"Veronica Mars" In Real Time (With Notes About Tonight's Episode)
Posted October 12th, 2005 by RD Heldenfels
So I'm sitting through tonight's episode and wondering if we are really going to learn much about the bus crash, although I can forgive some digression.
As the show does so well, having established a big mystery, it still draws us until a little one. And even the little one has layers of character and scandal: Logan's dalliance with Kendall is not only found out but is interwoven with a scandal that takes down the Casablancas real-estate empire (and in the process ruins a sweet business instructor who is naive about the way the game is really played). Wallace's new girlfriend is, as I feared, big trouble — as Veronica knows better than Wallace — but Wallace's mother has a mystery of her own.
And then, wham. In the final moments, we finally get to the scene that was in the promos, and we know that the bus crash is a far more sordid act than we at first thought, that Veronica may have been the target — and that either we have not heard the last of Aaron Echolls or he has friends with power and ruthlessness on a par with his own.
All this, plus "Pride and Prejudice," (And fans can feel so much smarter if they start thinking of Veronica as a modern Jane Austen character instead of as a glibber, more troubled Nancy Drew.) What a show. Can't stand the idea of waiting an entire week between episodes, but neither can I imagine delaying my viewing until I have all the episodes together for one self-indulgent marathon.
Now about that real-time viewing: Tonight was a relative rarity, a night when I could actually sit at home and watch a program as it aired. I've spent far more time lately plowing through recorded fare, including a run today through "Commander in Chief," "Joey," "Will & Grace," "Everybody Hates Chris" and "The Office." So I nearly went nuts during "Veronica" because I couldn't skip through the ads. (Spare me from any commercial with Britney Spears.) We all know how excruciating commercial breaks can be, but they're even worse when they slow down a show you love — and one you know is going to take you somewhere cool.
