Date of airing: February 8, 2006 (UPN)
Nielsen ratings information: 2.05 million viewers, 1.3/2 in Households, 0.8 rating with Adults 18-49
written by: Diane Ruggiero
directed by: Guy Norman Bee
I did not know what was happening at the end, but I was still entertained by this episode. Having it set during a Neptune High fair (one that puts money together for all the rich 09ers' trip) was a great idea, since it placed all the characters in the same premise for a change, creating the opportunity to have each of them interact with one another (and I am a bit of a fan of that type of narrative device). And while I was a bit annoyed by all the fair stuff (the music, the cheap games, all the people who made me want to bury myself on the couch at home because there is no way I am going to spend time with any of these people), I did love how low-key and low-stakes this episode turned out to be, and how it essentially was a break from all the complex storytelling, in which the characters get from one seriously dark plot point to the next, with every one of them having to fear for their lives.
Weevil was almost beat to death in the previous episode, but here he was, just playing around with his niece (or was she the lookout from the start?). Logan is still public enemy number one for the PCHers, but here he had a wonderful day and date with Jessy Schram's Hannah. And Keith could have done a lot more while investigating the bus crash, but he was sitting in his office all episode long, having a beer and a conversation with one of his favorite ballplayers. It is almost like this episode was something of a bottle show without being a bottle show – the producers took a fair that was already built (it had to be, right?) and decided to shoot there. After all, this episode only had four sets: the fair, Keith’s office, parts of the school building, and the school’s parking lot – either they were all standing sets already, or they could have been borrowed from other productions. And if this episode was not a bottle show (at least storytelling-wise), I would love to know what a real bottle show of VERONICA MARS looks like.
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| A new mystery has dropped for Veronica! |
As I said, I did not know what was going on at the end. Maybe Veronica knew which locker belonged to Weevil’s, which is why she immediately knew that he had changed the locker numbers, but I would have loved to know why Weevil decided to steal the money in the first place. Maybe it was just to throw Thumper under the bus (although this stunt would have only kicked him out of school – not much to prank Thumper with), but Weevil pretty much destroyed that from ever happening when he decided to stash the rest of the money to implicate Mrs. Hauser.
In fact, it sounded logical that
Mrs. Hauser was stealing the money, since she was controlling it for
most of the day before it disappeared, and at the end of the day,
Thumper probably gets off quite easily, since only a portion of the money was in
his locker, and the drugs were just simple and easy-to-get cheap pills. I
do love the idea of Weevil taking revenge on Thumper this way, although I do
not understand why the rest of the money landed with Mrs. Hauser and why
the episode needed to end with the ever-changing twist of someone else
being the perp, because that is what crime noir stories like to do. Was Mrs. Hauser even the guilty party in the end, or was she just one of Weevil's scapegoats? Because if that is the case, why would Weevil even implicate her in the first place?
I did love how Veronica went into the investigation of it, going back and forth between various suspects and always being one step behind Weevil in hindsight. And besides all that, I loved that Veronica was always on Jackie’s side, even forcing an apology out of Mrs. Hauser, which was more enjoyable to watch than seeing Thumper stand in front of Principal Clemmons and his security guards. I also loved that the entire episode was not just filled with Veronica working on finding the money – every other story got an equal amount of screentime, reminding us all that VERONICA MARS can also be an ensemble show every once in a while.
So, Beaver and Mac are finally dating, as expected. I liked it, although it seems a bit unusual. Dick continued to be an idiot and bully, which was anything but unusual, but it made me wonder why the writers even wanted the character to be part of the regular field of players this season. He has not done much in the 13 episodes he has been considered a main player, and his cocky behavior is going on my nerves with every episode, even if I found appreciation in Beaver paying back the humiliation he received from Dick by having his big brother make out with a crossdresser or transgender hooker. Dick did his best-ever impression of Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino (some things I remember about JERSEY SHORE, and one of them is him kissing a dude he thought was a woman), and all that is missing is that Dick cheats on his taxes as well, right after he decided to take a trip to Italy and smashes up a town with his angry fists.
Because
this episode needed some happy time,; Logan had a very good day
with his potential new girlfriend, making all the viewers get mad that
he was not going back to Veronica with his heart, now that Duncan
removed himself from their lives. I actually found it quite clever that
the first thing either Logan or Veronica did after Duncan left was to
date a different person for a while. It is logical that Logan and
Veronica would not get back together immediately, and it will take time
until the two find each other again. Then again, maybe all of this is just a ploy by Logan, after we found out who Hannah's father is, although maybe that would show Logan as even more of a scheming villain than he ever was before – dating a woman, just so he can stick close to her father who implicated him in Felix's murder.
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| Jackie is on top of the world of being hated. |
And then there was the story of the Cooks. I appreciated the whirlwind of a life Jackie was thrown in after her father was questioned by the Sheriff's department about the bus crash, making her a more likable character (and one to feel sorry for) after she was something of a mean bitch during her first couple of episodes. During the previous hour, as she was helping Wallace to clear his name, she became friendlier, a person to hang out with more regularly. One episode later, and she is the bullied laughingstock you feel sorry for – yes, the writers definitely retooled her character just a little bit, and it only took them Wallace's four-episode stint in Chicago to do that.
Also, I loved how Terence’s troubles were
affecting Jackie and how she had to suffer for another one of Sheriff Lamb’s idiot moves to solve the case, just so he would not have to deal
with it any longer. I almost felt for Jackie when she was still sitting
there in her bikini, almost freezing, waiting for another drop into the
cold water. And I did not feel for Terence, who decided not to tell anything about his life and let Keith figure out what is
going on, all while he had not even accepted the case yet. Terence could have been open with Keith from the beginning, and because he did not (and it was Keith playing the surveillance tape to him that changed his mind) makes me question his motives a bit more.
