Veronica Mars
It's time to start season two of "Veronica Mars!" In case you forgot, when we left off with season one, Veronica had solved the case of who murdered her best friend, Lilly Kane. It was Aaron Echolls, the movie star father of her sometime enemy, sometime beau, Logan. As the season ended, someone showed up at Veronica's front door in the middle of the night. Who could it be? Let's get into it.
"Normal Is the Watchword"
Veronica Mars: "Got any enemies you know about?"
Wallace Fennel: "Well, there's the Klan."
Veronica Mars: "This isn't really their M.O."
Wallace Fennel: "I guess that leaves everybody that hates you."
Veronica Mars has had a busy summer since solving Lilly's murder. She has a new boyfriend. A new job. She's out of the amateur private investigation business. But things are at a tipping point. The divide between Neptune's have and have nots has never been wider. Her best friend is accused of something she knows he didn't do. And soon a grand scale tragedy will have her once again neck deep in trouble.
We are back with season two of "Veronica Mars." I remember when the sophomore season was airing back in 2005, there was a lot of talk about how the show was doing the most. And they actually are. They decided to amp everything up, so we have an extremely jam packed season two premiere on our hands.
First off, can we talk about how many stars are in this season. "Veronica Mars" really was a launching pad for a lot of careers. I have to start with the small Julie Chen cameo from the opener. She's interviewing Keith about his book about the Lilly Kane murders. We also get the wonderful Charisma Carpenter as Kendall Casablancas, the stepmother of Dick and Cassidy Casablancas. Kendall is almost like if Cordelia Chase form "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" never went to LA after high school and had the growth and character development. Instead, she just married the first rich white guy that she met and started boffing one of her new stepson's friends. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
There's a lot that is covered in this episode. It feels like it is jam packed and maybe it's a little too full. Like, maybe some of these things could have been pushed to episode 2. The constant time jumping makes things a little confusing to follow too. So, just to recap, Logan shows up at Veronica's door, beaten to within an inch of his life by the PCH'ers. Logan woke up next to a dead Felix and a bloody knife that he promptly tosses into the ocean. Logan gets arrested but is found not guilty which causes a class war to erupt in Neptune. Well, an even worse one. Veronica tries to stand by Logan, but she's pushed to her breaking point. A shotgun blast takes out the back window of Logan's car while they are in it making out. And she knows that Dick, Beaver and Logan are doing things to make things worse like setting the lower class pool on fire. She can't take it so she dumps him and he doesn't take it well. During this Duncan is able to worm his way back into Veronica's life and they start dating, which causes friction between Veronica and Meg.
Throughout all this, Veronica has a case-of-the-week. Wallace and other athletes have tested positive for drugs even though they are clean. After solving Lilly's murder, Veronica had sworn off her teen detective ways, but when her best friend is threatened, she can't help but get involved. This plot really gets the short stick. I kept forgetting that it was even happening. It all ties back to rich parents trying to get their rich kids starting spots on the various teams which does tie back to the whole haves/have not theme, but still feels really unnecessary.
This all feels like a pretty solid start to season two, right? It feels like there is plenty going on for the show to explore. But the theme of "Veronica Mars" season two seems to be "doing too much." Oh, you thought that the season long mystery was going to be who killed Felix? Wrong. It's actually going to be the bus crash that ends the episode. The journalism class goes to visit the Sharks, a made up baseball team. The majority of our major characters are there. Due to smell on the bus, the majority of the '09'ers get a limo to head back. Veronica declines Duncan's invite to ride back in it because she wants to try again to patch things up with Meg. But at a stop, Meg sees Veronica arguing with Weevil about Logan and Felix and tells the teacher that everyone is on the bus. So Veronica is saved from a watery grave.
It's a lot, you guys. It's still a good episode. It's quick and snappy. The character work is there. Lots of engaging mysteries. So many guest stars. I didn't even mention Steve Guttenberg and Krysten Ritter as Neptune mayoral candidate and Sharks owner, Woody Goodman and his daughter, Gia. There are a lot of balls in the air and it feels like the show might just have one too many. But we will see if the writers, talented as they are, are able to keep them all in the air as the season progresses.
Oh and let's give it up for Wallace as the best friend Veronica could ever ask for. He may not have signed up another year of office aide, but he did make a copy of the master key and got Veronica all the administrative passwords. What a guy.
Grade: B+
"Driver Ed"
Veronica Mars: "I just have all these conflicting emotions. Grif, for everyone who died and everyone who lost someone. Guilt, about Meg. The one that kills me, joy, because I'm alive. And by all rights, I shouldn't be."
Duncan Kane: "Veronica, it's not your fault."
Veronica Mars: "I'm afraid that line only works in "Good Will Hunting."
