Meanderings

She's also younger, blonder, prettier, snarkier and more interesting than me.

And I love her.

Unlike another series revolving around a perky blonde with uncanny wit and mad skillz, I actually like the main character. Don't get me wrong, Buffy the Vampire Slayer = landmark series and the true love of my pop culture saturated heart. However, Buffy herself - not so much. And the more I watch BtVS, the more I realise that, yeah, she's not supposed to be likeable, she's not part of the world - she's above it, apart from it, and never really connects with anyone or anything.

Veronica, on the other hand...oh Veronica.

Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), 17, lives in Neptune, California, where you're either a bazillionare Have, or a cleaning the bazillionare's houses Have Not. Veronica is one of the Have Nots. The children of both the Haves and Have Nots all go to Neptune High. There's a lot of pre series plot to get through, so let's try for vaguely informative in this review/rant/fangirl squeal of joy about the series...

About 12 months ago, Veronica's boyfriend, Duncan (Teddy Dunn) - one of the Haves - or as they're called in the series, 09ers - dumped her with no warning or explanation. A couple of week's later, her best friend Lilly (Amanda Seyfried) - Duncan's sister - was brutally murdered. Veronica's dad, Keith (Enrico Colantoni), was the sheriff, and went after Jake Kane (Duncan and Lilly's father) for the murder. Keith was booted out of office and became a private investigator. Veronica stood loyal to her dad, and was socially ostracised because of it. A couple of months after Lilly's murder, Veronica was drugged and raped at an 09er party. She never told her father/parents. A couple of months after that, Veronica's mother bailed on the family, leaving only a note and a music box for Veronica.

So, all of that took place before the series begins, and most of it is explained in the first 20 minutes of the Pilot episode. Brilliant. Also, in the first 20 minutes of the Pilot, we learn that Veronica now works with her dad at his PI agency, and is obsessed with finding out what happened to Lilly Kane. We also meet: Wallace (Percy Daggs III), who is a fantastic sidekick for Veronica; Weevil (Francis Capra), tiny sexy Latino biker; and Logan (Jason Dohring), the Obligatory Psychotic Jackass (incidentally, Logan is so my pretend boyfriend, and nothing anyone could say will change that fact. What - he's a fictional character? I can't hear you lalalalalalalalala.)

Where was I? Oh yeah, Logan. Mmmmm. Logan.

Oh, you want something other than Logan? Okay, here you go.

The first season is wonderfully constructed - two major mystery arcs (Who killed Lilly Kane? and Who raped Veronica Mars?) that played out over the season, and at least one Mystery of the Week in every episode. There are pop culture references left, right and centre, the clues to the major mysteries trickle through every episode and the performances are amazing. The writing is tight and funny and filled with pain and horror. The characters are sharp, and their arcs are subtly and surprisingly played out over the season.
To me, the series is in some ways a linear Twin Peaks. There's so much of the Twin Peaks vibe to it - a young vibrant woman is killed, there are twisted secrets behind the doors of suburbia, and nobody is who they think or show or profess that they are. It's also a classic noir setup - Veronica is the hard boiled PI, and her cynical, tired and beaten down self sees the worst of the world.

Also, the stunt casting in the series mostly works out brilliantly. The tour de force is casting real life couple Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna as Logan's parents. Both of them were really strong, and Harry Hamlin in particular pulls off an amazing performance. Colour me stunned.

Season One of Veronica Mars is available from Amazon - I highly recommend you get yourself a copy - you will not regret it! I am so grateful to my friend Rowan for getting me hooked on the show!

And to close, here's the review of Season One of Veronica Mars that some random guy wrote.