That's Wrong Both Factually and Ontologically
Would you look at that? Our show isn't cancelled yet. Too bad Mac's dead. Poor Cheerios.
You know, they didn't mention the bus crash until the last five minutes, and Troy didn't really serve any purpose beyond kicking off the A plot, and it was all really just a way to ease the transition into season three, which makes this really more of a weird filler episode...but it was still great.
It's a strong start with Teacher Continuity (Mrs. Murphy!) (I'm not sure why Teacher Continuity amuses me so much; I don't remember how poor it was on other teen shows. They hardly ever show the teachers on other shows, do they? And they're never distinct.) Oh, wait, before that, we totally skip over the part where Logan tells Veronica exactly what the horrible thing he did was. STOP NOT RESOLVING YOUR CLIFFHANGERS, YO. Okay, well, we do basically get the gist, since the charges have been dropped, and Veronica knows why. So Logan thinks the horrible thing was basically...the entire deal. Got it.
(Woody's real name is Woodrow! Heh.)
Then we set up the old Hearst U, and Kristen Bell's delivery of "If it were far away in Maine, I'd be excited, but it's in Neptune, so I'm not" is awesome. The matter-of-fact snarkiness there is perfect. And then when we get to Hearst, Michael Cera is adorable as Dean, who is, let's face it, pretty much a grown-up George Michael. A little more confident of himself, but that's what happens when you're older. Except, um, he's shot a man in Reno. That's interesting. And we will find out more about this next season when he returns, right? RIGHT?
Or maybe he was just joking.
Troy! I would never have expected you to be in this episode, what with your random appearance in the previouslies! Although I'd gotten spoiled for him about a month ago when I ran across the title of this episode and discussed it with someone who assumed I understood the implications of the word "Graff."
So, Troy is the new Logan, basically. He's come back with a moral makeover somehow, and he has to deal with Veronica, the Queen of Jumping to Conclusions and Clinging to Past Conceptions. Of course she's not going to believe he's changed. For Veronica, people do not change. Duncan was a perfect boyfriend back in the day, so he is a perfect boyfriend now. Logan was an obligatory psychotic jackass, and he remains an obligatory psychotic jackass. Troy was a lying scumbag, and he is still a lying scumbag. It helps keep her world less complicated than it already is. "You know me," she says. "Same old, same old." Even she stays the same, in her own mind. All of these people, including her, have actually changed, and she can't see it or won't acknowledge it. And...you don't read my posts for intellectual analysis; you're looking for snarky commentary. Let's move on.
Alia Shawkat! She was looking good at that party, and she was more un-Maeby-like than Michael was un-GM-like. I like that she had really nice hair because it makes it more believable that she'd be just as upset over getting her head shaved as she was about getting raped.
I cracked the ever-living fuck up at the Jane Austen shout-out. Well played, Rob. Well fucking played. (For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Rob (and, it seems, pretty much everyone else on the show) was very surprised that the fans hated Jackie so, so much simply because she dissed Pride and Prejudice. It would be great if one day in the future, Veronica just pours a beer on Jackie and says, "I owed you.")
Veronica randomly tasering that guy? HILARIOUS.
Oh! Going back a few scenes. In the opening Mrs. Murphy scene, I noticed there was another African-American girl! Diversity! And then there was one at Hearst, and Wallace is immediately drawn to her rather than her Caucasian friend. Um, what happened to Jane, yo? What happened to the old "Um, are we being racist?" question? But then he flirted with Kierkegaard, so that was good. Wallace was better in this episode than he's been in a while; he had that very smooth window-unlocking maneuver. And of course he's getting a basketball scholarship to Hearst U.
I love the frat-boy point system because, well...that's pretty true to life. At Rice, there was definitely an unofficial point system at play during Owl Weekend, when the prospies (or the pro-frosh, in Heart terms) came to visit. I forget how many points hooking up with your prospy was worth...no, wait, your prospy was of your sex, so hooking up your prospy would actually be worth quite a few more points than hooking up with, say, your hallmate's prospy. But I digress. Point is: objectifying women is AWESOME. I mean, bad. Bad! That's totally what I meant to say!
It didn't even occur to me that they would make a reference to Veronica's rape in this episode. Because...they never do. But man, that was a wonderful subtle callback. So Veronica: "It'll suck...and then it'll suck less." And it's a testament to Kristen's performance that I actually caught the subtext there. Like I said, her rape wasn't even on my mind, and the way she delivered that line just thwapped me. There was even a little shift in the music.
