Date of airing: April 26, 2005 (UPN)
Nielsen ratings information: 3.04 million viewers, 1.9/3 in Households, 1.1/3 with Adults 18-49
written by: Phil Klemmer, John Enbom
directed by: John T. Kretchmer
There are only two episodes left this season, and the writers have not even gotten close to the final pieces of the Lilly Kane murder investigation, or the identity of the killer. Something I thought would happen in this episode, but instead, the characters were too busy trying to find Duncan or what happened on the night of Shelly Pomroy's party – in the case of the latter, it was a good thing that it was mentioned here, because I was about to forget it again. But the fact that the murder investigation did not lead to anything new made me think that this episode was somewhat of a filler, to make sure that the finale is filled with all kinds of "Who is Lilly's killer?" And so, the writers had to create an hour about a high school relationship that is about to fall apart, a boyfriend who is a dick and a girlfriend who is being mistreated by the entire male population of Neptune High, the beginnings of divorce proceedings, the search for a missing Kane heir...
Those were the premises of the episode, and none of them had anything to do with finding out who murdered Lilly Kane, which is a bit of a surprise, considering there are less than 90 minutes of airtime to find out who the villain is, especially with all the other storylines ongoing this season. It does make me wonder if the writers were still thinking about solving the case by the end of the season, or if they wanted to carry it over to the next one, or if the writers have not even figured out the killer's identity at this point (although I doubt it). You know, the mistake Veena Sud later made with THE KILLING in 2011, when she decided to put a cliffhanger at the end of that show’s first season, angering most of social media in the process.
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| This is the beginning of a forbidden romance. |
The episode was still enjoyable. It turns out that Carmen and Ted’s story was both anger-inducing and hilarious at the end, and this after Ted has proven to be a total douche among men in Neptune, California, who deserved to be taped to the flag pole of the school. When a guy forces a girl to remain in a relationship with him, and then burns her for everyone else when he cannot have her, to punish him might involve something more brutal and long-lasting than just being taped onto a flag pole. In a way, Ted was lucky that he only had a funny tattoo on his back shoulder, and his private parts were taped up – if it had been for Veronica, he would have experienced much worse, and thanks to Carmen being the nice girl he will ever have dated in his life, chances are his experiences will be a thing of the past as soon as he gets to the Navy. Although who knows, maybe somebody will take a few pictures when school starts, and the images of Ted on the flag pole will remain in the digital world. Plus, he will always have to explain the tattoo...
Besides that, the way Carmen and Veronica planned
the former’s revenge was funny to me. The doctored ammunition to turn Ted
into a closeted gay guy brought me to laugh (right before I realized that it was also a homophobic storyline), especially when Carmen was
talking to Ted on the phone, and I realized where the conversation was
going and what the girls had planned for Ted. This entire plan of the two deserves my respect though – they knew
what they wanted to do, they planned ahead, and they executed every
stage beautifully. What a shame that Seth’s work after Veronica and
Carmen delivered the ammunition was never to be seen and witnessed by
thousands of people ready to laugh about anyone they could laugh about. Why not use some of that homophobia and turn it against one of the worst guys on the planet? I am down for that!
In the meantime, I was impressed that the Carmen/Ted story led to some throwbacks to the series premiere. First of all, the image of a guy being taped to the flag pole should have been an ongoing running gag of the show, with Veronica sometimes seeing someone taped up when she was walking into school, since that should have been the biker gang’s go-to punishment for high school students who mouth off against Weevil or some of his friends. Secondly, it’s the popsicle video that made Veronica (and now the viewers) remember what happened at Shelly Pomroy’s party way before the season began. I almost forgot that Veronica was raped back then, but now that the season finale is upon us, the writers decided to unbury that important piece of her backstory, and because it is such a major part of Veronica’s past, its re-emergence during this episode means it is going to be a plot device in the finale, right?
Well, it is already a plot device to keep Veronica and Logan apart, after they decided to secretly date behind closed doors and on couches, and there is nothing better in dramatic television than breaking up a romantic relationship that has been a happy one for an episode or two by putting a major twist in it. But Veronica’s rape should be a major plot point for her character arc, and not just be a reason for her to stay away from Logan. Besides that, just because Logan supplied the GHB at Shelly Pomroy’s party, it does not mean he was part of what happened to Veronica. Maybe Logan just supplied the drugs, and whoever raped Veronica asked Logan for the drugs, since they were going around at the party. This essentially means Logan might know who raped Veronica, and getting that question asked by your secret girlfriend ... Yeah, it is going to be uncomfortable for the two.
The investigation into Duncan’s current whereabouts was okay. I loved the notion that Duncan knew what he was doing, but I was a bit confused that it seemed so easy for Mac to track the passport thing, and to find out that Duncan is in Argentina under an assumed name. If it is so easy for Mac to do, then why were other private investigators unable to find that important piece of information? Mac is not a private investigator, or otherwise involved in law enforcement, so it is weird that she is the one delivering the crucial clue. Oh well, Mac gets some money now, so there is that. By the way, I would have loved to know whether Mac’s very own character arc was still an issue with the writers and if the "switched at birth" thing was still ongoing. After all, she met her biological mother half a season ago, but since then, the story has been pretty much dropped.
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| Never deal with Veronica when she has all the weapons in her possession. |
The rest of the episode was solid enough. I am unable to care enough about Keith and Mrs. Fennel dating, and I do not think the writers were using the most out of the story, especially with the backstory of Veronica already having found her mother and having stacked her into a rehab center (where she hopefully still is, otherwise, it could turn out to be another dropped storyline). The only problem I have with that story is that Keith was all in to tell Veronica the truth about what is going on in his home and love life, all while Veronica herself was keeping her recent experiences with Lianne a secret from him as well. Was that an intended effort to bring conflict between Mars and Mars?
