Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Veronica Mars: Would you like to buy a monkey?

Some brief spoilers for "Veronica Mars" just as soon as I figure out why "Stop Being a Hater and Learn to Love the O.C." didn't include an author's photo...

So good to have this show back, and with an episode that was largely firing on all cylinders. I've lost all interest in the LoVe 'ship, or whatever it's being called at the moment, and feel like they should have let the separation play out over more episodes (even if six weeks have passed in Veronica Time), but beyond that subplot, I was very pleased.

Best Mystery of the Week in quite some time. Even though I suspected the male lab jockey almost from the start (mainly because I recognized him from ABC's short-lived "Night Stalker" remake), there were some good twists and turns, an ethical conundrum for Veronica (the monkey was awfully cute, I'll admit) and a refreshingly downbeat ending (Veronica gives back the cash and another monkey's going to get capped). I like that Veronica isn't subtle when she goes undercover; she's a blunt instrument, where Keith occasionally can be a scalpel. (Even if his own minor celebrity screwed him over with Landry, I thought he made a good approach.) And, most of all, I was glad to have Mac get by far her biggest showcase of the season, to see some bonding amongst all three ladies (the trolling for guys nature of the story made Wallace's absence less obvious), and to see Kristen Bell break out her metal face twice in one hour.

Landry's such an obvious suspect in O'Dell's murder that I'm guessing upfront he didn't do it. So who else is already in the suspect pool? Mrs. O'Dell, Tim the TA, the shady alumnus, maybe the Lilith House women (though probably not)... anyone I'm missing?

What did everybody else think?

11 comments:

R.A. Porter said...

I'd assumed from the moment the paper topic was announced in Landry's class that Veronica's paper was going to be used as the template for the 2nd-arc murder mystery, even before I knew they were going to kill off poor, poor Cyrus.

Also, there was a *very* big scene between the TA and his girlfriend at the frat party which I figured was right around the time of the murder, establishing a rock-solid alibi for him. Of course, it was an over-the-top scene intended to give him a plausible alibi, not a real one. Lucky, j'accuse!

My guess is, he pulled it off to near perfection. It looks like a suicide with just enough evidence pointing to murder, but that all points to Landry. Lucky gets his revenge. And he'd get away with it too, if not for those meddling kids and their monkey!

K J Gillenwater said...

The only thing that really disappointed me was the fact that Veronica's supposedly brilliant paper sounded a little dull to me. Faked suicide? Computer-written note? Not all that original. I would have expected more from Ms. Mars considering some of the crimes she's solved and how oddly some of them played out.

After seeing the promos for next week's episode, I am very curious to find out why Veronica won't be able to forgive Logan for some kind of involvement with a prostitute. I mean, how is that any worse than him doing the car quickie with the surfer chick he just met? Especially considering the girl sounded more than eager to spread the news that she just 'did' Aaron Echolls's son?

It was fabulous to have Mac back for a full episode with lots of lines. Thank goodness. Now, if they could just combine Mac and Wallace into one episode, I would be happy. I miss Veronica with her friends. Makes her more likeable.

Anonymous said...

Some brief spoilers for "Veronica Mars" just as soon as I figure out why "Stop Being a Hater and Learn to Love the O.C." didn't include an author's photo...

Did you give them the one with the beard? ;-)

My favorite part of the ep was Dick's picture-taking antics. And poor Piz!

I was more interested in the previews for next week than in this ep's mystery. The thing with the fake calendar was pretty funny, though.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Veronica! I thought it was a solid episode; the mystery of the week was one of the better ones this season, and Veronica was direct and nosy but not bitchy. Plus, it was great to see Mac get a kiss from someone who (probably) isn't a mass murderer.

Am I the only one rooting for a Veronica-Piz relationship? I'd like to see Veronica date someone who's not quite so tortured ... she and Logan have great chemistry, but I think Logan needs to spend some time on his own. Preferably under the care of a really good therapist, and with friends besides Chip and Dick. The poor boy has major issues.

Anonymous said...

I've got to admit, Piz is really growing on me. I really liked his line delivery on "That is nice."

Anonymous said...

I was just happy to see Mac.

Anonymous said...

In your last Studio 60 post, you wrote: "If you've been following this blog for a while, you may have noticed how quickly the shows I don't care for drop out of the rotation."

Obviously, one of these dropped shows is VM's lead-in, Gilmore girls. Not sure if you saw last night's ep, but it was, by far, the best episode of the post-AS-P/DP era. Rebecca Rand-Kirschner should have been the showrunner instead of that mongrel, David Rosenthal.

This episode featured the return of Gil. Gil! Hep Alien!

Alan Sepinwall said...

Omar, I watch "Gilmore Girls" with my wife, who at the moment is indisposed. So I probably won't get to the new episode for a while.

dark tyler said...

So, anyone else here reading Y: The Last Man from Vertigo/DC Comics? Rob Thomas obviously does, because in this ep we had:
a) The capuchin monkey
b) The younger version of Yorick
c) His partner, obviously a younger Agent 355
d) The other girl, a stand-in for Dr. Mann.

I was totally geeking out while eatching this! Also, the author of this series, Brian K. Vaughan, is the new executive story editor in Lost, and co-writer of the upcoming Season 8 of Buffy. I just love pop culture these days! (LOL)

Anonymous said...

What season 8 of Buffy??
Online? Fanfic? Virtual Season? Comic? Pro-Fic? Other?

Did you hear that Marti is writing for Grey's Anatomy? She and Shonda are writing an ep together? (Maybe Mer will go sleep with Alex and then kill herself? No, don't tell me -- I hate spoilers)

Pam

Alan Sepinwall said...

Pam, Joss Whedon is co-writing a new Buffy comic book series that he's referred to as what would have happened had their been an eighth season of the show. Go here for more.