Ten Statements About....VERONICA MARS SEASON TWO, EPISODE EIGHT 'Ahoy, Mateys!' (2005)

Yep...sometimes Kristen Bell is dressed like this in
my dreams, too.

" Did Duncan go to bed?”
“Yes. And he wanted me to tell you to give me your undivided attention. Pretend for a moment that your dog's life is at stake.."

1) And here is where Alona Tal’s Meg officially becomes this season’s Lily Kane thanks to a pair of dreams experienced by Teddy Dunn’s Duncan.  While it’s always refreshing to have Tal back (not to mention seeing Kristen Bell tarted up as a bad girl in the first dream sequence), she doesn’t have the...enthusiasm for this role that Amanda Seyfried did.

2) During the round of interviews I did in support of Veronica Mars (One does not get the reputation as the biggest Veronica Mars fan on the block and expect not to have a slew of podcasts asking you about that movie) I referred to Francis Capra’s Weevil as Hawk to Veronica’s Parker, and here is where that transformation begins.  Spurred on by indications that the PCH’ers are doing things that are against his own code, Weevil starts his own investigation....no matter how that investigation is infused by his own outlaw instincts.

3) We’re in week three of the Wallace Drought...so thank God Tina Majorino’s Mac finally steps into the Watson role.  Mac’s high-tech, slightly mercenary attitude provides a wonderful contrast to Wallace--and given the nature of the done-in-one plot, her techy background makes her fit more than Wallace.  That being said....

Ahhh, Ms. Mackenzie....you were sorely missed....

4) You’ll notice that the done-in-ones become much more sketchy much earlier in the season.  Unlike the first season, where the overarc was allowed to develop in its own sweet time, there are so many plot threads that need developing that each episode has a diluted feel.  This season is one that has a desperate need of a focus.

5) Of course, one of the other problems with this episode is how the script by John Enbom and Cathy Belben can’t decide what the main angle of the mystery is.  Both Keith and Veronica have paths into this mystery, but they end up with different conclusion.  It’s almost as if there are two mysteries independent of each other.

6) One of the things that I think makes Kristen Bell the perfect actress to play Veronica is how she is convincing both as a bad ass and as a scared little girl....and if you don’t believe me, check out how Bell turns on a dime when she realizes she is face to face with Rod Rowland’s Liam Fitzpatrick.  Her breakdown feels so legitimate, it emphasized how scary the Fitzpatricks are...

7) Once again, we have a very, very subtle foreshadowing reference to the overarc--one that literally passes you by until we get to the last episode.  As much as this episode is lukewarm...bravo, writers.  Bravo.

When Plastic Surgeons Attack...Next Time On Jerry!

8) It nice that, just as with Season One, there are efforts to create a viable universe where characters drift in and out of the story.  In this one, Duane Daniel’s Van Clemmons’ son shows up in a slightly less minor role that dovetails into the main mystery.

9) One of the things that I always appreciated is how the series never forgets its noir roots...and it does in this episode when our bad guy is glad that he hurt the Oliveras family.  That sort of viciousness is so at odds with the usual teen drama structure.

10) Conversely, I appreciate how Keith handles what he learns about the lengths David Barrera’s Carlos will go to in regards to his court case.  This moment is also very indicative of how Rob Thomas is insistent on keeping the series anchored in a hardboiled tradition, where everything is shade of grey and not black and white.

Overall...unlike the previous episode, where the final act serves to conceal the cluttered nature of the plot, this one is all over the place and remains all over the place, tripping over all its subplots as it feels around in the dark for a direction.

Ten Statements--No, Wait, Eleven!About....VERONICA MARS (2014)

Welcome back, O Angel of Vengeance...I agree with Logan
when he says you should always wear this!

1) I know that making a film liberates you from certain things, but it’s still weird for me to hear the characters cursing from time to time.

2) I love how writer/director/series creator Rob Thomas finds a way to squeeze in as many of the show’s recurring characters as possible I was particularly happy to see Veronica bailed out by my favorite character of all, Daran orris' Cliff).  The second act set piece of the high school reunion does allow Thomas to drag in such obscure characters as Korny while also setting up the plot thread that will lead Veronica to the solution of the mystery.

