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Veronica Mars rantage ahead. I have to say I'm still enjoying the show right now but I'm getting worried about the quality...
I fear Veronica Mars may no longer be smarter than me. I’m still hoping that it’s just the transitional year for when shows go from high school to University. Buffy season 4 was far from my favourite… this could be the same…
However some of the problems seem to be things that could outlast a transition year and that’s worrisome.
Now let me say firstly that I was not ever up in arms about the R____ storyline. I thought it was wonderful that a show is dealing with ____ happening on campus. That’s a very real part of the residence experience. You think you can trust all of the people you’re living with and then it turns out your RA is not such a nice person after all. It happens to the best of us. In my first year I was drugged by someone I thought was completely harmless, I wasn’t even able to put together who it was until he did the same thing to someone else. It’s life, we learn from it and I was SO happy to see a show deal with that issue as most Universities/Colleges would rather cover it up.
However, I still have found the following things to be true with VM lately.
The quality of writing, perhaps rather, the level of intelligent writing, is declining. I think I’ve guessed the killer for the finale and if I’m right it’s clichéd. If I’m wrong I hope to be pleasantly surprised. Generally though there are just so many unnecessary explanations of events. I find myself thanking ‘Captain Obvious’ when a VMVO comes on. Are we keeping the slower viewers up to speed? Stop coddling the audience! If we try to make everything as simple as reality TV there will be no point in watching your stories.
Actors:
Michael Muhney is just annoying me at this point. He sounds like a great person and I love how enthusiastic he is and how much he appreciates his fans. However he’s starting hamming up the character of Lamb and the way he acts this season is not at all in keeping with the character who has been established over the past two years.
I’m also having fears that Kristin Bell may be heading towards the MichellerGellar ego trip but I’m hoping that will be proven wrong.
But Veronica, again, the character is so altered. Sometimes she’s spot on but there are moments which are entirely out of character and they just jar one out of the tv illusion. Now if those moments were balanced out by the ensemble cast then perhaps they would be less noticible but the show lately has become the Veronica and Logan show and that’s getting just frustrating to watch.
I go back to reference BtVS again. Season 3, the on again off again Buffy/Angel relationship. Which was constructed in part to help viewers adjust to the fact DB was getting his own show and was leaving. The ideal there would be that viewers would be still sad to see him go but definitely ready to see him elsewhere so the plots could move on. Are we getting a Logan show? No? Then either give him a personality that does not completely revolve around Veronica and move on. What happened to the half brother storyline? You think he might have been a little more invested in that. Don’t make me shout “CONTINUITY” at the TV because this is a show that has always had wonderful continuity and it’s starting to fade and that can never be good.
I miss the ensemble cast. They pop in here and there but not to the same effect. It’s clearly the Veronica and Logan show.
Even Keith! What they’ve done to his character just kills me. They should have blown him up last year if this is what they were keeping him around for. He either has boring storylines, storylines where he completely is untrue to his character and has random affairs, or is just there for comedic effect. He and Veronica still have a few great father daughter moments but those are sadly few and far between.
I’m not sure what the writers are trying to do with this season, what growth the characters are supposed to be making. I’m going to do with this show what I did with WaT. Give it to the end of the year and then try it next season, if they can improve next season then that will be fabulous, if not, I’ll just watch more TV on DVD :)
I fear Veronica Mars may no longer be smarter than me. I’m still hoping that it’s just the transitional year for when shows go from high school to University. Buffy season 4 was far from my favourite… this could be the same…
However some of the problems seem to be things that could outlast a transition year and that’s worrisome.
Now let me say firstly that I was not ever up in arms about the R____ storyline. I thought it was wonderful that a show is dealing with ____ happening on campus. That’s a very real part of the residence experience. You think you can trust all of the people you’re living with and then it turns out your RA is not such a nice person after all. It happens to the best of us. In my first year I was drugged by someone I thought was completely harmless, I wasn’t even able to put together who it was until he did the same thing to someone else. It’s life, we learn from it and I was SO happy to see a show deal with that issue as most Universities/Colleges would rather cover it up.
However, I still have found the following things to be true with VM lately.
The quality of writing, perhaps rather, the level of intelligent writing, is declining. I think I’ve guessed the killer for the finale and if I’m right it’s clichéd. If I’m wrong I hope to be pleasantly surprised. Generally though there are just so many unnecessary explanations of events. I find myself thanking ‘Captain Obvious’ when a VMVO comes on. Are we keeping the slower viewers up to speed? Stop coddling the audience! If we try to make everything as simple as reality TV there will be no point in watching your stories.
Actors:
Michael Muhney is just annoying me at this point. He sounds like a great person and I love how enthusiastic he is and how much he appreciates his fans. However he’s starting hamming up the character of Lamb and the way he acts this season is not at all in keeping with the character who has been established over the past two years.
I’m also having fears that Kristin Bell may be heading towards the MichellerGellar ego trip but I’m hoping that will be proven wrong.
But Veronica, again, the character is so altered. Sometimes she’s spot on but there are moments which are entirely out of character and they just jar one out of the tv illusion. Now if those moments were balanced out by the ensemble cast then perhaps they would be less noticible but the show lately has become the Veronica and Logan show and that’s getting just frustrating to watch.
I go back to reference BtVS again. Season 3, the on again off again Buffy/Angel relationship. Which was constructed in part to help viewers adjust to the fact DB was getting his own show and was leaving. The ideal there would be that viewers would be still sad to see him go but definitely ready to see him elsewhere so the plots could move on. Are we getting a Logan show? No? Then either give him a personality that does not completely revolve around Veronica and move on. What happened to the half brother storyline? You think he might have been a little more invested in that. Don’t make me shout “CONTINUITY” at the TV because this is a show that has always had wonderful continuity and it’s starting to fade and that can never be good.
I miss the ensemble cast. They pop in here and there but not to the same effect. It’s clearly the Veronica and Logan show.
Even Keith! What they’ve done to his character just kills me. They should have blown him up last year if this is what they were keeping him around for. He either has boring storylines, storylines where he completely is untrue to his character and has random affairs, or is just there for comedic effect. He and Veronica still have a few great father daughter moments but those are sadly few and far between.
I’m not sure what the writers are trying to do with this season, what growth the characters are supposed to be making. I’m going to do with this show what I did with WaT. Give it to the end of the year and then try it next season, if they can improve next season then that will be fabulous, if not, I’ll just watch more TV on DVD :)