Date of airing: November 9, 2005 (UPN)
Nielsen ratings information: 3.07 million viewers, 2.1/3 in Households, 1.3/3 with Adults 18-49
written by: John Enbom, Phil Klemmer
directed by: Kevin Bray
It was a calming episode, one that moved the bus crash story forward once more, albeit only slightly. For a television nerd’s mind in 2023, the show might be moving a little too slowly with its season-long story arc, but for a show written and produced in 2005, it is kind of surprising that the bus crash story has gotten this much attention after six episodes, and that the characters already know there was an explosion, that another character in connection with the bus crash has been found murdered already, and that there is a chance that the bus crash was an attempt at a direct hit at one of its passengers. Not to mention that the writers established two different ways they could go with the bus crash: One, it was about killing Veronica (either as revenge or to get rid of the key witness). Two, it was about something completely different – with both options still viable after six episodes.
Six episodes in and we are supposed to believe that Aaron Echolls orchestrated the crash to get rid of Veronica for the trial against him, but I kind of do not want to believe that this is the answer. Then again, maybe it will be the season-long arc to find the evidence of Aaron’s involvement in the bus crash? It would be intriguing especially now that Aaron said for the first time that he did not kill Lilly Kane, and that there might still be a possibility for Duncan to have been the killer. And I have to say, this theory does not sound nuts at all, although it would negate the previous season finale and retcon the events from it.
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| Rich people do not care about the handcuffs on them. |
It was a calming episode because not much was moving, character-wise. Veronica and Duncan’s love story has not been developed ever since they spent a few nights in his hotel room, which has been the case since the beginning of their revived romance. Even the father/daughter relationship between Veronica and Keith has not changed a lot, since I believe the revelation to Keith about the dead body on the beach was just a way to push Keith deeper into the investigation of the bus crash, instead of making him purely worried about his daughter’s safety (or mad that she is keeping things from him). The latter might be an intriguing story by itself, but the writers were more interested in the former during this episode.
In addition, Logan did not develop much as a character, now that he has smelled a jail cell from the inside, reunited with his murderous father for a few minutes, lost his Batcave, and is not on the warpath with the PCHers. All of those plots did not do much for his character and only served the story at hand (especially Logan’s conflict with the PCHers), although I do have to say that I liked Logan’s cockiness as a murder is being pinned on by whoever killed Felix. His no-craps-given attitude was entertaining, and I have to say that Logan was quite clever in his revenge against Weevil by buying his grandmother’s house and evicting the Navarros. Logan showed that he does not need to resort to violence to repay a “favor,” but then again... He has a ton of money, so the dollar bills might help. All in all, Logan’s story is the most interesting of the show right now, but that does not mean it is developing his character at the same time. VERONICA MARS is very much focused on the plot right now. That is probably why you see so much development in the bus crash story– compared to the Lilly Kane murder a season ago, Veronica and Keith were not nearly this far into the investigation. The most important thing they found out after six episodes was that the time of death was a few hours off.
Veronica’s case of finding Amelia Delongpre was solid. I like it when she takes on cases that have nothing to do with school (and now that Wallace is gone for now, there might not even be a way to properly show school stuff, especially with Veronica involved – it is a good thing then that she has the master key for the school building), and I loved how the case developed. Veronica having to buy all the rooms for the night was hilarious, and the fear of having to find Amelia's body in the ice machine was almost terrifying. Every once in a while Veronica is faced with the truly dark moments of humanity, and she is scared to face it – she freaked when she saw Amelia, but other than that she was almost always a few steps ahead when it comes to the rest of the case, even standing against Kane’s head of security, Clarence Wiedman, whose return brought me joy, even though I was wondering why he was not in prison, considering the fact that he tampered with evidence and obstructed justice in the Lilly Kane murder. There is no way that Duncan's parents are carrying the blame for that by themselves when they had a security chief who was in it as deep as they were.
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| Life was good before directing superhero movies and being revealed as a POS. |
Meanwhile, consider me surprised that the election for Sheriff (and
sort-of Mayor of Neptune, California) has already been eaten for breakfast
in this episode. I would have hoped to see a bit more of a campaign,
but I guess only one episode was needed for that, and voila, Don Lamb
has been re-elected. Considering his way of forcing bribes out of the
people under him and the way he is (not) investigating the bus crash,
chances are he could be recalled in a few episodes or by the end of the
season and suddenly Keith Marks is Sheriff yet again, or at least there
is another election. This season has shown so far that Don Lamb is not
interested in not breaking the rules, and it only takes an investigative
reporter or an investigative high school student who works as a P.I.
between homework assignments to get Sheriff Lamb blown to pieces in
public – metaphorically speaking.