Post bush crash, Veronica and the community are not doing great. The only survivor is Meg, who is in a coma. Veronica is dealing with a lot of emotions and is trying to hide them, but is also lashing out. The sheriff's office is trying to pin the whole thing on the driver of the bus as a murder suicide, but Veronica is hired by his daughter to prove that isn't true. Wallace has a crush on new girl, Jackie Cook and tries to impress her by finding out who hit her car in the high school parking lot. And Woody Goodman wants Keith to run for sheriff.
 |
| This is a great promo photo. |
The cavalcade of stars showing up on "Veronica Mars" before they were stars continues with Valkyrie herself, Tessa Thompson, making her debut appearance as Jackie Cook. Jackie is the daughter of famous Sharks player, Terrence Cook. Jackie makes a not great impression on Veronica when she comes in to the coffee shop that Veronica works in and demands a drink even though Veronica tells her she is on her break. Jackie is a typical rich asshole kid and keeps asking for one even though Veronica is having a pretty deep convo with Duncan about the bus crash. It seems like Veronica and Jackie are going to be fast frenemies.
Veronica having a distaste for Jackie is going to cause some problems because her best friend Wallace is immediately smitten with her. Jackie is sassy and kind of mean when Wallace is taking her to the office, but Wallace is undeterred. He is ready to break through Jackie's mean, rich girl exterior and show her that nice guys don't always finish last. And he gets a chance to prove his mettle to her when Jackie's dad's car that she drove against his wishes is bashed in the school's parking lot. And the person who hit it left a fake note.
I sometimes feel that I don't necessarily give Wallace the credit that he deserves. He's a great dude. He's such a good friend. He initially is going to ask Veronica for help but when he talks to her on the phone he immediately tells her not to worry about it and decides to handle it himself. That's so great. He recognizes his friend is in a not great place and doesn't ask her for a favor. It's fun to see Wallace do his best Veronica Mars impression. He takes what he's learned from watching his best friend and helping her and does it his way. Since the bus crash, Neptune High is swarming with reporters and Wallace realizes that the fake note came from a reporter's notebook. It turns out that a reporter was doing her best Drew Barrymore in "Never Been Kissed" impression and is the one that hit Jackie's car. This is exactly what Wallace needed to do to start getting in to Jackie's good graces.
Veronica is feeling a lot of guilt after the bus crash especially since the only survivor was Meg, who is now in a coma. She lashes out at Duncan but she does almost immediately apologize which is growth for Veronica. The sheriff's department is pointing at the driver of the bus, Ed Doyle, is the one who caused the crash. Veronica is approached by Jessie, Ed's daughter, to help prove it wasn't suicide so the family can get his insurance payout. I like having Veronica's case of the week tying in to the bus crash. I don't think they all need to, but this first one after the premiere, it makes sense.
Veronica talks to a douche-y convenience store clerk who is played by Kevin Smith. That is brilliant casting. Casting the mastermind behind "Clerks" in this role? Chef's kiss. Smith is pitch perfect here. The kind of opportunistic asshole who is ready to seize his fifteen minute's of fame in the grossest possible way even selling t-shirts. I'm surprised that Veronica doesn't rip into him. Veronica finds out that Ed made a phone call at the convenience store and that it was to the woman in his apartment complex who he was sleeping with and wanted to leave his wife for. The "suicide note" that the sheriff's department found was actually an "i'm leaving you for another woman" note. Unfortunately, Don Lamb is completely inept and a piece of shit so as far as he's concerned, it's case closed.
This dovetails in to Keith's storyline in this episode. Woody Goodman is running for County Supervisor which folks dub "Mayor of Neptune." He sees Lamb for what he is and wants to cash in on Keith's high profile as the hero who solved the Lilly Kane murder case. Goodman sees this as a shoo-in, but Keith is initially hesitant. But all it takes is seeing Lamb disregarding Jessie for him to be all in on deciding to run.
Oh and Veronica and Duncan have sex and its the first time that Veronica actually remembers it. Logan is still boffing Kendall, but things could take a bad turn for him if Big Dick finds out because he loves guns and he is proficient at using them. It doesn't help that Cassidy finds a condom wrapper in the living room. The episode ends with a dead body washing up on the beach with "Veronica Mars" written on its palm.
This episode does a lot, but does slow down a bit and it feels like they are opening things up and letting it breathe. There is still a bunch of things going on but it doesn't feel like anything is floundering quite yet, which is a great sign.
Grade: A-
Next up, Cassidy hires Veronica to spy on Kendall and Veronica helps a woman figure out if the man she loves is only with her for her money.
What did you all think of these first two season two episodes? Is there one storyline you're enjoying more than others? One you like the least? Are you Team Logan or Team Duncan? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment