3.05 'President Evil' L/V Thoughts
Here is my new batch of analysis for the Logan/Veronica scenes in the last episode as seen (or will be seen) in The LoVe Shack Breakdowns.
Scene One: Re: The Girlfriend Department -- Lilly Sucks; Veronica Rules
It's not a Logan/Veronica scene, but since the relationship is being discussed, I'm addressing it here. This scene between Weevil and Veronica offered us a mighty YAY! in the LoVe department and big ole boo! in the LoVe/Logan/WTF? department. We'll let Negative Nellie out to play first. Once again, Weevil inferred that Logan was a bad, bad boyfriend to Lilly ... and Veronica just let it slide. HEL-LO!!! LILLY cheated on Logan with Weevil (!), with Aaron, Logan's father (!!), with Lord knows how many other guys (!!!). LILLY dumped Logan time and time again, broke his heart and then blithely picked up the pieces when she got bored with whomever she cheated on Logan with that time. Logan worshipped Lilly. How? What? HUH!? is LOGAN the bad guy here?
You'd think that Weevil might, oh, have a clue that Lilly perhaps lied about Logan being such the loser since she (a) was the one cheating on him with Weevil, (b) went back to Logan and then accused Weevil of stalking her and (c) slept with Logan's father. Sigh, I guess it's too much to ask for the show to EVER acknowledge the idiocy of this. Or, you know, at least have VERONICA acknowledge it ... at least with regards to Logan. Would it have killed her to protest even a little bit? Say something, anything that would indicate Weevil didn't know diddly-squat about of what he was speaking? Seriously! No, she just glossed it over with a quip about gossip. Bad call, Veronica -- no, wait, I'm loving Veronica again (yay!), so she gets off (not by Cliff, silly! Eww!). Bad call, writers, BAD CALL!
And what makes this even worse, is that this isn't the first time. Weevil referenced Logan hurting Lilly in A Trip to the Dentist and that plot point was dropped as well. Sure, it's been answered by Rob Thomas in an interview:
As for the YAY! column -- once again we are seeing the continuing motif of Veronica truly TRYING to be a good, supportive girlfriend. Clearly she realizes that this is not something that she does naturally, so she's doing her damndest (as promised) to act unnaturally for her beau. So yay for Veronica. If they break up again, regardless of the circumstances -- his fuck-ups, her issues -- one can't say that she didn't at least try. So yay!
Scene Two: Truth and Consequences
Excuse me while I go a little in-depth here and expand beyond the mere horizons of this scene which offer just a few LoVe nuggets. The first being Veronica's clear and utter relief when she saw Logan show up and Logan's comfort of her in return, as well as his mature ignorance of Lamb's petty jibing. Okay, I don't want to leave that first one just lying there; I believe it deserves a little more commentary. I truly loved seeing how that moment when Logan arrived played out. Veronica was clearly pissed and depressed and just a little shaken when she saw Logan. She straightened and a look of such relief and almost longing (as if he needed to be there, his arms around her right then at that very second to make things better) on her face was lovely to behold, if only because it was once against a sign of how very much, yes, Veronica DOES love Logan, damnit! And because of all of the misery we were handed last season, I still am very much in the frame of mind to savor every such moment.
As for the deeper analysis ... it all revolves around this line:
Logan doesn't trust Veronica. As much as she doesn't trust him -- and we know she doesn't, he doesn't trust her ... with his heart. For Veronica, it's about the things he could/would do to himself, to others around him, stupid mistakes he could make that would lead to him hurting her. With Logan, it's about how Veronica can hurt him and it's much more direct and immediate. She could just break his heart all over again ... so easily by not trusting him, not loving him. She's done it twice, three times if you count the Alterna-prom. Three times he's completely laid himself out there for her, put his heart on the line for her to do with what she will. Sometimes the band-aid was ripped off quickly and other times slowly, but still, she ripped it off and left him with a gaping wound: His heart in tatters. I think that we are finally seeing the consequences of that now.
Many were frustrated with the Hannah arc last season, but many also understood (including myself) that the story it presented had a purpose. That purpose was to show Logan that there are consequences to every action and when those actions are harmful, people get hurt. They get hurt even when those committing the action don't truly mean to hurt someone, or even when the "ends justifies the means." People get hurt, sometimes innocent people, and there are always consequences. We saw a Logan in the first half of last season not acknowledging -- let alone dealing -- with any of the consequences of Lilly's actions, his father's, Veronica's and his own. He just bottled it up and went along his blithe, snarky way ... and people got hurt. Veronica got hurt. Duncan got hurt. Hannah got hurt. Weevil and Felix and Molly got hurt. Not all his fault, no, but consequences happened and some of the fallout was his fault. Yet, he'd never owned up to it, never had dealt with it. So seeing what he had done, out of a selfish (and certainly self-justifiable) need, to someone who truly was innocent, was perhaps the first real step in opening Logan's eyes. And then there was the night on the roof. Seeing what happened with Beaver, all of the wrong done to him that he just bottled up and then unleashed on innocents, including Veronica, seems to have finally (FINALLY!) firmly woke him up to the consequences of actions and how very much they hurt, not just others, but himself as well.
