[Insert the Thousand Great Lines I'll Never Get to Use as a Subject Line]
On September 22, 2004, after watching the premiere of Lost with Melanie, I literally ran back to my apartment to catch the premiere of a little show called Veronica Mars that I had heard quite a bit of buzz about. I left as soon as that Executive Producer credit hit the screen; I had my television set to UPN so I could just turn it on as soon as I walked in. I may have missed the first few seconds, and I was very close to turning it off for much of the first half, but I ran to see it for the first time. Before I even saw a single second. That's love. It was love before first sight.
On May 22, 2007, I squeezed gymble and her husband, schnappycat and her husband, holly96, beeker121, upanashad, aiglet, cadhla, sophia_helix and her husband (actoplasm), and lodessa and her boyfriend into my apartment. I was not alone this time.
The penultimate episode of Veronica Mars was damn good. It definitely felt more like the show than some of the rest of the season, not only because it was Weevil-centric but because it felt really well paced. The mystery was fucking intriguing, and the character stuff rang true and interesting.
I loved that the MOTW involved actual, honest-to-god detectiving, and Veronica clearly got a kick out of saying, "I'm a private investigator." As long as she doesn't brag about that lousy 95. She interviewed witnesses (loved the book-fine idea, hee ("And, what, you're working undercover in the library?")), checked out alibis, did research, and made connections others couldn't. That's our Veronica. And you know it's not about the money at all. She'd do this shit for free, and she does on many an occasion.
(Sorry, I'm tearing up now. I can't believe we've lost her.)
Again, I was really distracted watching scenes we'd seen being filmed because we'd heard the dialogue over and over again out of context, so it was hard to place it in context; hearing it on TV just made me hear it out of context again. A few notes: I sat in on the casting session for Jalyssa Jones, and originally there was an amusing joke about her thinking Fibonacci was a "racecar driver." It was a good punchline, and then...they replaced it with a complete lack of punchline. Because, what, they didn't think the audience would know who Fibonacci was? Or they didn't want to make the black girl sound stupid? The scene with Leon came off better than I expected because there was a lot of trouble getting that shot of the files being missing. First, there were no files there to flip through. And then it never seemed like the actor got the timing right, since there's a pause in the script for him to realize his files are missing. There was always this interminable, fake silence in between the lines. It looks like there was at least one good take, though. Finally, that shot of Weevil holding the machine at the end? The first few takes, he was holding it the wrong way, so you couldn't read the company name.
I loved how much evidence was stacking against Weevil, and then I love that the answer wasn't obvious, that it was more complicated than it seemed. Conspiracy of rich kids! Awesome! Loved the multiple vampire references. Loved Veronica's bluff (and loved the continuing answering machine gag that turned into a minor plot point). Loved the return of class conflict, one of the hallmarks of the show. If there's one thing Veronica hates, it's rich kids being assholes. And idiots. I mean, really, you used obviously fake names and you got caught? WHO'DA THUNK? I don't know what we're supposed to take away from the end, though, with Weevil. He wasn't part of it to begin with, but now, what? He's going to get into the biz? He's covering up for them? He's going to blackmail them? IS THIS A SEASON FOUR THING WE WILL NEVER GET TO SEE?
Nice to see the continued degeneration of Dick, and incredibly freaky to see him apologize to Mac. I almost thought they were suddenly giving the Mac/Dick 'shippers their due after a year, but Mac had some sense. They actually made it work for a crazy moment, though, on Dick's side, at least, which was impressive.
Wallace! Flying a plane! Pilot callback! Whee.
"Score one for Teen People." Haaaaaaaaa.
The Keith/Vinnie debate was damn hilarious! I mean, it almost made that whole underage drinking plot worth it, now that we know the writers are well aware of its absurdity. We also know that Vinnie is against things like "murder" and "terrorism."
