In fact this episode makes me realize that the only thing that kept me watching last season were the central mysteries: Lilly Kane's murder and Veronica's supposed rape. I found the mystery-of-the-week format already rather worn out as the first season drew to a close. So I heaved a huge sigh of relief when the last two episodes focused more on the things that had drawn us all into the show in the first place. A Trip to the Dentist and Leave it to Beaver had some great acting and writing, clever plot twists and surprising revelations. They qualified as great television.
Why, oh why weren't the writers capable of holding the viewer's interest this episode? With the two central mysteries of the first season out of the way, it was time for them to introduce some new interesting things that they could fully explore. Something that had impact because it closely related to where Veronica is now, to what she is now. The murder of Lilly and Veronica's rape seemed relevant because they had all affected Veronica's life seriously and made her the person she is now. The bus crash mystery, as it was portrayed in the first episode, simply doesn't look as engaging as it should be.
There were other annoying factors as well. I was severely dissapointed when the first 75% of the total screen time were dedicated to either the lame drug test "mystery", Wallace's first attempt at charming a girl by playing Sherlock and Veronica's sudden reunion with Duncan. The first two were just tedious to watch while the latter wasn't really convincing in my opinion. It's not that I'm a huge supporter of LoVe (or any other VM couple in particular) but the way they made Veronica diss Logan in a ten-second conversation, then had Keith almost literally shove the poor boy out the door and made Veronica then fall in love all over again with Duncan (just because he ISN'T her half-brother, thank you!)? That just didn't ring true to me. I like the characters of broody and struggling Duncan, tough-yet-mellow Veronica and snarky pubescent Logan, but the way they screwed up the dynamics between them in what must be about fifteen minutes still puzzles me. How could they disrespect both the viewers and the characters like that?
Not a very great start to the season.moreless
After rejoining the 09ers, Veronica spends the summer trying to become "normal" again, but finds it difficult when Wallace is kicked off the basketball team for testing positive for drugs. Meanwhile, Keith is finding it hard to cope with popularity after releasing his book on the Lilly Kane murder, Logan takes refuge from the paparazzi at Dick and Beaver's, and a field trip to the local sports arena has shocking consequences.moreless
TV.com Episode Review
The Veronica Mars Season 2 Dossier: Episodes 1-4
Season 2 started strong by wrapping up some unfinished business and then stirring up a whole mess of new business.
By Price Peterson, Jun 22, 2012
 Enrico Colantoni |
Keith Mars |
 Francis Capra |
Eli "Weevil" Navarro |
 Jason Dohring |
Logan Echolls |
 Kristen Bell |
Veronica Mars |
 Percy Daggs III |
Wallace Fennel |
 Teddy Dunn |
Duncan Kane |
 Judy Ho |
Jilly Ho |
Guest Star |
Charles Duckworth |
Kelvin Moore |
Guest Star |
 Julie Chen (I) |
Herself |
Guest Star |
 Steve Guttenberg |
Woody Goodman |
Recurring Role |
 Alona Tal |
Meg Manning |
Recurring Role |
Brad Bufanda |
Felix |
Recurring Role |
Watch Online
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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TRIVIA (6)
ADD TRIVIA-
When Veronica is writing the names of the replacement athletes on the board, she spells Steve's surname "Wacker" however in 1.6 Return of the Kane, where Veronica sees the list of candidates names written down several times, the name on the list is "Steve Whacker".
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Both Veronica (in her opening monologue) and Wallace (In Act 3) utter the title line, "Normal is the watchword."
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At the gas station, Weevil starts his bike, puts on his helmet and drives away. Then we assume he loops back around, turns off the bike, takes off the helmet and offers Veronica a ride. We assume this because when they show him next he's standing beside the parked bike and tossing her a helmet. Why would he bother to turn off the bike, let alone get off it if he was just going to get back on, have her hop on and take her back? At least he let her have the only helmet.
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Neptune School District must have a very lax drug policy. Most school districts would have sent Wallace and the others to an alternative education program for 60 days and ticketed them for public intoxication.
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In the Pietà like scene where Veronica cradles Logan's head in her lap, she is seated on the left end of a sofa with a lamp on the left and a teddy bear on the right end of the sofa in the shadows. In the next scene we see Leo looking into the room to find Logan laying on the right end of the sofa with the light on the right end as well. Given the nature of this show that's either a goof or a visual clue to a greater mystery.
