Last night was the premiere of Veronica Mars and there is really a lot of pressure on the show. Although the critics love it and the fans are willing to go to great lengths in order to convince other people just how much they love it, enthusiasm for a show does not always translate into ratings. While it was on UPN, the quirky adventures of our favorite cute as a button private investigator could afford to languish in the ratings. Now on a new network, Veronica Mars is going to have to hold it's own in the ratings wars, and the network has not yet committed to a full season. All of this means little to the people who have come to love Veronica Mars and half a season is better than none, no? There were a lot of questions left over from last season, and we got a lot of answers, but in true Veronica Mars form, they introduced just a few more twists to get us thinking again.
Veronica Mars the show is off to a fresh start on a new network, but Veronica Mars the girl, or young lady rather, is about to get a fresh start at a new school. Her first goal? Trying not to piss anybody off. Yeah, good luck with that Veronica. Veronica has many qualities, but patience for idiots is not one of them. One of the reasons I think Veronica hated high school so much was that she was never challenged academically, and if her first class, Criminology 101 natch, is any indication, things aren't going to get any more difficult. Her professor even encourages them to skip class, just not his. But not that he has to worry. With his laid-back style and neatly shorn goatee, all of the ladies in the class are swooning.
Veronica's first assignment was an interesting one. Instead of shocking everybody with a "lecture" Professor Landry decides to have the class play a murder mystery. I shit you not. It wasn't like he got out a couple of boxes of Clue, but it was close. "Murder on the Riverboat Queen" is a murder mystery. The TA of the class Timothy Foyle, also known as Lucky to his friends. OK, he might not be known as Lucky to his friends, but they literally had the same guy who played Lucky, the batshit crazy, gun wielding janitor last year, play Foyle, and thought that some longer hair, a patchy beard, and some glasses would throw us off.
Mr. Foyle handed out cards to the students in the class. Some people were passengers, some were murderers, and the people who didn't get a card were Pinkerton's, who were like Magnum PI before Ferraris and Tom Selleck were an item. Everybody is hard at work except for Veronica. The TA sees that she is not working, and believes that her lack of participation signifies that the class is too hard. When Veronica tells him that she already knew the answer, the TA is amazed, and calls the teacher. Now, the record for solving the crime was sixteen minutes, and Foyle held that record, and now Veronica solved the puzzle without getting out of her chair!
She guessed that it was the (not really) blind fiddle player Rutherford Styles, and she was correct, but how did she get the answer? Google of course! She looked up "Murder on the Riverboat Queen", found out it was a murder in a box game developed in the late eighties, looked at the fan message boards, and found the answers. Were the writers giving a shout out to message boards that post spoilers? Perhaps, but it wasn't very flattering. Veronica said that she ignored the spoiler warnings and called it "kind of douchebaggy". Hey, I kind of agree.
Oh, you're a rascal Veronica Mars!
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Comments (16)
I think Veronica getting the water was just a device to get her out of the room so Logan could answer the phone. I loved this episode, but I agree that the whole Keith/Kendall/Cormac storyline was a litte hard to follow. Is Vinny really working for Liam? Is Liam tracking them and on his way there? Are Cormac and Liam in it together? Was it all an elaborate ruse because they knew Liam was watching and wanted to throw him off? So many questions....
1 of 16 | Posted by JerseyGirl
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Posted on October 5, 2006 6:44 PM
Great episode. And I actually like the new credits. Different, but somewhat growing on me. Also, the more I think about it, I think perhaps Liam and Cormac were in it together. They hired Vinnie to plant the bug in Keith's briefcase and then when Kendall was dead, Liam could come to pick Cormac up. All confusing, but I'm SO glad I've got something to look forward to.
I sort of like Piz. He's just really cute. And they need to give Wallace and Mac more dialogue. Use them! They are such great characters.
2 of 16 | Posted by someonespecial
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Posted on October 5, 2006 7:52 PM
I noticed the water thing too, especially since she asked for water a second time later in the episode. I can't remember what the context was, but it caught my attention. I hope Veronica doesn't have some sort of exotic dehydration disorder contracted in the wilds of New York! Maybe it's a public service campaign to bring awareness to the 8 glasses a day rule. Whatever it was, I've gotten way crazy about the details in this show as well.
3 of 16 | Posted by ikkepagrasset
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Posted on October 5, 2006 9:40 PM
I have been a fan of VM since the beginning but really didn't like this episode. I think it glossed over to many important events. Say for instance the death of Logan's father... the whole Jackie and Wallace thing, Sometimes VM writers seem to like to fast forward over the important things.. I'll keep watching but this episode just seemed shallow and not written with the same integrity as most episodes.
4 of 16 | Posted by NightBird
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Posted on October 5, 2006 11:29 PM
Long time reader, first time commentor. Or something to that effect.
In regard to Piz's "new" wardrobe... the clothes that Veronica gave him were DEFINATELY left behind by one Duncan Kane (and... ew... I just threw up in my mouth a little bit).