Okay. The Emmy scene? First of all, heeeee, "Emmy nomination." Second of all, HAAAAA. I swear, that is going down as one of the funniest scenes in the series. The over-the-top music combined with Veronica's over-the-top (but not too over-the-top) performance all leading up to the classic punchline: "Sorry, this girl was Hawaiian." In the future, Veronica, the recovery line is: "She's adopted."
"Where would I find a Hawaiian?"
"...in Hawaii?"
HA HA HA HA HA I LOVE YOU GEORGE MICHAEL DEAN DEAN MICHAEL.
One of the frat boys' codenames is Iceman? Ha! A combined shout-out to Couch Baron's nickname for Troy (Icetwin) and the reason for that nickname. ("You undercounted the sassy" is a classic Veronica line.)
However points Stacy is actually worth, she scored about seventy-five more for that hair stunt. We'll see her again next season, right? RIGHT?
We kind of have to, though, given the non-resolution of the A plot. They can't have Veronica go to Hearst and just let this serial rapist run loose. But Wallace is spot-on in his assessment that Veronica will feel right at home. She already has enemies. And what about Troy? Will we see him again? Okay, we can't make them all regulars, but surely they can be somewhat recurring!
All right, B plot. Or maybe it's the C plot. Probably the C plot, but it's less meaty, so I'm putting it in the middle, where the meat normally goes, just to fuck with you.
Cliff shirtless! Sooner or later, every single man on this show will get a shirtless scene. Nice little mystery plot for him.
Madison leaves Dick for Lamb? Who's supposed to be more mature? As if. He just has a bigger penis.
Babsonite: AHHHHHHH
raligh: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
jediknight: HA!
CarpeDi7: OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Babsonite: best thing ever!
wimbledonchampv: Dude!
Maka: OMG OMG OMG
raligh: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CarpeDi7: Is Madison 18?
Maka: Did Lamb take the brief case too?!
raligh: So, Lamb and Madison have been together since the carnival?
CarpeDi7: I'm a guessing, which is too funny
Babsonite: holy shit...LAMB AND MADISON!!
CarpeDi7: Michael has such a hard job. Hee
The Keith/Lamb/Cliff scene Rob mentioned last night was pretty funny, but the first half of it, just the Keith/Lamb bugged me because Michael was basically using the same delivery he's used for every Lamb line the last six episodes or something. That immediate dismissal of whatever the other character has to say. It's getting a little irritating; I know Lamb's a self-centered ass, but I almost feel like Michael's got that one delivery down so well he just falls back on it.
It's better when the more incriminating pictures come into play, and Lamb-as-a-person comes through. And, oh my fucking God, Keith's line about the campaign slogan was funny, but the fact that they actually made the flyer was a superpunchline.
Of course, that whole plotline is still kind of a mystery because...who paid off the hooker? Why steal the files on Logan's case after it's been dropped? Did Lamb have anything to do with it? Are the Fitzpatricks involved?
Okay, B plot. Logan. Hannah. I know, I know, I know. (An aside: Ryan Hansen does not know how to play video games. He continues to mash the buttons during the fatality. What the hell? Still, I once again love the fact that they use video games on this show in a way that shows that the writers, at least, know how to play video games.) Poor Hannah. She's so crushed. And the fact that she actually bakes a file into his cake makes her twice as awesome and thus deserving of my sympathy.
I'm not totally satisfied that Logan seemingly ended up "falling for" Hannah, but I don't think it's as simple as that. It's not like the cliché. I think it's true to Logan and how fucked up he is, emotionally. And the fact that he's trying to be a better person. He wants to be with Hannah when he doesn't have to, not just for her sake, but for his. This is something he has to do for himself because Logan, unlike Veronica, can recognize change. He needs change because his life sucks. Veronica chooses to ignore what sucks; Logan focuses on it. They're motivational opposites.
Tegan and Sara!
Cool edits for the approach of Dr. Griffith. I initially thought it was the Fitzpatricks come to kill Hannah. And Logan is in big, big trouble. Is it weird for him to cry out, "You can't take the sky my eye pep squad pie her from me!"? Nah, he's a rebel, and he's always been protective of the women he cares about. But now he's lost his gambling chip, and his prosecutor's case files are missing. Someone really has it in for him.
And oh yeah, bus crash. Explosives. Boom. Danny Boyd! Woody is now connected to the Fitzpatricks!