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When Veronica was putting all the pictures of the drug test failing students on the board, volleyball was spelled "Vollyball".
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QUOTES (17)
ADD QUOTES-
Veronica: Hey, what period do you have office aide this year?
Wallace: Believe it or not, I didn't sign up for a second year of office aide.
Veronica: Yeah, that doesn't work for me.
Wallace: Well you can take that up with Moms. She had these crazy ideas about me having a well-rounded education. But don't underestimate me.
(he holds up a key) The master key! -
Veronica: Seniors rule! (pushes Wallace)
Wallace: Hey! You didn't call me back last night.
Veronica: Oh don't go getting all girl on me. -
Veronica: Well, I heard you were kicked off the cheerleading squad.
Meg: Yeah, but you know me, I'm a major stoner. It was really affecting me too. I was like, (in a dazed voice) 'Let's go! Let's go! L-E-T-S... duh...' -
Veronica: She's taking anyone from newspaper, yearbook and the broadcast news class who wants to tour Shark Field tomorrow.
Wallace: Wow. I can't believe you're going.
Veronica: I like baseball.
Wallace: Yeah, but you don't like people.
Veronica: I love people. I'm a people person. I'm just a normal teenage girl going on a normal school field trip.
Wallace: Right. I know. Normal is the watchword. -
Veronica: Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in.
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Logan: (angry and shouting) My mom is dead! My girlfriend is dead! My dad is a murderer! And the only person I still care about is dumping me.
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(Duncan fills up his plate from the buffet)
Veronica: I'm afraid you're gonna get love handles if you eat all that.
Duncan: I have an excellent metabolism.
Veronica: Well then, it's official: I hate you. -
Veronica: (Voiceover) Normal. That's the watchword. Sounds good, doesn't it? Senior year begins tomorrow and all appears hunky dory. Best friend? Check. Boyfriend? Check. Lilly's killer behind bars? Check.
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Keith: So. Senior year. How was your first day of school, honey?
Veronica: Great. I beat up a freshman, stole his lunch money, and then skipped out after lunch.
Keith: What, no premarital sex?
Veronica: Oh. Yeah. Yes. But don't worry, Dad — I swear you're gonna like these guys.
Keith: That's my girl. -
Logan: You should feel lucky. I mean, you could be out here with some pretty boy jerk just lookin' to get laid.
Veronica: Wait. What are you saying, you're not pretty?
Logan: What I'm trying to say is that I'm in love with you.
Veronica: The things guys'll say to get past second base. -
Dick: (pointing to Gia) Who's the lovely young flower blossoming into womanhood?
Duncan: Let me guess. You want to pluck her? -
Dick: Ms. Dumbass?
Ms. Dumass: It's 'Du-mass,' Dick.
Dick: Yeah, and my name's pronounced 'Ri-shard.' -
(Veronica and Logan making out)
Veronica: I should go because my dad is probably watching us through a telescope.
Logan: (whispering) Then he's probably impressed with your virtue.
Veronica: And that telescope is mounted on a rifle.
Logan: (mouthing) Five more minutes. -
Veronica: I feel dirty.
Duncan: 'Dirty' -- one 'r' or two? -
Veronica: This is Neptune. Nothing happens accidentally.
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Veronica: Wallace is having a little trouble giving me a urine sample.
Keith: Can't you talk on the phone and paint your nails like other girls? -
Veronica: Got any enemies you know about?
Wallace: Well, there's the Klan...
Veronica: This is not really their M.O.
Wallace: I guess that leaves everybody that hates you.
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NOTES (5)
ADD NOTES-
For this episode, Rob Thomas was nominated for the 2006 Writers' Guild Association Award (TV) for Episodic Drama.
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Music:
"Breathin'" by Asylum Street Spankers
"The Change" by Jon Dee Graham
"Long Time Coming" by Delays
"Ashes" by Embrace -
Tessa Thompson has been added to the main cast, but does not appear in this episode. Also, Ryan Hansen and Kyle Gallner have been added to the main cast this season.
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In the show, when Logan discusses Trina's interest in selling her version of the Aaron Echolls-Lilly Kane murder, Logan says the producers want Tara Reid to play the part of Trina.
In reality, when casting for the part of Trina on Veronica Mars, Alyson Hannigan was selected. However, Tara Reid was one of the actresses considered for the part.
