Date of airing: April 5, 2006 (UPN)
Nielsen ratings information: 2.85 million viewers, 1.7/3 in Households, 1.2 rating with Adults 18-49
written by: Dayna Lynne North
directed by: John Kretchmer
Things are about to get serious on the show. The Fitzpatricks have gotten rid of Thumper, and Weevil has taken his revenge which might come back to bite him in the butt later, especially when it becomes clear that the Fitzpatricks are being manipulated by Weevil. Granted, the Fitzpatricks do not have an issue with getting rid of problematic people, but maybe they will when they find out that they were being outsmarted by a small-time biker gang member who was supposed to be under the foot of a bigger person. Here is to hoping that Rod Rowland's Liam Fitzpatrick is going to rise as the supervillain of the season throughout the next couple of episodes, and not just because of the actor himself.
Rod Rowland might not be a name anyone knows in twenty-first-century television, but in 1995, the man was starring in one of the finest science-fiction shows of all time, which means you cast the guy when you need a serious role filled with a knowable face. Rowland is one of those faces. And now he has returned to level up the Fitzpatrick storyline and maybe get into a war with Weevil, who is definitely interested in blowing up the Fitzpatricks like Logan was about blowing up the PCHers earlier this season. There are five episodes left, and this might be the right storyline to go with, especially since Weevil showed up for confession, which means Weevil is about to make contact with the Fitzpatricks through their drug distributor. Would you think of VERONICA MARS as a high school drama after reading the paragraph I have just written?
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| This is the moment when a lot of red flags are popping up. |
This episode had some romance stuff going on, which did not end well for the characters, although that is nothing new after the heartbreak of the previous episode. Wallace and Jane broke up, Logan still feels the feels after losing Hannah, Beaver and Mac kind of broke up after their story became serious and possibly emotionally dramatic this hour, and Jackie is definitely interested in keeping her distance from Wallace. knowing that her involvement with him would create a new kind of reputation for her at school – a type of reputation she cannot afford right now, as her father is being removed from suicide watch in jail.
I am almost glad that Veronica has been single for a couple of episodes now, or this hour would have been used to break her up with whichever boyfriend she was, and the writers would have turned the show into 60 minutes of BEVERLY HILLS, 90210, only retitled as “Neptune, 90909,” which, by the way, is a show I would totally watch. It could have been a companion high school drama series to the Hulu revival season of VERONICA MARS, and chances are nothing will have changed about what really is going on in Neptune High, and who or what is going to make the new drug kingpin of the school angry, since Thumper or his successor will not be around for the 2019 edition of Neptune High, California.
I did kind of like the relationship stuff. Wallace behaved like I would imagine any boy does when dealing with two hugely attractive ladies, and Mac’s worries about being unable to move forward with her relationship with Beaver was a fear I could feel myself (anxiety is a fickle bitch in an intimate relationship). And because the two lovebirds have been behaving weirdly in their romances and did not know it, they ended up without a partner to shoulder on at the end of the episode, which makes the controlled implosion of the Shark stadium a metaphorical image of all the relationships that have imploded in this episode as well. Damn, sometimes I really adore the way this show is written – I hope I can get to that level of writing someday, although realistically speaking, that will never be the case since I always give up on my scripts halfway through.
The investigation into Felix’s murder was solid. It may have been convenient near the end when the witness and Logan’s helper came forward in the end, but compared to other episodes, this story has been moving quickly during this hour, and it ended in a beautiful fashion – Thumper is done and dusted, the evidence destroyed, Weevil is thinking about his one-man war against the Fitzpatricks, and there might even be a chance that they are also involved in the bus crash, according to the previous episode’s ending. Whatever Weevil is about to do, there might be a possibility for Veronica to get involved as well. That scene with Weevil and Molly Fitzpatrick was also great – it showcased Molly’s don’t-care attitude (or maybe she cannot do anything about it since she knows who killed Felix and does not want to ruin her relationship with the Fitzpatricks when they know about her romance with Felix), while it is being confronted with Weevil’s efforts to find the killer and get control over the PCHers again. Two completely different people, two different minds, but they have joined the same story now.
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| Even Mac is getting her heart broken in this episode. |
And finally, there was Logan’s internship with Woody. There was something very creepy about that scene in which Woody touched Logan’s muscles, and now that Woody has also been targeted by an unknown person, the chances are pretty high now that Woody will turn out to be a bad person as well (no surprise, because this is Neptune – everyone is a supervillain), which means he might even be a future suspect for the bus crash, and who knows, maybe even Felix’s murder. But yeah, his behavior around Logan made me think that Woody likes boys a lot, and that is definitely a problem for the characters involved. After all the dark stuff VERONICA MARS has depicted over almost two seasons, sexual abuse of minors has not been in the center of attention yet – I guess the time for that is now?
By the way, this episode delivered some cracking oneliners. First, there is Logan, who, after taking the oath to become (honorary) deputy commissioner, says he is "going to fire the Sheriff," which he had any right to do. Then there is Weevil, who, sitting in Sheriff Lamb's office, reacts to Lamb's "Look up Eli Navarro, there's gotta be something outstanding we can book him on" with "Oh, if I did it, it's outstanding!" Two lines that just made me burst out laughing for a couple of seconds. Please, more of that!