Soylent Green is Fitzpatricks!
In conclusion, here's a random shout-out to spadada.
You know, they didn't mention the bus crash until the last five minutes, and Troy didn't really serve any purpose beyond kicking off the A plot, and it was all really just a way to ease the transition into season three, which makes this really more of a weird filler episode...but it was still great.
It's a strong start with Teacher Continuity (Mrs. Murphy!) (I'm not sure why Teacher Continuity amuses me so much; I don't remember how poor it was on other teen shows. They hardly ever show the teachers on other shows, do they? And they're never distinct.) Oh, wait, before that, we totally skip over the part where Logan tells Veronica exactly what the horrible thing he did was. STOP NOT RESOLVING YOUR CLIFFHANGERS, YO. Okay, well, we do basically get the gist, since the charges have been dropped, and Veronica knows why. So Logan thinks the horrible thing was basically...the entire deal. Got it.
(Woody's real name is Woodrow! Heh.)
Then we set up the old Hearst U, and Kristen Bell's delivery of "If it were far away in Maine, I'd be excited, but it's in Neptune, so I'm not" is awesome. The matter-of-fact snarkiness there is perfect. And then when we get to Hearst, Michael Cera is adorable as Dean, who is, let's face it, pretty much a grown-up George Michael. A little more confident of himself, but that's what happens when you're older. Except, um, he's shot a man in Reno. That's interesting. And we will find out more about this next season when he returns, right? RIGHT?
Or maybe he was just joking.
Troy! I would never have expected you to be in this episode, what with your random appearance in the previouslies! Although I'd gotten spoiled for him about a month ago when I ran across the title of this episode and discussed it with someone who assumed I understood the implications of the word "Graff."
So, Troy is the new Logan, basically. He's come back with a moral makeover somehow, and he has to deal with Veronica, the Queen of Jumping to Conclusions and Clinging to Past Conceptions. Of course she's not going to believe he's changed. For Veronica, people do not change. Duncan was a perfect boyfriend back in the day, so he is a perfect boyfriend now. Logan was an obligatory psychotic jackass, and he remains an obligatory psychotic jackass. Troy was a lying scumbag, and he is still a lying scumbag. It helps keep her world less complicated than it already is. "You know me," she says. "Same old, same old." Even she stays the same, in her own mind. All of these people, including her, have actually changed, and she can't see it or won't acknowledge it. And...you don't read my posts for intellectual analysis; you're looking for snarky commentary. Let's move on.
Alia Shawkat! She was looking good at that party, and she was more un-Maeby-like than Michael was un-GM-like. I like that she had really nice hair because it makes it more believable that she'd be just as upset over getting her head shaved as she was about getting raped.
I cracked the ever-living fuck up at the Jane Austen shout-out. Well played, Rob. Well fucking played. (For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Rob (and, it seems, pretty much everyone else on the show) was very surprised that the fans hated Jackie so, so much simply because she dissed Pride and Prejudice. It would be great if one day in the future, Veronica just pours a beer on Jackie and says, "I owed you.")
Veronica randomly tasering that guy? HILARIOUS.
Oh! Going back a few scenes. In the opening Mrs. Murphy scene, I noticed there was another African-American girl! Diversity! And then there was one at Hearst, and Wallace is immediately drawn to her rather than her Caucasian friend. Um, what happened to Jane, yo? What happened to the old "Um, are we being racist?" question? But then he flirted with Kierkegaard, so that was good. Wallace was better in this episode than he's been in a while; he had that very smooth window-unlocking maneuver. And of course he's getting a basketball scholarship to Hearst U.
I love the frat-boy point system because, well...that's pretty true to life. At Rice, there was definitely an unofficial point system at play during Owl Weekend, when the prospies (or the pro-frosh, in Heart terms) came to visit. I forget how many points hooking up with your prospy was worth...no, wait, your prospy was of your sex, so hooking up your prospy would actually be worth quite a few more points than hooking up with, say, your hallmate's prospy. But I digress. Point is: objectifying women is AWESOME. I mean, bad. Bad! That's totally what I meant to say!
It didn't even occur to me that they would make a reference to Veronica's rape in this episode. Because...they never do. But man, that was a wonderful subtle callback. So Veronica: "It'll suck...and then it'll suck less." And it's a testament to Kristen's performance that I actually caught the subtext there. Like I said, her rape wasn't even on my mind, and the way she delivered that line just thwapped me. There was even a little shift in the music.
