Veronica Mars S01 Wrap-Up Post

Sweeney: WE DID IT! We’re here! Dance party time! OK, so, we often begin rankings with a discussion of how bad we are at ranking things, but seriously, seriously, this is the hardest ranking I’ve ever had to do. I love all 22 of these episodes. I’d watch any of them in a heartbeat and they are all near and dear to my heart. Both of the non-Snows began this project by discussing how we count this as one of the best seasons of TV ever (it’s part of our description for the show!) and that opinion holds. Whatever new flaws I may have picked up on this rewatch, I will forever love this show and Veronica and, especially, this season. With that in mind, there’s not really a proper “bottom” to this list. I love meeting Veronica and getting to know her world. I don’t think the show ever again reaches the heights that it reaches with the Lilly Kane mystery, in part because it can’t – you only get one, “This changed my life,” prologue to your series. They unraveled that mystery wonderfully and I loved every minute of this season – even if I can’t watch the final minutes without blubbering and “Lily Dreams On” is a go-to cry song for me.

Enough of that. To the rankings, which are not so much rankings as, “Here’s why this episode’s great! And also this one!”:

1. Mars vs Mars – CARRIE BISHOP! This episode has Leighton Meester and Adam Scott and it’s amazing. Entirely aside from LM, Carrie is my favorite one-off characters – one I wish we had seen more of. She’s an interesting companion to Veronica: a former popular girl who gave that up to stand up for something that she thought was more important. (In both cases, a something pertaining to their BFFs.) This episode is painful to watch, at times, as we watch Veronica’s own biases render her unsympathetic to a character she has much in common with. tl;dr I love this episode.
2. The Wrath of Con – I have no idea why I said this episode wasn’t a contender because it totally was. Obviously it didn’t take that #1 spot, but it’s damn close. These are the best Lillybacks of the series, I loved the mystery of the week, and there are some great Veronica/Wallace moments. Top notch.
3. Leave It To Beaver – I love this finale. The final soul-destroying moments are my favorite moments of the series and I agree that it IS better like that and we should actually just watch that on repeat.
4. Betty and Veronica – Once I got over the 22-way tie, I really found that I had a four-way tie, and this one lost, ultimately because I realized that I don’t actually care that much about this mystery of the week. I love most of the moments that it gave us, though, in particular all the Veronica/Wallace stuff.
5. Like A Virgin – This is just a really memorable episode for me and I also adore Meg and her cartoon-butterfly-braided hair.
6. Pilot – What an epic pilot. When introducing people to this show it is important to emphasize how important it is to watch every single minute of it because HOLY INFODUMP, BATMAN. It’s a lot, but a glorious lot. I was instantly hooked.
7. Silence of the Lamb – Mac feels for days and days.
8. An Echolls Family Christmas – I hear everyone’s reasons for why they don’t care about this episode and why it’s a throw-away and some other stuff. I hear you and I also don’t care because I love when Veronica joins the poker game. It’s also significant for building out some bits of 09erdom for us. But mostly it’s the poker.
9. A Trip to the Dentist – Plot twists and turns, oh my! The weird thing about these late season episodes, in a season where so much happens, is that I sometimes feel like the little moments that I love get drowned out by the mystery reveals. That said, no matter how many times I have watched these reveals, they are always incredible, which says a whole lot about this show.
10. The Girl Next Door – The Jessica Chastain plot was heavy, but not a good look for V in a lot of ways. Lots of great Weevil stuff in this episode, though, including his bro-ing out with Logan. I’d say this episode’s biggest pitfall was that several plot points strained my suspension of disbelieve a bit too much.
11. Clash of the Tritons – SO MUCH GLORIOUS INFORMATION! Arbitrary points deducted for the inappropriate spying. And that fucking douchey kid who tried to frame Veronica. Fuck that kid for being in this episode. (This is not an actual flaw of the episode. I’m totally just coming up with reasons why every episode can’t be my favorite. My arbitrary reasons are mostly pretty arbitrary.)
12. Weapons of Class Destruction – A fangirl favorite, of course, but also a pretty solid mystery of the week. And a solid life lesson about the horror of mullets.
13. You Think You Know Somebody – Watching Veronica dupe Troy was just fun and the music in this episode is some of my favorite. I thank this show for my love of The Old 97’s, which is a road trip staple.
14. Kanes and Abel’s – This episode gave us the amazing Vinnie as well as some really important plot stuff, but I couldn’t get into the school mystery because that girl was such a bitch and there wasn’t enough to Amelia, as a character.
15. M.A.D. – #meh on the mystery of the week, but there are so many moments and details that I love here.
16. Lord of the Bling – I don’t care what Diva Snow says I LOVE THAT “A LONG TIME AGO” callback. I love all the flashbacks but the mystery of the week suffers from the fact that flashbacks are (as always) much more about the Lilly mystery than our missing girl. It’s one of those things where I guess I just want the episode to be longer because I don’t want to sacrifice the Lilly stuff, but you needed more of Yolanda in there to really get into the mystery of the week.
17. Drinking the Kool-Aid – More fun music! Love the morality-of-the-job bit. Arbitrary points deducted because my favorite pairing of humans (Veronica/Keith) were at odds for much of the episode.
18. Meet John Smith – I love this mystery of the week, but it’s an early episode and therefore suffers from a lack of relevance to the season arcs, which is the only reason it’s all the way down here.
19. Ruskie Business – This episode introduces Trina, which is cool, but it’s got too much of the Veronica/Deputy Mumbler stuff and is kind of a filler episode to stall because it was too soon for the big finale buildup to begin.
20. Hot Dogs – The major Trina episode of the season, also down here! Sorry, Trina. Lost Puppy was just too much of a caricature of a person. The business with the taser at the end was weird and the stuff with Aaron and the boyfriend was just too hard to watch.
21. Credit Where Credit’s Due – This one is dragged down here by Paris Hilton
22. Return of the Kane – I resolved to drop this one at the bottom solely because of how frustrating it is that the show never addressed the remorse that Logan should feel for his actions, cutting directly to, “It’s OK because he’s being abused!” I don’t like the way those things are tied together – the abuse is absolutely horrific but the episode lays it out in such a way that suggests that it excuses the former. That said, I actually quite like the rest of this episode – which is the recurring problem with this list. Still, I picked a bottom episode and it’ll stress me out too damn much to have to re-pick.

