Date of airing: September 28, 2004 (UPN)
Nielsen ratings information: 2.21 million viewers, 1.7/3 in Households, 1.0/2 with Adults 18-49
written by: Rob Thomas
directed by: Mark Piznarski
The post-pilot episode did not hold itself back from being an episode continuing to expose the backstory of Lily Kane’s murder, and how it is destined to become the season-long story arc keeping the characters busy, guaranteeing a silent promise to deliver Lily’s murderer by the end of that story arc. There was not much distance between the pilot episode and this hour, as both had a very similar story structure – multiple flashbacks deal with what happened a year ago before and immediately after Lily's murder, while the present time is filled with scenes that were supposed to contradict the flashback scenes. Whatever happened a year ago, it is the complete opposite now. That gives me time to think how much must have changed in Veronica's life during that year, when she stands on the opposite end of the popularity spectrum now after pretty much less than a year.
In a way, the backstory of the murder did not get bigger, but it also did not stagnate, and not just because Veronica found out that Lily was still alive way past the official time of her death. It is definitely a mystery in the narrative, and even the viewers who may not have realized it now know that Veronica's time will be spent investigating Lily's murder on her own. Plus, you can easily make a mistake figuring out the time of death of a murder victim (although such a mistake can be heavy when it comes to catching the killer, which this series universe seemingly has not done correctly either), but for a fictional character stumbling into the unconvincingly solved murder of her best friend, it could be the make-or-break moment. Besides that, when did you ever have a murder case in which a teenager had more information about the case than the investigating private eye, or the town’s Sheriff’s department?
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| Logan is doing his own investigation. |
The case of the week happened to be quite intriguing, which is a surprise for any crime procedural delivering stand-alone storylines. It is hard for any cop drama to succeed with a murder investigation, a missing case, or whatever criminal case the detectives and cops are being thrown at, but in this particular episode, seeing Veronica almost throwing herself into Weevil’s case, trying everything to get him out of jail, and get the real perp into handcuffs, was an enjoyable experience during this episode. And it is not like Veronica just put all her effort in just for the fun of it. She expected Logan to be the guy behind the credit card fraud, and she probably hates the guy enough wanting to see him in jail for the rest of their high school life, just so she does not have to deal with him any longer. At this point in this very young show, I would love to see Logan get arrested for a minor offense and then make a few false moves in court that would bring him to jail for a couple of months, simply because he believed that his white privilege and his rich action-movie hero father would get him out of this funk.
There was no harm in Veronica getting all into this case, in the hopes to see Logan out of school for a few weeks, but when it turned out that Logan was indeed innocent, the story changed just a little bit, and all of a sudden, Logan became a character past his white-privilege angle and essentially a victim himself. Rob Thomas decided that the kid was not supposed to be the asshole all the time, and that even an idiot and bully like Logan deserves to have his emotions go berserk on him. Betrayed and used by his shallow and manipulative girlfriend, because at the end of the day, Logan is just another high school kid with deep pockets who had the hots for another hot high school girl, because that is what popularity contests in high school are all about sometimes – you date the hottest chick, you are the hottest and most successful guy on school grounds. Logan was certainly allowed to feel his heart getting broken into pieces, but that does not mean the kid is suddenly one of the good guys.
In fact, the antagonistic relationship between Veronica and Logan was fun to watch. Both fired off some hard-hitting rounds, and both ended up slightly disappointed and angry that they have been hit (in the pilot, it was Logan getting led out of the school by police after the bong was found in his locker, in this episode it was Veronica looking at her flat tires). They were both serious about hating each other's guts, and they were both serious about showing the other what revenge really looks like. It is almost like a true-to-life high school rivalry between two individuals, only it happens in a town where rich people live, so they have much better ammunition to shoot with, which could lead to some interesting duels between the two over the course of the season and maybe series. And because Logan and Veronica hate each other so much, there has to be a story at one point during which the two form a truce, become friends, and maybe allies in a fight against an even bigger villain. Maybe Lily Kane’s killer? After all, Logan would love to see Lily’s murder avenged as well, having been in a relationship with her before her death. Veronica and Logan have something in common, and that should connect them at some point.
I was also quite surprised that Weevil’s biker gang was not too harsh and brutal in this episode when it came to punishing Chardo. It was to be expected that the guy would get beat up by his own gang, but I was impressed by Weevil being emotional about it as well, almost behaving like he was following a code of honor among bike gang members. Sure, Weevil and Chardo are family, which is what probably prevented Chardo from being found dead in a ditch in a couple of days, but it is not like Chardo will not have a problem getting over the mistakes he made with the entirety of Neptune. He will have black eyes, maybe a broken nose and ribs, one or two teeth less, and he will feel the pain of getting beaten up by a bunch of guys, but he will come out of it alive, with the chance to remedy his mistake in the future, maybe connect with Caitlin again and turn their story into a true Romeo-and-Juliet-type love story (now even more so after she got shunned by her school friends).
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| Weevil is walking away from having to witness the beating of one of his own. |
And finally, Duncan and Veronica were hanging out and behaving like civilized teenagers. Anything to make certain
that she will have a boyfriend in at least one episode during this
season, because that story was clearly here to make sure that viewers know this story is going to be a possibility here. Anything to make it clear to the audience that the distance
between Veronica and her former friends is not that big, and that it
could be easily fixed by forcing
Veronica to hang out with the 09ers, or simply just Duncan, to
mend a few of those ripples she caused over the past year, and maybe become friends again. It is
necessary for the character development of both Veronica and Duncan,
especially when it goes back to Lily Kane’s murder, as both of them clearly have not gotten over it. Some trauma and dark clouds is lingering above their heads, and they would love to clear them. Duncan and Veronica
also have something in common wanting the real killer to be found. In a way, this episode indirectly established a team-up between Veronica, Duncan, and Logan, if it ever comes to catching the killer together.
