Review: Veronica Mars 1.4: "The Wrath of Con"
Entertainment: Television
Note: I'm finally getting back to posting these old reviews. They originally were published on the old tvtome.com. They have since been moved to tv.com.
In the four episodes of the series, I've noticed an emerging pattern with "Veronica Mars" which holds true for "The Wrath of Con" (great title!): the B plot is much more interesting and provides much more character insight than does the A plot. In this episode, the A plot revolved around an email conman who had targeted the love interest of Veronica's new best friend, Wallace. The B plot, as has been the case in all of the episodes, revolves around Veronica's past and her relationship with Lilly and the Kane family. While the A plot provided for most of the action, most of the pathos and arc development was carried out by the B plot.
After the teaser, the episode opens with Wallace doing some late-night filing with his new crush. The love interest provided an opportunity for UPN to do some cross-pollination, as the part is played by Kyla Pratt of One on One. The filing provided some questions in my mind: what kind of high school has office aides working the night shift? Aren't those files confidential? Shouldn't they have a bit of supervision? Wallace later tells us that he volunteered to do the task in order to get time with Pratt's lovely, but clumsy, Georgia. Still rather bizarre, if you ask me.
During their late-night filing, Georgia blurts out to Wallace that she did something really stupid. Veronica Mars, that's your cue. Cut to the girls bathroom—Veronica's "office" a la Fonzie (that arcane cultural reference is not out-of-place when discussing this show, as I'll get to later). Here, we get the meat of the story: Georgia received a "misdirected" email from a trust-fund recipient-to-be who is looking for fast cash to cover a gambling debt. Promising a 200% return, he asks Georgia if she can lend him the money to "save his life" until he comes into his money in a few short weeks. Naively or greedily, she accepts. Needless to say, the investment never pays out.
To track down the conman, Veronica goes "somewhere she's never been before—undercover," as the promos told us all week. Her first stop is as "Amber," a flighty high-schooler who calls the number on Georgia's email, claiming that she received the same email. Her meeting with the e-mail's sender is mostly filler that leads her to the info that the "sender" is actually an actor who believes he was hired as part of a reality show.
Next stop: a gamers' club—somewhere she'll never blend in because the only females are Japanimated, according to Wallace. Even if this plot isn't especially interesting, Veronica's undercover get-up is hysterical: she actually dresses the part of the sexy schoolgirl seen so much in Japanese animation—short plaid skirt, tie over a white shirt, white kneesocks and a straight black bob.
After another undercover "nerd mission" and a college party, Veronica learns that the scam is being perpetrated by a couple of San Diego State students known as the "Silicon Mafia". Rumor among the math-and-science set is that they are financing their million-dollar computer system with their weed money. (What is making the wall of their dorm hot? Said million-dollar computer bank or grow lights? The question is open for debate.)
Throughout this plot, the saving grace is the writing. The party talk at the campus "geek bash" is hysterical and disjointed, just as I remember drunken party conversations of the college-aged. Wallace's attempts to fool the college students into believing he's a hardcore math devotee are really funny. Even better is the interaction between Veronica and Wallace as they prep for the party. Wallace tells Veronica that he won't be filling her in on the details of his feelings for Georgia because boys don't go on and on about their crushes like they "just got out of cheerleading practice." He then proceeds to go on and on about how he goes two floors out of his way between classes in hopes of getting a glimpse of her. This is one of the first times we see Wallace as something as other than a convenience for Veronica. You can see the rapport between the characters. It's a tribute to both Kristen Bell and Percy Daggs III that they can make the relationship between these two disparate characters seem natural and real.
As is typical in this series, however, it is the overall story arc of Veronica's past that is most interesting. In the B plot, the Kane family is planning a memorial fountain on the Neptune High school grounds. For the unveiling, Celeste wants a video of Lilly to show. Jake Kane asks his son to do it, but Duncan can't bring himself to take on the task; it eventually falls to Lilly's boyfriend, Logan, to do the work. For the first time we see something other than "resident psycho jackass" in Logan's character. There have been brief glimpses of his grief before, but they always came out as accusatory and hateful. This episode lets him be human.
Throughout the episode, we are treated to flashbacks of a previous homecoming dance evening. Instead of going to the dance, Logan rented a limo to ferry around himself, Lilly, Veronica and Duncan. Lilly, as per usual, was the consummate party girl. Drinking, making suggestive remarks and lunging on top of Veronica to plant a hot kiss on her lips when Logan dares her to kiss someone in the car. The couples drink and laugh. In a sweet moment during a sort of drinking truth-or-dare, Veronica is forced to drink after being asked if she has "never not had sex" (if you follow that twisted bit of teen-aged logic). Veronica's admission that she's a virgin prompts Duncan to do the same—putting him forever on the top rung of Veronica's affections. (Veronica also reveals that she still looks horrible in long hair, but that's beside the point. That's the one thing about these flashback sequences that irks me. Yes, I'm shallow.)
