Veronica Mars: The Girl Next Door

Veronica: "It sounded like a falling body. It really freaked me out."
Keith: "A falling body?"
Veronica: "Yes, a falling body."
Keith: "Would you describe the sound as 'Hitchcockian'?"

There's an oft-used sentence that I'm going to repeat. It's episodes like this one that make me such a fan of this show.

So at first it appeared that we had a standard detective plot: Veronica's young, pregnant neighbor disappeared mysteriously after a fight with her jerky boyfriend, a guy who practically had a neon sign with the word "guilty" attached to his forehead.

But things are never what they seem. The surface plot with poor Sarah, victim of rape and pregnant with her stepfather's baby, was grim and ended badly. (Not as badly as it could have, but still.) All this coincided with Veronica's inadvertent discovery that her mother Lianne and Jake Kane were seriously involved in high school. Add in Lianne's earlier rendezvous with Jake, Keith's observation that it takes a lot of love to raise another man's baby, and what do we get? Veronica's sudden realization that she may not be Keith's daughter. And may I add, no no no! I don't even want to consider the possibility.

Duncan's abrupt decision to drop Veronica without explanation, and the way Lilly backed his decision without explaining squat to Veronica, strongly suggested that Duncan came to a similar conclusion; Duncan may think that Veronica is his half-sister. Since the writers of this show appear to drop hints, this made me remember several jokes about brother-sister incest in earlier episodes, mostly referring to Duncan and Lilly. And may I add again, no no no!

The B plot was also very good. It began with the comical aspects of Logan and Weevil sharing a week of detention that somehow resulted in them attaching the priggish Mr. Daniels' hatchback to a flagpole. (How on earth did they do that? Of course, Weevil has family in the automotive field.) Logan again showed unexpected depth by confessing to the prank in order to un-expel Weevil. Yes, he has cojones, and yes, he most certainly knew he was in no danger of expulsion himself, but it was still a remarkably decent thing for Logan to do.

More Logan, please.

Bits and pieces:

— Lianne Reynolds and Jake Kane were in Neptune's high school class of 1979.

— I could swear that the name of the guy in the photo next to Lianne's in the yearbook was "Victoria."

— I am now wondering if Paris Hilton's affair with Weevil's cousin in episode two was a hint about Weevil and Lilly. Are the writers that devious?

— Adam Kaufman's previous role as a nasty boyfriend on Buffy may have heightened my expectations of evil. I wonder if that was deliberate.

— Clemmons sucked up to Logan. Mr. Daniels had the opposite approach. Much like the two teachers in the previous episode.

— Aaron Echolls made a movie called Hair Trigger. (A movie in which he obviously wore boots with stars on them.) There was a poster for Hair Trigger in "Return of the Kane."

Quotes:

Clemmons: "Mr. Echolls, I was wondering if I could have a word."
Logan: "Anthropomorphic. All yours, big guy."

Mr. Daniels: "This is punishment, gentlemen, not party time."
Logan: "Well, that would explain the absence of balloon animals."

Weevil: "You're almost as bad an actor as your father."
Logan: "You know that you don't need a diploma to steal hubcaps, right?"

Logan: "I didn't know they expelled people at our school."
Dick: "Not our people."

Veronica: "Sure, the real tragedy happened long before I came along. I just brought it to the surface. But are some things better left buried?" She was of course referring to the debacle with Sarah as well as the possibility that Keith was not her father. But Veronica is patently incapable of leaving anything buried. This isn't the last time we're going to hear about this father thing.

Four stars,

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

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