Date of airing: October 19, 2004 (UPN)
Nielsen ratings information: 3.12 million viewers, 1.4/3 with Adults 18-49, 2.0/3 in Households
written by: Diane Ruggiero
directed by: Michael Fields
This might be my favorite VERONICA MARS episode of the entire series. Okay, I have been watching the first season more often than the rest of the show, and the rest of the show I only watched once before, but this hour has always been one of my favorites, thanks to the fact that Veronica is smarter than you think she ever will be, and you will never get past her. The focus was resting on the case of the week (thankfully an interesting one), Veronica relied on the help of her father a couple of times (proving that she is not the only-I-can-fix-it girl, but needs her team of friends and family for assistance, even if her father extremely broke the law by impersonating a federal officer), and she cracked the case of the week in the most awesome way possible, while also being the usual snippy she has always been in these four episodes so far. This was not so much a crime episode than an episode showcasing Veronica’s talents as both a PI and a nutcracker (or, to be precise, a safe cracker). Veronica was depicted as a genius here, especially during that scene in which she sat in front of the safe with the backup drives, thinking hard about what to do next and how to achieve her goal, just to surprise us one scene later that she had things figured out, and she was pretty much messing with us and the characters.
Yes, the case happened to be interesting. It was about a couple of white dudes who thought they could rule college and scam poor high school students, all while keeping their nest clean and tidy and protected from intruders. But apparently, the two noobs were not smart enough to figure out that they would be conned back by someone smarter than them – and as it stands, Veronica Mars is smarter than them. This story teaches the lesson that you can be the biggest genius in your school, that you can be loved and appreciated by everyone, be admired by the most attractive women on campus, but when you do illegal crap, you will get blown to pieces, and your name will be given to the FBI’s fraud unit, because that is what happens when you think your privilege will keep you out of jail. I would have loved seeing those two goons getting arrested by the FBI, right after they managed to find their hard drives in the trashcan, just for the sake of getting giggly about their white privilege being smashed to bits. Because one thing is true: Having scammed so many people already, it is certain that the two will see a couple of years of prison time, and that none of their families’ money can keep them out of the courtroom. In cases like these, VERONICA MARS needs a little spin-off show, in which the cases are depicted in a court of law. Liam and Grant, you thought you were legends, but now you are busted. That makes a hero out of Veronica, and that makes her a whole lot more attractive to a loner like me, who just wants to be like Wallace and hang out with her, chat with her about random things, and assist her during her various cases.
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| Lilly Kane was proud of her cleavage. |
By the way, I did not quite understand how the case got rolling during
the beginning of the episode. Everything that involved Karl went beyond
me, and I have no idea how he turned from having been part of the scam
to be just another victim of Liam and Grant’s moves, although he
could have just been a random backup guy for the two college goons,
thinking that some of their actions might create the anger of some of
the people they ripped off and who would love to take revenge on them, so the two
happened to be visually represented by Karl, who happened to be more of
an idiot than Liam and Grant. Not to mention that it might have been easier for Liam and Grant to have someone in their team play the role of Karl, because look at how easy it was for Veronica to get to them through Karl...
In the meantime, the episode did a good job in the continued development of the characters. Lilly Kane’s memorial was great and had the proper level of emotional, and I especially loved that Duncan and Logan had their own ways to respect their dead sister and girlfriend, and how they did not start bawling their eyes out, just because it happened to be a stereotypical move during sad moments like these. And yes, Logan’s memorial video helped, and I loved that Lilly’s wild and humorous side was depicted in it (which was part of her persona, so it needed to be part of her memorial video), but Duncan was impressed by the video, and Logan was happy that his girlfriend is being remembered the way she wanted to be remembered. Logan and Duncan, two guys who did not look particularly like good people during the pilot episode have suddenly become real and deep characters, in addition to Logan being a nice person to Veronica during the video editing portion of the episode. After four episodes, that is quite a development.
The flashback scenes were interesting as well, and I would hope
that those will continue throughout the show. Amanda Seyfried is a
darling to watch, and I am happy that showrunner Rob Thomas and the producers realized that too,
and gave her extended appearances on the show (this episode must have
been the result of her being such a splendid actress, and the producers
and writers having had so much fun working with and writing for her). The prom night story helped to establish how much of a tight gang those
four were back in the day, and how their story now could be considered important and pathbreaking, as the writers created an opportunity for themselves to put a mirror between Veronica and the guys she was friends with before Lilly's murder, and is now alienated from today. It is like Lilly’s murder did not just kill Lilly, but also that tight friendship between the best friends from more than a year ago. Maybe Veronica, Logan, and Duncan could have
survived as friends after Lilly’s death, but maybe it was Lilly who was the glue of that group, and without the glue, they were destined to break apart. Although, yes, the fact that Veronica's father believed that Lilly's father was the killer did not help at all.
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| Is this what Veronica looks like when this show gets adapted for the Japanese market? |
Wallace’s little side arc with Georgia was also nice, even if it
deserved more screentime (again, I believe that it was cut down due to
the extended flashback scenes). It not only gave Wallace something to do
and cheer for, in addition to being a central character in this show, but his crush on a girl was actually pretty cute. It was
too real, it was honest, it was charming and lovely, it was just simple. I started shipping Wallace and Georgia by the end of the
episode, and one can only hope that she will be a recurring character for a bit, just so Wallace gets some teenage happiness and the writers could prove that they were thinking long-term with Wallace in the character pool. Then again, Georgia did not get much screentime in this episode, let alone
depth beyond her involvement in Veronica’s case of the week and Wallace's impromptu girlfriend, so I doubt
she will return. And that is a shame.