The Veronica/Piz LDR role-play was kind of sweet, but it would have been sweeter if we at all believed Veronica was into it. It was hard to accept Veronica's claim of "honest and direct" when it sorta seemed dishonest. I buy that she wants to miss him, though. She's a detective, but she's a girl, too.
And then there's Logan...being Logan. He always responds with violence! It's just his way. Beating the shit out of Piz is something I'm sure he's wanted to do on principle for a long time, and now he has an excuse.
Then, hey!! This...kind of is a two-part finale! Oh my God!
The last episode. The very last episode. The final finale.
Wallace. Oh, Wallace. BFF to the end. He wore an electroshock collar for her. That shit was fucking freaky. And they brought back his seedy season two past! But I'm getting ahead of myself.
"Follow the video trail" was awesome. Chip Diller was so scared of what Veronica would do to him. And then, Domonick got PWNED by Veronica and Weevil! This is what we love, when Veronica gets all righteous on people who deserve it. lodessa said, "It's just like season one again," a few seconds before Veronica said, "It's like being back in high school." Shelly Pomroy's party, part two! (Also: whoever thought of the title "Emission to Mars"? OH MY GOD EW BUT HA HA HA.) Veronica's rendition of "Bad Day" was hil-fucking-arious, especially because I'd just heard that song for maybe the second time in my life a few weeks ago and recognized it as that "Bad Day" song that was apparently so popular (that was not the Fuel song of the same name).
And then...JAKE KANE! FOR SOME REASON! The whole "Jake Kane is King of The Castle" thing was kind of weird because, honestly, there is no reason that had to be Jake Kane. I'm not even sure it makes much sense for it to be Jake Kane, especially since he barely acted like Jake Kane at all, but we got Clarence Wiedman out of the deal, so we can't complain all that much. Plus, freakyass big portraits of Lilly and Duncan. Aw.
Nish! They do love bringing back characters on this show. It's almost a bylaw of the writing staff: "Why make up a new character when this old character will work just fine, and we like the actor?" I'm really not sure how I feel about Veronica exposing the secret society. She just gave her the names, though, right? That can't be too harmful.
Parker broke up with Logan. My, that wasn't surprising in the least. It's about time, girl.
schnappycat pointed out filmtx's cameo! Lookee! She gave Veronica change! And then said lines like "Next" and "Thank you" and "Who's next?" even though she didn't have a SAG card!
Veronica/Taser FTW! The scene with Piz telling her to put it away was a nice bookend to the scene in the premiere, when Logan, on the other hand, did the Tasering himself. Because Logan knows Veronica. Piz clearly doesn't. Piz can't handle Veronica's thirst for vengeance as demonstrated in this episode.
When Sorokin taunted Veronica and walked away, I said, "[Logan,] You can beat him up." And he listened to me and advanced toward him, and we all cracked the hell up. Then Logan beat the crap out of him because nobody messes with Veronica, you fools. Apology accepted! And he even apologizes to Piz, perfunctorily but sincerely.
As painful as it was to watch, Keith destroying evidence to protect Veronica was a lovely act in a morally gray area. The things we do for the people we love. These are the notes the series ends on, thankfully. Not Logan and Veronica spinny-kissing in the hall, but Keith and Veronica showing each other how much they love each other.
This is why I was terribly afraid Keith was going to die. Whenever you have a random declaration of love, it means one of them is going to die. But no one died but the show.
The series ends with Veronica voting for Keith and walking away in the dreary rain. Things have come full circle. The town of Neptune is going to vote Keith out of office again, with only Veronica sticking by him.
But it won't be just Veronica. Wallace will stick by him. So will Mac. Even Logan will. I'm willing to bet that everyone Veronica has ever helped in the last three years will stick by Keith. Mandy will be Keith's #1 fan. It's all about the journey, and the lives you've affected.
I wish the series hadn't gone out on such a depressing note, but that's noir, baby. The good never prevail. I'm just glad the show went out strong. The last two episodes were meatier than the three episodes before them combined. I can hardly believe that was only two episodes' worth of material. They were packed.
