Date of airing: October 26, 2005 (UPN)
Nielsen ratings information: 3.58 million viewers, 2.4/4 in Households, 1.5/4 with Adults 18-49
written by: Phil Klemmer, Cathy Belben
directed by: Harry Winer
This is the episode that had Wallace take over Veronica’s world and he suddenly was not just living in it, he was the center of it, no matter what Veronica was doing to make it her world again. I have no idea what the minor consensus was on VERONICA MARS and how critics and fans saw the development of the recurring characters that are not named Mars or Kane or Echolls, but this episode made an effort in putting the spotlight on one of the other ones.
Turning Wallace into the main character of the show’s current drama plot is great, and I especially loved the potentially meta-filled references during Wallace and Veronica’s big argument, when she planned to have Jackie go up in smoke and all Wallace was asking Veronica for was to let him have this relationship for once. He specifically said that this is Veronica’s world and he only lives in it, which is more than factually true, as Wallace Fennel is a supporting character in a television show titled VERONICA MARS. And now that thing has changed with the arrival of Wallace’s bio-dad, for once Wallace is not happy that he only plays second or third fiddle to whatever Veronica is doing. It made me wonder whether Percy Diggs had some issues with his character throughout the first season, and asked the writers to have something more to do for the next season, or maybe he might ask to be removed from his contract with the show. Maybe stuff like that happens with cast members who do not have much to do on a show, maybe it does not. But you cannot say that Wallace’s story was a little meta here.
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| The debates for a new elected office have begun. |
And it was a good story, too. Wallace is suddenly bombarded with drama from the left and right side, with Jackie being something of a bitch as a girlfriend, and his mother having lied to him for 18 years. Of course, you would feel the rug ripped away from beneath your feet and you are freefalling into whatever dangerous situation you get to next. That he would end up on the way back to Chicago with Nathan Woods was not a surprise, but I do not know what is going to happen next. Will Wallace do the Duncan Kane for the next few episodes, stay disappeared for a while, or will there be some new drama when it is revealed that Nathan is not at all a good father, which means Wallace needs rescuing before he tells his mother that she was right all along?
Besides that, Wallace dropping out of Neptune like that means his romance with Jackie is history, right? This can only mean that Jackie will have another axe to grind with Veronica, and the two could turn into sworn enemies of each other in the next episode – that by itself is a fascinating story. This is California after all, but the show has not really managed to portray a serious and sometimes idiotic rivalry between two students in Neptune High, and with Veronica and Jackie on the path to war now, the writers have created an opportunity to go with the premise and have one sneaky bitch fight against another sneaky bitch. I would not consider Veronica a bitch, but Jackie does (and so do probably more than half of Neptune High who do not know Veronica that much), so there is a definite war on the horizon, and that could lead to some intriguing storytelling. And here I was thinking that Veronica and Jackie would turn out to be best friends as soon as Veronica found out who took Jackie’s credit card. There was some sense of friendliness between the two that I liked, and the twist that it was all just a ruse to trap Veronica into humiliation was a solid one – it came in a surprising fashion, and it opened up the floodgates for more storytelling.
Meanwhile, I would love to know what was up with Madame Sophie, and if she really was connected to the afterlife somehow, considering she mentioned Lilly Kane. Veronica’s spirit guide for a few episodes throughout the first season certainly looked friendly, but that version of Lilly Kane was always defined by Veronica’s point of view. How Lilly would really have reacted after learning of Veronica and Logan is a thing we will never know — except of course some random psychic talks to Lilly in the afterlife, and Lilly is actually spilling the angry beans and has something to tell about her best friend dating her ex.
By the way, that the psychic would somehow come to mention Lilly was also not a surprise. It was the only thing the writers could have made her do to make the scene more interesting. And it does not hurt for VERONICA MARS to get a slight touch of paranormal activity, considering so much weirdness is going on in Neptune, California already. Putting ghosts in it would not be that far-fetched.
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| The always-happy Wallace is happy no more. |
The bus crash storyline learned of some development, which was positive as well. Now it is more than obvious (and it has been spelled out, just to make sure) that the bus crash was not a normal accident, and now it is clear that Veronica and maybe Keith will get into investigative mode again to find out who the killer was, and whether the bus crash really was supposed to be for Veronica. So far I cannot believe it, as that twist from two episodes ago has only been mentioned in this episode’s “Previously on” segment, and Veronica has kept it secret from anyone, while she could not hold herself back from playing the voicemail to Keith. So I do not know what the writers planned with the cliffhanger ending of the third episode this season, and whether Veronica is in actual danger of losing her life. Because if that is true, whoever orchestrated the bus crash will try again to kill her, right?
