Veronic Mars movie rewatch
So I rewatched the Veronica Mars movie! I rarely rewatch things because I am easily bored, but this was totally worth it. I worried that it might not hang together on the second rewatch, but it does rather well, aside from one spoiler.
I felt that the fact that Cobb has blackmailed Gia into a really quite horrible relationship needed to be better foreshadowed - assuming of course that Gia is telling the truth about their relationship. Given that Veronica has just accused Gia of being an accessory in Carrie Bishop’s murder and Gia needs to convince Veronica that she isn’t morally culpable, she does have a strong incentive to lie or at least bend the truth.
However, given that Cobb shoots Gia in cold blood and then tries to hunt Veronica down, Gia’s explanation is probably accurate. The exploitative basis of their relationship still needed to be better foreshadowed, though. I don’t require that she cower at the sight of him, but something to suggest that there’s something a little bit off would have been nice.
All that said - Gia’s death was, if anything, even more painful the second time I watched it. I don't think it's gratuitous - I kind of think Cobb, psychopath that he is, has been envisioning this end for their affair ever since he got those facing apartments and refused to let Gia get curtains (seriously, psychopath) - but damn, I wish that Gia got the chance to try for a new life. Damn, damn, damn.
Not to mention poor Susan Knight and Carrie Bishop. I do love, though, the way their friendship is central to the movie: I love the way that friendships, particularly female friendships, matter in Veronica Mars: they're not just emotional support for the heroine, but a driving element in the stories.
(Speaking of friendship, has Logan just forgotten Duncan entirely, or what? Given that Duncan is wanted for kidnapping, I can't see a good way for him to come back into the story without it resulting in jail time, but I've always wondered how Logan felt about Duncan's disappearance. If he even cared at that point. But he must know Veronica knows something about it, because Veronica always knows, and that could be a beautiful source of tension between them in a later story...
Especially given that Duncan's daughter Lilly must be, what, ten now? Old enough to become a character in her own right. Just saying!)
The other thing about rewatching this movie, knowing that it will end with the proper pairing together, is that I felt kind of bad for the way the movie stomps Piz into the ground. Did he have to come back for the movie? I guess the filmmakers thought that they needed to deal with Veronica/Piz somehow, given that Veronica and Piz were together at the end of the last season...but at the same time, I think a quick "Piz and I broke up ages ago" would have worked fine. After all, the fancy law-office job is quite enough to dramatize all that Veronica is giving up in returning to Neptune.
I submit as exhibit A the fact that in the sequel book, The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line, Veronica doesn't think about Piz at all. She and her dad are very aware of what it means to give up that law job - even her law degree, given that she hasn't taken the bar yet! - but Piz doesn't enter her mind at all, and given how badly they ended that seems odd.
Not that I want Veronica fretting about Piz, mind, there are much more interesting things for her to apply her gigantic brain to. But still. If he was really necessary as a plot element, surely she would.
I felt that the fact that Cobb has blackmailed Gia into a really quite horrible relationship needed to be better foreshadowed - assuming of course that Gia is telling the truth about their relationship. Given that Veronica has just accused Gia of being an accessory in Carrie Bishop’s murder and Gia needs to convince Veronica that she isn’t morally culpable, she does have a strong incentive to lie or at least bend the truth.
However, given that Cobb shoots Gia in cold blood and then tries to hunt Veronica down, Gia’s explanation is probably accurate. The exploitative basis of their relationship still needed to be better foreshadowed, though. I don’t require that she cower at the sight of him, but something to suggest that there’s something a little bit off would have been nice.
All that said - Gia’s death was, if anything, even more painful the second time I watched it. I don't think it's gratuitous - I kind of think Cobb, psychopath that he is, has been envisioning this end for their affair ever since he got those facing apartments and refused to let Gia get curtains (seriously, psychopath) - but damn, I wish that Gia got the chance to try for a new life. Damn, damn, damn.
Not to mention poor Susan Knight and Carrie Bishop. I do love, though, the way their friendship is central to the movie: I love the way that friendships, particularly female friendships, matter in Veronica Mars: they're not just emotional support for the heroine, but a driving element in the stories.
(Speaking of friendship, has Logan just forgotten Duncan entirely, or what? Given that Duncan is wanted for kidnapping, I can't see a good way for him to come back into the story without it resulting in jail time, but I've always wondered how Logan felt about Duncan's disappearance. If he even cared at that point. But he must know Veronica knows something about it, because Veronica always knows, and that could be a beautiful source of tension between them in a later story...
Especially given that Duncan's daughter Lilly must be, what, ten now? Old enough to become a character in her own right. Just saying!)
The other thing about rewatching this movie, knowing that it will end with the proper pairing together, is that I felt kind of bad for the way the movie stomps Piz into the ground. Did he have to come back for the movie? I guess the filmmakers thought that they needed to deal with Veronica/Piz somehow, given that Veronica and Piz were together at the end of the last season...but at the same time, I think a quick "Piz and I broke up ages ago" would have worked fine. After all, the fancy law-office job is quite enough to dramatize all that Veronica is giving up in returning to Neptune.
I submit as exhibit A the fact that in the sequel book, The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line, Veronica doesn't think about Piz at all. She and her dad are very aware of what it means to give up that law job - even her law degree, given that she hasn't taken the bar yet! - but Piz doesn't enter her mind at all, and given how badly they ended that seems odd.
Not that I want Veronica fretting about Piz, mind, there are much more interesting things for her to apply her gigantic brain to. But still. If he was really necessary as a plot element, surely she would.