I want to know what happens next, dammit.
After the show was over, the fourteen of us stood around and talked about television, LiveJournal, grammar, and other sundry things for over an hour. It's all about the journey, and the lives you've affected. The show may be gone, but the friendships we formed because of it will remain.
On May 22, 2007, I squeezed gymble and her husband, schnappycat and her husband, holly96, beeker121, upanashad, aiglet, cadhla, sophia_helix and her husband (actoplasm), and lodessa and her boyfriend into my apartment. I was not alone this time.
The penultimate episode of Veronica Mars was damn good. It definitely felt more like the show than some of the rest of the season, not only because it was Weevil-centric but because it felt really well paced. The mystery was fucking intriguing, and the character stuff rang true and interesting.
I loved that the MOTW involved actual, honest-to-god detectiving, and Veronica clearly got a kick out of saying, "I'm a private investigator." As long as she doesn't brag about that lousy 95. She interviewed witnesses (loved the book-fine idea, hee ("And, what, you're working undercover in the library?")), checked out alibis, did research, and made connections others couldn't. That's our Veronica. And you know it's not about the money at all. She'd do this shit for free, and she does on many an occasion.
(Sorry, I'm tearing up now. I can't believe we've lost her.)
Again, I was really distracted watching scenes we'd seen being filmed because we'd heard the dialogue over and over again out of context, so it was hard to place it in context; hearing it on TV just made me hear it out of context again. A few notes: I sat in on the casting session for Jalyssa Jones, and originally there was an amusing joke about her thinking Fibonacci was a "racecar driver." It was a good punchline, and then...they replaced it with a complete lack of punchline. Because, what, they didn't think the audience would know who Fibonacci was? Or they didn't want to make the black girl sound stupid? The scene with Leon came off better than I expected because there was a lot of trouble getting that shot of the files being missing. First, there were no files there to flip through. And then it never seemed like the actor got the timing right, since there's a pause in the script for him to realize his files are missing. There was always this interminable, fake silence in between the lines. It looks like there was at least one good take, though. Finally, that shot of Weevil holding the machine at the end? The first few takes, he was holding it the wrong way, so you couldn't read the company name.
I loved how much evidence was stacking against Weevil, and then I love that the answer wasn't obvious, that it was more complicated than it seemed. Conspiracy of rich kids! Awesome! Loved the multiple vampire references. Loved Veronica's bluff (and loved the continuing answering machine gag that turned into a minor plot point). Loved the return of class conflict, one of the hallmarks of the show. If there's one thing Veronica hates, it's rich kids being assholes. And idiots. I mean, really, you used obviously fake names and you got caught? WHO'DA THUNK? I don't know what we're supposed to take away from the end, though, with Weevil. He wasn't part of it to begin with, but now, what? He's going to get into the biz? He's covering up for them? He's going to blackmail them? IS THIS A SEASON FOUR THING WE WILL NEVER GET TO SEE?
Nice to see the continued degeneration of Dick, and incredibly freaky to see him apologize to Mac. I almost thought they were suddenly giving the Mac/Dick 'shippers their due after a year, but Mac had some sense. They actually made it work for a crazy moment, though, on Dick's side, at least, which was impressive.
Wallace! Flying a plane! Pilot callback! Whee.
"Score one for Teen People." Haaaaaaaaa.
The Keith/Vinnie debate was damn hilarious! I mean, it almost made that whole underage drinking plot worth it, now that we know the writers are well aware of its absurdity. We also know that Vinnie is against things like "murder" and "terrorism."
The Veronica/Piz LDR role-play was kind of sweet, but it would have been sweeter if we at all believed Veronica was into it. It was hard to accept Veronica's claim of "honest and direct" when it sorta seemed dishonest. I buy that she wants to miss him, though. She's a detective, but she's a girl, too.
And then there's Logan...being Logan. He always responds with violence! It's just his way. Beating the shit out of Piz is something I'm sure he's wanted to do on principle for a long time, and now he has an excuse.