Lorraine: Man, I love this series. I was pretty damn scared that blogging it would take something away from my love, but I’m happy to report it did not. Watching it this way did make me more aware of the cheaper set-ups and weaker plot points, but it’s a testament to this story that the characters and season arc are strong enough to support those less than stellar moments. You can certainly accuse this show of being fantastical, in a sense; this was one hell of a year and a half for Veronica Mars. Add to that the fact that you’ve got a school full of kids with mysteries waiting to be solved and I can see why the premise might push people away. However. Veronica herself is one of the most amazing characters ever to grace TV, mostly because she’s so gosh darn HUMAN. She adds that element of balance into some more outrageous set-ups. That’s really what stood out to me on this rewatch, was her. Since I wasn’t focusing on who killed Lilly, it allowed me time to see how the murder affected her. Watching the progression of her alienation and the depth of her loyalty to Lilly was amazing. The only down side to blogging it, for me, was the pace at which we did it. This is such a cohesive story, linked together by the arc, that it begs to be watched much faster. I almost suggested not ranking these because I couldn’t actually imagine doing that. Sweeney opened the post before I could, though, so here we go:

1. Leave it to Beaver – The show did a pretty good job of feeding little nuggets of Lilly case  information. And then the finale happens and you realized that you pretty much knew nothing. It’s amazingly paced, heart wrenching, well acted, and a payoff worthy of the season that precedes it.
2. A Trip to the Dentist – I wasn’t sure I’d rank this so high, because what it does in essence is the same thing the finale does: PLOT + FEELINGS. It’s probably not as graceful as some of the other episodes, with the character work and such, but I can’t deny that watching the mystery unfold for V gets me every time.
3. Wrath of Con – I’m a sucker for Veronica + friends. Here, in this episode, we not only see her past in the homecoming flashbacks, but she has lovable moments with Wallace, her new friend. Well done.
4. Mars vs. Mars – For all my complicated feelings on this episode, I have to give it credit for having so much material to disect and discuss. It’s a character study, not only for Veronica, but for Carrie Bishop who acts as a good foil to V.
5. Pilot – I think about this pilot and remember how many moments ended up being pretty iconic to fans– always take Backup, you’re a marshmallow, Veronica Mars, I’ve got a secret and it’s good– which proves to me how amazing it was at starting the arc and introducing us to these characters.
6. Like a Virgin – Super memorable episode, from the introduction of Mac to the Veronica tears at the end after visiting Abel Koontz.
7. Kanes and Abel’s – Not the best mystery of the week but the inclusion of the possible murder scenarios was fantastic and gave us a feel that we were closing in on an answer.
8. Clash of the Tritons – Back story + Veronica singing = one of my favorites.
9. You Think You Know Somebody – Watching Veronica con Troy stuck with me on my first watch and now I realize it’ls because of how much it revelas about her as a character. I watch that episode and realize this is a character I want to root for.
10. Betty and Veronica – I loved the Wallace/Veronica moments and watching her spend her savings on her mother broke my heart. Good emotional punch.
11. An Echolls Family Christmas – It was a lot of fun watching Veronica interact with everyone involved at the poker game, but mostly, Aaron gets stabbed y’all.
12. Weapons of Class Desuction – Like… the kiss. Mostly, the kiss.
13. Meet John Smith – A surprisingly poignant case of the week.
14. Silence of the Lamb – Pulling off a baby switch episode is hard stuff, but this did a pretty good job, though putting it in a B plot felt weird.
15. M.A.D – Ranking these middle ones is getting especially hard. The Carmen thing was all right but the details surrouding the myster of the week were so important and well done.
16. Ruskie Business – Pretty on par with the next 4 episodes, but I’m putting this one higher simply because Veronica in that 80’s dress is a most memorable moment.
17. Drinking the Kool-Aid – I think Aaron Samuels got his mind wiped at the end of this episode, or something.
18. The Girl Next Door – A fair bit of AHA! MISDIRECTION! went into the set-up of this plot and cheapened the episode.
19. Hot Dogs – There was a lot of weird violence in this episode that made me feel weird about the whole thing in general.
20. Lord of the Bling – Not a bad episode, but just rather unremarkable.
21. Credit Where Credit’s Due – Did we mention Paris Hilton? Really, that was this episode’s biggest sin.
22. Return of the Kane – Even apart from the crappy, overlooked character stuff they did with Logan, the episode was slower than most and the case of the week didn’t hold my interest. And then you add to that the crappy, overlooked character stuff they did with Logan…

