Bitter Tirades for Me! (Spoilers for "Ahoy Mateys!" and Future Speculation)
I know I am very late with this review, but I was out of town when the episode aired.
On the plus side, I have had the chance to read everyone else's comments on the show and find I still have a little to add.
Spoilers for "Ahoy Mateys!" and Future Speculation:
I will try to keep this brief and focused on how this episode might relate to what's to come. Keep in mind that I am coming at this future spoiler free.
Now I Want to Be Your Dog
In requesting her help, Logan asks Veronica to pretend her "dog's life is at stake." While the thought of Logan as Veronica's dog has probably hatched any number of bad fic plot bunnies, he does indeed seem to act as "backup" when Veronica runs into trouble at the River Styx.
But I digress. I find it interesting that both Veronica and Duncan are being asked, or feel that they are being asked, to "save" their exes in one fashion or another. And both are finding the role of savior hard to resist.
Veronica's attempt to help Logan places her in danger, but Duncan feels that all he has to do to "save" Meg is "want to" and Duncan doesn't know what he wants.
From the dream sequences, however, he seems to want a girl he can save. As others have pointed out, Veronica 2.0 is too self-sufficient for him, or, more precisely, is not vulnerable and in need of rescue the way he thinks Meg is or even the way that Kendall is.
Veronica needs backup, pun intended, not salvation or protection.
This Time It's Personal
In considering the Oliveras case, Keith tells Veronica that in his experience most crime is personal rather than part of any convoluted conspiracy. And, indeed, the harassment of the Oliveras was motivated by Ryan's personal pain and sense of loss. He felt that they had been the direct cause of Marcos's death and wanted to punish them, wanted them to hurt. In the end, it is not any sort of arcane conspiracy. It is not, as Carlos Oliveras insisted "about money," it is about pain.
How might this relate to the two main mysteries of this season. Are the bus crash and the murder of Felix (and subsequent framing of Logan) exceptions to the general rule of personal crime? Is it possible that these cases are also not all about money?
Personally, I still think that money is going to have a great deal to do with what has happened in Neptune. I still think that the bus crash was intended to be financially beneficial to someone and that whoever was supposed to die was, for one reason or another, not on the bus.
However, let us consider the option that these are personal crimes, motivated by hate, love, or pain and not by some sort of ulterior motive like career advancement, political ambition, or monetary gain.
We would need someone in enough pain and with a big enough investment in revenge that he or she wouldn't care about the collateral damage inflicted when the bus crash. Someone who would consider the deaths of the other kids on the bus an acceptable loss.
The question is who would have the motive for this? Any ideas? (Trina? The Kanes? Terence Cook?)
The Lesser of Two Weevils
I have noticed a lot of people believe that Weevil's kidnapping and threatening of Logan is unforgivable and that Weevil has finally gone too far. I am not convinced.
There is no reason to believe that there was actually a bullet in the gun. Nothing we have seen from Weevil suggests that his use of violence is wanton. It has always been motivated and specific. And the motive for this kidnapping is not punishment, but knowledge.
Weevil has Logan kidnapped not because he is looking for revenge, but because he is no longer convinced that Logan killed Felix. Until this episode Weevil knew that Logan was a murderer and one who had gotten off. As far as he knew, the murder had been witnessed by a close friend, someone he trusted. As of this episode, however, he has discovered that this close friend wasn't actually present at the time of the murder. Instead, he has been forced to rely on the word of some less trusted PCHers. And he doesn't believe them. His seeking Logan's account of that night (rather than simply accusing Logan of the murder as he had till now), is actually his first step toward a kind of reconciliation. He is trying to move toward truth.
Which is not to say his way of going about finding this truth is acceptable.
Regardless, I think that Logan and Weevil will need one another to find out what really happened that night and why. I don't think that this was the end of their violent enmity, but I do think that this is the beginning of the end.
On the plus side, I have had the chance to read everyone else's comments on the show and find I still have a little to add.
Spoilers for "Ahoy Mateys!" and Future Speculation:
I will try to keep this brief and focused on how this episode might relate to what's to come. Keep in mind that I am coming at this future spoiler free.
Now I Want to Be Your Dog
In requesting her help, Logan asks Veronica to pretend her "dog's life is at stake." While the thought of Logan as Veronica's dog has probably hatched any number of bad fic plot bunnies, he does indeed seem to act as "backup" when Veronica runs into trouble at the River Styx.
But I digress. I find it interesting that both Veronica and Duncan are being asked, or feel that they are being asked, to "save" their exes in one fashion or another. And both are finding the role of savior hard to resist.
Veronica's attempt to help Logan places her in danger, but Duncan feels that all he has to do to "save" Meg is "want to" and Duncan doesn't know what he wants.
From the dream sequences, however, he seems to want a girl he can save. As others have pointed out, Veronica 2.0 is too self-sufficient for him, or, more precisely, is not vulnerable and in need of rescue the way he thinks Meg is or even the way that Kendall is.
Veronica needs backup, pun intended, not salvation or protection.
This Time It's Personal
In considering the Oliveras case, Keith tells Veronica that in his experience most crime is personal rather than part of any convoluted conspiracy. And, indeed, the harassment of the Oliveras was motivated by Ryan's personal pain and sense of loss. He felt that they had been the direct cause of Marcos's death and wanted to punish them, wanted them to hurt. In the end, it is not any sort of arcane conspiracy. It is not, as Carlos Oliveras insisted "about money," it is about pain.
How might this relate to the two main mysteries of this season. Are the bus crash and the murder of Felix (and subsequent framing of Logan) exceptions to the general rule of personal crime? Is it possible that these cases are also not all about money?
Personally, I still think that money is going to have a great deal to do with what has happened in Neptune. I still think that the bus crash was intended to be financially beneficial to someone and that whoever was supposed to die was, for one reason or another, not on the bus.
However, let us consider the option that these are personal crimes, motivated by hate, love, or pain and not by some sort of ulterior motive like career advancement, political ambition, or monetary gain.
We would need someone in enough pain and with a big enough investment in revenge that he or she wouldn't care about the collateral damage inflicted when the bus crash. Someone who would consider the deaths of the other kids on the bus an acceptable loss.
The question is who would have the motive for this? Any ideas? (Trina? The Kanes? Terence Cook?)
The Lesser of Two Weevils
I have noticed a lot of people believe that Weevil's kidnapping and threatening of Logan is unforgivable and that Weevil has finally gone too far. I am not convinced.
There is no reason to believe that there was actually a bullet in the gun. Nothing we have seen from Weevil suggests that his use of violence is wanton. It has always been motivated and specific. And the motive for this kidnapping is not punishment, but knowledge.
Weevil has Logan kidnapped not because he is looking for revenge, but because he is no longer convinced that Logan killed Felix. Until this episode Weevil knew that Logan was a murderer and one who had gotten off. As far as he knew, the murder had been witnessed by a close friend, someone he trusted. As of this episode, however, he has discovered that this close friend wasn't actually present at the time of the murder. Instead, he has been forced to rely on the word of some less trusted PCHers. And he doesn't believe them. His seeking Logan's account of that night (rather than simply accusing Logan of the murder as he had till now), is actually his first step toward a kind of reconciliation. He is trying to move toward truth.
Which is not to say his way of going about finding this truth is acceptable.
Regardless, I think that Logan and Weevil will need one another to find out what really happened that night and why. I don't think that this was the end of their violent enmity, but I do think that this is the beginning of the end.