Pilot

Season 1, Episode 1, Aired
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Episode Summary

Veronica's junior year at Neptune High gets off to a rocky start as she is targeted by the P.C.H. Biker Gang for helping a snitch who later becomes one of her best friends.

Meanwhile, her dad, Keith, forbids Veronica to investigate Jake Kane, a local billionaire and father of Duncan Kane, her ex-boyfriend. Ignoring his orders, she makes a shocking discovery about her family's past.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (48)

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  • Vernonica Mars Pilot

    8.4
    "Great"
    By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Jun 06, 2011 Report Abuse
    Besides "Supernatural," I've never watched anything on The CW, UPN, The WB or any other company that has resided on that channel. For the most part, I wanted nothing to do with the shows that aired their.. I'm sure there's plenty of "One Tree Hill" and "Gossip Girl" fans, but I'm not one of them. So, you can imagine my surprise when I learned about "Supernatural," "Smallville" and "Buffy" and how they all resided on this channel. Even more surprising is that Veronica Mars existed for three seasons here as well. Watching the Pilot episode, I'm surprised by how quirky, dark and intriguing it is. For an early Kristen Bell role, a high school noir and a teenage-orientated show, the pilot is an impressive piece of work by the future creator of "Party Down." I did have some issues with it, but for the most part, I can see this being something I'd want to watch.

    My main problem with the show is also, to some weird extent, what makes the show work as well as it does. I'm not sure how I feel about the rapid pace of the writing, how it jumps from one thing to the next with only Veronica's narration holding it together. We learn right off the bat that Veronica Mars is a student at Neptune High School, where status and money is the most important thing, and if you're not rich, you're low on the totem pole. However, Veronica's father was the former sheriff turned gumshoe detective, so she gets some leniency. But we learn right from the start that she's not a normal teenage girl. She helps a new kid named Wallace who's being bullied, does favors for her father's old friends and even investigates cases herself. She, in other words, does things way outside of what she should be doing as a seventeen year old.

    If the show were just about Veronica Mars growing up in a town with her detective father, it would be interesting enough, I suppose. Kristen Bell is a strong actress in the role, and the supporting cast seems like the type that you could grow to like. However, Rob Thomas (the creator) bashes us over the head with plot point after plot point: Veronicas mother disappeared a few years ago without a trace, Veronica used to date Duncan Kane, a popular boy at school, before they broke up and before his sister, one of Veronica's best friends died. Veronica was raped at a party by somebody who roofied her and she can't remember what happened. Veronica deals with bullies. There's just a lot going on here that could've perhaps been spread out a little bit throughout the first season instead of the first episode. As I said, the fast pace also benefit's the pilot overall; I thought it was fun to watch Veronica juggle all of these things, and the voiceover, for the most part, works. I just wish it didn't feel so cluttered. There were times, I admit, where I was feeling like I wanted the show to just slow down and let me absorb what was happening.

    But the pilot gives us a good solid starting point. I still don't know what to think of some of these supporting characters the Kane family seems like a strange group, so it should be cool to see more of them, but Logan seems like a giant jerk and that Weevil character who rides the motorcycle seems like one second he could be a dangerous man and the next second, he could be Veronica's good friend. I guess time will tell what kind of a character he is. For now, I'm willing to go along with everything and see how it unfolds.moreless

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  • Good start

    8.5
    "Great"
    By bobfrapples8, Feb 26, 2011 Report Abuse
    This was an excellent pilot episode. Just enough back story to catch you up but not too much as to bog it down. A little dark for your average Nancy Drew fan as you have Veronica getting roofied and raped, her mother is suspected of being an alcoholic and abandonment, her best friend murdered, and biker gangs. But it all seems like an average day in the life of this not so average teenager. I just started watching the show and I think I will continue on to see where it goes. I think it is slightly brilliant to run a season long story arc.moreless

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  • Introducing Veronica Mars, and does it in-depth

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By ZapperLife, Sep 30, 2009 Report Abuse
    Rarely ever does a pilot dare to touch on so much of the basic of the main character as in Veronica Mars, and even rarer is it as sucsessful doing so.

    Not only does the pilot offer the beginning of the Lily Kane murder investegation as the main plot, but it manage to tell us alot about Veronica Mars in this regular lenght episode.

    We get to see her interaction with her father(a very important part of the show), we get sassy and rough Veronica dealing with the sub-plot of helping Wallace, a more vulnerable VM as we get to know glimses of how she lost her virginity and we get to see a bit of Kristen Bell's talent as her face tells a long story at the end when she's hurt of a lie told by her father, while still loving him.

    There's alot of other smaller or bigger glimses of what's to come, and there's no doubt Rob Thomas knew exactly what he was looking to create during the first season. In many ways did Veronica Mars do exactly the same Lost have got so much aknowledge for doing. They had the plot down from the start, and never doubted their ability to deliver. A shame Veronica Mars, unlike Lost, haven't got the praise and audience they deserved.moreless

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  • A memorable introduction.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Tiny0fairy, Aug 09, 2009 Report Abuse
    Now I don't know about most people but I find that many of the shows I watch, I forget much of what happens in the first episode or so. However with Veronica Mars it doesn't matter how many episodes I watch or how long I go without watching it that first episode always remains lodged in my mind. Almost everyone I know who has watched it says the same thing, it sticks in your head and weedles away until you feel like you must know more.
    It never fails to amaze me the simplicity and the brillence behind the first episode but it truely is amazing. The episode introduces several problems that you feel like you need to solve which makes you feel inclined to watch more. A fantastic first episode.moreless

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  • Brilliant set up for an amazing series...