And so here we are, he and Veronica are together once more and truly making a go at it, but he knows that she doesn't trust him and he doesn't trust her with his heart. He doesn't trust that if he messes up again, she won't walk away, breaking his heart yet one more time. And because he doesn't trust her, he's walking on eggshells, doing his damndest to not only NOT screw up so badly that he sends her running, but also walking on the eggshells of his heart. He's holding himself back because he knows now, he gets it. If he screws up, the consequences are that he'll get hurt ... again. Those are the consequences. And he feels, perhaps thinks that he knows, that if he puts his heart all out on the line again for her, knowing her, she'll leave him again no matter what he does. And the consequences of that are that this time he may be broken beyond repair. Those are the potential consequences and Logan Echolls finally understands their power.
Scene Three: Non-Compartmentalization
Not much here except the joy of seeing Logan "helping" Veronica on a case. And how joyful is it? Pretty durn joyful for this viewer. And it's even sort of a semi-date, too. Woohoo!! Movies, popcorn, grilling film geeks ... okay, mayhap that last part is not quite the routine date, but Veronica including Logan in her sleuthing? Better than just a date, that's Veronica including Logan in her life! Yay, for the lack of compartmentalizing!
Scene Four: Teamwork
Ah, but the boy on the side is clearly what he wanted to be here. I've got to give kudos to Jason Dohring here. He had one line which consisted of one word: "No," and yet he was so a significant part of this scene. Wonderful job by him and also bravo to the new writers for acknowledging (FINALLY!) that he is the son of Aaron Echolls, a famous actor and would thus get some attention, especially from a film student. I loved how Veronica was practically blasé about the guy's attitude towards Logan and just continued on with her questioning which was, of course, aided by Logan (without words) requesting the same. Teamwork, albeit silent on Logan's part. After all, for this gig, he was more than happy to just be the boy on the side.
Scene Five: A Boy, a Girl and a Dog
Really, this is just a different verse of the same song. Yay, Veronica included Logan in the sleuthing. Yay!! Lack of compartmentalizing is such a lovely thing. And of course, this scene featured Veronica and Logan ... walking Backup.
That made me so happy. I just, sigh, I just got such a happy smile and squeeed with joy because Logan and Veronica were walking Backup. So being a couple, so like being a family. Awww. And I really, really mean it.
Scene One: Re: The Girlfriend Department -- Lilly Sucks; Veronica Rules
It's not a Logan/Veronica scene, but since the relationship is being discussed, I'm addressing it here. This scene between Weevil and Veronica offered us a mighty YAY! in the LoVe department and big ole boo! in the LoVe/Logan/WTF? department. We'll let Negative Nellie out to play first. Once again, Weevil inferred that Logan was a bad, bad boyfriend to Lilly ... and Veronica just let it slide. HEL-LO!!! LILLY cheated on Logan with Weevil (!), with Aaron, Logan's father (!!), with Lord knows how many other guys (!!!). LILLY dumped Logan time and time again, broke his heart and then blithely picked up the pieces when she got bored with whomever she cheated on Logan with that time. Logan worshipped Lilly. How? What? HUH!? is LOGAN the bad guy here?
You'd think that Weevil might, oh, have a clue that Lilly perhaps lied about Logan being such the loser since she (a) was the one cheating on him with Weevil, (b) went back to Logan and then accused Weevil of stalking her and (c) slept with Logan's father. Sigh, I guess it's too much to ask for the show to EVER acknowledge the idiocy of this. Or, you know, at least have VERONICA acknowledge it ... at least with regards to Logan. Would it have killed her to protest even a little bit? Say something, anything that would indicate Weevil didn't know diddly-squat about of what he was speaking? Seriously! No, she just glossed it over with a quip about gossip. Bad call, Veronica -- no, wait, I'm loving Veronica again (yay!), so she gets off (not by Cliff, silly! Eww!). Bad call, writers, BAD CALL!
And what makes this even worse, is that this isn't the first time. Weevil referenced Logan hurting Lilly in A Trip to the Dentist and that plot point was dropped as well. Sure, it's been answered by Rob Thomas in an interview:
- In a story line that we had worked out, we were going to see Duncan strike Lilly in one of his violent episodes. Lilly had bruises. Weevil assumed that it was Logan who had hit her. Unfortunately, the story line was abandoned for time. I'm glad you asked. At the end of the day, I don't want people thinking that Logan hit Lilly. I did, however, want Weevil to believe it.
As for the YAY! column -- once again we are seeing the continuing motif of Veronica truly TRYING to be a good, supportive girlfriend. Clearly she realizes that this is not something that she does naturally, so she's doing her damndest (as promised) to act unnaturally for her beau. So yay for Veronica. If they break up again, regardless of the circumstances -- his fuck-ups, her issues -- one can't say that she didn't at least try. So yay!
Scene Two: Truth and Consequences
Excuse me while I go a little in-depth here and expand beyond the mere horizons of this scene which offer just a few LoVe nuggets. The first being Veronica's clear and utter relief when she saw Logan show up and Logan's comfort of her in return, as well as his mature ignorance of Lamb's petty jibing. Okay, I don't want to leave that first one just lying there; I believe it deserves a little more commentary. I truly loved seeing how that moment when Logan arrived played out. Veronica was clearly pissed and depressed and just a little shaken when she saw Logan. She straightened and a look of such relief and almost longing (as if he needed to be there, his arms around her right then at that very second to make things better) on her face was lovely to behold, if only because it was once against a sign of how very much, yes, Veronica DOES love Logan, damnit! And because of all of the misery we were handed last season, I still am very much in the frame of mind to savor every such moment.
As for the deeper analysis ... it all revolves around this line:
- Logan: Remember how after you said 'jump' and I asked 'how high?'
Logan doesn't trust Veronica. As much as she doesn't trust him -- and we know she doesn't, he doesn't trust her ... with his heart. For Veronica, it's about the things he could/would do to himself, to others around him, stupid mistakes he could make that would lead to him hurting her. With Logan, it's about how Veronica can hurt him and it's much more direct and immediate. She could just break his heart all over again ... so easily by not trusting him, not loving him. She's done it twice, three times if you count the Alterna-prom. Three times he's completely laid himself out there for her, put his heart on the line for her to do with what she will. Sometimes the band-aid was ripped off quickly and other times slowly, but still, she ripped it off and left him with a gaping wound: His heart in tatters. I think that we are finally seeing the consequences of that now.
Many were frustrated with the Hannah arc last season, but many also understood (including myself) that the story it presented had a purpose. That purpose was to show Logan that there are consequences to every action and when those actions are harmful, people get hurt. They get hurt even when those committing the action don't truly mean to hurt someone, or even when the "ends justifies the means." People get hurt, sometimes innocent people, and there are always consequences. We saw a Logan in the first half of last season not acknowledging -- let alone dealing -- with any of the consequences of Lilly's actions, his father's, Veronica's and his own. He just bottled it up and went along his blithe, snarky way ... and people got hurt. Veronica got hurt. Duncan got hurt. Hannah got hurt. Weevil and Felix and Molly got hurt. Not all his fault, no, but consequences happened and some of the fallout was his fault. Yet, he'd never owned up to it, never had dealt with it. So seeing what he had done, out of a selfish (and certainly self-justifiable) need, to someone who truly was innocent, was perhaps the first real step in opening Logan's eyes. And then there was the night on the roof. Seeing what happened with Beaver, all of the wrong done to him that he just bottled up and then unleashed on innocents, including Veronica, seems to have finally (FINALLY!) firmly woke him up to the consequences of actions and how very much they hurt, not just others, but himself as well.
And so here we are, he and Veronica are together once more and truly making a go at it, but he knows that she doesn't trust him and he doesn't trust her with his heart. He doesn't trust that if he messes up again, she won't walk away, breaking his heart yet one more time. And because he doesn't trust her, he's walking on eggshells, doing his damndest to not only NOT screw up so badly that he sends her running, but also walking on the eggshells of his heart. He's holding himself back because he knows now, he gets it. If he screws up, the consequences are that he'll get hurt ... again. Those are the consequences. And he feels, perhaps thinks that he knows, that if he puts his heart all out on the line again for her, knowing her, she'll leave him again no matter what he does. And the consequences of that are that this time he may be broken beyond repair. Those are the potential consequences and Logan Echolls finally understands their power.
Scene Three: Non-Compartmentalization
Not much here except the joy of seeing Logan "helping" Veronica on a case. And how joyful is it? Pretty durn joyful for this viewer. And it's even sort of a semi-date, too. Woohoo!! Movies, popcorn, grilling film geeks ... okay, mayhap that last part is not quite the routine date, but Veronica including Logan in her sleuthing? Better than just a date, that's Veronica including Logan in her life! Yay, for the lack of compartmentalizing!
- We've had Logan at work -- check!
- Logan with family -- check!
- Logan helpin' with the mystery of the week -- check!
- Logan with the friends -- uhm, not check, but we'll let that pass since Veronica's spent about five seconds with Mac and two with Wallace.
Scene Four: Teamwork
Ah, but the boy on the side is clearly what he wanted to be here. I've got to give kudos to Jason Dohring here. He had one line which consisted of one word: "No," and yet he was so a significant part of this scene. Wonderful job by him and also bravo to the new writers for acknowledging (FINALLY!) that he is the son of Aaron Echolls, a famous actor and would thus get some attention, especially from a film student. I loved how Veronica was practically blasé about the guy's attitude towards Logan and just continued on with her questioning which was, of course, aided by Logan (without words) requesting the same. Teamwork, albeit silent on Logan's part. After all, for this gig, he was more than happy to just be the boy on the side.
Scene Five: A Boy, a Girl and a Dog
Really, this is just a different verse of the same song. Yay, Veronica included Logan in the sleuthing. Yay!! Lack of compartmentalizing is such a lovely thing. And of course, this scene featured Veronica and Logan ... walking Backup.
That made me so happy. I just, sigh, I just got such a happy smile and squeeed with joy because Logan and Veronica were walking Backup. So being a couple, so like being a family. Awww. And I really, really mean it.