Date of airing: April 25, 2006 (UPN)
Nielsen ratings information: 1.85 million viewers, 1.2/2 in Households, 1.0/2 rating with Adults 18-49
written by: John Enbom
directed by: Michael Fields
I almost felt for Veronica and Logan and their whirlwind and epic romance in this episode. Here
they were with enough distance from their latest relationships and with their hearts slightly mended from being broken the last time, using
the alterna-prom as an opportunity to grow closer together and sort of
end this episode as a couple. But because this is not the season finale,
it was not meant to be. And while the move was communicated as soon as
Logan was inviting Veronica to the alterna-prom, I still loved the ending
of it all, as it felt realistic and heartbreaking. Not that I want to see Veronica sad to feel like this has been a great episode, but there is a different feel to the show when Veronica is anything but witty for a minute or two.
Veronica’s final moment of the episode was also an attestation to her continued attraction to Logan and that there is still a chance for the two to get back together, so they can make all the Logan/Veronica shippers happy. After all, Duncan was written off the show because the viewers have decided that Logan is the one and only for Veronica, so they have to get back together at some point. While that did not happen in this episode, it was still a great one in their relationship, as Logan sees Veronica as part of his future, no matter what.
 |
| Jackie just wants to spend some quality time with her daddy. |
Meanwhile, the writers came up with a new story for the final episodes of the season, which involves Woody Goodman and maybe the kids that are in his life. Probably not particularly his own kids (although, judging by the weird power structure, definitely his kids, too), but there are somewhat involved in whatever is happening here, and since Lucky seemed to have experienced a traumatic experience with Woody, it makes me think that the Mayor of Neptune really might be a child abuser, as depicted during the episode in which Veronica was invited to Gia’s sleepover bash, as well as Woody weirdly and disgustingly touching and talking about Logan’s arm muscles during the latter's internship. Those two moments made me think that Woody likes boys a little too much, and Lucky was one of his victims many years ago.
This seems like a little much for the remaining episodes of the season, considering there is still a bus crash that needs concluding, but half a season ago, I was expecting both the bus crash and Felix’s murder to reach their conclusion in the final episode, but Felix’s murder has already been concluded, so I guess the writers had time to add another story? I can see that Woody being the creep has been planned from the beginning (hence the weird moment with his son during the babysitting episode), but it took a while for the story to get rolling, which means the writers may have realized they needed to finish one of the ongoing stories – Felix’s murder – before getting into the other they wanted to write about.
I would have loved to know if Lucky would have hurt Gia somehow. He was obviously out for revenge, and the only way Lucky could have had that revenge was by hurting one of Woody’s kids, but it never really felt to me like he was this seriously disturbed to come to school with a knife from an insurgent from the war and stab Gia dead with it. Not that VERONICA MARS would have never gotten into that kind of storytelling (we know that the show is capable of doing that), but that would have been a little too brutal even for this show, especially after the writers already killed off a recurring character with Meg half a season ago. Doing that again with another recurring character right before the season finale? I am not sure that would have been such a great idea.
Meanwhile, the alterna-prom led to some romantic storytelling, with Wallace and Jackie had a great time, and Mac and Butters had anything but a great time, even if I believed that Mac would have come to realize that hanging out with Butters was not that bad (proving that even the seemingly awful people on this show can be nice). But I was happy that Butters was not too much of a creep here and tried to give Mac enough insurance that her night would not be that much of a flop, but in hindsight, I was disappointed that Mac did not have a serious problem with Veronica having “sold” Mac to Butters for simply getting into the Principal's office in the previous episode. It was both a comedic plot and a somewhat serious one, because Mac should have stood up to this while also jokingly threaten Veronica with retaliation, but neither of those two aspects of the story really came over during the alterna-prom. On the plus side, I was glad that Mac did not find Butters suddenly interesting as a person. She went into this hating the idea, and she probably came out if it still hating the idea.
 |
| Lucky's mental breakdown involves the kids of people who wronged him. |
At least Jackie and Wallace had a happy time. Here is to
hoping that she will leave Neptune with her heart still beating for
Wallace, and the two promising each other like Jesse and Celine in
BEFORE SUNRISE that they will meet again in six months or a year, whenever
the opportunity arises. Considering the fact that Duncan and Veronica
split with their freedom and affection still intact, there is hope that
the same will happen with Wallace and Jackie. They can love each other from a distance, and five years from now, when Jackie returns from Paris, the two can rekindle their romance, get engaged, get married, have a bunch of cute babies, and live happily ever after.
