about how secret admirer's are problematic but they don't lean too far in to it and it all goes out the window when Meg's true secret admirer is revealed.

It turns out that Meg's admirer is Duncan Kane which throws a wrench in Veronica and Meg's burgeoning friendship. Veronica is not feeling it seeing the two of them together, but Deputy Leo showing up definitely helps take the sting out of it. I really enjoyed the relationship between Veronica and Leo. They have great chemistry. I Googled the youngest age that you could become a deputy sheriff and it turns out you can be one at 18. So, I like to believe that Leo is 18. Let me have this. It's clear that these feelings aren't a one way street based on the look that Duncan gives Veronica and Leo while they are slow dancing.

We seem to get a definitive answer to whether or not Lynn Echolls is alive and it seems like she is not. After finding out that her credit card is being used at the Neptune Grand, Logan camps out there. It turns out that the guest is his half sister Trina. Hey Alyson Hannigan. Trina is not Willow. She's Aaron's daughter through and through. She callously disregards Logan's allegations of abuse against Aaron, which Veronica hears about for the first time. The softening of Logan Echolls continues in this episode as he breaks down in Veronica's arm after he finds out his mother is most likely dead. Usually I'd have no sympathy for Logan's Tom Cruise drunken spectacle at the dance, but he gets a pass this time.

The episode ends with the person crank calling Veronica being revealed to be her mother, Lianne. She finds her drunk at a bar and Clarence Wiedman is there too.

Grade: A-

"Betty and Veronica"

Veronica Mars: "Can you do me a weird favor, without asking any questions?"

Wallace Fennel: "Isn't that the bedrock upon which our friendship was founded?"

Veronica finally has a much needed conversation with her mother about her relationship with Jake Kane and why she left. Lianne offers Veronica some revelations that lead her to learning something about Abel Koontz and why he might have taken the fall after she drops her mother off at rehab. In Neptune, Veronica is tasked to find the Neptune mascot, a parrot named Polly.

Spirit boxes!!

You may think that in the most important episode is Veronica's conversation with her mother, but for me, this episode is all about the unconventional but wonderful friendship between Veronica Mars and Wallace Fennel.

We haven't really looked too deeply in to their relationship. We just sort of take it at face value. Veronica helps Wallace out of a sticky situation when he's new to Neptune and that bonds them. That sort of bond can only last for so long. There has to be more. Particularly since Wallace does a lot of favors for Veronica that could get him in a lot of trouble and he has stuck up for her to his mom on a number of occasions. It sometimes doesn't feel like Veronica is giving back to Wallace what she gets but this episode shows that she is putting in the BFF work as well.

Wallace is trying to get Veronica in to the school spirit and to see that not everyone at Neptune High is as bad as she thinks they are. I totally get where Veronica is coming from. She's been harassed and talked about and metaphorically spit on by these people for a year, so it's completely understandable that she isn't willing to see the good in her classmates. But she definitely tries for Wallace. I love the reveal that Veronica is the one making Wallace's spirit boxes. And she requests the locker next to his. After getting both mascots back, Veronica decides to go watch Wallace play which sort of solidifies that she and Wallace are truly besties. I feel lie we haven't gotten a lot of quality Veronica/Wallace time in the last few episodes, so I was definitely happy for it here.

Veronica is still deeply uncomfortable with Meg and Duncan dating and is trying to avoid them pretty unsuccessfully. She even ends up having dinner with Leo at the same restaurant Meg and Duncan are having dinner with the Kane's. I do like how Veronica and Meg try to come to some sort of understanding and find a way to try to keep being friends. It would have been extremely unrealistic for them to just brush this to the side after one episode and this tentative peace they've made feels real. Deputy Leo continues to be adorable and he is clearly head over heels for Veronica. What other reason would there be for him to remove interrogation tapes from a high profile murder case to give to her?

The case of the week is fun and is a nice way to tie in to the Veronica and Wallace friendship. I feel like a lot of shows set in high schools have had episodes about missing mascots. I don't recall if we ever hear about Pan High again after this episode. I'm never sure why Veronica just doesn't transfer here after everything goes down with her dad. Do they not have open enrollment? Is she that determined to show these rich assholes that they don't bother her? You know, that's probably it.

The stuff with Veronica and Lianne doesn't hit the way I think Rob Thomas wants it too. Part of that is because we haven't heard a lot of great things about Lianne. And this episode doesn't do a lot to endear her to the audience. I get that she is Veronica's mom, but Veronica breaking down and wanting her to come home feels weird. Like, I don't necessarily buy that at this point, particularly after the paternity stuff, Veronica is that committed to her mom coming home and her parents getting back together. And man, letting your daughter spend her college money on your rehab when you're most definitely going to skip out on it. That's cold.

We do get some pretty serious revelations in this episode. Lianne claims that Jake couldn't have killed Lilly because at the time of her murder Jake and Lianne were at the Neptune Grand. Apparently, Celeste had caught wind of Veronica's questionable paternity and was ready to spill the beans to Veronica. Lianne threatens Jake with a paternity test in order to get Celeste to back off. This is all very interesting, but again, it doesn't make a lot of sense why Lianne didn't tell Keith all this when he was going after Jake, particularly when it was becoming clearer that Keith was going down the wrong path. I understand that it would mean bad things for their family but isn't her husband losing his job, being publicly humiliated and almost run out of town enough for her to come clean? I guess not for ole Lianne Mars. Seriously. They do not want us to like this woman.

Veronica does learn the reason why Abel Koontz took the fall for Lilly's murder even though he's dying. It turns out he has a daughter, Amelia Delongpre. 

Grade: B

Next up, Veronica tries to find out who is sabotaging a fellow student and Neptune High is receiving bomb threats.

What do you all think? Is "Veronica Mars" hitting its stride? Do you love the Veronica and Wallace friendship? Do you hate Lianne too? Let me know in the comments.