Sunday, May 11, 2008

Veronica Mars Rocks

I bought all three seasons of Veronica Mars on DVD exactly one week ago. And I've watched them all. Yes, all three seasons in one week. Needless to say, it's been a week of indulgence. Right now my place looks like a hurricane went through it (Dishes? Laundry? What are those?) and I haven't actually slept in the last 24 hours, but it was worth it. If you haven't yet had the pleasure, please take a look. It's pretty freaking awesome.

For those not in the know, Veronica Mars is kind of like Nancy Drew for the new millennium. The parallels are obvious: teenage girl living with single father attempts to live a normal life while solving mysteries for friends on the side. Veronica and her dad even use the names Carson and Nancy Drew as aliases during an episode (ha ha), but the concept has been updated quite a bit into something much less wholesome than the original Nancy. Unlike Carson Drew, Veronica's father Keith is not a famous, well-to-do lawyer, but a former sheriff turned private detective, who now makes his living taking dirty pictures of cheating spouses and chasing down parole jumpers. Nancy's mother was dead, whereas Veronica's mother just ditched them for reasons that are not entirely clear in the beginning. And while I have always been an admirer of Miss Drew, Veronica basically blows her out of the water, both in sleuthing ability, and personality. Veronica has nerves of steel and she's not satisfied with just catching the crooks, she likes to make them pay. Revenge is a dish best served cold indeed. Not to mention that next to all Veronica's high-tech spy gadgetry, Nancy's trusty old magnifying glass just looks hopelessly inadequate.

The series has, as most of my favourites do, a good balance between "bad guy of the week" episodes and continuing storylines that pop up from time to time. I really think the first season is the best; that storyline is so wickedly convoluted and sordid. But the second and third seasons were also eminently watchable.

It makes me very sad when an awesome show like Veronica Mars gets cancelled after the third season while crap reality shows like American Idol and America's Next Top Model just keep going, and going, and going... Yuck.

And now my thoughts on some characters and how the series ended. Please don't read this if you haven't watched the series. You'll enjoy it more if you don't know what's coming next. Otherwise, feel free to click and drag.

So at the end, Veronica has just gone to vote in the election for sheriff, but considering that her Dad just destroyed some evidence to save Veronica's butt, she may be the only one who voted for him. But in a way, it's a good way to end the show because it's such a good example of how their relationship works. They don't always tell each other everything (and that pisses them both off on occasion), but in the end, they're there for each other, period, no matter what happens. So I think Veronica makes Keith lose the election, and although he would of course make a much better sheriff than his rival, I also got the impression that he was feeling a bit chafed by the official rules and restrictions he was forced to work under. Keith likes being able to just go and do something, never mind the warrant. So I think he would ultimately be okay with not being sheriff anymore.

Some other characters who I loved: Mac, who is awesome, and I'm glad she got to be a recurring character through the whole series. I also liked Eli "Weevil" Navarro, although I thought he lost some of his character's bite in the third season. There was that whole thing where he lied to Veronica about finding that computer that allows you to make fake student ids, suggesting that you can take the boy out of the biker gang, etc. but he just didn't have the same feeling of danger around him. So that's too bad. But he was still a cool character.

Mostly I just want to talk about Logan Echolls, because I love, love, love that character. He's such a bad boy, and yet I wouldn't want Veronica to end up with anyone else. The way the series ended, Veronica was still with Piz, but Logan had broken up with Parker. Then Logan goes up and punches a guy in the food court for harassing Veronica, and you can just see the hint of a smile on her face as she watches him walk away. Cuz, you know, I gotta be honest here. I would consider myself to be a feminist and a believer in the equality of the sexes... and yet there is something incredibly appealing about a boyfriend who would take a baseball bat to a police cruiser just so he could get into the same jail cell as the guys that attempted to rape and kill his girlfriend and then proceed to beat the crap out of them. And how many times does Logan either a) save Veronica's life, or b) beat the snot out of someone for her? The truth is, I think, considering Veronica's line of work, she needs a boyfriend who can handle that. Piz is a really nice guy, and that's the problem. Veronica needs someone who's not going to worry about breaking a few rules, or cracking a few heads when necessary. There's also just so much history between Veronica and Logan. He was there with her, through the whole Lilly Kane thing, through the whole rape thing, and he really understands her, because he's been through the same sort of crap. Although of course, there is the problem that Logan is also very wary about letting himself be open and therefore vulnerable. He has this defensive shell of sarcasm and anger that he keeps wrapped around himself. By season three, it's mostly gone when he's with Veronica, but there are still secrets he keeps, and times when he needs to be alone and away from her. And Veronica, who has had the people she loves keeping secrets from her from day one, just can't handle that. She needs to know, she needs to know now, and she needs to know everything. And that's why they're like the amazing rubber couple: can't stay apart, can't stay together. But, in my mind, (forget that whole Veronica Mars season four first year in FBI crap) they end up together. Cuz I'm a sucker for a happy ending, and those two deserve one.

So just go and watch it already. You won't be sorry.