Date of airing: October 3, 2006 (The CW)
Nielsen ratings information: 3.37 million viewers, 2.1/3 in Households, 1.4/4 with Adults 18-49
written by: Rob Thomas
directed by: John T. Kretchmer
Can it be that this episode ended in the most horrific way imaginable, even for The CW standards? You wake up, knowing that not only did your hair go like Helen Shivers in I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, but you also have been raped, and you know all of that happened because it has always happened at Hearst College. But it gets worse: You wake up, and you might have realized you walked into a rape last night without realizing it, and you could have stopped it. A scene reminiscent of a murder scene in the 1998 college slasher URBAN LEGENDS, it quickly became a nightmare for the characters in this show, airing in a timeslot after the GILMORE GIRLS, possibly whiplashing some of the viewers who were expecting some light and funny television.
I was a bit worried that VERONICA MARS would be losing a bit of steam with the change in networks (UPN and The WB merged less than a month before this episode's airing), but the first episode had a story about rape almost front and center, and now it is pretty obvious that Veronica’s first case this season will involve catching the rapist, for which there have been multiple suspects introduced already. It might be a little easier to do, since no one is being murdered this time around, but it might also be harder to do, since college-based rape cases do not leave a lot of traces and clues behind. Consider me intrigued though that the Hearst rape story from the second season, when Veronica was touring the college grounds (even though she believed she would be going to Stanford – oh yeah, what happened with that plan of hers?), is being picked up with the season premiere and has been turned into an ongoing storyline. And this after series creator Rob Thomas once said that the change in broadcast network gave him the opportunity to start the season with a clean slate.
 |
| Dick finally lost his balls. |
This was a solid season premiere. Now on The CW instead of UPN, there was the possibility that the show would become a little lighter in story and tone. With the former high school students now in college, there was also the possibility that all the evil high school stuff has been let go (no more corruption or drug deals between Irish gangsters and Latino motorbikers), just to be replaced by nonstop college party stuff, in which characters like Dick Casablancas will feel like home, because college is their natural habitat. Thank the heavens that I was wrong about it — like the series premiere on UPN two years prior, the first episode on The CW opens with a rape backstory, and to my surprise, Dick has been turned into a troubled character now, whose dick-ish behavior of the previous season was given the sacrificial exit after Beaver's mass murders and suicide. That way, Ryan Hansen could play a character who is, in fact, a character and not just the high school asshole chasing the next big pair of boobies.
Dick’s appearance at the end was refreshing, and it opened new opportunities for the character, as he has been thrown out of the party life and into the depressed Hell of a person who lost his parents and how his little brother to crime and murder. What a shame that Dick had not been punched a little more before his world shattered into pieces. The kick in the nuts by the group of women during the beginning and the fists he got in his face after flirting with a stranger were kind of welcomed punishments for the character, but here we are: Dick lost his parents, his stepmother, his little brother... I cannot believe for the life of me that I feel for the guy. Now he can connect with Logan over something, which could make them even stronger friends and give them purpose away from love triangles and the like. But that would also mean Dick will have to become a much better character to deserve Logan’s friendship throughout the season.
Rob Thomas did not lose anything of Veronica Mars, teenage private investigator, as she decided to take the case of various belongings from various freshmen having been stolen. I might have no idea how Veronica really solved the case (a lot of happy coincidences must have helped her, like looking at the picture of the guy with the guitar and his chubby blond girlfriend, or knowing that The Unwashed gig is turning into a solid lead), but she solved the case, and all of a sudden, she had a potential love interest in Piz, who really weirded me out with his Zac Efron Disney Channel look. The similarities between the two are astounding, making me wonder if Chris Lowell was also in consideration for Efron’s role in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL.
Anyway, the show survived the change in networks, which was not
always a guarantee, as I would not have trusted network chief Dawn Ostroff to keep the
show as it was when still at UPN, but then again, Ostroff did not yet
know what her network was supposed to be — it is when GOSSIP GIRL was not a
show yet, which turned The CW into a network for the female 14 to 29s,
and VERONICA MARS pretty much was not a show for a network like that. A show like this would never have been ordered to series during the realm of GOSSIP GIRL, which is probably why VERONICA MARS was canceled before that other show premiered.
 |
| Parker loves herself some of Colin's eyes. |
The episode still had a few surprises, the ending not included. Keith leading an assassin to Kendall Casablancas was a little shocker, although I was expecting something to happen in that regard, since Keith’s entire story was about driving that guy to Kendall, building the suspense. One can only hope that cases like these will make Keith a more paranoid person who makes the biggest mistakes of all, as it could be a great character arc for him – especially now that he is mostly living alone, with his daughter in college, mostly unable to help him solve a few of the cases she decided to take on after school.
The distance
between Keith and Veronica could lead to some great storytelling, to
depict how the show handle each other’s caseload without much of the
other’s assistance, as well as showing which cases will unite them and
how long Veronica is actually being kept in college, as the first two
seasons were not much about life in high school anyway. Every once in
a while, there was a story set at school, but it is not like the show was
defined by life at Neptune High, so I cannot imagine it will change
now that Veronica is in college. Not to mention that the writers simply could not break apart Veronica and Keith like that. The two will find a way to work together again.
