That sounds cynical, but it's one of the senses in which I suspect this is the end of L/V. In other words, this is the end of them on-screen. All we get (if we're lucky) from here on out is subtext and/or a random Sway/Epic scene, maybe all the way until the end. The narrative frame the writers have created with the break-up allows them to forget about L/V for as long as they want (probably there are parameters to this kind of forgetting, but I bet RT's are different than what mine would be, so I won't try to guess them), while still holding the couple out as the ultimate symbol of closure in the end. What I see is the possibility of an empty middle, or more precisely, a middle in which they can pair Veronica and Logan willy-nilly with whoever they want, however they want, with only loose fidelity to this larger character/narrative arc. I hate having to sit through empty middles.
(I would really like to be wrong about this--I know _jems_ proposed that Logan and Veronica might spend the beginning of next season as friends, investigating together and working their way back to each other. That would be fun to watch. But part of me thinks it's more likely that V and L will be sent off in separate directions, bumping into one another occasionally as the plot allows so as to remind everyone of their sexual tension, without any real development happening for a long time. And that prospect makes me irritated.)
But here's my other (though I think less likely) worry. What if we're reading Veronica's character arc wrong? (This isn't going to be clear until after tomorrow, I don't think.) What if is this break-up is meant to rewrite Logan's role in her life and in the series--if it's meant to show how ultimately incompatible they are as a romantic couple, and restore him to the position of possible suspect/reluctant antagonist/uneasy ally? What if the point is to show that what have been shown as flaws thus far this season--her inability to trust, her impulse to sit in moral judgment, her cynicism--are appropriate when it comes to Logan? What if this breakup is meant to show us that Veronica has been right all along about Logan, that what she needs is not to change herself, but to let go of this relationship? (It's not Veronica's issues that are holding back the relationship; it's the relationship that's exacerbating her issues.) And what if the show (maybe against narrative expectation, but doesn't RT love to disrupt narrative expectations?) endorses that view?
In RT"s mind, Veronica (defender of the weak and angel of justice every week) is headed for the light, for a less gray future: he sees her ending up working for the FBI, an enforcer of the system that she should no longer believe in. How is he going to get her there? One way would be to make Logan the literal embodiment of her gray and checkered past, and set her up to have to reject him, to move past him (here, and potentially again and again.) In becoming realigned with Madison in Veronica's (and supposed viewers') heads, Logan becomes re-tied to the past that's oppressed Veronica before and that's causing her pain now; he's the dirt she has to wash herself clean of in order to grow up/move on. He can, within the structure of the show, then, resume his old role of rakish suspect/ quasi-antagonist/ friend with a side of sexual tension; remain her link to the Neptune Grand (site of all that is sleazy these days) and the Neptune rich and Hollywood and college party culture (I assume he'll be reprising the role of party host soon enough); and function as a reminder of her shadowy/painful past, as a constant and ever-present temptation, but one her arc ultimately requires her to move away from, not toward. (This might require them to use JD less next year; it might not. They might end up using everyone less next year, even Keith, simply because of the lack of the overarching mysteries; what impact that will have on casting decisions remains to be seen.)
Hah, hah, now that I've written all of that, it feels like the least likely scenario ever. For me, though, a lot is going to depend on tomorrow, and the way the break-up plays out.
p.s. Also, your breakdown makes it clear how terrible this group of writers is at sustaining an ensemble structure. They really shot themselves in the foot after the first season, when they let languish or killed the character relationships and histories that existed apart from Veronica: Logan/Duncan; Logan/Weevil; Mac/Cassidy, just to name a few. And the lack of attention to Wallace and Weevil this season is really sad (also, talk about marginalizing your characters of color, show that supposedly values diversity).
p.p.s. I wish they would let Piz get a little dirty (rather than wet from crying sad tears over Veronica). Neptune tarnishes everyone; he shouldn't be exempt. I told sowell once that my dream is for him to be someone's patsy (preferably someone he trusts/admires/crushes on), framed for a crime he didn't commit. No one believes his innocence, even Veronica (though obviously she reluctantly takes on and solves the case). In the end, though she is apologetic, he is very bitter (and suddenly acquires character depth).
"and function as a reminder of her shadowy/painful past, as a constant and ever-present temptation, but one her arc ultimately requires her to move away from, not toward."
I hate responding with any real-life analog after everyone's thoughtful posts, but I have to say that this DOES sound like the most realistic outcome yet.
REALISTIC, thoght not all that likely for a TV show.
I don't neccessarily want my fictional narratives to be realistic, but as another commenter said, V and L are 19. That's an age where your SO feels like someone that you'll just DIE without, and who understands you completely, but the more time passes the more you don't care anymore. Most people don't marry their highschool sweethearts, or meet their life partner when they are 19.