Okay. The Emmy scene? First of all, heeeee, "Emmy nomination." Second of all, HAAAAA. I swear, that is going down as one of the funniest scenes in the series. The over-the-top music combined with Veronica's over-the-top (but not too over-the-top) performance all leading up to the classic punchline: "Sorry, this girl was Hawaiian." In the future, Veronica, the recovery line is: "She's adopted."
"Where would I find a Hawaiian?"
"...in Hawaii?"
HA HA HA HA HA I LOVE YOU GEORGE MICHAEL DEAN DEAN MICHAEL.
One of the frat boys' codenames is Iceman? Ha! A combined shout-out to Couch Baron's nickname for Troy (Icetwin) and the reason for that nickname. ("You undercounted the sassy" is a classic Veronica line.)
However points Stacy is actually worth, she scored about seventy-five more for that hair stunt. We'll see her again next season, right? RIGHT?
We kind of have to, though, given the non-resolution of the A plot. They can't have Veronica go to Hearst and just let this serial rapist run loose. But Wallace is spot-on in his assessment that Veronica will feel right at home. She already has enemies. And what about Troy? Will we see him again? Okay, we can't make them all regulars, but surely they can be somewhat recurring!
All right, B plot. Or maybe it's the C plot. Probably the C plot, but it's less meaty, so I'm putting it in the middle, where the meat normally goes, just to fuck with you.
Cliff shirtless! Sooner or later, every single man on this show will get a shirtless scene. Nice little mystery plot for him.
Madison leaves Dick for Lamb? Who's supposed to be more mature? As if. He just has a bigger penis.
Babsonite: AHHHHHHH
raligh: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
jediknight: HA!
CarpeDi7: OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Babsonite: best thing ever!
wimbledonchampv: Dude!
Maka: OMG OMG OMG
raligh: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CarpeDi7: Is Madison 18?
Maka: Did Lamb take the brief case too?!
raligh: So, Lamb and Madison have been together since the carnival?
CarpeDi7: I'm a guessing, which is too funny
Babsonite: holy shit...LAMB AND MADISON!!
CarpeDi7: Michael has such a hard job. Hee
The Keith/Lamb/Cliff scene Rob mentioned last night was pretty funny, but the first half of it, just the Keith/Lamb bugged me because Michael was basically using the same delivery he's used for every Lamb line the last six episodes or something. That immediate dismissal of whatever the other character has to say. It's getting a little irritating; I know Lamb's a self-centered ass, but I almost feel like Michael's got that one delivery down so well he just falls back on it.
It's better when the more incriminating pictures come into play, and Lamb-as-a-person comes through. And, oh my fucking God, Keith's line about the campaign slogan was funny, but the fact that they actually made the flyer was a superpunchline.
Of course, that whole plotline is still kind of a mystery because...who paid off the hooker? Why steal the files on Logan's case after it's been dropped? Did Lamb have anything to do with it? Are the Fitzpatricks involved?
Okay, B plot. Logan. Hannah. I know, I know, I know. (An aside: Ryan Hansen does not know how to play video games. He continues to mash the buttons during the fatality. What the hell? Still, I once again love the fact that they use video games on this show in a way that shows that the writers, at least, know how to play video games.) Poor Hannah. She's so crushed. And the fact that she actually bakes a file into his cake makes her twice as awesome and thus deserving of my sympathy.
I'm not totally satisfied that Logan seemingly ended up "falling for" Hannah, but I don't think it's as simple as that. It's not like the cliché. I think it's true to Logan and how fucked up he is, emotionally. And the fact that he's trying to be a better person. He wants to be with Hannah when he doesn't have to, not just for her sake, but for his. This is something he has to do for himself because Logan, unlike Veronica, can recognize change. He needs change because his life sucks. Veronica chooses to ignore what sucks; Logan focuses on it. They're motivational opposites.
Tegan and Sara!
Cool edits for the approach of Dr. Griffith. I initially thought it was the Fitzpatricks come to kill Hannah. And Logan is in big, big trouble. Is it weird for him to cry out, "You can't take the sky my eye pep squad pie her from me!"? Nah, he's a rebel, and he's always been protective of the women he cares about. But now he's lost his gambling chip, and his prosecutor's case files are missing. Someone really has it in for him.
And oh yeah, bus crash. Explosives. Boom. Danny Boyd! Woody is now connected to the Fitzpatricks!
Soylent Green is Fitzpatricks!
In conclusion, here's a random shout-out to spadada.