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Veronica Mars: Entering a World of Pain

“What's the destructive gene in your relationship?”

Throughout this season we’ve watched Veronica and Logan attempt to navigate their relationship and their own separate ideals in light of the different people they’ve become. They seem to be clashing most when it comes to Veronica’s own personal shortcomings, something that’s made even more jarring by the fact that Logan seems to have gotten his shit together in a big way.

Logan definitely wants Veronica to get better. He’s tried a few times to convince her to see his therapist, but she’s too stubborn to go, even when he tries to downgrade it to “hanging with Jane”. But Veronica isn’t ready to talk through her many problems just yet. She’s happy to keep fending off Logan’s advances with sarcasm and snark; the classic Veronica defense mechanism. She doesn’t even give the idea a chance.

Then Logan gets called away. It’s such an abrupt and surprising turn of events when Veronica comes home to a voicemail from him, explaining his absence and asking her to give the marriage idea one last mulling over. From a story-telling perspective it’s quite a sharp u-turn, but thinking about it in the context of the life of someone in a relationship with a US marine it makes total sense. There’s rarely any warning of a departure, and when it happens it happens quickly, with little to no time for a proper goodbye.

Perhaps time apart will help Veronica to sort through her own baggage and give Logan’s marriage proposal some serious thought. She even admits that she’s the problem to Nicole; she's the destructive gene in their relationship. Maybe acceptance of her role in her love-life drama will start her on the road towards bettering herself for Logan. Maybe that bettering starts in Jane’s office. Though it should be said, Veronica has more problems to talk through than simply her romantic ones – she’s still spying on Nicole.

Veronica’s discomfort while listening in on her new best friend’s office hook-ups is clear; she does not like spying on someone she likes and respects. But Veronica can’t help herself when it comes to her job. She has to find out the truth, whether it kills her or not. Weevil sees that same part of Veronica and doesn’t hold back on sharing his thoughts with her in an even more intense confrontation than their face-off in the previous episode. She has degrees that anyone would kill for, yet she still comes back to the town she supposedly hates to exert... justice?

Weevil doesn’t exactly see how Veronica is helping matters. All he’s heard about her current role in Neptune is her electrocution of teenage boys under his tutorship, and her outing his role in the muggings. How is she really helping? Of course, Veronica stuck her neck out for Weevil when he had the chance to do better. She put a lot on the line after he got arrested to help fight the good fight, but he went back to his old habits. He doesn’t have a degree from Stanford to fall back on. Is he always destined to live the life of a petty criminal? I want better for him, but you can see why he’d return to his old life when living a clean one is so hard for him in a town like Neptune.

I hate to see Veronica and Weevil turn on each other, especially since he may be the only thing standing between the Mars family and a deadly hitman. Alfonso knows about Veronica and Keith snooping through his motel room thanks to Weevil’s sister. After they uncover Maloof’s 100k payment for Alfonso’s services, Veronica and Keith pull of a hilarious yet effective ruse to gain access to Alfonso’s room, but Claudia catches them in the act. I was wondering when this story would inevitably spell trouble for Veronica and it looks like it's on its way.

Plus

A reveal that will surprise nobody: Clyde and Big Dick were responsible for orchestrating the first bombing. It was supposed to be a warning for Sul Ross but thanks to the internet going down it went off at the wrong time.

Penn seems adamant that Big Dick was responsible for the letters from the bomber thanks to a turn of phrase in the latter’s previous tweets. It’s a stretch but maybe he’s desperate to find out who planted that dead duck in his bed.

There was serious sparkage between Veronica and Leo as they enjoyed a boozy night together.

Maloof’s blackmailer was a teenage white-nationalist.

With Logan out of the picture for a while, the Maloofs needed a replacement bodyguard. Enter Clarence Wiedman!

Clarence’s arrival happened just in time. He was able to take down Tyler, but not before the remaining Carr brother managed to get a bullet in Daniel Maloof’s shoulder.

He Said, She Said

Big Dick: “The bomb was supposed to go off in the middle of the night. It was just supposed to be a warning to Sul Ross, but, well, shit happens.”

Weevil: “You've got degrees from Stanford and Columbia that you don't even use. You'd rather stay in this town that you say you hate, tasing teenagers and makin' 'em wet their pants.”

Veronica: “I don't know what it says about me that after I found out Logan was gone again for some undisclosed period of time, the person I wanted to see, share my frustration with, was the same person I was spying on, trying to determine whether she was a murderer.”

While the different facets of the bombing case are starting to come together, characterization continues to play the biggest role in how this season is taking shape. ‘Entering a World of Pain’ featured even more of the insightful dialogue and exciting story beats that have made this revival such a fun ride, so far. And we’re not even finished yet.

9 out of 10 frying pans.

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