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The working title for this episode was "Urine Trouble".
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ALLUSIONS (10)
ADD ALLUSIONS-
Veronica: I feel dirty.
Duncan: Dirty, one R or two R's?A reference to Christina Aguilera's lead single 'Dirrty' feat Redman, from her album 2002 Stripped. Along with the single Aguilera also launched a new and raunchier side of her self. US responded to the new Christina by never purchasing the single above number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was however a massive worldwide hit, going top 10 in 17 countries including topping the UK singles chart.
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Character Name: Butters
Vice-principal Van Clemmons' son Vincent, is nicknamed Butters. This is an allusion to the South Park character Butters, whom he correctly points out is portrayed as weak and someone who people walk over easily. -
Keith: Where's my turkey pot pie, woman?
Keith seems to be channelling the tortured character John Bender and his abusive father from the 1985 cult classic The Breakfast Club, luckily for Veronica he left out the expletives and vicious jokes that surrounded that quote in the original film. -
Julie Chen: ...coverage of the Lilly Kane murder, the press made you out to be some kind of Barney Fife character.
Bernard "Barney" Fife was the fictional deputy sheriff in the American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. Calling someone a "Barney Fife" is an attempt to paint them as an incompetent or overzealous police officer or authority figure.
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Duncan: It's like, you know, what Willy Wonka would be like if he owned a professional baseball team.
Willy Wonka is the fictitious and bizarre chocolate factory owner in Roald Dahl's children's books, which were made into several movies. His chocolate factory is staffed by Oompa Loompas, refugee dwarfs from Loompaland who are usually hunted by Snozzwangers, Hornswogglers, and wicked Whangdoodles.
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Veronica: I'm gonna send an email to each partner at the Boatloads of Fun Corp. today, sort of an "I Know What You Did This Summer" kind of thing.
This is a reference to the 1997 movie I Know What You Did Last Summer in which a group of teens accidentally kill a man while driving, hide the body and are then terrorized by someone who knows what they did. -
Duncan: You're coming on the field trip? I thought you and the other Jets would be rumbling with the Sharks.
Logan: Cool it, Action.These are references to the two rival gangs in the musical, West Side Story. Action was one of the Jets.
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Veronica: Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in.
A reference to Michael Corleone's frustrated statement in The Godfather, Part III. -
Veronica: Encyclopedia Brown? I hear he's good.
Encyclopedia Brown is a boy detective and the star of a long-running series of children's books. -
Weevil: So, did you like your taste? Your little year of living dangerously?
Weevil is comparing Veronica's actions from the time of Lily's death until Aaron Echolls' arrest to those of the rookie Australian reporter in the 1982 Peter Weir movie The Year of Living Dangerously. It follows a foreign correspondent in Indonesia during their civil war in 1965. It's based on a C. J. Koch novel and starring Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver.
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Sunday
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Best season?
04/18/1320
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Cancelled too soon...
04/02/1320
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Java The Hut - The Official Off Topic Thread
03/27/132887
-
Kickstarter Campaign For a Veronica Mars Movie
03/14/133
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confused by ending
09/24/122
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The Bitch is Back
S 3 : Ep 20
Aired 5/22/07 (42:38)
-
Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down
S 3 : Ep 19
Aired 5/22/07 (42:38)
-
I Know What You'll Do Next Summer
S 3 : Ep 18
Aired 5/15/07 (42:36)
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Debasement Tapes
S 3 : Ep 17
Aired 5/8/07 (42:36)
Season 2 Episodes
See AllEp 22
Not Pictured
Ep 21
Happy Go Lucky
Ep 20
Look Who's Stalking
Ep 19
Nevermind the Buttocks
Ep 18
I Am God
Ep 17
Plan B
Ep 16
The Rapes of Graff
Ep 15
The Quick and the Wed
Ep 14
Versatile Toppings
Ep 13
Ain't No Magic Mountain...
Ep 12
Rashard and Wallace Go ...
Ep 11
Donut Run
Ep 10
One Angry Veronica
Ep 9
My Mother, the Fiend
Ep 8
Ahoy, Mateys!
Ep 7
Nobody Puts Baby in a C...
Ep 6
Rat Saw God
Ep 5
Blast From the Past
Ep 4
Green-Eyed Monster
Ep 3
Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang
Ep 2
Driver Ed
Ep 1
Normal is the Watchword
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