VM and FNL reviews
Veronica Mars 3-9 Spit and Eggs
Choppy ep, I thought. I was looking forward to the resolution of the rape case, and I suppose it was satisfying (I thought it was implied that Mercer and Moe's relationship was instigated by the prisoner/jailor experiment from the 'Yes sir', which was really interesting), although Mercer's unicorn speech felt like monologuing, even if I understand the sparkly unicorn recoil. But I dunno about the psychology. However, I wasn't obsessing or theorising over whodunnit. A part of me would have liked to see cardboard 'radical feminists' get some retribution other than Veronica's dirty looks for lying about the rapist, but eh. Speaking of Veronica, surely the girl could share a little of the suspicion she extends to the whole human race with any cuppa of any kind that she gets handed by this point!?
I thought it was fab that Parker was the one to save her, based on Parker learning to trust her instincts, and that she was involved in Take Back the Night activities rather than cardboard cut out 'radical feminist' egg yolking. (Although the music choice to emphasise O'Dell's cocoon at that point was great).
As to the new mystery, I am sad that O'Dell is gone, because I'd grown to really like him. I was definitely wincing along at his sending Keith to investigate the wrong suspected affair, and feeling the pointiness of the 'why would someone commit adultery, KEITH?' line of questioning. There are plenty of suspects, as it'll be interesting to follow the time line from the drunken visit to the hotel (I thought he was going to top himself), given that, the egg yolk, and Weevil being around will probably mean he is suspected. Not to mention both Mars's investments.
I really enjoyed the Veronica and the NuScoobies time - I'd expected more of this instead of what we've had so far in terms of their interaction. The little vignettes of all of them at the party in the heart of the ep was great, particularly Piz's dance. Having Mac back was awesome (Resistance is Futile!). This made up for the deep scorn I felt at having 'Right Here, Right Now', which is a great song, but one that takes me back to my college days (ie it's too old) at the beginning of the ep. Also, prejudiced I may be, but I didn't think that the catch-up structure added anything. I appreciated Veronica's flight (beautifully lit) far more the second time I saw it than the first, sans context, when I was too busy being irritated by the song and story telling choice.
Oh, and I liked the choice of not showing Piz try to come up with a sympathetic face at the canteen when he found out about The Break Up. Poor Logan, as he was giving his speech, I was humming along to 'I love you more than you love me' :P What he said was right and it's a little surprising that Veronica seemed to not see it coming. I mean, I saw it coming from the beginning of their re-hook up, they have, if anything, been more functional than I expected. I'm a little more concerned about Logan's development as a human being than the 'ship - saw the smashing of the police cars, thought 'huh! Old school!' then realised he'd engineered a visit with ex-friend Mercer and Moe. Which could be worse. I'm also wondering whether Veronica can hold down a functional relationship (I do not want Piz to be the rebound guy, and I don't know if I want him to be the guy for her either, maybe I'm tantalised by the teensy possibility that Logan could be if they didn't destroy themselves in the meantime. Maybe I will go back to my default crossover shipping idea, depending on how post-break up Veronica plays out.)
1-17 I Think We Should Have Sex
A whole lot of flailing and glee and lurve for the show here. I've been reading the TWoP recaps (though not for this ep yet) and the recapper makes the point that it does well at showing how the predictable can work if beautifully presented. It was obvious that Tim's father had nicked the camera and that Tim would find it and his heart would be broken, just as it was obvious that Buddy would lech over Tyra's mom and yet it played out beautifully, I sighed for most of the characters (or laughed at them a little, if they were Landry, Matt and Julie). My one quibble would be that we seemed to be missing a couple of scenes about Tim's reconciliation with his father - I don't like being made to feel like I missed a whole episode, which is entirely possible with ITV4. And I did for a little bit because of that.
Tyra was awesome. As ever. And I want her to get out of the town so much, or at least to rise above the drunk ex-boyfriend and the loser mother, painting them at their harshest. Also I find Billy so affecting, more so than poster boy for angst Tim.) The Jason-tattooist encounter grew on me (though 1. a tattoo, 2. in Sanskrit? That's going to go down well). Best of all was the Matt-Julie-Taylors shenanigans, from the hilariousness of Grandma's tapioca (seriously, pitch perfect) to how it all played out - Julie betraying that she was not ready in her whole approach. By the way, she must have nicked those knickers, because I don't see her having the bottle to buy them, if she had, she'd probably have taken the step of wearing them, and whoah, the Coach/Tami backstory being doled out, just his face at the end as he played out the experience of teen sex helplessly watching his little girl.