3) There are a couple of really shocking cameos.  Besides Jamie Lee Curtis, whose presence in the film is spoiled by the trailer (and, to be fair, has her cameo extremely early in the film), there’s a surprising and extremely funny extended cameo in the second act that totally blindsided me, and also provides the basis for the post-credit sequence.

4) I am somewhat disappointed that Kristen Bell only dons what I like to call her ‘Angel of Vengeance’

It''s interesting how this shot echoes the first shot of the
pilot...

black gear once, a outfit that makes her look so good that I had to agree with Jason Dohring’s Logan when he says “You should dress like this all the time.”

5) The violence has been upped--there’s a moment involving a hit and run that is as graphic as it is shocking because of the victims involved--but it doesn’t seem out of place in Veronica’s world.  After all, Thomas consciously patterned the series after classic hardboiled detective fiction.

6) If there’s one frustrating thing, it’s the way the subplot about the corruption in the Neptune police department, headed by Jerry O’Connell’s Sheriff Dan Lamb never goes anywhere.  This is established very early on, and there are implications that this corruption has a hand in both the A and B plots, but it’s never resolved.  Even Lamb’s final comeuppance is unconnected to this subplot.

7) I am heartened that the film is very clear that the central relationship is not the one between Veronica and Logan, but between Veronica and Enrico Colantoni’s Keith Mars.  The chemistry between the two is still palatable and immediate, and watching them interact together is a joy to behold.

The Three Musketeers of Neptune High are on the case again!

8) As the series always did, the use of music is very effective.  The way Thomas sneaks in an acoustic version of the show’s theme in the first act to represent Veronica’s distance from her former life is great, and this is probably the only film that would think to use a Luther Vandross song in a suspenseful action sequence.

9)  It is amazing how some recurring members of the cast--Francis Capra’s Weevil, Amanda Noret’s Madison, Brandon Hillock’s Deputy Sachs--seemed to have not changed a bit.  On the other hand, it’s rather shocking to see how other cast members--in particular, Ken Marino’s Vinnie Van Lowe and Duane Daniels’ Principal Clemmons--have not aged well at all.

10) I sort of gathered where Veronica’s character arc was going to end up, but it still didn’t stop me from feeling a frisson of pleasure when she reached that final moment, kicked up her heels and finished her monologue about being an addict.

11) Perhaps the single coolest moment?  The title card at the end where Thomas thanks all of us Marsmellows for their undying devotion and the legions of us who kicked in to the Kickstarter to make this all happen.

Overall...I admit, I’m biased.  I love returning to Neptune and spending two hours with my beloved friends.  I just hope this film makes enough money that a second film will be warranted, because I missed seeing Kristen Bell as The Angel of Vengeance.

Ten Statements About....VERONICA MARS SEASON ONE, EPISODE TWELVE 'Clash Of The Tritons' (2005)

Yes, Kristen...I will call you...once you cancel the restraining
order....

"I don't want to talk away my grief. I want to turn it into something else--fuel. I know how I'll feel better, and it's not be talking about how sad I am."

1) A lot happens in this episode--but what is arguably the most important thing is the furthering of Logan Echolls' character arc. The script by Phil Klemmer and Aury Wallington uses the events of 'An Echolls Family Christmas' to give Logan some echoes of the problems Veronica has faced after Lily's death...thus positioning himself a little more to the point where he becomes an ally (and a bit more) in the season's third act.

2) And Logan isn't the only one who gets some character advancement--Francis Capra rises to the challenge of giving some more dimensions to Weevil when he reveals his affair with Lily to Paula Marshall's Rebecca...his acting here proves that the real secret weapon of this series was some truly smart casting.

3) The funny thing is that The Tritons, the secret society that is the subject of the episodes' A plot, are built up to be Really Bad Guys, that facade is torn down...and then they literally disappear. We hear nothing more about them until a surprise reappearance at the end of Season Three, where they once again are Really Bad Guys.

The funny thing is, two of the people in this photo are going
to get reaaaaaal close soon...

4) I know we haven't brought up the soundtrack in a while...but I really, really love how at key moments a riff from 'Army Of Me' comes lumbering out of the speakers as a counterpoint to the intrigue on the screen.

5) Okay...I'll admit it...even though the sequence gets a lil' too public access music video, the sight of Kristen Bell (who has a background in musical theater) swinging that ponytail while belting out 'One Way Or Another'....win.

