Date of airing: November 9, 2004 (UPN)
Nielsen ratings information: 2.74 million viewers, 1.9/3 in Households, 1.3/3 with Adults 18-49
teleplay by: Jed Seidel, Diane Ruggiero
story by: Jed Seidel
directed by: Nick Marck
For a show set in a high school for the majority of its time, and half of the characters being teenagers, VERONICA MARS is quite the dark and emotional drama at times, dealing with trauma after a murder, a break-up of the family and friends, or in this case, rape. And the thing is, this is not even the first time the show has made the viewers look into the aftermath of a rape. The pilot episode has established that Veronica was date-raped during her flashback scenes, which I believe is a fact the writers have kept on the downlow since then, simply because that might be a little too much for UPN and its viewers to handle, not to mention that rape is a different story to handle in general, making it something of a miracle that Rob Thomas was even allowed to keep that backstory in the pilot and UPN aired it as such.
After seven episodes though, Veronica’s past does not
have seemed to affect her very much, but then again, maybe she is the way she is
now because she experienced the trauma, and it has formed her character
already – as in, she does not want to talk about it, she does not want to think about it, and she even does not want to solve the case of her rape because it is just too close to home. Still, it is noticeable how this episode delivered Sarah’s backstory of rape, and at the same time makes you forget that Veronica was
also the victim of a monster with the face of a man. I am not sure if there was room and time for Veronica and Sarah to connect over their similar pasts, but it could have gotten the viewers closer to Veronica – because who still remembered that she was raped during the 09er party back then when it has not been mentioned for six episodes?
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| The series dutifully pays the dog tax. |
This was a great episode. I like it when things get dark and moody, and this episode went there. The case of the week did not belong in a teenage show like VERONICA MARS, but it was a case that showed what the show can do when it does not trap itself in the same genre repeatedly. For once, the happenings of the school are being put to the back of the room, and the events in Veronica’s life outside school are in the spotlight. Veronica dealing with Sarah’s disappearance proved that VERONICA MARS is so much more than the previous five or six episodes have established, and that the show can go anywhere from here on, especially with its ongoing murder mystery, in addition to the disappearance of Veronica's mother. If the show can handle a dark story like rape like this episode did, then who knows what is in store for the rest of the show and how dark the narrative can get. This is going to be refreshing, because you would never know what to expect after this hour.
Of course, the beginning managed to make the ending surprising, as we were all expecting that Sarah would end up dead. Maybe by suicide, maybe murdered by her boyfriend Andre, or even her colleague at work who seriously thought of himself as Sarah’s next boyfriend, nonchalantly talking about her past trauma to a random stranger. While the second act laid out some red herrings in that regard, making us all believe that Andre is the villain, I am almost glad the episode ended the way it did. After all, Sarah was finally able to tell the truth, the real villain will be behind bars, and Veronica can breathe easily, now that she cannot be fully blamed for the potential death of a neighbor.
It is always surprising to see a Hollywood A-lister in an early
television show, and my chin dropped when Jessica Chastain
showed up and proved once more that future Hollywood stars got their
break on television first. It is still
new to me though that Chastain managed to turn into an A-lister this
way, considering she never had a main role in any television show and managed to break through in the movies.
Anyway, knowing her resume in 2023, it was a bit hard to see Sarah as a teenager, or maybe a woman a bit outside of Veronica's age range. I would have wished for the episode to make it clearer how old Sarah really was, because working a retail job and living with her artist boyfriend makes it look like she was in her mid-20s, not to mention that Chastain was 27 years old when she shot this episode – was she really playing someone Veronica's age here?
Meanwhile, the episode began a storyline that could have major
ramifications for all of the characters, as the writers teased that
there might be a possibility for Veronica to not be Keith's biological
daughter. So, Veronica got date-raped? Well, that might not be the worst thing that has ever happened to her, now that she fears her parents have
always lied to her and she may be the father of the richest man in the
county. It makes for a great little story arc for the remainder of the
season, although if Jake Kane really is Veronica’s father, it
essentially means
that Veronica and Duncan are history and will never get together ever
again. The writers pretty much ruined that story for themselves here,
and this after they tried to keep Veronica and Duncan on friendly terms
after their break-up, in the hopes to get them back together again.
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| Gosh darn it, kiss already! |
The rest of the episode was solid enough. Weevil and Logan teaming up for prank schemes seemed entertaining at first, but if it had not been for the information drop of Weevil and Lilly Kane having been romantically involved, it would have been a story that took time away from the most interesting stuff of the episode. With Weevil’s involvement in Lilly’s life though, it makes him a suspect in her murder as well – and yes, I know he pushed some tears during Lilly Kane’s memorial video presentation, and talked about her here like there was some actual love between the two, but that does not mean he is innocent. And as soon as Veronica asks him about Lilly, he better be truthful. In the meantime, I can appreciate that he hangs with Logan, but I would not mind for their story to be a bit more intriguing.
By the way, it is noticeable how much the writers have been interested in Logan lately. Duncan has almost been pushed to the back of the room as well. And here I was, thinking that Duncan and Logan would swap roles in each episode, with one getting the screentime during the B story, while the other is pushed to the back. But Logan has become the male lead of the show by this point, and I am wondering whether this was intended or an accidental result.
