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Veronica Mars: Losing Streak

“What’s wrong with you, Veronica?”

A lot of this revival has focused on the detrimental effect that Veronica and Keith’s lives have had on their well-being, both mental and physical. For Keith, it’s the latter that’s been the most prevalent issue for him, as he’s attempted to navigate one of the trickiest cases the Mars family have ever been tasked with, all while dealing with bouts of memory loss that seem to hit at the most inconvenient times. They’ve danced around the topic for a while, but during ‘Losing Streak’ we see both father and daughter finally address the forgetful elephant in the room, and it’s difficult to watch them do it.

Would Keith be so susceptible to Clive and his grooming attempts if he wasn’t suffering from amnesia or a lack of judgement? That’s the question that’s on Veronica’s mind. She doesn’t believe Keith when he thinks he’s found messages on Clive’s phone that exonerate him. She has more than enough evidence to prove otherwise, too, now that she’s got confirmation on Weevil’s involvement in the muggings to add to her list of reasons to blame Team Casablancas. But it’s Keith’s memory journal that’s got her worried more than anything.

I think it says a lot that Veronica wouldn’t let her ego get in the way of getting Keith the best medical care. Keith may have expected another reaction to his daughter finding out about Clive organizing to pay for his treatment, but she didn’t hesitate for a second to convince him to milk the Casablancas well for all it's worth. She cares about Keith too much to let ethics get in the way.

The hardest part about the father/daughter heart-to-heart was Keith’s breakdown. He’s so worried about making a stupid mistake that he’s close to hanging up his detective boots and closing up shop. I’ve mentioned a few times how the dynamic between these two has changed now that Veronica is no longer a troubled teen, but Keith still wants his daughter to live the best life she can, and he’s still desperate for her to leave the PI biz behind.

Veronica sees it differently, though. She thinks Keith is just being a martyr. But Veronica has always seen things in a very pessimistic way. She’s the one suffering most of the emotional repercussions of the Mars family business. She always expects the worst in people, even people like Nicole who admire Veronica enough to confess their deepest, darkest secrets to her. Though she’s able to empathize with Nicole in the moment thanks to her own past sexual abuse, Veronica still thinks about the case first. Does Nicole’s rape at the hands of an entitled man make her angry enough to target sleazy spring-breakers? I’m not buying it, but Veronica seems to think it's plausible when she finds out that Nicole had already sold her club to Big Dick before the bombings started. Watching Veronica plant the bug in Nicole’s office was hard to watch, but it’s testament to the writers’ confidence to paint Veronica as someone inherently flawed.

Even Weevil can see Veronica’s imperfections, though he’s hardly one to talk considering the shady operation he’s involved in. Veronica uses Juan – now dubbed “The Ice Machine Shitter” – to confirm her theory about Clive being behind the recent uptick in spring-breaker muggings. She barely flinches when Weevil brings up the ramifications for the young PCH’er if he gets sent to prison. She’s still smarting from when Weevil turned his back on Veronica, Keith and Cliff when they tried to use Weevil’s set-up to file a suit against the Sheriff’s Department (another book event addressed). There’s so much about their dynamic that’s changed, but it all feels very right considering where both of their lives have ended up, even if it’s sad to see them so angry with each other when they used to be quite close.

Plus

I loved Wallace overhearing Matty manipulating her classmate into helping her. I think he still might have PTSD from all those files he stole from the Neptune High filing cabinets.

Cliff’s dog’s name is The Missus.

Another bombing occurs during this episode, this time in Nicole’s club.

Matty’s digging into the Casablancas' real estate business leads her to Phoenix Land Trust, the company Cassidy set up in Kendall’s name back in season two. Big Dick now owns the company, and he’s using it to buy up property all over Neptune, including Nicole’s club.

He Said, She Said

Weevil: “What’s wrong with you, Veronica?”
Veronica: “You know there are a range of opinions.”

Veronica: "Middle-aged white guys share secrets with others of their kind, don't they?"
Cliff: "How else would we know which no-prescription-needed websites selling Viagra are legit?"

Keith: "I'm starting to think that maybe it's time to hang it up."
Veronica: "What? No. You're 56. 56 is the new 19, I can show you the article."

This season continues to impress me with how well it’s able to depict the harsh realities of life in Neptune for everyone, not just the Mars family. It’s sad to see what's happened to certain characters, but their darker turns are convincing enough that the Marshmallow in me is able to understand why this is where things have ended up.

9 out of 10 lost & found bomber jackets.

1 comment:

  1. A minor detail that irked me was Big Dick crediting access to the Phoenix land trust to Beaver. Rob Thomas like Joss Whedon is usually so careful with story arcs, this seemed a misstep.

    My recollection was that Cassidy set everything up in Kendall’s name. And whilst we know Kendall wasn’t really Kendall, to my knowledge Kendall’s death was never confirmed and Keith never told anyone she wasn’t really Kendall.

    So do we just assume that Dick Snr had Kendall declared dead as no one has sighted her? In which case why not just say it was his wife’s asset?

    Or do we think Cassidy had Kendall create a will that left the land trust to him in event of her death, as which point Dick could make a claim being Cassidy's father?


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