6) This is the last appearance Marshall has as Rebecca James this season--she does pop up for an episode in Season Two--and here she's used very effectively, as a stand-in for Veronica, interrogating characters who will end up being suspects in Lily's murder. Of course, perhaps the most effective moment is when Logan reveals to her exactly why he hates Veronica so much....

7) And speaking of the Echolls family...we get some major movement in defining this group of characters (Hell, there's a blink-and-you-miss-it mention of Trina, who will show up soon in the person of Buffy's Alyson Hannigan)...and it's hard to place which moment is the best--Logan threatening his dad when Aaron vows to ruin Lynn...or Lynn's rather ignoble but subtle exit from the series, leading to the episode's last haunting image. I've said it before--I don't care for Lisa Rinna as an actress, but on this series she did some great work.

Funny...they don't look like evil masterminds...

8) You know...this episode really drives home how much I missed Percy Daggs' Wallace--for the first time in a while he takes his position as Veronica's Watson, and makes it work something fierce.

9) Conversely, having almost no Keith and Veronica Mars moments--while it does allow other characters who have been underused, like Cliff and Vice Principal Clemmons, room to strut--drives home how much that relationship is vital to the show. I missed seeing Bell and Colantoni interact, and I think the episode suffers a bit for it.

10) I appreciate how Thomas and crew seem to find different ways for Veronica to have her final reveal for each episode...this episode's rather fun scene in Sheriff Lamb's office is particularly amusing.

Overall...some really choice bits throughout make this an above average episode...and I'm not saying that just because we get to see Bell getting her go-go on.....

Ten Statements About....VERONICA MARS SEASON ONE, EPISODE TEN 'An Ecchols Family Christmas' (2004)

This may be a Christmas episode--but it's not one fulla cheer....

"Annoy, tiny blonde one. Annoy like the wind."

1) How can you not love an episode (and I love this episode--it's one of my all-time favorites, and arguably my favorite of the first season) that begins with a riff on my favorite number from my favorite Christmas Special, The Year Without A Santa Claus? Keith Mars loves the Miser Brothers, thus he is empirically proven to be a good guy.

2) Diane Ruggerio's script cleverly gives Veronica multiple incentives to take on this week's case-within-the-episode..and also gives her reason to interact with many of the supporting cast to a degree she hasn't before. This is a good thing because....

3) Francis Capra, Teddy Dunn and Jason Dohring are waaaay at the top of their game. They've got the rhythm of the show down dead, and engage in these great back-and-forths full of wonderful lines. Hell, the line I use as the header, which is Dohring's, ranks as one of my favorite lines in the series ever.

There's a good reason these 09'ers ultimately opted out of
rushing for Weevil's budding fraternity....

4) This is prolly the most we see of Lisa Rinna as Lynn Ecchols...and she's actually extremely good. I like how, even before she kinda, sorta apologizes to Keith for not staying in touch, you get the sense that this woman, of all the '09'er parents, is the one person who didn't resent him for doing what he did, who genuinely liked him and still does. Pity she's not much longer for this series.

5) Compare Lynn's interaction with Keith to the way Harry Hamlin's Aaron deals with him...yes, on the surface Aaron is just as warm and friendly as his wife...and yet, there's a sense of panic to the way he guides him to the door, a strange undercurrent of discomfort in his voice. Ladies and gentlemen, you have encountered your first clue in the overarc...and I doubt any of you realize that it was presented to you.

6) Emmanuelle Vaugier is in this as one of the women who is suspected of being Aaron's stalker. As always, she's not that great an actress, but...Emmanuelle Vaugier.

Yes.  I think she's hot.  Deal.

7) Since Veronica's case is more of a standard drawing room mystery, I love how Ruggerio ends up revealing the solution in her version of an Agatha Christie last act, with our heroine bearding the (not very convincing) villain in the scene of the crime. And since the Ecchols Family Christmas Party is going on at the same time....

8) The scene toward the end where Veronica confronts Jake Kane is something else--just as much for Kyle Secor's acting as for Bell's. There's obvious confusion in the way both of these people are interacting, and the way they get even more frustrated in the mass of accusations is magnificent. It's to Secor's credit that when he practically screams 'I don't know,' you believe him...and it's to Bell's credit that when she retorts 'I don't believe you'...you suspect she might believe him a little as well. This, and the little exchange with Celeste that follows, is another indication that Jake Kane is far from a one-dimensional monster....

