Veronica Mars
It's been a while since we talked about season two of "Veronica Mars" and a lot is going on. We have the bus crash. Kendall and the Beav and Phoenix Land Trust. Logan is accused of murdering Felix. They went all in, for better or worse, and as we wind down Season Two, we can only hope that everything comes together. When we last left off, Veronica had discovered explosives and a detonator in Terrence Cook's private hangar. That couldn't be a red herring. No. Well, we will find out, and we will get a plot point that will carry over to season three. Let's get to it.
"The Quick and the Wed"
Logan Echolls: "So you want me to come over after school?"
Hannah Griffiths: "The words out of your mouth are 'come over,' but all I hear you saying is 'let's have sex."
[Logan stiffens and looks at her]
Logan Echolls: "Excuse me? All I heard was 'let's have sex."
Veronica tells Keith about what she found, and he tells Lamb, though he quickly has doubts about the legitimacy of what Veronica found. Logan continues to use Hannah to get her dad to withdraw his eyewitness testimony. Kendall and Cassidy are still continuing Big Dick's Phoenix Land Trust scheme, but Kendall wants out from under a teenager so she visits Aaron in prison. He has some terms to help out. Veronica helps Wallace's girlfriend locate her sister when it seems like the former(?) wild child is attempting a runaway bride situation.
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| May/December |
I'm not sure why, but this episode's "case of the week" really reminded me of the one earlier this season where Laura Bell Bundy thought that her boyfriend was cheating on her. They don't share a lot in common. It's primarily because Laura Bell Bundy and the actress who plays Heidi look alike. Heidi looks like LBB if you ordered her on Wish.
This case is fine. I had totally forgotten that Wallace is dating this little white blonde girl named Jane. Jane is part of Heidi's rowdy bachelorette party that begins at the Java Hut and includes some suggestive karaoke and a sexy scavenger hunt. Shout out to TVLine.com founder, Michael Ausiello, who was an early "Veronica Mars" champion and cameos as the gentleman that Heidi takes the underwear from. Sidebar, if you're looking for a great book that is also sad, check out his memoir, "Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies at the End." Things take a turn when the bride disappears and Jane uses her connections (dating Wallace) to get Veronica to help her find Heidi before the wedding.
Like I said, this case of the week is fine. It's entertaining. It reminds the viewer that at it's core "Veronica Mars" is a show about it's titular character being a teenage detective. But when we are heading towards the end of a season that is extremely stuffed and so if you are going to continue with the case of the week conceit, those cases have to be just as compelling as the season long narratives you're telling. And this one just doesn't quite measure up. It's pretty cut and dried and it's a storyline that we've seen on the show before. It's very much the haves vs the have nots. Paul's, Heidi's fiancé's, family is well to do and they certainly aren't a fan of Heidi marrying their son. They concoct a plot with fake texts and faxes (!) to get her to go see her ex. But despite all of this, Heidi shows up. Where Paul basically calls her a whore and they fight. She dumps him at the wedding, but keeps the ring. Women power. I guess. It would have been a better twist if Paul had told his shitty family to fuck off, but that isn't the world that this show has created. And I respect that, even when it makes for a somewhat predictable resolution.
Luckily, the subplot where Logan is using the innocent girl to get to her father ends this episode. I'm never sure what the show is doing with Logan in this season. They want to keep him this bad boy, but at the same time, make him someone the show wants to see with their lead. They are walking a fine line and too often during this storyline they are pushing him on to the wrong side of the line. Yes, he feels guilty about what he's doing and he doesn't actually take Hannah's virginity. But is that enough to keep the audience rooting for him? I'm not so sure. But he finally puts a stop to this when Hannah's dad agrees to not testify against him. Let's hope the show sends Hannah off to find a nice well adjusted boy. Logan does show up at the Java Hut at the end of the episode telling Veronica he's done something horrible, so we may not be so lucky.
The Phoenix Land Trust plot line keeps chugging along. I think I would hate this more if Charisma Carpenter wasn't playing Kendall. It's clear that Rob Thomas is a Buffy fan because he tailor made this for Charisma. This is very much giving if Cordelia kept on her Sunnydale High trajectory and married rich. She is so good at this. She's bitchy and funny. Conniving. It's extremely camp and even though I kind of hate this storyline 90%, I can't hate it totally because I love Charisma. Kendall is done being bossed around and shaded by a child who has the nickname Beaver. She goes to see Aaron Echolls who is willing to help Kendall if she does him a favor and part of that favor is getting some of Duncan's hair from the shower of Logan's suite. Which begs the question, are they ever cleaning this suite?