When the kids stumble home in the morning, we are treated to a peek at the dysfunction that is the Kane family. As Lilly drunkenly stumbles towards her mother, Celeste begins berating her. Lilly, quite rightly, wonders why her mother is yelling only at her when her brother is standing right there and was part of it, too. In a line that suggests so many possibilities, Celeste snaps, "Any trouble this family has ever had, you've been at the root of it." This could be foreshadowing that Lilly, even in death, caused the hardship the family is facing in the present—including the accusations leveled at her father. On the other hand, it occurred to me that this could be hinting that Celeste is Lilly's real killer. Perhaps the mother-daughter struggle turned violent. Perhaps that was what Jake was trying to hide, which lead to Sheriff Mars suspecting he had killed his own daughter. I can only hope that the show lasts long enough to see if my suspicions bear out.
As the scenes of the kids' drunken revelry are unfolding, intercut are several scenes in the present between Veronica and Logan that hint at the depth of Logan's feelings for Lilly. Veronica comes upon Logan as he tries to make the memorial video. Although he's standoffish at first, he breaks down and tells her that he's being forced to make a bland, white-washed version of Lilly's life that would piss Lilly off: "Lilly as a long-distance commercial," in Veronica's words. "Memories both misty and watercolored," he remarks. Here we have one of the arcane cultural references that the writers have put in several episodes. In the pilot, there were several mentions of the Wizard of Oz. At the end of that episode, Logan referenced the Beach Boys when he told Veronica that his daddy "took my T-bird away" and that he was no longer having "fun, fun, fun". While these things are very odd coming out of the mouth of a teenaged boy in 2004, they also harken back to that classic of "dead girl" television, "Twin Peaks". When that show first came out, magazines gushed about the references to television pas: the one-armed man, Sam Gerard, etc. This is just one more thing about Veronica Mars that reminds me of "Twin Peaks".
Before Logan finishes the video, Veronica returns to him with a tape--the one he made on the night that they spent not going to the homecoming dance. Definitely not long-distance commercial material. He's much more appreciative of her presence this time.
After the A plot has wrapped up, we find Veronica arriving at the unveiling of the fountain. We arrive to the high school orchestra playing a rather strained version of "Wind Beneath My Wings," although, hey, what can you really do with that smaltz? Celeste rises and talks about how the fountain will remind all of Neptune High "what a generous, kind, sweet girl [Lilly] was, and how she embodied Pirate pride and the school motto: service, loyalty, honor." Nothing like the words she spat at Lilly the night of the dance. The video plays, showing a rich little girl's memories: riding horseback, tarted up for a pageant. Mom looks on with pride. Suddenly, the music gets harder and we get the "real" Lilly: shimmying in a low-cut dress, mooning out of the limo window, kissing Veronica, getting drunk. Not the girl Celeste wants to remember. Jake looks on first with amusement, then begins to cry. The problem is I can't tell when the laughing turns to tears. I don't know if that was intentional or if it was an acting misstep by Kyle Secor.
As the video ends with a shot of Lilly, wind blowing her hair back, Veronica and Logan share a smile. They have a connection that shows that he remembers their friendship, too, and would like to go back to those days. It seems that we're going to get more of the jerk Logan in future episodes, so it's obvious that he can't go back to that place. That time is gone.
While I think the relationship between Celeste and Lilly may be building up to a revelation about Lilly's murder, I also see something very real in her attempts to canonize the daughter she wasn't all that proud of in life. When I was in high school, the older sister of a classmate was killed in a horse-riding accident. Much like Lilly, she was a party girl who liked to drink and run around with guys. Her younger sister was much more straight-laced, like their mother. After the older girl's death, however, the mother forgot all those things and held the dead girl up as a saintly example for the younger girl to follow. Any slight rebellion would be met by, "What would your sister think?" I think it's a reaction of guilt, of the most extreme loss and of the desire to "think kindly of the dead" which is damaging to everyone—especially the kid who's left behind to live up to the false example of a saintly sibling.
Once again, we were treated to one of the finest examples of episodic television this season. There were a few questionable acting choices, but the writing remained strong. One quibble I have is the fact that they threw in a shot of Weevil at the end of the episode. He had no real role in the stories that were being told, and I don't know if the character would really show up to this memorial. (Not to mention the fact that they have him drying tears before he turns back to face his "boys". Do I like that? I can't decide.) However, I think the writers and producers realized that Francis Capra was going to be a big fan favorite (and, I'll admit, I think he's pretty, too). After having him completely absent in last week's "Meet John Doe," and knowing that he'll be figuring prominently in next week's episode, they felt obligated to remind the audience of his presence. I'm just not sure I liked it.