The beautiful thing about this scene is that things end up
bloody and unpleasant for all three of these people given time...

9) There is a sense of profane beauty to the way the Stalker storyline resolves...but a beauty that is intentionally artifical. And the fact that the stalker turns out to be literally a nobody, someone who walks on at the last minute to stab Aaron...well, let's say we've just been handed another clue we won't even know we had until the end of this season.

10) If there is one sour note, it is the overtly affected performance by Kevin Sheridan as Sean Friedrich. It's so arch, so mannered that it's hard not to think he's the villain in Veronica's subplot.

Overall...as I said, this is one of my favorite episode--not just because it is fun and exciting, not just because it shows most of the cast at the top of their game, but because during this forty-some-odd minutes we learn a lot about a lot of these characters in their behavior and interaction with each other....and in the course of these interaction, learn some things we don't realize we learn until the resolution of this season's mystery has shaken out.

Ten Statements About....VERONICA MARS SEASON ONE, EPISODE SEVEN 'The Girl Next Door' (2004)

Don't be fooled by the cute dog, Veronica!  She's a Plot
Device wanting to lure you into A Very Special Episode!

"I look back on the past few days and wonder if things could've turned out differently. If I didn't meet the girl, if I hadn't initiated the case, if I hadn't interfered, would tonight be just another dull, quiet night in our apartment complex?.

1) Ewwww....it's that episode. You know the one where the series tries to impart on you a serious message on how tragic something is, and how we should intervene before the tragedy gets out of hand? This is that episode...kinda...and it's easily one of my least favorite (if not the least favorite) entries in the season, and the series as a whole.

2) The pain begins almost immediately with the initial introduction of Jessica Chastain's Sarah...she simply doesn't talk like a human being, as seeds are being dropped that lead us to The Big Tragic Thing We Should All Feel Bad About in the fourth act. It's not Chastain's fault--it's just that Sarah is not written as a person, but as a chapter in a position paper.

The good news?  This B Plot is a relief from the bilge we're
stuck with.  The bad news?  They just punked Mr. X....

3) Thankfully, we have a B plot that brings together two characters who haven't shared much screen time since episode two--Jason Dohring's Logan and Francis Capra's Weevil. The two play off each other expertly in a sub-plot involving a stuck up English Teacher played by Steven 'Mr. X' Williams. Although Logan's prominence in this B Plot points up how the creation of Sarah was not needed, given what is about to be revealed about Her Tragic Past.

4) Thankfully, scriptwriters Jed Seidel and Diane Ruggerio don't forget to advance the Lily Kane overarc a little--which results in, among other things, a somewhat intriguing moment that reveals a thing or two about Weevil.

5) But every time we return to the A Plot, everything falls apart. None of these characters involved in the main story act or sound like real people. Adam Kaufman's Andre, in particular, comes off as a capering villain in a children's book--which makes it obvious he's a big red herring.

6) Yep...if I broke into my next door neighbor's apartment to find it decorated with creepy-ass paintings and containing an dresser with one drawer open to reveal a gun, I'd be positive she was living with a Disturbed Individual, too. Stacking the deck against Andre, aren't we?

7) Jason Dohring may not be the greatest actor...but the way he enunciates lines like 'never underestimate the size of my cohones' is priceless.  Hell, he's responsible for my single favorite quote from Season One in a few episodes' time.

8) Wow...it's so weird seeing Bonita Friedricy acting all bubbly and happy in this episode after sitting through her just-drank-lemon-juice performances in five seasons of Chuck....

Two people, it turns out, who really loved Lily Kane if we're
to believe this episode...

9) The only reason Keith Mars' speech about 'these cases involving young girls often end badly' works is because Enrico Colantoni forces it to work through sheer willpower. In a lesser actor's hands, this speech would have been equally as unbearable as the dialogue from any of the other A Plot participants.

10) Okay...the fact that we figure out The Big Tragic Thing the moment Sarah's stepfather is introduced aside, there's no reason to create a whole new set of ill-formed characters when there are a number of characters already established who suffer from similar trauma. Granted, I get that Seidel and Ruggerio are trying to foreshadow some of the things Veronica is about to discover about herself...but it just. doesn't. work.

Overall....too earnest for its own good by far, and with not enough of the B Plot or Overarc to distract from its ickiness, this is a truly poor entry in the series.

"