Then, hey!! This...kind of is a two-part finale! Oh my God!
The last episode. The very last episode. The final finale.
Wallace. Oh, Wallace. BFF to the end. He wore an electroshock collar for her. That shit was fucking freaky. And they brought back his seedy season two past! But I'm getting ahead of myself.
"Follow the video trail" was awesome. Chip Diller was so scared of what Veronica would do to him. And then, Domonick got PWNED by Veronica and Weevil! This is what we love, when Veronica gets all righteous on people who deserve it. lodessa said, "It's just like season one again," a few seconds before Veronica said, "It's like being back in high school." Shelly Pomroy's party, part two! (Also: whoever thought of the title "Emission to Mars"? OH MY GOD EW BUT HA HA HA.) Veronica's rendition of "Bad Day" was hil-fucking-arious, especially because I'd just heard that song for maybe the second time in my life a few weeks ago and recognized it as that "Bad Day" song that was apparently so popular (that was not the Fuel song of the same name).
And then...JAKE KANE! FOR SOME REASON! The whole "Jake Kane is King of The Castle" thing was kind of weird because, honestly, there is no reason that had to be Jake Kane. I'm not even sure it makes much sense for it to be Jake Kane, especially since he barely acted like Jake Kane at all, but we got Clarence Wiedman out of the deal, so we can't complain all that much. Plus, freakyass big portraits of Lilly and Duncan. Aw.
Nish! They do love bringing back characters on this show. It's almost a bylaw of the writing staff: "Why make up a new character when this old character will work just fine, and we like the actor?" I'm really not sure how I feel about Veronica exposing the secret society. She just gave her the names, though, right? That can't be too harmful.
Parker broke up with Logan. My, that wasn't surprising in the least. It's about time, girl.
schnappycat pointed out filmtx's cameo! Lookee! She gave Veronica change! And then said lines like "Next" and "Thank you" and "Who's next?" even though she didn't have a SAG card!
Veronica/Taser FTW! The scene with Piz telling her to put it away was a nice bookend to the scene in the premiere, when Logan, on the other hand, did the Tasering himself. Because Logan knows Veronica. Piz clearly doesn't. Piz can't handle Veronica's thirst for vengeance as demonstrated in this episode.
When Sorokin taunted Veronica and walked away, I said, "[Logan,] You can beat him up." And he listened to me and advanced toward him, and we all cracked the hell up. Then Logan beat the crap out of him because nobody messes with Veronica, you fools. Apology accepted! And he even apologizes to Piz, perfunctorily but sincerely.
As painful as it was to watch, Keith destroying evidence to protect Veronica was a lovely act in a morally gray area. The things we do for the people we love. These are the notes the series ends on, thankfully. Not Logan and Veronica spinny-kissing in the hall, but Keith and Veronica showing each other how much they love each other.
This is why I was terribly afraid Keith was going to die. Whenever you have a random declaration of love, it means one of them is going to die. But no one died but the show.
The series ends with Veronica voting for Keith and walking away in the dreary rain. Things have come full circle. The town of Neptune is going to vote Keith out of office again, with only Veronica sticking by him.
But it won't be just Veronica. Wallace will stick by him. So will Mac. Even Logan will. I'm willing to bet that everyone Veronica has ever helped in the last three years will stick by Keith. Mandy will be Keith's #1 fan. It's all about the journey, and the lives you've affected.
I wish the series hadn't gone out on such a depressing note, but that's noir, baby. The good never prevail. I'm just glad the show went out strong. The last two episodes were meatier than the three episodes before them combined. I can hardly believe that was only two episodes' worth of material. They were packed.
I want to know what happens next, dammit.
After the show was over, the fourteen of us stood around and talked about television, LiveJournal, grammar, and other sundry things for over an hour. It's all about the journey, and the lives you've affected. The show may be gone, but the friendships we formed because of it will remain.