Jump to content

Veronica Mars: The Rewatch


Guest
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm a few episodes in, currently on Return of the Kane. I had forgotten how great Jason Gohring's performance was early on. He was definitely at his best as a bad guy, and became boring by the time he was the poor, misunderstood good guy that everyone thought was bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't even fully decided if I'll watch Season 2. Season 1 told a great story. Season 2 told a good story. Season 3 happened.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I watch and enjoy all three seasons. I actually liked season three and I thought breaking it up into smaller mystery arcs was smart and makes it an equal of the previous two seasons. Emo Jason Gohring was awesome.

 

Interesting sidenote, I didn't watch Veronica Mars for the first time until years after it was cancelled, so I first encountered Jason as the badassed Vampire Boss in Moonlight. I thought he was excellent there and was pleased to see he was in VM.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I watched it as it came out, but I haven't watched season 3 since. So maybe I will watch it to see if it's improved any.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Girl Next Door

 

Starts off with the end of the story, and the rest is told in flashback. Not a huge fan of the "Two days before..." type of storytelling, but for a show that heavily uses flashbacks it isn't quite as annoying.

 

The cast of this show is amazing. Every actor is great, even those who aren't the main cast. The coworker in this episode was great, as was the skeezy boyfriend. Love the moment between the step-father and the mother, great job of foreshadowing without making it apparent.

 

Weevil remains my favorite character, and the only one that seems capable of any growth or desire for growth.

 

Big mystery notes:
-Duncan has a big secret that made him break up with Veronica

 

-Lilly knew about it but wouldn't share

 

-Veronica's mom and Duncan's dad were king and queen of the prom, which automagically means they were dating, because that's the way it works in TV land. Seriously, did any TV writer ever go to prom?

 

-Weevil has a Lilly tattoo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like A Virgin

 

Introductions: Meg (hot, innocent blonde!) and Mac.

 

Veronica and Duncan are in looooooooovvvvvvvvvve.

Koontz is kinda creepy. I'd believe he killed someone.

 

Best part: Crazy Keith chasing out the tenant from the Wallace home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

This and the movie has made me want to rewatch the series. I haven't don't so in several years. I am looking forward to seeing if my opinions change. I'll keep you updated as I go along. 5 eps into the first season.


I had forgotten Paris HIlton was in the early episodes and almost threw up when I saw her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the most underrated shows of recent memory.

The chemistry between Enrico Colantoni and Kristen Bell was priceless.

 

I own all three seasons and rewatch once a year. A precursor in visual theme, wit, and panache, to Castle, a show that shares most of the production personal from VM.

 

There was a reason fans clamored for (and got) a film adaption.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I didn't do a good job of updating this thread, but I made it through seasons 1 & 2, and I'm at the end of the first arc of season 3.

 

Season 3 suffered greatly from staying in Neptune, and I can't come up with a good reason for it.

 

Wallace and Veronica could easily go to the same college, so that problem is solved. Logan is rich and could easily follow Veronica. Dick is homeless and could easily follow Logan.

 

Then you could have had Keith really struggling more with the distance and not being able to protect Veronica, which would have increased Logan's overprotective nature.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They just needed to do what later teen genre shows did and split one school year over multiple seasons. What law says one TV season has to equal one in show year? Vampire Diaries did this successfully ... milking 4 seasons out of junior and senior year. Veronica Mars worked best in high school. They should have gotten 4-5 seasons in high school.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That definitely would've been the best, but given the decisions they made with season 2, season 3 should either have taken place immediately following season 2, or taken place elsewhere.

 

Neptune was just played out.

 

It was nice to realize that the movie really was set in the future, though, since they specifically noted her graduation was in 06.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It wasn't just the setting change-- it was a pretty big format change. Going to the CW meant they were targeting a teen audience instead of a more widespread one. Aiming younger, while the characters are older made for more contrived storylines. Veronica's love life has always been a mess, but it was always a side effect to her actions, season 3 made her character motivation be based more around boy trouble, and the effect made her seem less smart than she was.

 

The introduction of the new characters was fine, but they didn't know what to do with Wallace, Dick, Logan, Weevil or Mac. They made Weevil the janitor ffs. Again, this was the CW de-clawing anything too edgy for a teenage audience. The murder, violence and trauma of the first two seasons was replaced with date rape and a dead dean that was never that likeable.

 

They should have ditched the dorm stuff, because it was tired, and had Wallace, Veronica and Mac living off campus in their own apartment that is run like a detective agency.

 

The shift from one big season mystery counterbalanced with single episode mysteries to having mini-arcs over a few episodes, with the occasional stand-alone works on paper, but gave the overall season a more disjointed feel.

 

Lastly, the big mysteries of season 1 and 2 were personal for Veronica. They were intertwined between her feelings for Duncan and Logan, her pariah status, her missing mother, and helping her father. In season 3, nothing happened to Veronica. All the mysteries came like the standalone ones-- people coming to her for help. There was no big personal investment for her in any of the cases outside of wanting to dispense justice. Again, this left all her personal stuff floating on her boy-trouble, which again, made her seem more flighty than she had been before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't disagree with any of that, but I feel like the biggest issue was the setting in terms of not making a decision to change or not. They went for a weird middle ground that kept everything the same while kinda sorta changing.

 

I also think that the mysteries would have been more personal had Veronica actually been part of the college community, instead of straddling Hearst and Neptune. Girls in her dorm getting raped, and the main suspect being Dick, while she is struggling with feeling responsible for Beaver's death, is very personal. Very little would have to change, but suddenly everything has meaning again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok wait. Unless I'm crazy, when the biological mother of a child dies, doesn't full custody automatically transfer to the biological father? Is California weird, or is this is serious liberty they've taken with the law.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would imagine that the teenage nature would complicate things, as would the issue of Duncan's parents being prosecuted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course it's of consequence, at least to the inescapable lawsuit. Especially when you take into account the reason his parents were in trouble. They had legitimate fear that he has a medical condition that caused him to kill his sister. That alone would be a good reason to award custody to her parents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But in the real world, until someone contests and a court rules that he's unfit and awards custody to someone else...that's his baby and he has full custody.

 

So long story short, the writing in the 2nd season isn't up to par like the first season. This isn't really the first eye-rolling incident that kinda took me out of the story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's obvious. But I would imagine he would have to prove paternity before he would get custody, too, and Duncan isn't that smart.

 

But, yeah season 1 is great. Season 2 is good. Season 3 was filmed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.