The tank top that VM gave Piz was blue, which was Duncan's signature color (Logan's was always green in S1/2). And the argyle? CLASSIC Duncan Kane. Logan, phallic-headed as he may be (and no, my love knows no bounds...), wouldn't have been caught dead in that stuff (except he might have had to wear it in S2... can't... recall...).
Anyway, just clearing that up. I thought it was a GUH-REAT shout out to S1/2 and, overall, a great episode.
Werd.
5 of 16 | Posted by Ethrich
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Posted on October 6, 2006 6:23 AM
Logan did wear that exact blue argyle sweater. BUT, it was Duncans. In season 2 when Logan's house burned down, he moved in with Duncan and wore Duncan's clothes. Remember when Veronica layed on the couch with Logan thinking it was Duncan? So, it was Duncan's shirt that Piz wore, but the comment from Logan was because he knew who's shirt it was.
I also noticed the water thing. She asked for it twice. That is nothing to ignore on a show like Veronica Mars.
6 of 16 | Posted by Stefunny77
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Posted on October 6, 2006 7:14 AM
This episode was my first time watching Veronica Mars, and I think I'm gonna stay for the long haul. Love the writing and the characters. The mystery of Piz's missing stuff was good because I could follow that and not be so concerned with how confused I was by that guy and Charisma Carpenter. Also, I had no idea about the rape-shaved head thing, so reading this recap definitely helped - thanks for putting in info for us first-timers, J-Unit!
Some random comments:
Veronica got water simply because she was all hot and sweaty from the sexy-lovin. And because she had to be out of the room in order for Logan to answer the phone.
The actor playing Piz was on the so-good-but-short-lived dramedy "life as we know it" that was on ABC a couple years ago. For the other three people that watched that show, he was the one dating Kelly Osbourne (who was not as bad as you'd think).
More importantly, the criminology professor was played by the same actor who was the professor that Kelly had a relationship with on Saved By The Bell: The College Years. Short hair and a goatee can't fool me, Professor Lasky!
Is it just me or in the picture of the craigslist guy and the welcome wagon girl... didn't it look like the girl was wearing a really bad blonde wig? And how did Veronica know to look in the mentoring files for those kids? Maybe she's just really smart and I just have to sit back and watch.
7 of 16 | Posted by Lisa
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Posted on October 6, 2006 8:20 AM
re: The Clothing,
OK, thanks for the clarification. However, I still say Logan is more known for sleeveless than anybody else. Let us not forget Jason Dohring was posing in a sleeveless for all of those season 1 promos.
8 of 16 | Posted by J Unit
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Posted on October 6, 2006 9:33 AM
did i miss something at the end of season 2? how did they explain why veronica didn't end up going to stamford?
i love this show.
9 of 16 | Posted by acz
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Posted on October 6, 2006 11:40 AM
She didn't go to Stanford because she decided during her final exam to find out the verdict of the Echoll's case rather than finish the test. This would ruin her chances of recieveing the Kane scholarship, which is the only way she could afford Stanford.
10 of 16 | Posted by Stefunny77
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Posted on October 6, 2006 5:02 PM
Yay Lisa!! How happy am I that I'm not the only one who recognized the still very hot Jeremiah Laskey!!! I guess that actor(whatever his name is) plays the hot prof role very well.
Oh and I really liked the ep even if some parts were a little "wtf" for me
11 of 16 | Posted by lalia
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Posted on October 6, 2006 9:09 PM
The "33" shirt actually did belong to Duncan, he wore it in "Blast for the Past" when he and Logan were playing video games.
12 of 16 | Posted by Crazymonkey182
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Posted on October 7, 2006 11:47 PM
thanks for the great recap J! I love Piz- he's a cutie! You know that Logan is going to do something to fuck it up with V, so hopefully Piz will be waiting in the background. Why didn't V just answer him when he asked if he was her boyfriend?
13 of 16 | Posted by zoobabe
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Posted on October 8, 2006 5:17 AM
I liked Piz from his first scene. He's a nice guy with all the character Duncan never had!
14 of 16 | Posted by kmills
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Posted on October 8, 2006 5:09 PM
Lisa, the motto is: Veronica Mars is smarter than me...
When she discovered craigslist guy was the thief because of the photo, he told her he had mentored for the Criminology class. Then I guess she remembered the kids at the bar who faked her into thinking the welcome wagon girl was thin, when now she knows the girl was actually fat. So thinking that they have to be connected, she looks for their files.
15 of 16 | Posted by Silver559
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Posted on October 8, 2006 11:24 PM
I thought that Keith was shot? While behind the rock he was clutching his chest as if he'd been injured, no?
There's also a few typos in your recap but I'll restrain from being a grammar nazi, or typing nazi in this case?
16 of 16 | Posted by gadzooks
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Posted on October 10, 2006 5:12 PM