Veronica Mars

Books, comics, TV, music
21

Well, I liked the X-Files as standalone episodes and did not pay much attention to the plot arc within it. So I was happy with it the way it was, and will be happy with Veronica Mars even if it finishes unresolved. I guess it’s the story and characters that I enjoy on an episode to episode basis and having a story that ends well is less important to me than having a long run of enjoyable episodes. And forcing story arcs to a perceived length that works for some reason or other seems like an artificial change that will potentially decrease the quality of each episode and their contents.

However, I do not get the Firefly reference. Firefly never even made it to a complete season as far as I recall. Maybe what you really want is for a series to never take a risk and not to have plot arcs beyond a one episode or two episode reach where it’s guaranteed that the arc will be finished and aired?

I’d be curious to see what shows you currently watch and enjoy which conform to however it is you think they should be made, rather than based on those that are cancelled or finished and have left distaste in retrospect.[/quote]

Supposedly, this season’s plot arc will finish by this season.
We wil get to know 1> who kileld Lilly Kane, 2> Who raped Veronica Mars 3> and hey, the mom’s back already.

Which I guess is cool.

But then I don’t know what sort of plot they could come up with next season to get Veronica as emotionally invested as this one did. SO while, I’m glad it got picked up from another season, (it’s in the forums, I don’t really want to link to the link that linked to series creator Rob Thomas announcements.), but I’m apprehensive of what they can do with it.

On a side note.

I enjoyed firefly on its individual episodes, I never really noticed they had much of a plot arc. Which is pretty much like Buffy’s monster of the week/arc format. ALl the monster characetr developement until the last 5 episodes. Too bad firefly didn’t get that far.

22

No, as I said, a seasonal plot arc for me, please. My Firefly reference was meant to say that there seem to be no guarantees that a series will last for two or three seasons and that having a great series left unresolved is an absolute bear.
Also, I still can’t see this series developing into something after her school years are over. Much of the tension comes from the cliquish aspect of the schoolyard.

23

Heh, anyone else chuckle when they saw the alleged murderer’s name in print? Brian, what have you been doing?

24

2 days and 18 episodes later, let’s just say that I’ve found my Buffy/Angel replacement series. Can anyone tell me what day this series runs on so that I can get my fix ASAP?

25

TVTome is your friend.
Tuesday 9:00 PM

26

Does anyone here actually watch it on UPN? It’s the only show that I really look forward to, and it’s sad that there are only four episodes left. It will be very interesting to see who the murderer is at least, my guess is that it’s Veronica’s mother mainly because it would be very surprising.

27

the fact that she kissed that guy with the airtight alibi who saved her tosses his hat into the ring.

28

I still like the series but I’m starting to feel that it’s jumped the shark already. What with two WTF?! romantic encounters (Her Dad and Lewis’ mother, Veronica and Logan the psychotic thug) and the continued context that Veronica is a social outcast despite the fact that she has helped or saved just about everyone in the school, including the Principal. Christ, she’d have more power than J. Edgar Hoover at his prime considering the amount of information she has on people. I liked it better when she wasn’t so strong.
It’s all starting to look a bit tangled and strained.

29

Agreed. It doesn’t have the same strong humour and edge it normally has.

I could go on to say she is less of a social outcast than she used to be, as demonstrated by the flashbacks where people are directly cruel and rude to her in public, whereas now she coexists without the public hostility.

But, I hate to sit here discussing the characters justifying why someone elses take on the show is wrong, it makes me feel dirty, like I am in a Beverly Hills 90210 fan club or something. Thats the reason why I like the light discussion in this forum, rather than the heavy repeated overanalysis of forums like Television without pity.

30

She is also far too pretty to be a social outcast. My impression of her status is not that she doesn’t have any friends or that she couldn’t get back, but that she won’t forgive them. The only function of her being raped (which I don’t think you’d know about unless you watched the pilot) is to explain her radical change of personality that keeps her as an “outcast”. Her eye-for-an-eye principle probably caused some problems as well, because it seems that many students rightly fear her Hoover-like powers.

I was worried about the quality of the plots already during the second and third episode, but Veronica is simply too sweet to resist.

31

Agreed.

Her social outcast status always seemed a more self-enforced rather than driven by everybody else.

Still, I haven’t watched the latest episodes yet, so who am I to judge eh?

32

Was out sick yesterday and watched coughfourteencough episodes of this show I had downloaded from bittorrent. Yeah, just yesterday.

Now I’m the kind of dude who will unashamedly watch a turd like smallville entirely due to hot chicks in the cast, so a good show with a chick who’s not only painfully hot but smart (and not really 17, I checked) is right up my alley. So very glad to hear it was renewed, and I still have 3 episodes to go before I’m caught up!

33

those snotty chicks did toss her clothes into the toilet. of course her life philosophy is, “you get tough, you get even”.

34

This week’s episode was one of the best episodes of any show I’ve ever seen. It’s too bad there’s only one episode left but I’m also very curious to see who the murderer is.

35

it has to be duncan’s mom, she’s evil!

it has to be keith, he’s too good!

it has to be logan, he has an airtight alibi!

it has to be veronica’s mom, she’s been missing most of the season!

it has to be duncan, he has the evil universe beard!

it has to be weevil he’s been too helpful in the past!

it has to be suicide!

it hsa to be an unknown third party!

yep, can’t wait.