As much as I've nejoyed L/V, I somewhat tend to agree with the statement that "It's not Veronica's issues that are holding back the relationship; it's the relationship that's exacerbating her issues," and I don't see L as a longhaul guy. I do see him more as someone (and a symbol of something) that V needs to get away from.
If L ultimately grows (and grows up!), that would just make him a better boyfriend in his next relationship.
And OT, but since people have brought up BtVS a few times and that's kinda my area, I think that show did the best job yet of having the female lead realize towards the end that although she cared deeply for past boyfriends (more than one!), she needed to be alone, and probably hadn't met any real potential longhaul guys yet.
The "empty middle" scenario you lay out is unfortunately entirely possible. Can I say how utterly DUMB it would be? How very very wasteful of a dynamic chemistry and fascinating coil of relationship issues? To me, it would flatten the show considerably. Dawson's Creek did this, breaking Joey and Pacey up; they each had other relationships, with a single moment back together (if memory serves) until they finally united in the finale. And it was stupid there too, though not as horribly so, because Joey and Pacey weren't as intrinsically interesting (or compatible) a couple. (Plus, I always found Katie Holmes insipid.)
I simply can't see how this breakup can be about Veronica needing to let go of Logan and move on to better things, though. Because in that case, I think they would have had Logan actually doing something wrong. And he really didn't. He's been and continues to be a complete sweetheart. This is all about her reaction, not about his action. I may be proven wrong tonight, but I really don't think so, based on spoilers, etc. And in that case, it's all about Veronica and her attitudes and insecurities.
I don't think RT has thought through the whole Veronica-at-the-FBI thing, honestly. It's just a fantasy based on wanting to think of her as ending up somewhere more prestigious than as a partner in Keith's small-time, low rent business. So I don't see her character arc as needing to go anywhere specific, except in the ways we've been discussing over the past several weeks.
Based on Diane Ruggiero's podcast, I'm guessing they had planned to have V break up w/ Logan over a sexual escapade during their time apart, but that there was dissent in the writer's room over it being with Madison. This suggests to me that the "who" is only important in that it explains Veronica's overreaction, not because it's a callback to Logan's OPJ '09er days. I'm sure she'll move away from Logan in the aftermath, but I think it's more likely to be a temporary separation than a permanent shift. I'm honestly more inclined to buy into the likelihood of that empty middle scenario than a goodbye-to-Neptune-High-and-Logan-too sort of arc.
As for using all the characters less next year -- I think if anything, it will more likely go the other way. I started thinking about the MotWs in S2 and S3, and how they tied into the arcs, and more of them did than I expected. I think the long term arcs take more screen time than we realize, because many times they're fronts for information we don't know we're getting until later. I'd like to write about this soon, actually, because it fascinates me and also because it's kind of useful for me to examine as a writer. But there were things like the damned prison experiment that mostly focused on two guys we never saw again that turned out to be a hugely important plot point for the rape arc. Waste of screen time otherwise, because Logan and Wallace did almost nothing. But a true B story with Logan and Wallace with no underlying secret story arc to serve? Could be better. It has promise, anyway.
Circling back to the main issue: to me, it's not tonight that will be telling about the future of V/L. Nor even next week. But a few episodes from now, when they're dealing with each other and theoretically past this (because in RT's universe, people move past big events mighty quickly). Will V and L be interacting? Will there be signs of screwball comedy? Will there be UST? Or will it be something else?
(I would really like to be wrong about this--I know _jems_ proposed that Logan and Veronica might spend the beginning of next season as friends, investigating together and working their way back to each other. That would be fun to watch. But part of me thinks it's more likely that V and L will be sent off in separate directions, bumping into one another occasionally as the plot allows so as to remind everyone of their sexual tension, without any real development happening for a long time. And that prospect makes me irritated.)
But here's my other (though I think less likely) worry. What if we're reading Veronica's character arc wrong? (This isn't going to be clear until after tomorrow, I don't think.) What if is this break-up is meant to rewrite Logan's role in her life and in the series--if it's meant to show how ultimately incompatible they are as a romantic couple, and restore him to the position of possible suspect/reluctant antagonist/uneasy ally? What if the point is to show that what have been shown as flaws thus far this season--her inability to trust, her impulse to sit in moral judgment, her cynicism--are appropriate when it comes to Logan? What if this breakup is meant to show us that Veronica has been right all along about Logan, that what she needs is not to change herself, but to let go of this relationship? (It's not Veronica's issues that are holding back the relationship; it's the relationship that's exacerbating her issues.) And what if the show (maybe against narrative expectation, but doesn't RT love to disrupt narrative expectations?) endorses that view?