In the bus crash saga, Keith questions Veronica about the explosives she found in Terrence Cook's hangar. Keith goes to see Lamb but of course, Lamb isn't going to listen to Keith at all about Terrence's innocence. Even after Keith talks to Terrence's mechanic who denies seeing anything suspicious in the hangar a month ago. When Keith goes to see Lamb, he learns that Terrence is in surgery because he got shot by Ms Dumas's father after he broke into her house. So, that's great. Terrence can't catch a break.
Mr. Pope, the teacher in charge of the stock market game, mentions potential problems with Woody's plans for incorporation. Maybe something to keep in the back of your mind.
Grade: B-
The Rapes of Graff
Veronica Mars: "Okay I'm Veronica. I'm from Neptune. And I once shot a man from Reno just watch him die.
Dean Rudolph: "How'd that go?"
Veronica Mars: "It was a bit of a letdown."
Veronica agrees to go visit Hearst College with Wallace, even though she plans on getting as far from Neptune as possible for college. While there, she runs into her awful ex, Troy Vandergraff. He tries to make amends but Veronica isn't having it. When the girl that Troy leaves a party with is raped and has her head shaved, Veronica agrees to help him, against her better judgment. Back in Neptune, Logan and Hannah are still dating even though Logan told her dad they would stop.
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| Arrested Veronica |
I mentioned in my recap of the last episode that the case-of-the-week needed to be as strong as the season's ongoing storylines, and lo and behold, we get an episode that is pretty much solely focused on the sexual assaults on the Hearst campus, with the season's ongoing storylines getting the least amount of screen time. This works really well, and I feel like if the other episodes had played more with this structure, some of the episodes I've rated lower might have gotten bumped up a bit.
Since the B-plots take up the least amount of time in this episode, we will start with them. Remember how I thought maybe the Logan/Hannah storyline would be finished after last episode? Well, I was mistaken, because Logan and Hannah are still dating even though Logan got what he wanted out of her dad. This is maybe the part of this episode I enjoyed the least. I don't think that we needed her to come back for this. It doesn't feel like Logan really has feelings for Hannah. It feels more like he just wants to win. He doesn't like being told what to do, even when he is getting what he wants. It doesn't feel genuine at all. Hannah's dad might be kind of a piece of shit, but I am completely on board with him sending her off to boarding school. In fact, I bet Keith would have done the same with Veronica if he could've. Luckily, this is the last time that we will have to deal with this.
There's very little movement on the bus crash front until the end of the episode, when it's revealed that the C4 being used to demolish the old stadium is the same C4 that was used on the bus and was found in the garage. The plot thickens even more when it's revealed that Danny Boyd, cousin of Liam Fitzpatrick, is working on the demolition crew. Can we talk about how Danny Boyd is played by "Yellowstone" universe mastermind Taylor Sheridan? I just learned that last week, and my mind was genuinely blown.
This is an episode that walks a fine line tonally and content-wise. Typically, Veronica would be working for Stacy, but she's helping Troy, a man she genuinely can't stand and who could definitely have done what he's being accused of doing. Troy pushes on Veronica's sympathy button pretty hard. It's clear that she still has some feelings for him, even though she doesn't want to have them. Plus, Veronica wants to know what's going on. She wants to know the truth. And her sense of justice, I think, is what gets her to agree to help Troy.
This could have gone really wrong, but the episode is always on Stacy's side. Veronica completely understands what is going on. She accepts Stacy's ire when Veronica goes to see her. Veronica is never not on Stacy's side, even though she is helping Troy. I was really impressed. Honestly, I wasn't sure how this episode was going to go since it had been so long since I had watched it, but I breathed a sigh of relief that it was handled well. It does wander into trope-y territory with the frat house and the photos of the girls and ranking them, but listen. Who doesn't like to see douche-y frat boys get what is coming to them, especially at the hands and taser of Veronica Mars.
When Veronica finds out that another girl was raped and had her head shaved before Troy ever was on the Hearst campus, Troy is exonerated, and we get a to-be-continued on this case that will be picked up again next season; minor spoiler alert. It was great to see Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat reunited. Both of them were on "Arrested Development." "Veronica Mars" rarely participated in stunt casting, but when they did, at least they were cool about it.
Oh, I totally spaced that there was a third subplot that featured Cliff getting robbed by a prostitute. I think I had pushed it out of my mind because the big reveal here is that Lamb is having an affair with Madison Sinclair, Veronica's bitchy classmate. A weird C-story to have in an episode that deals with campus sexual assault, particularly when it has nothing to do with the season's overarching plots.
All in all, one of the better, more standalone episodes of this sophomore season.
Grade: A-
Next up, Veronica, Weevil and Logan team up to try to prove that Thumper killed Felix and Veronica is haunted by a mysterious phrase that is connected to the bus crash.
What did you all think? Do you think this season is doing too much? How do you feel about Logan at this point? Would you have helped Troy? Let me know in the comments.
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