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Veronica Mars: Clash of the Tritons

Veronica: "Hi, Dad. Their case is fuzzy and circumstantial."
Keith: "You know the odd thing? Those were also her very first words."

It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you.

This episode had some interesting bookends. Early on, Aaron Echolls threatened to kill Logan. Near the end, Logan threatened to kill Aaron. The things Logan said to Rebecca James implied that he was mildly suicidal ("What's so great about living?") And the episode ended with Lynn Echolls' abandoned car on the Coronado Bridge. Lynn said she couldn't take it any more. Did she jump? Was she murdered? Did she just run away? If she did, who could blame her?

There was a good bit of Lilly-related plot thickening. We found out why Lilly broke up with Logan: Logan got drunk and kissed another girl, Veronica saw it and told Lilly. Logan is now convinced that Lilly's death was his own fault (as well as Veronica's) because he wasn't with Lilly the night of the murder. Logan has obviously been grieving hard for Lilly; what will losing Lynn do to him?

Those sessions in Rebecca James' office were wildly interesting. Veronica was just stringing Rebecca along in order to plant her bug, but she did reveal that investigating Lilly's murder was how she dealt with her grief. Duncan thought that Lilly's spirit was mad at him because he doesn't remember her murder. And wow. What is Duncan's mystery illness? What is he taking? I can do some obvious conclusion-jumping there: did Duncan kill Lilly and not know that he did it? And then there was Weevil. Weevil loved Lilly. Weevil was stalking Lilly, at least on paper. This of course makes him a suspect, just like nearly everyone else on the show.

This isn't a game Veronica is playing. She got arrested. She could get hurt or killed. As long as she is compelled to do something about Lilly's murder, she's in danger.

Bits and pieces:

— I absolutely loved Veronica doing karaoke. And of course, she picked the perfect song: "One Way or Another." Very Veronica.


— Wallace was a lot of fun in this episode. He's growing on me.

— Logan got into a fight in the opening scenes. He's getting a taste of what it's like to be Veronica.

— The Triton secret society was this week's red herring. I should have guessed as soon as we learned Duncan was a recruit. Duncan would never dump a buddy like the very nasty Rick dumped the unfortunate Tim.

— Veronica's locker was searched for a third time.

— Aaron mentioned his daughter Trina. I don't remember her being mentioned before.

— How did Lilly and Veronica get their own fake IDs last year?

— We got the names of three other top Neptune juniors: Harry Didden, Steve Vargo, Matt Barone.

— It wasn't just Duncan with the pills: Lynn popped some when she got in the car. And that was the last time we saw her.

— A little girl named Marisol Reyes disappeared the same day that Lilly died. Was that a coincidence? Two murders in one day? How big is Neptune?

— Aaron talked about the scandal and other failures turning him into Costner. Pretty funny.

— Another visit from defense attorney Cliff, whom Veronica called to bail her out. I like Cliff; the actor has a wonderful, dry sarcastic delivery.

— December is personal hygiene month, according to the Neptune High display case.

— In this week's hair report, the Mickey Mouse pigtails were back. It says a lot that Kristen Bell can pull a look like that off.

Quotes:

Rebecca: "You're never going to come to terms with Lilly's death if you keep all that pain bottled up inside you."
Veronica: "Wow. I have that exact same platitude-a-day calendar at home. It's how I know beauty comes from within."

Wallace: "La femme Veronica. I heard it took three officers and a stun gun to haul your butt out of school."

Aaron: "So. I guess I should have cancelled the party after all." Gee. You think?

Rick: "They're called the Tritons. It's a secret society at school."
Veronica: "Why haven't I heard of them? (pause) Stupid question."

Veronica: "This is a two hundred and fifty dollar piece of crap. Now I'm not just falsely accused, I'm genuinely offended."

Wallace: "Veronica, I'm assuming you didn't accidentally lock yourself in the trunk."

Veronica: "Hi, everybody! Say 'repressed homosexuality'!"

Logan: "Gosh, Mom. Gee, Dad. Will I be going to live with grandma?" Despite his sarcastic tone, Logan wasn't kidding. When parents fight, their kids automatically think, what is going to happen to me?

When Veronica confronted Duncan at the karaoke bar, he spoke nonsense to her. I recognized one line. They're typing tests designed to include every letter of the alphabet:

Brawny gods just flocked up to quiz and vex him.
Quick wafting zephyrs vex bold Jim.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

This was a terrific episode. Let's give it four stars,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

4 comments:

  1. Veronica singing "One way or Another" was a hoot. Loved how she solved the case and rubbed it on Lamb´s face.

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  2. I'm finding that I am getting very angry at people who treat Veronica poorly. I guess I must be connecting with her and perhaps identifying a bit. Nasty, privileged people particularly bug me and I must have a lot of company since the show was quite popular. I am worried about Logan as well but sometimes get annoyed at the problems of rich people.

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  3. How did Lilly and Veronica get their own fake IDs last year?

    In the episode where Veronica uses Lilly's ID to get a copy of the traffic ticket, she tells us that the girls snuck into the Sheriff's office (Keith was still in charge) and made the IDs themselves.

    My goodness, but they are giving Logan a lot to deal with in one year. Hard to believe that such an unpleasant kid could generate so much sympathy.

    But, I cheered when he threatened his dad. Long overdue.

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  4. In the first few episodes, I saw Logan as pretty one-note character. Over the season (and especially in this episode) Logan's character deepens into something really unexpected. The writing is definitely a factor, but I have to give serious props to Jason Dohring for giving such a nuanced performance. Between Dohring, Kristen Bell and Enrico Colantoni, this show is blessed with some amazing acting.

    ReplyDelete

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