Date of airing: February 1, 2006 (UPN)
Nielsen ratings information: 2.12 million viewers, 1.4/2 in Households, 0.9/2 rating with Adults 18-49
written by: John Enbom
directed by: John Kretchmer
For a change, it is not going to be Veronica who investigates the bus crash (she is currently having her hands full with other investigations), but it is Keith who makes a few moves, breaks into the evidence locker of the Sheriff’s department, and decides to listen to the witness statements by himself, because it looks like Sheriff Don Lamb did not do the work he was supposed to do.
And the funny thing is, Keith just came out of an inquiry about evidence being removed from the Sheriff's department, and here he is, proving that Lamb has done absolutely nothing to make sure that evidence will not go missing again. Keith has already cost the job of cute Leo after finding out that he took the sex tapes from the evidence locker to sell them to Logan, and now he may even be risking Inga's job as the receptionist after he took her key card to steal the interrogation tapes. It turns out that Keith learned a few things about how the evidence locker is protected during his inquiry from a couple of episodes ago and decided that this was the opportunity to strike and start his own investigation into the bus crash.
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| Jackie is back to scheme her way into a boy's heart. |
This was a solid episode, although I was a tad bit disappointed that Wallace’s potential legal troubles were already solved by the end of the hour. But I know you cannot have too many ongoing stories in the show, with Veronica and Keith being busy investigating the bus crash (although Veronica is not doing much and Keith is doing all the heavy lifting at the moment), Logan and Weevil being busy finding out who killed Felix (a case that seems close to a conclusion with this episode's reveals, yet upgraded with a whole ‘nother twist that needs solving), and Neptune police being busy trying to find Duncan Kane who escaped the country to parts unknown.
There probably would not have been room for Veronica to also spend time on fixing Wallace’s life yet again this season (after she saved him from being benched permanently in the season premiere), so time was spent on doing that for this episode only. And it was great to see that Veronica and Wallace had help from various people around the country. Consider me surprised that Jackie decided to be an ally in this case, and that Nathan Woods back home in Chicago also went out of his way to find the witness and make Wallace’s problem disappear, not to mention the club bouncer Veronica met in the previous episode, who quickly and charmingly turned into Veronica's ally. It is almost like Wallace has all the friends in the world to help her solve cases, especially when it comes to taking down the next potential LeBron James. And thank you, Jackie, for being a good person in this episode. Your help in exonerating your ex-boyfriend is greatly appreciated.
Cases like these are a friendly reminder that VERONICA MARS is not just about petty teenage crimes any longer, and Veronica is able to solve the bigger cases. In this episode, she was essentially going against an uncle-turned-sports agent who was not stopping his journey towards a $50 million payout over the next five years, which by itself is kind of dangerous. When Rashard’s uncle was able to pay off the White Castle drive-through kid with that much money, who knows what Daddy would have been able to do if he had realized that a bunch of teenagers were after his son?
The case is also a friendly reminder that the cases on VERONICA MARS might start with high school stuff, but quickly grow out of it and become kind of “international” for Neptune, California, which is something I have to appreciate about the show. Sometimes the first season had the danger of becoming a high school cliche, and while the writers were always successful in shipping around those cliches, the danger was still there. But this season, they have managed to almost take the show entirely out of Neptune High – I cannot even remember any high school-related stories that were of importance.
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| High-fives all around for a job well done. |
Weevil and Logan’s investigation into Felix’s murder took an interesting twist in this hour, as Weevil finally lost his spot as the leader of the PCH gang. That might lead to war between him and the PCHers, which was something I wanted to see between Logan and the PCHers, but that story was sort of killed quickly when Weevil realized Logan did not kill Felix. But with Weevil booted out of the club, chances are he will not take that development lightly, let alone accept it, so there might be a chance that the Logan/Weevil fight for a few episodes ago will now turn into a Thumper/Weevil fight.
And while we all know now who killed Felix (have we come to learn why he was killed?), it does not mean the story is over yet. After half a season, it has turned into a forced split between Weevil and the PCHers, and in the meantime, the devil and the killer are still in the gang, they could blow up the PCHers entirely, and that might be something Weevil definitely does not want to see happening. Now the question is whether Weevil will do anything to keep the PCHers from imploding, being assimilated by another gang, or he will just go into an all-out one-on-one war with Thumper.