Note: I'm finally getting back to posting these old reviews. They originally were published on the old tvtome.com. They have since been moved to tv.com.
In the four episodes of the series, I've noticed an emerging pattern with "Veronica Mars" which holds true for "The Wrath of Con" (great title!): the B plot is much more interesting and provides much more character insight than does the A plot. In this episode, the A plot revolved around an email conman who had targeted the love interest of Veronica's new best friend, Wallace. The B plot, as has been the case in all of the episodes, revolves around Veronica's past and her relationship with Lilly and the Kane family. While the A plot provided for most of the action, most of the pathos and arc development was carried out by the B plot.
After the teaser, the episode opens with Wallace doing some late-night filing with his new crush. The love interest provided an opportunity for UPN to do some cross-pollination, as the part is played by Kyla Pratt of One on One. The filing provided some questions in my mind: what kind of high school has office aides working the night shift? Aren't those files confidential? Shouldn't they have a bit of supervision? Wallace later tells us that he volunteered to do the task in order to get time with Pratt's lovely, but clumsy, Georgia. Still rather bizarre, if you ask me.
During their late-night filing, Georgia blurts out to Wallace that she did something really stupid. Veronica Mars, that's your cue. Cut to the girls bathroom—Veronica's "office" a la Fonzie (that arcane cultural reference is not out-of-place when discussing this show, as I'll get to later). Here, we get the meat of the story: Georgia received a "misdirected" email from a trust-fund recipient-to-be who is looking for fast cash to cover a gambling debt. Promising a 200% return, he asks Georgia if she can lend him the money to "save his life" until he comes into his money in a few short weeks. Naively or greedily, she accepts. Needless to say, the investment never pays out.
To track down the conman, Veronica goes "somewhere she's never been before—undercover," as the promos told us all week. Her first stop is as "Amber," a flighty high-schooler who calls the number on Georgia's email, claiming that she received the same email. Her meeting with the e-mail's sender is mostly filler that leads her to the info that the "sender" is actually an actor who believes he was hired as part of a reality show.
Next stop: a gamers' club—somewhere she'll never blend in because the only females are Japanimated, according to Wallace. Even if this plot isn't especially interesting, Veronica's undercover get-up is hysterical: she actually dresses the part of the sexy schoolgirl seen so much in Japanese animation—short plaid skirt, tie over a white shirt, white kneesocks and a straight black bob.
After another undercover "nerd mission" and a college party, Veronica learns that the scam is being perpetrated by a couple of San Diego State students known as the "Silicon Mafia". Rumor among the math-and-science set is that they are financing their million-dollar computer system with their weed money. (What is making the wall of their dorm hot? Said million-dollar computer bank or grow lights? The question is open for debate.)
Throughout this plot, the saving grace is the writing. The party talk at the campus "geek bash" is hysterical and disjointed, just as I remember drunken party conversations of the college-aged. Wallace's attempts to fool the college students into believing he's a hardcore math devotee are really funny. Even better is the interaction between Veronica and Wallace as they prep for the party. Wallace tells Veronica that he won't be filling her in on the details of his feelings for Georgia because boys don't go on and on about their crushes like they "just got out of cheerleading practice." He then proceeds to go on and on about how he goes two floors out of his way between classes in hopes of getting a glimpse of her. This is one of the first times we see Wallace as something as other than a convenience for Veronica. You can see the rapport between the characters. It's a tribute to both Kristen Bell and Percy Daggs III that they can make the relationship between these two disparate characters seem natural and real.
As is typical in this series, however, it is the overall story arc of Veronica's past that is most interesting. In the B plot, the Kane family is planning a memorial fountain on the Neptune High school grounds. For the unveiling, Celeste wants a video of Lilly to show. Jake Kane asks his son to do it, but Duncan can't bring himself to take on the task; it eventually falls to Lilly's boyfriend, Logan, to do the work. For the first time we see something other than "resident psycho jackass" in Logan's character. There have been brief glimpses of his grief before, but they always came out as accusatory and hateful. This episode lets him be human.
Throughout the episode, we are treated to flashbacks of a previous homecoming dance evening. Instead of going to the dance, Logan rented a limo to ferry around himself, Lilly, Veronica and Duncan. Lilly, as per usual, was the consummate party girl. Drinking, making suggestive remarks and lunging on top of Veronica to plant a hot kiss on her lips when Logan dares her to kiss someone in the car. The couples drink and laugh. In a sweet moment during a sort of drinking truth-or-dare, Veronica is forced to drink after being asked if she has "never not had sex" (if you follow that twisted bit of teen-aged logic). Veronica's admission that she's a virgin prompts Duncan to do the same—putting him forever on the top rung of Veronica's affections. (Veronica also reveals that she still looks horrible in long hair, but that's beside the point. That's the one thing about these flashback sequences that irks me. Yes, I'm shallow.)
