6 posts tagged “neptune”
buttocks? Not sure I understand the title, but other than that, this was yet another strong entry in the Veronica Mars canon. After wobbling around mid-season with all that Duncan/Meg/baby giznank, the show is back on track and barreling down the tracks towards its May 9th season 2 finale like a locomotive on the proverbial steroids.
What I really liked about this episode:
i) Butters returns! I don't know why, but I love this guy. It's hard being the principal's kid, and Butters handles it... not well at all. I think that's why I like him... in a normal show he would be disliked generally but then Veronica would get to know him and he would turn out to be an okay guy. In Veronicaland, though, he turns out to be an icky creep. So awesome.
ii) Kendell and the Fitzpatricks working together? I probably should have seen that coming-but I didn't.
iii) Weevil saving his old gang, and then walking away from them. That really surprised me.
iv) Veronica saving her dad's life by taking the bullets out of the gun, and the under-stated, unspoken way each acknowledged that fact. Unlike movies, TV shows are all about small moments. David Chase understands that, and so does Rob Thomas.
v) the way the episode ended. Really caught me by surprise when the credit flashes. In general this episode seemed to just zoom by.
vi) the Fitzpatricks in general. I like these guys as villains. They seem, oddly, quite realistic to me (with my very limited experience of thuggery) crafty but basically dumb.
vii) the overweight kid breaking into tears in one scene, then calmly hitting bulls-eye after bulls-eye while talking to Veronica.
viii) Mac's reaction when she realizes that Veronica sold her out to Butters. "Your wish is my shift-command." Mac flirting ever-so-subtly witih Keith to get at Veronica.
Things that weren't awesome but not bad either:
i) the whole Wallace and Jackie thing. I guess in a high school show you need plotlines like this. And you know what? It's done pretty well. It's just that in contrast to how innovative the rest of the show is, those scenes bring one back to earth and remind you that you are watching a Network Television Show. I'm kind of anticating some major bitchage from Jackie before the season is out though.
ii) not too much Logan. I've realized that there are two relatioships that really drive the show: Veronica and her dad (which provides a lot of the heart) and Veronica and Logan (which provides the tension and the well, anti-heart I guess you could say.)
It's interesting how they're raising doubts about the resolution of season 1. On the one hand, it's intriguing, but on the other... the conclusion of season 2 was so kick-ass that I hate to see it muddled now. It's really hard to understand why, if Aaron Echols didn't kill Lily, why he went apesh** on Veronica and tried to kill her. Was he really that afraid of a statuatory rape conviction? I mean, she was sixteen and the tapes clearly indicated it was consensual. Someone who can afford a good lawyer isn't going to go to jail for that. Maybe he was on speed, or something (like OJ) some state of mind where he couldn't make a rational calculation.
Only four left in season two! NeptuneSite has official UPN press release descriptions of the next three on their Veronica Mars spoilers page . As you might guess from the page title, if you don't want to get spoiled, don't look at the page. It looks like Veronica and friends are in for some interesting times in the weeks ahead as they had toward that most magical of times, senior prom. Unless...
PS I am also extremely psyched that Butters
is making a return appearance. Butters is both my favorite character on South Park and on Veronica Mars.
Another ass-kicking top shelf episode. Dream sequences and flashbacks can sometimes be narrative deaths, but they worked well in this episode. It actually reminded me of one of those Sopranos episodes where Tony subconscious tries to warn him through his dreams. I think they work because instead of representing mere narrative laziness, they allowed us to (re)connect with the bus crash victims as actual people, and, like in Sopranos, the dreams served as a visual representation of Veronica's subconscious as it grinds through all of the clues and possible solutions.
Another highlight of this episode was Enrico Colontabalani's comic acting. His reactions to the women he was going on the blind dates with was priceless. It was never really revealed exaxctly why he had to go on these blind dates-something to do with finding out who was handing out bogus anxiety disorder diagnoses. It's a tribute to the wit and charm of the show that these sorts of holes only surface later when one is thinking (or blogging, which is like a web 2.0 version of thinking) about it, not while the episode is unfolding in front of you.
Another highlight was the Logan-Wallace plotline, too. I like the fact that they weave in class assignments. Does the fact that they were studying how to keep something from breaking after falling a great distance have anything to do with the bus crash? After all, Meg was carrying a baby (like an egg) and she was the one who lived.
There was so much going on in this episode I can't even begin to get into it. This recap might be helpful. Also TelevisionWithouttPity does a great job with Veronica Mars, with their recaps and forums.
Interesting sidenote: the similarity of this episode's title "I am God" and a previous one that also revealed something about the bus crash: "Rat Saw God." Who is/was the rat? As we all know from watching the Sopranos, stuffing a rat in someone's mouth after you shoot them means the person betrayed the gang. Who on the bus betrayed the Fitzpatricks? (Assuming Irish mobsters have similar customs to Italian.)
My new theory: Kendell Casablancas is behind everything. She has the motive, the means and the opportunity. Or it was her and someone else, and there was a double-cross, and that's why at the last minute the 09ers were saved. Who was she in league with? Either Haaron Echols or Woody Guffman. Or Weevil? But at the last minute, he had second thoughts about sending Veronica to her death (after all she was always cool to him in her own Old Testament way) and that's why he suddenly showed up to offer her a ride?
I thought I would have to wait until Sunday to see "I Am God" but it seems that UPN is rebroadcasting last night's episode at 9pm tonight, perhaps on the theory that since they could air the second coming of Jesus Christ at that time and sitll not beat Lost in the ratings, they might as well give a bit of attention to their only asset with any conceivable upside.
Only bad part of this is that I was planning on getting back on the Lost train. Tonight ABC is showing the last new episode until May. I love the fact that they have a character on the island who came in a balloon named Henry Gale. I still need to watch the episodes I bought from the ITMS, though.
Just a reminder to the Comet community that beloved yet on the bubble series Veronica Mars is now on at 9pm on Tuesday nights, and will remain there through the end of its second season May 9th. Tonight's episode is titled "I am God" and concerns Veronica's recurring dreams of the bus crash victims, which prods her to learn more about their lives, and presumably, gather more clues as to who caused the crash. If you wish to learn more spoilers, try NeptuneSite. Added bonus link: this cool interview with Enrico Colantoni, who plays Veronica's father, Keith Mars.
New episode tonight ("Versatile Toppings"), the first of nine new ones in a row. Good episode, I thought, but not great. A lot of the best characters (Weevil, Wallace, Kendell Casablancas, Cliff) didn't make an appearance. Logan was on screen a lot, but seemed a bit subdued. Television Without Pity will no doubt have a mini-recap up soon.
