"Veronica Mars": Mystery Solved, None Too Well
The bad-hair theory of crime, with spoilers if you didn't watch Tuesday, after the jump …
Sometimes even really good shows hit a bump. Last week's "The Office," for example, was far from the show's best work, not even as good as that night's "30 Rock," which was very assured and funny.
"Veronica Mars," as well, finished off its current mystery in a way that felt far from satisfying. If there's a twist at the end, the audience shouldn't see it coming. But I didn't by the stripper alibi, for one thing, and the bad-hair theory kept me suspicious up to the final conclusion. Which was way too "Perry Mason"/"Matlock" for a show that can be as fine as "Veronica." (Also, since Dean O'Dell's wife didn't kill anyone, shouldn't there have been more remorse about that?)
The bad-hair theory says that, if the hair of a key character looks really bad, then we should be all the more suspicious. I haven't tested the theory to any great extent. But it kept lingering in the back of my mind during "Veronica" because Tim's hair was so, well, suspicious. It always felt as if he was in disguise — that at any moment he would be revealed as, I don't know, Edward Kimberly.
Among the things I liked: The way Keith is loving being sheriff. Not just the insistence on "Sheriff Mars," but the whole way he is carrying himself. You can tell how much he wanted to have this job again, and how much tension he's probably carrying because he doesn't want to lose it again.
March 2nd, 2007 at 11:08 am
I was suspicious of Tim for very much the same reason. He almost looked like a woman in drag, with painted on stubble for effect. But I'll forgive them, I spent years watching Murder She Wrote precisely because I could guess the killer before the act had actually occurred.
March 2nd, 2007 at 11:12 am
(adding on) It's the "why is he there?" factor. I thought Piz might be the rapist for awhile - because, really, Piz and Veronica after she's had Logan? I. Don't. Think. So.