Choppy ep, I thought. I was looking forward to the resolution of the rape case, and I suppose it was satisfying (I thought it was implied that Mercer and Moe's relationship was instigated by the prisoner/jailor experiment from the 'Yes sir', which was really interesting), although Mercer's unicorn speech felt like monologuing, even if I understand the sparkly unicorn recoil. But I dunno about the psychology. However, I wasn't obsessing or theorising over whodunnit. A part of me would have liked to see cardboard 'radical feminists' get some retribution other than Veronica's dirty looks for lying about the rapist, but eh. Speaking of Veronica, surely the girl could share a little of the suspicion she extends to the whole human race with any cuppa of any kind that she gets handed by this point!?
I thought it was fab that Parker was the one to save her, based on Parker learning to trust her instincts, and that she was involved in Take Back the Night activities rather than cardboard cut out 'radical feminist' egg yolking. (Although the music choice to emphasise O'Dell's cocoon at that point was great).
As to the new mystery, I am sad that O'Dell is gone, because I'd grown to really like him. I was definitely wincing along at his sending Keith to investigate the wrong suspected affair, and feeling the pointiness of the 'why would someone commit adultery, KEITH?' line of questioning. There are plenty of suspects, as it'll be interesting to follow the time line from the drunken visit to the hotel (I thought he was going to top himself), given that, the egg yolk, and Weevil being around will probably mean he is suspected. Not to mention both Mars's investments.
I really enjoyed the Veronica and the NuScoobies time - I'd expected more of this instead of what we've had so far in terms of their interaction. The little vignettes of all of them at the party in the heart of the ep was great, particularly Piz's dance. Having Mac back was awesome (Resistance is Futile!). This made up for the deep scorn I felt at having 'Right Here, Right Now', which is a great song, but one that takes me back to my college days (ie it's too old) at the beginning of the ep. Also, prejudiced I may be, but I didn't think that the catch-up structure added anything. I appreciated Veronica's flight (beautifully lit) far more the second time I saw it than the first, sans context, when I was too busy being irritated by the song and story telling choice.
Oh, and I liked the choice of not showing Piz try to come up with a sympathetic face at the canteen when he found out about The Break Up. Poor Logan, as he was giving his speech, I was humming along to 'I love you more than you love me' :P What he said was right and it's a little surprising that Veronica seemed to not see it coming. I mean, I saw it coming from the beginning of their re-hook up, they have, if anything, been more functional than I expected. I'm a little more concerned about Logan's development as a human being than the 'ship - saw the smashing of the police cars, thought 'huh! Old school!' then realised he'd engineered a visit with ex-friend Mercer and Moe. Which could be worse. I'm also wondering whether Veronica can hold down a functional relationship (I do not want Piz to be the rebound guy, and I don't know if I want him to be the guy for her either, maybe I'm tantalised by the teensy possibility that Logan could be if they didn't destroy themselves in the meantime. Maybe I will go back to my default crossover shipping idea, depending on how post-break up Veronica plays out.)
1-17 I Think We Should Have Sex
A whole lot of flailing and glee and lurve for the show here. I've been reading the TWoP recaps (though not for this ep yet) and the recapper makes the point that it does well at showing how the predictable can work if beautifully presented. It was obvious that Tim's father had nicked the camera and that Tim would find it and his heart would be broken, just as it was obvious that Buddy would lech over Tyra's mom and yet it played out beautifully, I sighed for most of the characters (or laughed at them a little, if they were Landry, Matt and Julie). My one quibble would be that we seemed to be missing a couple of scenes about Tim's reconciliation with his father - I don't like being made to feel like I missed a whole episode, which is entirely possible with ITV4. And I did for a little bit because of that.
Tyra was awesome. As ever. And I want her to get out of the town so much, or at least to rise above the drunk ex-boyfriend and the loser mother, painting them at their harshest. Also I find Billy so affecting, more so than poster boy for angst Tim.) The Jason-tattooist encounter grew on me (though 1. a tattoo, 2. in Sanskrit? That's going to go down well). Best of all was the Matt-Julie-Taylors shenanigans, from the hilariousness of Grandma's tapioca (seriously, pitch perfect) to how it all played out - Julie betraying that she was not ready in her whole approach. By the way, she must have nicked those knickers, because I don't see her having the bottle to buy them, if she had, she'd probably have taken the step of wearing them, and whoah, the Coach/Tami backstory being doled out, just his face at the end as he played out the experience of teen sex helplessly watching his little girl.