    10
    "Perfect"
    By CallieKat1980, Aug 05, 2008 Report Abuse
    Veronica Mars was one of the smartest shows to air on television. The writing is fast paced, witty and sharp and I've rarely seen as talented a cast. If your attention is drawn away from the episode for even a minute, it is almost guaranteed you will miss a plot point, important dialogue or flashback. It's heartbreaking that a show with so many talented people attached to it has been cancelled. But, luckily, thanks to the DVD, the show lives on. If you have any doubt, just watch this pilot.

    In the first 20 minutes alone, we learn that Veronica is a high school student, works for her father's private eye office, lives in a town with no middle class, and used to be part of the privileged group. Now she is a smart mouthed outcast with an undeserved reputation. We learn that Veronica's boyfriend broke up with her for unexplained reasons, her best friend Lilly was murdered and it was national news. Because her dad was portrayed as the bumbling sheriff who went after the wrong man, Veronica lost all her friends and her mother. The local biker gang and the current sheriff are introduced. We see Veronica cut down the new kid, Wallace, from a flagpole and develop her first friendship in quite a while. I cannot type as fast as the episode progresses.

    But, the brilliance of this episode and the series is not just amount of story packed into 42 minutes. As viewers, we have a season long mystery arc to try and solve along with Veronica, as well as her "everyday" cases. The characters are real and genuine and remain true to themselves. Veronica's relationship with her dad is, perhaps, one of the best parts of the show. This is apparent, even in this first episode. One could not hope for a better set up for the series. I just watched it again as a loyal fan, but I remember watching it for the first time like it was yesterday. If you are thinking about watching the DVDs for the first time, do it. If you are already a fan, this episode is worth a second, third or fourth viewing.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Veronica's Le Baron plates are 6BLA504. Mars Investigation's phone number are 555-0137. Edit
    • Veronica's dog in this pilot is different from the one seen in the series. This one is a brown and white American Bulldog, while the later one is a brown American Pit Bull Terrier. When the show got picked up, they decided to recast Backup. This was done to avoid dealing with Backup One's dog trainer, as their lack of preparation for the pilot shoots delayed production a lot. Edit
    • Text of the note from Veronica's mother: Veronica, I have to leave for awhile. I'll be back for you someday. Love Always, Mom Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • When Veronica develops the pictures she took of Jake Kane at the Camelot, she prints one off. In the picture, the actor playing Jake is not Kyle Secor. Kyle Secor wasn't originally in the pilot because of the expenses, but when the show was picked up they re-shot most of the scenes with Mr. Secor for the aired version. Edit
    • The theme song to Veronica Mars is "We Used To Be Friends" by The Dandy Warhols, which can be found on their album Welcome to the Monkey House. Edit
    • The pilot originally had a different opening (which can be seen in the Season 1 DVDs), which Rob Thomas much preferred but the network found too dark. The network asked Thomas to write an opening the way they wanted, so they could screen test both. He tried to sabotage it by filling it with intentionally cheesy lines like "and that's when my private detective senses got the better of me." The plan backfired when the cheesy version tested better and that script was sent to the L.A. Times for review, where one writer praised the show but singled out the opening voice-over for criticism. The offending lines were removed before the episode was actually shot. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Keith: And Veronica, when you go after Jake Kane, you take Backup. Edit
    • Cliff: One of my clients, Loretta Cancun, dances at the Seventh Veil. Veronica: Classy. Cliff: These are my people, V. She was busted for vandalism, taking a baseball bat to the washing machine that stole her quarters at Suds 'n' Duds. Veronica: And Johnnie Cochran was booked? Cliff: I make no apologies. I like this case. It's tawdry. Edit
    • Veronica: (voiceover) The only reason I was allowed past the velvet ropes was Duncan Kane, son of software billionaire Jake Kane. He used to be my boyfriend. (long pause) Then one day, with no warning, he ended things. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Company name: The Seventh Veil The creative keeper of liquor license is named after the origin of the modern striptease, the 'Dance of the Seven Veils'. Depending on whom you believe, it might origin from the biblical tale of John the Baptist's execution, or from the Assyrian and Babylonian myth about Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, love, war and sex whom removed one veil for each of the seven gates she passed through to get to the underworld, until she arrived naked. There's several other counterparts to the latter as well. In western culture the 'Dance of the Seven Veils' was popularized in Oscar Wilde's 1893 play Salome. Edit
    • Keith: It's up and at'em, Atom Ant. A reference to the Hanna-Barbera character 'Atom Ant', who was a cartoon ant and a superhero, often helping the police with their work. He first appeared in The Atom Ant Show in 1965. Edit
    • Weevil: Weevil love you long time. Allusion to Full Metal Jacket where the Vietnamese hookers tell the American men "me love you, long time". Edit

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Season 1 Episodes

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Ep 21
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Ep 20
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Ep 19
Hot Dogs
Ep 18
Weapons of Class Destruction
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Ep 6
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Ep 3
Meet John Smith
Ep 2
Credit Where Credit's Due
Ep 1
Pilot

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