When the kids stumble home in the morning, we are treated to a peek at the dysfunction that is the Kane family. As Lilly drunkenly stumbles towards her mother, Celeste begins berating her. Lilly, quite rightly, wonders why her mother is yelling only at her when her brother is standing right there and was part of it, too. In a line that suggests so many possibilities, Celeste snaps, "Any trouble this family has ever had, you've been at the root of it." This could be foreshadowing that Lilly, even in death, caused the hardship the family is facing in the present—including the accusations leveled at her father. On the other hand, it occurred to me that this could be hinting that Celeste is Lilly's real killer. Perhaps the mother-daughter struggle turned violent. Perhaps that was what Jake was trying to hide, which lead to Sheriff Mars suspecting he had killed his own daughter. I can only hope that the show lasts long enough to see if my suspicions bear out.
As the scenes of the kids' drunken revelry are unfolding, intercut are several scenes in the present between Veronica and Logan that hint at the depth of Logan's feelings for Lilly. Veronica comes upon Logan as he tries to make the memorial video. Although he's standoffish at first, he breaks down and tells her that he's being forced to make a bland, white-washed version of Lilly's life that would piss Lilly off: "Lilly as a long-distance commercial," in Veronica's words. "Memories both misty and watercolored," he remarks. Here we have one of the arcane cultural references that the writers have put in several episodes. In the pilot, there were several mentions of the Wizard of Oz. At the end of that episode, Logan referenced the Beach Boys when he told Veronica that his daddy "took my T-bird away" and that he was no longer having "fun, fun, fun". While these things are very odd coming out of the mouth of a teenaged boy in 2004, they also harken back to that classic of "dead girl" television, "Twin Peaks". When that show first came out, magazines gushed about the references to television pas: the one-armed man, Sam Gerard, etc. This is just one more thing about Veronica Mars that reminds me of "Twin Peaks".
Before Logan finishes the video, Veronica returns to him with a tape--the one he made on the night that they spent not going to the homecoming dance. Definitely not long-distance commercial material. He's much more appreciative of her presence this time.
After the A plot has wrapped up, we find Veronica arriving at the unveiling of the fountain. We arrive to the high school orchestra playing a rather strained version of "Wind Beneath My Wings," although, hey, what can you really do with that smaltz? Celeste rises and talks about how the fountain will remind all of Neptune High "what a generous, kind, sweet girl [Lilly] was, and how she embodied Pirate pride and the school motto: service, loyalty, honor." Nothing like the words she spat at Lilly the night of the dance. The video plays, showing a rich little girl's memories: riding horseback, tarted up for a pageant. Mom looks on with pride. Suddenly, the music gets harder and we get the "real" Lilly: shimmying in a low-cut dress, mooning out of the limo window, kissing Veronica, getting drunk. Not the girl Celeste wants to remember. Jake looks on first with amusement, then begins to cry. The problem is I can't tell when the laughing turns to tears. I don't know if that was intentional or if it was an acting misstep by Kyle Secor.
As the video ends with a shot of Lilly, wind blowing her hair back, Veronica and Logan share a smile. They have a connection that shows that he remembers their friendship, too, and would like to go back to those days. It seems that we're going to get more of the jerk Logan in future episodes, so it's obvious that he can't go back to that place. That time is gone.
While I think the relationship between Celeste and Lilly may be building up to a revelation about Lilly's murder, I also see something very real in her attempts to canonize the daughter she wasn't all that proud of in life. When I was in high school, the older sister of a classmate was killed in a horse-riding accident. Much like Lilly, she was a party girl who liked to drink and run around with guys. Her younger sister was much more straight-laced, like their mother. After the older girl's death, however, the mother forgot all those things and held the dead girl up as a saintly example for the younger girl to follow. Any slight rebellion would be met by, "What would your sister think?" I think it's a reaction of guilt, of the most extreme loss and of the desire to "think kindly of the dead" which is damaging to everyone—especially the kid who's left behind to live up to the false example of a saintly sibling.
Once again, we were treated to one of the finest examples of episodic television this season. There were a few questionable acting choices, but the writing remained strong. One quibble I have is the fact that they threw in a shot of Weevil at the end of the episode. He had no real role in the stories that were being told, and I don't know if the character would really show up to this memorial. (Not to mention the fact that they have him drying tears before he turns back to face his "boys". Do I like that? I can't decide.) However, I think the writers and producers realized that Francis Capra was going to be a big fan favorite (and, I'll admit, I think he's pretty, too). After having him completely absent in last week's "Meet John Doe," and knowing that he'll be figuring prominently in next week's episode, they felt obligated to remind the audience of his presence. I'm just not sure I liked it.
posted by Chomskyite | 9:38 PM
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