In RT"s mind, Veronica (defender of the weak and angel of justice every week) is headed for the light, for a less gray future: he sees her ending up working for the FBI, an enforcer of the system that she should no longer believe in. How is he going to get her there? One way would be to make Logan the literal embodiment of her gray and checkered past, and set her up to have to reject him, to move past him (here, and potentially again and again.) In becoming realigned with Madison in Veronica's (and supposed viewers') heads, Logan becomes re-tied to the past that's oppressed Veronica before and that's causing her pain now; he's the dirt she has to wash herself clean of in order to grow up/move on. He can, within the structure of the show, then, resume his old role of rakish suspect/ quasi-antagonist/ friend with a side of sexual tension; remain her link to the Neptune Grand (site of all that is sleazy these days) and the Neptune rich and Hollywood and college party culture (I assume he'll be reprising the role of party host soon enough); and function as a reminder of her shadowy/painful past, as a constant and ever-present temptation, but one her arc ultimately requires her to move away from, not toward. (This might require them to use JD less next year; it might not. They might end up using everyone less next year, even Keith, simply because of the lack of the overarching mysteries; what impact that will have on casting decisions remains to be seen.)
Hah, hah, now that I've written all of that, it feels like the least likely scenario ever. For me, though, a lot is going to depend on tomorrow, and the way the break-up plays out.
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p.p.s. I wish they would let Piz get a little dirty (rather than wet from crying sad tears over Veronica). Neptune tarnishes everyone; he shouldn't be exempt. I told sowell once that my dream is for him to be someone's patsy (preferably someone he trusts/admires/crushes on), framed for a crime he didn't commit. No one believes his innocence, even Veronica (though obviously she reluctantly takes on and solves the case). In the end, though she is apologetic, he is very bitter (and suddenly acquires character depth).
Reply
I hate responding with any real-life analog after everyone's thoughtful posts, but I have to say that this DOES sound like the most realistic outcome yet.
REALISTIC, thoght not all that likely for a TV show.
I don't neccessarily want my fictional narratives to be realistic, but as another commenter said, V and L are 19. That's an age where your SO feels like someone that you'll just DIE without, and who understands you completely, but the more time passes the more you don't care anymore. Most people don't marry their highschool sweethearts, or meet their life partner when they are 19.
As much as I've nejoyed L/V, I somewhat tend to agree with the statement that "It's not Veronica's issues that are holding back the relationship; it's the relationship that's exacerbating her issues," and I don't see L as a longhaul guy. I do see him more as someone (and a symbol of something) that V needs to get away from.
If L ultimately grows (and grows up!), that would just make him a better boyfriend in his next relationship.
And OT, but since people have brought up BtVS a few times and that's kinda my area, I think that show did the best job yet of having the female lead realize towards the end that although she cared deeply for past boyfriends (more than one!), she needed to be alone, and probably hadn't met any real potential longhaul guys yet.
Reply
I simply can't see how this breakup can be about Veronica needing to let go of Logan and move on to better things, though. Because in that case, I think they would have had Logan actually doing something wrong. And he really didn't. He's been and continues to be a complete sweetheart. This is all about her reaction, not about his action. I may be proven wrong tonight, but I really don't think so, based on spoilers, etc. And in that case, it's all about Veronica and her attitudes and insecurities.
I don't think RT has thought through the whole Veronica-at-the-FBI thing, honestly. It's just a fantasy based on wanting to think of her as ending up somewhere more prestigious than as a partner in Keith's small-time, low rent business. So I don't see her character arc as needing to go anywhere specific, except in the ways we've been discussing over the past several weeks.
Based on Diane Ruggiero's podcast, I'm guessing they had planned to have V break up w/ Logan over a sexual escapade during their time apart, but that there was dissent in the writer's room over it being with Madison. This suggests to me that the "who" is only important in that it explains Veronica's overreaction, not because it's a callback to Logan's OPJ '09er days. I'm sure she'll move away from Logan in the aftermath, but I think it's more likely to be a temporary separation than a permanent shift. I'm honestly more inclined to buy into the likelihood of that empty middle scenario than a goodbye-to-Neptune-High-and-Logan-too sort of arc.
As for using all the characters less next year -- I think if anything, it will more likely go the other way. I started thinking about the MotWs in S2 and S3, and how they tied into the arcs, and more of them did than I expected. I think the long term arcs take more screen time than we realize, because many times they're fronts for information we don't know we're getting until later. I'd like to write about this soon, actually, because it fascinates me and also because it's kind of useful for me to examine as a writer. But there were things like the damned prison experiment that mostly focused on two guys we never saw again that turned out to be a hugely important plot point for the rape arc. Waste of screen time otherwise, because Logan and Wallace did almost nothing. But a true B story with Logan and Wallace with no underlying secret story arc to serve? Could be better. It has promise, anyway.
Circling back to the main issue: to me, it's not tonight that will be telling about the future of V/L. Nor even next week. But a few episodes from now, when they're dealing with each other and theoretically past this (because in RT's universe, people move past big events mighty quickly). Will V and L be interacting? Will there be signs of screwball comedy? Will there be UST? Or will it be something else?
Reply
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