Friday, April 19, 2013

Veronica Mars Re-Watch: Season One Episode Sixteen

Betty and Veronica

The episode opens with Clarence Wiedman walking away from Veronica and her mother Lianne in a Barstow bar. Clips of Veronica's conversation with Lianne are interspersed throughout the rest of the episode, ending with Veronica using her college money to put Lianne in rehab.

Mystery of the week: Neptune High's mascot, Polly the parrot, is missing. Veronica goes undercover as Betty at Pan High, Neptune's rival, to find the culprit. A video surfaces--threatening that Polly will die if Wallace plays in the big basketball game. Sports betting is the motive. Veronica recovers Polly (and Billy, Pan's mascot who was also kidnapped.) Wallace plays and Neptune beats Pan.

Lilly Kane murder developments: Lianne tells Veronica that she was with Jake Kane at the time of Lilly's death. After Leo gives Veronica access to the interrogation tapes of the Kanes, Veronica finds discrepancies between Lianne's story and Celeste Kane's interrogation.

Surmising that it's not coincidence that Wiedman shows up in Barstow, Veronica finds a bug in her room. She repays the favor by having Wallace deliver a bugged plant to Wiedman's assistant and tricks Wiedman to revealing that Abel Koontz has a daughter.  

Miscellaneous points of interest: Meg and Duncan are now dating which leads to some awkward moments in school and in a local restaurant. For all of Veronica's smarts, she's still a high school girl. There's also some great Wallace/Veronica interaction. It sometimes seems that Veronica only uses Wallace to do favors for her, but she cares. Veronica even bakes him snickerdoodles and leaves spirit boxes in his locker. I often think of Wallace as the moral center of the show--at least in Season One--and it's nice to see her appreciate him.

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