Short version:
I discovered Veronica Mars over the weekend and I love her!
Long version:
The Find
This past weekend my husband Brian and I embodied the very essence of sloth. After dropping my mother off at the airport and waving our contractor goodbye for the day on Saturday morning, we found a comfortable spot on the couch and caught up with every show we had on our DVR.
By 6PM we had completely ran out of shows, so Brian turned on Roku and started watching some insane scifi show from the early 90’s called Lexx or something. So I put on my headphones and decided to look for an instant play movie to watch on Netflix on my laptop.
Didn’t find any movies, so I moved onto browsing the TV show series, and there it was… Veronica Mars.
I had never seen the show before, but I have grown quite fond of Kristen Bell ever since seeing her on the best comedy ever, Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008). So I decided to give it a try.
The Show
The first episode of the third (and final) season begins with Veronica Mars starting her first year of college at the fictional Hearst College, in her fictional home town of Neptune, CA. That was a good season for me to start watching: new environment, new friends, none of the nuances of a new TV show, plus it’s more relatable to my age (as opposed to high school shows). Also, the new environment doesn’t require much need for knowing background information, although I’m sure the high school days were very formative for the young detective.
A good portion of the third season revolves around a mystery concerning some rapes on campus. On one side you have the fraternities trying to stand by their innocence, and on the other you have the campus feminists trying to shut them down. Then there’s the side-story love-triangle involving the dean of students (AWESOME AWESOME ED BEGLEY JR), his young wife, and Veronica’s beloved criminology professor (played by the same actor that played yummy Professor Lasky in Saved By The Bell: The College Years, Patrick Fabian). Each episode also focuses on smaller crimes which have to be solved, and the romance between Veronica and trust-fund high-school-sweetheart Logan.
This show has it all without confusing the viewer and always leaving them wanting more. Even Brian started watching it, and was amazed at how they are able to have a season-finale-like cliffhanger at the end of every single episode!
The Main Character
Veronica is the quintessential independent woman of the millennium. She’s opinionated, not easily dissuaded, and has one heck of a lot of common sense. She makes big decisions seem easy, and she exudes confidence.
Young girls who have similar personalities to Veronica’s may feel isolated at times (not that I’m speaking from experience or anything), and it’s encouraging to see Veronica manage her own personality shortfalls with confidence.
The Mole
My father refers to imperfections as “moles” (as in the ones on your face).
The “mole” of this show, I have to say, is Veronica’s father, Keith Mars, played by Enrico Colantoni. I appreciated his sexy, albeit bald, casanova role in Just Shoot Me (1997), and I just really don’t buy him as the cool but caring and nurturing dad. He makes this puppy dog face that is just simply not congruent with his former-sheriff character. The way he’s playing it may appeal to young audiences who wish they had a cool and soft and teddy-bear like father, but we, the adult watchers, simply don’t buy it.
The Recommendation
If you’re looking for old shows to get hooked on, my first recommendation will always be Frasier (1993-2004) 🙂 However, Veronica Mars is a good one to follow it with 🙂
ina