Veronica Mars Archives - TV Breakroom

Look Who’s Back – Veronica Mars Movie

Yes, Veronica Mars is back! As one of the Kickstarter backers, I couldn’t be more excited! I’ve watched the trailer, but I’ve tried to avoid some of the rumors swirling around this sure-to-be-epic movie, as I want to be surprised!

Also, I’m back! I’ve been without a computer for more than half a year, and the one post I managed to scrape together on my Kindle Fire was torturous. But yesterday while I was home sick in bed, my tax refund came in, and I promptly scoured the internet for the best President’s Day deals on laptops. Best Buy enticed me with a great deal on a new HP (I was looking at refurbished/used ones) that I could pick up in-store that day. I ordered it, took medicine, and fell back asleep, only to wake up to hear I’d been laid off from my office job.

But my loss is your gain! This site was born from unemployment and TV binge-watching, so when better to return? I’m sure I can find an acceptable job application/TV episode/blog post ratio!

So what shows are tickling your ears and dancing before your eyes lately? Leave a comment and let me know! I’ve finally started making some headway on Supernatural (now that I’m sadly not blogging about every episode) and am partway through season 3!

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Veronica Mars – Of Watching Canceled Shows

There’s a special feeling of sadness you get when you watch the last episode of a favorite show you already know has been canceled. It’s heightened when it’s been several years since the cancellation and you know there’s no chance of another network picking it up, and when it’s not just a rookie show but you’ve had several seasons to fall in love with the characters. Veronica Mars has both.

Of course, I willingly began watching the show knowing it had been canceled before its time. But I figured the third season would have to be not so great for them the CW to cancel it, and I would be glad the show hadn’t fallen into complete mediocrity before saying goodbye. But season three was great. Perhaps not as gripping as the first two, but that was the fault of exchanging season-long story arcs for shorter ones.

I personally blame the third season intro credits. Instead of sassy and fun with poignant undertones like the previous ones, they stripped down the theme song into an echo of its former self and kept only the poignantness with sepia tones and serious looks.

Since I watched the entire show in less than three weeks, the untimely end hit especially hard. After new, witty, endearing episodes an average of three times a day for weeks straight, it’s depressing to think that I will never again watch a new episode of Veronica Mars.

And unlike shows with planned endings, you never find out what happens to the characters. Fortunately, the show didn’t leave too many dangling plot threads. You don’t find out who is elected sheriff, though you can assume it’s Vinnie – who would have made a perfect replacement for Sheriff Lamb, while Keith goes back to being a PI. You don’t know if Weevil returns to a life of crime. And you don’t know who Veronica ends up with.

For the latter, in my mind she and Logan end up together. Piz has no personality, and their relationship hasn’t weathered any storms. Duncan is long gone. And even though Leo’s around again, I never really felt the two of them as a couple. With Logan and Veronica, however, the sparks are as subtle as lightning bolts.

I know I already compared the show to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the parallels extend far beyond the setting and sense of humor. Both Buffy and Veronica are somewhat unlikeable by themselves, but you grow to care about them through their friendships and relationships. Many of the supporting characters in one show match up with similar characters in the other. Keith Mars is Giles. Wallace is Xander. Mac is Willow (especially the early Willow). Sheriff Lamb is Principal Snyder (smug idiot in charge). Vinnie is Ethan Rayne (evil counterpart to Keith/Giles). Jackie is Cordelia. Duncan is Angel (right down to the ex-girlfriend dying and the baby living – plus he does the brooding thing awfully well). And even more, the latter two pairs leave the show around the senior year of high school. Leo is Riley.

And of course, Logan is Spike. Both hate a certain petite blonde at the beginning of the show, form a reluctant truce when he turns to her for help, and eventually fall in love. Both mourn lost love with alcohol and meaningless relationships. Both have an irreverent sense of humor and authority figures rarely take them seriously. Spunky kids can reach them when no one else can, but their attempts at matchmaking don’t help. Both love a good spot of violence.

