Veronica Mars Watch-Along Week 4

[Graphic designed by the lovely Judith of Paper Riot]

So, how does this work, super sleuths? Go check out the Watch-Along kick off post for the skinny. I'll give you a second just in case...

All caught up? Good.

In case you already know the basics and just forgot what episodes are up today, here's the list:

• "You Think You Know Someone"
• "Return of the Kane"

And, for NEXT WEEK:

• "The Girl Next Door"
• "Like a Virgin"

And now, to put the screws to these two episodes...

THE NOIR

The beginning of "You Think You Know Someone" screams sketch-town. And then Troy's car goes missing, which seems fitting. V comes to Troy's rescue and then tells him she has "friends in low places" and can probably find his car. Which she does. Along the way, we discover the Troy is a MEGA scumbag, but we'll discuss that shortly. Anyway, by the end of the episode, Luke's steroids, the guy he was smuggling them for and Troy are all history, with a little help from Papa Mars (both solicited and unsolicited).

In the next episode, Veronica does some more sleuthing for her friend Wanda, who it turns out isn't much of a friend. But that's besides the point. The point is that I totally forgot JANE LYNCH is in this show and I just can't get enough. The other point is that Veronica is super observant and clever, which I suppose is how she solves all these crimes.

There are also two over, very interesting, mysterious plot points worth noting (in the grand scheme of things):

1. Veronica's Mom

Lianne Mars is MISSING. She ran off and, aside from a couple of guesses, we don't REALLY know why. Except Veronica finds a key to a safety deposit box in her mom's stuff and finds pictures with targets on her head in said box. Which could by why her mom skips town. Veronica then sends burner phones to all her mom's friends and receives a message from her mom... which we don't hear about in the next episode, which is kinda weird. Also, in flashback, V's mom was all weird about V and Duncan dating (??) and she pulled V out of school for a girl's day a couple of days before taking off (also ??). 

2. Lilly Kane

We already know Lilly's death isn't as they say because her time of death is wrong. Which is why Veronica sets up folders on her computer so she can go over everything for herself. She's clearly not wrong to do this, since we soon after learn that Abel Koontz REALLY COULDN'T have killed Lilly because the shoes that were found in his possession were still in Lilly's room after she died. So basically Abel Koontz was framed, just as Keith and V suspected. Hmmm...

PARENTAL PROBLEMS

V and Keith have a pretty good father-daughter relationship. There's some serious snark and a lot of love. Example: 

V: "Tough day?" 

K: "That ain't the half of it. See, this dame walks in and you shoulda seen the get away sticks on her. Says something's hinky with her old man."

V: "Did you put the screws to 'im?"

K: "You ain't kidding. He sang like a canary."

It's cute, it's banter, I like! What I don't like is the lack of communication. Sure, V goes to Keith when she needs sleuth-y help, which is great because she could very easily get herself into a lot of trouble. But they don't talk about the giant elephant in the room. Like, Keith's packing up V's mom's stuff while dating someone else - notably V's GUIDANCE COUNSELOR. And instead of V being honest about her feelings, she goes behind her dad's back and does a background check. On her GUIDANCE COUNSELOR. To be fair, V might not have realized how upset she was and they ARE a family of crime solvers, but STILL.

I dunno. There's a lot of issues here and I think V's guidance counselor was right - V does need to talk to someone about this stuff. She has a lot of anger to work out. Or she at least needs to get better at talking to her dad about the real stuff. Like, it's great you can joke, but there are some serious feels in life and you really shouldn't bottle them up, y'know? Your best friend getting murdered, your friends dropping you and your mom running off really aren't really events you can just walk away from without dealing with your feelings. I mean, in my unprofessional opinion, that is.

THE BOYS

I have a lot of feels right now. A LOT. So bear with me.

• Troy: Aaaaand the other shoe has dropped. Troy seemed SO PERFECT but, as we all know, there's no such thing as perfect. Especially not a perfect 09-er. Although, Troy's drug dealing ways didn't come as a total surprise. The episode gradually led you to the truth. First he's in Tijuana with LOGAN, of all people. And then he's not so worried about his father sending him off to military school in Albuquerque. Which is pretty crazy. Even Wallace points out this crazy. Papa Mars does a background check on Troy as a response to the whole Guidance Counselor Fiasco and it turns out he was a DRUG DEALER (V kinda gets a little crazy here, but with good reason, it seems). And then Troy runs off, only to be thwarted by V. So yeah. Bye Troy.

BYE DRUG DEALING DIRTBAG.

• Duncan: I liked that little flashback at the end of "Reign of Kane" where we get to see why V might have been dating this boy. But V's right. He's been standing idly by A WHOLE LOT since Lilly died and it makes me not interested in him. The ending of "Reign of Kane" makes me a little interested - with the whole Pirate Points speech - but eh. He's still kind of boring.

• Wallace: He's not in these episodes so much. Maybe he's busy with Georgia? Although, he does try to compare him and V's dynamic to the Scoobies and that doesn't work so well for a bunch of reasons - mostly because that's Buffy and you can't. Sorry.
• Weevil: I like that they're friendly-ish now. He seems like a good ally to have. Friends in low places and all that.
• Logan: *takes deep breath* I'm not even sure how to handle all of the feelings right now. First he's a moron who spends his free time in Tijuana, organizes bum fights and forces his best friend into running for an election said friend very much said he didn't want to run for. But then... then the end of "Reign of Kane" happens and, well...

THE ECHOLLS FAMILY

I can't tell you how much I hate the end of episode 6. Every time I watch it I have the same reaction. My train of thought is something like this:

Logan in the soup kitchen. Gosh he's adorbs. Until he pisses off his father again and oh dear GOD. Wait. What? WHAT IS HAPPENING? WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT BELTS? WHY DID YOU PICK A BELT AND LOOK AT IT LIKE THAT? WHY. WHAT. NO STOP. I DON'T WANT WHAT I THINK'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO HAPPEN. AND IT'S HAPPENING. I DO NOT NEED TO HEAR THIS. AND WHY IS HIS MOM SITTING THERE DOING NOTHING? I cannot. I CANNOT.

Every time I watch, the rest of the episode no longer matters to me. I don't care about Wanda or Veronica or Keith or Abel Koontz or Lilly. I just care about that boy who's father beats him and whose mother just sits there.

... and even though I know this last section's kind of heavy, I kind of can't continue, so don't hate me too much for not wrapping this up with my usual wit.

Tell me, were you as upset by that ending as I was? Do you care more for Logan now or do you still think he's the worst? And how about the crazytown family dynamics in this show? Are there any functional families left in Neptune? Make sure to share your thoughts in the comments below!

**ONE LAST REMINDER**

NEXT WEEK:

• "The Girl Next Door"
• "Like a Virgin"