36

There was a time when this show was the one I most looked forward to seeing each week. And I am still liking this show, a lot, but the plot elements that are in the show, yet do not fit within what the show is, bother me - because it is obvious they will be undone to bring the show into a nice wholesome package at the end.

First the rape. I don’t know about you, but as it became obvious that this was not the kind of show where people get raped, more and more it seemed like the rape would get explained away as consensual sex - with Duncan, the most conventional partner.

Then the incest. Having Duncan come out with a statement showing how much this had messed him up and that he knew Veronica was his sister, and that they had had wonderful deviant perverted brother-sister sex felt the same way. Something that didn’t belong in the show and would get undone come further episodes. Keith’s DNA test is going to come back and say that he is the father - there is no other way it can pan out.

But I wish they would put in some tragic things that do not get resolved for Veronica, so that it gives value to the rest of it and adds actual suspense about how it will all turn out. This consistency in resolving all these things just ruins it for me and removes that suspense.

As for who killed Lilly, well, beats me. To be honest, I can’t see why I would care. What is Lilly’s death to me? Theres no reason that the murderer should be someone that matters - unless… of course, it’s Duncan, having found out he is not Veronica’s brother, feels they can reunite then they discover he killed his sister and he gets removed from the equation. The patsy they have locked up, don’t care whether he stays or goes.

What really interests me as I watch shows is what happens with Keith. He isn’t a tedious icon of predictability, the twists involving him are almost delightful. For instance, in the last episode, first Veronica telling her best friend’s mother that her father was satisfied. Then Keith pensively looking through a directory of prostitute numbers. Then Keith dithering about doing what he should with the prostitute - even though you knew or hoped he would actually have called her because she was involved in some case. Still, it is the same as what bothers me about Veronica and not doing things that don’t fit within the nice and wholesome show - but I guess it just feels like it is done better.

Heres hoping I won’t be disappointed by predictable endings that wrap everything up and bring all the ‘out there’ stuff into line too neatly, just because it has to be brought into line. And for some twists that break that ‘neatly into line’ fit.

37

I can certainly understand your criticism, but I’m not sure if you think it’s gotten worse or you just hoped it would get better. To me it was pretty clear from the third episode that it was too much soap opera and plot twists, and that hasn’t really changed. I believe the original concept was darker, but it was UPN and not HBO that picked it up so it’s strange that they even managed to keep the rape at all.

Considering how it all turned out I think it would have been better to drop it entirely. Although Veronica herself said that she wouldn’t let the rape define her it’s pretty hard to believe that the person she turned into wouldn’t consider finding her rapist more important than finding her best friend’s murderer. Instead the rape was only mentioned in the pilot and and two of the last episodes of the season.

The way the rape was also resolved was pretty consistent with the overall plot twisting, with both Duncan and Veronica being drugged by GHB (I would hardly consider it “consensual” even though it might not have been rape). The reason I still call it one of the greatest episodes of any show is because I don’t think I’ve been “overwhelmed” in the same way before. Unlike many other shows where it feels like nothing is really happening (like Lost) in this case it’s perhaps too much going on.

38

I read somewhere, (probably on TwoP) that when Rob Thomas created Veronica Mars, he wanted her to have experienced nearly everything cruel with as far as teen life goes. So, in the pilot, he had every conceivable teenage problem applied to her that he thought he could get away with, or at least resolved later in the episode. So being unceremoniously dumped, alienated, dead best friend, missing mom and raped. (At least he stopped before pregnancy)

With that in mind, I watch episode 121 as sort of a deck clearing exercise. He said he would solve all the relevant mysteries by end of the season, and by golly is he making the effort to.

So, what this says to me is that, yes, the rape was kinda of extraneous in the beginning but Rob, being the dedicated creator that he is, has to tie up all the loose ends. Given that, he did the best he could with this episode and came out none too shabby. But judging from all the events and drama of previous episodes, the rape does feel extraneous. I don’t think it really define Veronica as a character. As in, she didn’t need it as a catalyst to end up who she was for the majority of the season. It a loose end that needed tying up. Which is why you only hear of it in the pilot, one episode in the middle and this one. (with the obligatory lead in from the last episode.)

Lilly’s murder on the other hand, seemed to be the motivating factor, surrounding the season. It involved everybody, with the most amount of build up.

In a nutshell.
Ep 121 was a deck-clearing exercise, ergo, it definitely wasn’t going to be as good, or as cohesive to main feel of the entire show. Which I guess is why you feel that it doesn’t fit into the ‘feel’ from before.

I too, hope that the finale will be satisfying.

P.S. TwoP has a 93 page forum discussion about this!!! Brief scanning indicates that almost everybody there has a psychology degree awarded from the University of Armchaircriticisms. Not to disparage anyone there with actual psych degrees but geez, the comments range from the obviously obvious to conclusive anecdotal evidence of psychology.

39

Well the murder made sense as a self-contained story, but it’s kind of a shame… the show works very well as an episodic drama, but as a mystery it fails. You couldn’t possibly have figured out who did it. Every hint in episodes 1-21 was a red herring. Still, great show.

Weren’t they supposed to set up the great mystery of season 2 in the finale?

40

was harry hamlin ever listed as a possible suspect?