Now does anyone know of another show that matches these two with crisp dialogue and complexity? I could use something new and awesome to get me over these canceled show blues. In the meantime, I wonder if there’s any Veronica Mars fan fiction. Or comics.

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Veronica Mars – Complex and Sassy

Wow. I’m just five episodes into this show, and already it’s blowing me away.

I first remember hearing about Veronica Mars on TVLine’s renewal scorecard page. The very first paragraph read:

TV’s queasy season has arrived. From now until late May, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW will determine which shows will be back next fall and which will be join Tru Calling, Heroes and Veronica Mars over at the MIA Network. (MIA is fictional people; stop scouring your on-screen channel guide now.)

I bookmarked the page and checked back frequently for updates (maybe once a week at first, but eventually every day around April and early May). I knew Tru Calling starred Eliza Dushku (Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Echo from Dollhouse), and I had the first few seasons of Heroes (watched the pilot, but the hand down the garbage disposal still makes me grimace and has deterred further watching), but I had no clue what Veronica Mars was.

The show popped up on my radar a few other times over the past months. I noticed it on the resume of several Whedonverse alums, particularly Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia on Buffy and Angel) and Alyson Hannigan (Willow on Buffy and Lily on How I Met Your Mother).

But it wasn’t until I read somewhere that the humor and dialogue on the show was very similar to Buffy that I knew I had to try it out. I had just completed my goal of watching every episode of every Joss Whedon show, and I needed something to fill that particularly quirky niche. And I was delighted to find out that Netflix had all three seasons of Veronica Mars on watch instantly.

The sassy nature of the show captured my interest immediately. But then the show continued to unfold new layers, and I knew I’d stumbled across something special.

On the surface, it’s a show about a saucy blonde going to high school in southern California (ditto for Buffy).

On an episodic level, Veronica’s dad is a private investigator, she helps him out with cases, and she finds some of her own (modern take on Nancy Drew).

Then the show delves into her character backstory. Less than a year before the show’s start, Veronica was dating Duncan Kane and was a part of his group of friends. Now she’s forced to keep seeing them at school, and they alternately ignore or belittle her. This ties into the show’s theme song, “We Used to be Friends.”

And then we find out Duncan’s sister Lilly, Veronica’s best friend, was murdered the previous October. At the time, Veronica’s father was sheriff, and pursued Duncan and Lily’s father as his chief suspect. Mr. Kane – rich, powerful, and beloved in the community – told the media and Keith Mars was ousted as sheriff. Veronica’s mom left town.

If that wasn’t enough, we find out that things don’t add up with Lilly’s murder. And Veronica’s mother may have had an ulterior motive for leaving town.

And this is only five episodes into the show!

Kristen Bell does an excellent job playing the various facets of Veronica. She can switch from pensive to spunky to flirty and back again easily. And while Veronica has plenty of Buffy-like sass, she also has Willow’s brains. Percy Daggs III plays Wallace, a Xander-like companion I hope the writers will give more to do in future episodes. Teddy Dunn plays the brooding Duncan Kane well, and keeps reminding me of a young Shane West.

I have a feeling I’m going to be upset about this show’s cancellation.

Side Note: While trying to figure out what to call this show’s genre (if anyone has other suggestions than my choice of “mystery” feel free to mention them!), I came across this quote from Joss Whedon about Veronica Mars:

My peeps and I just finished a crazed Veronica Marsathon, and I can no longer restrain myself. Best. Show. Ever. Seriously, I’ve never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn’t making, and maybe even more than those. Crazy crisp dialogue. Incredibly tight plotting. Big emotion, I mean BIG, and charsimatic actors and I was just DYING from the mystery and the relationships and PAIN, this show knows from pain and no, I don’t care, laugh all you want, I had to share this. These guys know what they’re doing on a level that intimidates me. It’s the Harry Potter of shows. There. I said it.

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