Veronica Mars: Credit Where Credit's Due   Rewatch 
September 26, 2017 8:05 AM - Season 1, Episode 2 - Subscribe

Veronica investigates credit card fraud. We see Weevil in a more sympathetic light. Logan is an ass (Logan is always an ass), but Troy seems nice, right? And, oh yeah, a role for Paris Hilton...

One of the things I love about Veronica Mars is how it creates engaging mystery plots around crimes other than murder and rape. Why don't other shows do this? It allows the show to raise the stakes for the season arc by having it be simply a terrible (but realistic) crime, rather than a serial killer who inscribes computer programs on bones and has surveillance of every place and time and has kidnapped your kids and buried them alive and is also a cannibal.

I love this stage of the show where Veronica is practically friendless. The 09ers have turned their backs on her, the non-09ers see her as the blond privileged kid who used to be an 09er. Her motivation at this point is not to see justice done, but to get revenge against the obviously shallow and hurtful Duncan and Logan. (Preview: IMHO, as Veronica's motives get more complex, her character gets less interesting. We'll talk.) But even at this early stage, there are examples from both sides of the tracks of characters playing against type.

Go90 stream. IMDB. Wiki. AV Club. TWoP. Markwatches. Go Pirates.
posted by rikschell (6 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
It allows the show to raise the stakes for the season arc by having it be simply a terrible (but realistic) crime, rather than a serial killer who inscribes computer programs on bones and has surveillance of every place and time and has kidnapped your kids and buried them alive and is also a cannibal.
So.. not a Mentalist fan, then?

I agree, the more human scale of the mysteries in Veronica Mars is part of the show's charm.
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:18 PM on September 26, 2017 [2 favorites]


I was referring specifically to Bones, but a lot of shows do that.
posted by rikschell at 4:54 AM on September 27, 2017


but a lot of shows do that

See also: Luther. (which I gave up on, despite Elba.)
posted by small_ruminant at 2:47 PM on September 27, 2017


Whenever I loaned out my DVDs to friends, I told them not to be thrown off by Paris Hilton's cameo and that if they get through the first disc (first 4 episodes), it's totally worth it. Most of them were appreciative of that warning, admitting they would have dismissed the show just based on the first few episodes (although the pilot is still excellent!).
posted by paisley sheep at 5:00 PM on September 27, 2017


Coincidentally, I just binged through the first two seasons of Veronica Mars in like two weeks (after having watched it when it aired). It turned out to be exactly the show about toxic masculinity, racism, and abuse of power by the wealthy that I needed right now.

I don't think it's a spoiler to say that they go on to make several jokes at Paris Hilton's expense throughout the show, which sets up an odd reality where the wealthy socialite Paris Hilton exists and the character from this episode just happens to look exactly like her.
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:37 PM on September 27, 2017 [1 favorite]


The Paris Hilton thing reminds me of how America's Next Top Model used to have an acting challenge, and the prize for whichever model was the best actress was a cameo on Veronica Mars. Fortunately, IIRC they were never asked to do much, and they weren't egregiously bad.
posted by cottoncandybeard at 6:20 AM on September 28, 2017


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