Democracy Diva: The Snow is thrilled to join in Sweeney and Lor’s long-held belief that this is a phenomenal season of television. I want to binge-watch it all again, because having to wait a week between episodes was SO FRUSTRATING. This season started off strong with a pilot that immediately invested me in the characters, and ended with a finale about as perfect as a season finale can get. Ranking these episodes is extremely difficult – basically everything except the top and bottom 2 episodes could have gone in any spot. There are so many very strong episodes, but I went with the ones that were most memorable to me.

1. Leave it to Beaver – As I’ve said, it’s one of the best season finales I’ve ever seen. It was shocking and horrifying and heartbreaking and ultimately, incredibly satisfying.
2. A Trip to the Dentist – Even though everything that happened in this episode was terrible, it was an amazing episode of television. Unraveling the story of Veronica’s date rape was as important to me as solving the Lilly murder, so I’m glad this storyline got its due. It was complex and thoughtful and shocking, and called back to characters from almost every previous episode.
3. The Wrath of Con – This is the episode that made me fall in love with Lilly. (“How many braless years do I have left?”) It had hilarity (Veronica at the gaming place in her wig and schoolgirl outfit) and feels (the Lilly memorial video) and Veronica having a skinny-dipping epiphany at the end. I absolutely loved it.
4. Kane and Abel’s – Who cares about the A plot? We had Ken Marino singing “Private Eyes” and a not-a-flashback-vision of Celeste murdering Lilly. That’s enough to make this a phenomenal episode.
5. Pilot – The show made me love Veronica immediately. Plus, there were a million Wizard of Oz references.
6. Weapons of Class Destruction – Joey Lauren Adams will not be silenced, Jonathan Taylor Thomas is channeling Christian Slater in Heathers, and LOGAN AND VERONICA MAKE OUT!
7. Mars vs. Mars – Adam Scott is the rapiest but Leighton Meester is the best.
8. Clash of the Tritons – The Snow got more Lilly backstory and her frozen heart thawed somewhat to Logan Echolls. Extra points because Veronica sings “One Way or Another.”
9. Meet John Smith – Melissa Leo was incredible, and this episode still gives me feels just thinking about it. Definitely the strongest mystery-of-the-week plotline.
10. M.A.D. – I was on board when things started to tie back to the night Veronica was date raped, but Carmen’s boyfriend is the worst.
11. An Echolls Family Christmas: The circular poker game whodunit was awful, and its conclusion was confusing, but everything that happened at the Echolls house was excellent television.
12. Ruskie Business – Only this high up because of Willow, and Veronica’s gigantic wedding binder.
13. Like a Virgin – The Purity Test stuff was not particularly riveting, but Veronica finding out that Keith might not be her dad definitely was.
14. Drinking the Kool-Aid – Aaron Samuels joined a cult, which sounds awesome, but this episode was mostly heavy-handed and didn’t make a lot of sense.
15. The Girl Next Door – Jessica Chastain broke our hearts, and there was a homoerotic Logan-Weevil scene. A good episode that lost points for having a weirdly contrived plot.
16. Silence of the Lamb – Jesse Pinkman was maybe my favorite surprise cameo yet (besides Willow, of course), but nothing else about this episode felt particularly awesome to me.
17. You Think You Know Somebody – A perfectly good episode, but there are a lot of those, so this one gets stuck towards the bottom.
18. Hot Dogs – No one reacted properly to extraordinary violence, and it made me upset.
19. Lord of the Bling – Lilly can’t help it if God made her fabulous – that got this otherwise-unremarkable episode a few points.
20. Betty and Veronica – Polly the Parrot and Billy the Goat. Ugh.
21. Credit Where Credit’s Due – Because Paris Hilton.
22. Return of the Kane – From pirate points to Logan’s homeless fight club, this was by far my least favorite episode. I would have resisted the Logan redemption story so much less if this episode did not exist.

 

What about you, dear readers? How do this season’s episodes stack up for you?

Quick reminder: Starting next week, VM posts go up twice a week, on Tuesdays & Fridays!