The Tubey Awards for the best in television over the 2004-2005 season are underway at
Television Without Pity, and in a very pleasant surprise,
Veronica Mars has made almost a clean sweep. I'm shocked that it's that popular with the TwoP membership, because I had no idea. VM gets no love anywhere else in the world, so it's nice to see it's getting some respect somewhere.
So far in the Tubey Awards voted on by TwoP members, VM has won Best Drama, Best New Show, Best Writing, Best Continuity, Best Finale, Favorite Actress (Kristen Bell - duh), Favorite Character (Veronica), Best Relationship (Veronica and Logan), Best Sidekick (Wallace), and Best Credits Sequence. Other than the award for credits, I think all of those awards are pretty well deserved and I'm pretty sure I voted VM in all those categories. I don't think the credit sequence is anything special and actually, the whole doodles on the notebook paper motif looks a little juvenile to me, which doesn't really fit the tone of the show. But I guess most people like it, which is surprising. I would really prefer some new credits next year, although the theme song is perfect and definitely shouldn't be changed. VM also "won" for Worst Stunt Casting (Paris Hilton). I can't say I have a problem with that, although I personally voted for George Lucas on The O.C. because he was truly horrible and was just there to plug his movie.
In other categories, VM came in second for Best Cast, losing to Arrested Development. In all fairness, as much as I love VM, I voted for AD because I really think it does have the better overall cast. VM has a couple of weak links who aren't quite up to the level of Kristen Bell and Enrico Colantoni. There are probably several other shows that have overall better casts, actually. Six Feet Under in particular has a stellar cast. Harry Hamlin and Amanda Seyfried came in second and third for Best Guest Star, losing to Lena Olin of Alias, who is a very deserving winner. Lena Olin was only in a couple of episodes but her presence really energized Alias.
What was really shocking in The Tubey Awards is that Jason Dohring came in second for Favorite Actor (after Hugh Laurie of House), and Logan came in third for best character (after Veronica and Dr. House). I think JD is very good and I adore Logan like nobody's business (I like him almost as much as I like Veronica), but I still can't believe he's that popular. I'm pleasantly surprised that VM had enough love (and votes) to go around that Veronica could win as Best Character and Logan could still place third. That is mind boggling.
Veronica also came in second as Best Badass, losing to SpyDaddy Jack Bristow of Alias, who got my vote. I love Veronica, but Best Badass? She's all of 90 pounds when she's soaking wet. Jack Bristow has ice water running through his veins and would shoot someone between the eyes without a second's hesitation. And what about Jack Bauer? How many times has he saved the world while staring death in the face? Didn't he even shoot himself at one point, to fake his own death? Maybe I'm remembering that wrong, but anyway, both Jacks are pretty Badass. Veronica might be Best Badass, high school girl division, but let's get real. In the finale, she showed very much that she's really not much of a badass at all, just a very tiny 17-year-old girl with no particular physical prowess and no way to defend herself against a real threat to her life. Her anguished screams seemed very real, and the look of sheer terror on her face . . . wow. That sequence alone made me want to vote for KB as Favorite Actress, because I completely believed Veronica was scared out of her wits.
If there is any award that VM deserves, it's Favorite Actress. Kristen Bell is all kinds of good and I've run out of words to rave about her performance. I can't even imagine the show being half as good with anyone else in the role of Veronica. I loved BtVS as much as the next person, but watching VM all season really makes me realize (if I didn't already) that SMG was never as good an actress as a lot of BtVS fans thought she was. I guess it's just a matter of personal preference, but KB makes every moment as Veronica so real in a way that SMG never did as Buffy, at least for me. Perhaps the writing has something to do with it, but I can't really argue that BtVS wasn't just as well written as VM, maybe better. Maybe I just find the character of Veronica more likable than Buffy, because that's certainly true. Veronica is so smart and so tough while Buffy never seemed all that smart and was kind of whiny on occasion. Veronica could never be described as whiny. But there's more to it than that, because so much of what I love about KB's performance is when she isn't saying anything but her face tells us everything we need to know. It's so easy to imagine KB as a fantastic Buffy, but it's just impossible for me to imagine SMG or anyone else in the role of Veronica. SMG is a competent actress and sometimes she was quite good as Buffy, but I just don't think she's in the same league as KB, who I predict will be a very big star after VM in a way that SMG could never be. I could be totally wrong, but considering that KB's first major acting job -- when she was all of 19 or 20 -- was on Broadway co-starring in The Crucible with Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, I don't think it's any exaggeration to say this girl is a major talent. In her age range, she's definitely up there with Natalie Portman, Kirsten Dunst and maybe Scarlett Johannsen and will probably be competing with them for movie roles a few years down the road. And when she's winning awards, everyone will wonder why nobody watched her back when she was on that UPN show.
What's remarkable about KB's performance as Veronica is the range of situations and emotions she is required to play; she moves so easily between the comedy and drama and back again and makes it all look so easy without any "I'm acting here!" emoting. She just *is* Veronica, plain and simple. There's no question she has great comic timing. "Flat? -- Just as God made me." In fact, when she said "Go, Pirates!" in the first five minutes of the Pilot, her voice oozing with sarcasm as she faked a plastic smile, I knew I was going to like this girl. KB always nails the delivery, even when it's just two words. She also knows how to squeeze every nuance of meaning out of even the smallest line, like when she says "I'll stop braiding" to Logan in "Mars vs. Mars." On paper, that line looks like it could be just another sarcastic quip, but her delivery is tempered with compassion and even slight amusement at Logan's insistence that they are not "exchanging friendship bracelets" and that the arrangement is purely "business" between them, which is somewhat ridiculous under the circumstances. She uses a softer tone of voice we almost never hear her use, and it's clear she's humoring him because she understands his pain, even though he's not being very nice to her in that moment and she could easily tell him to get lost. I don't know how she manages to convey all of that in three words, but she does. Every line, no matter how insignificant, is delivered with Veronica's unique brand of wit and intelligence. "Force of will? Strength of character? Tenacity? Karate Chop?!!"
KB is also fantastic at creating various voices and personas when Veronica goes undercover, whether she's doing her best sorority speak or impersonating school board members. I particularly liked the scenes in "Betty and Veronica" when Veronica went undercover as "Betty" at Pan High. KB managed that scene beautifully as Veronica did her best to stay "Betty" but slipped back into "Veronica" because she couldn't hide her glee and her pride when the Pan kids mentioned Wallace and what a great basketball player he was. She's also good at doing various accents, like the casting agent in "Ruskie Business" and "Ellen White," the "hometown girl" who goes to see Abel Koontz on death row. Actors overdoing ridiculous Southern accents is a pet peeve of mine (and why I won't watch The Closer), but KB's soft drawl was just right.But all this would be nothing if KB couldn't deliver on the big emotional scenes, and of course she nails them. Veronica's confrontation with Keith in "You Think You Know Somebody" was particularly powerful, when she yelled at him for not making any effort to find Lianne, and became increasingly distraught as she struggled to hold back tears: "You can find anybody!" Then later, when she confronts Lianne in "Betty and Veronica," Veronica is overwhelmed with happiness and relief at finally finding her mother after months of searching, but sad and a little disgusted at her mother's pathetic condition and increasingly angry and frustrated as Lianne refuses to give her any of the answers she's desperately seeking. Veronica tries to control her anger and she's fighting back tears as her voice breaks, but she can't hide her bitterness at her mother's apparent devotion and loyalty to Jake over her own family: "Like in your heart because you love him?" That scene is a pivotal moment, because Veronica appears to be starting to see her mother for who she is and not who she wants her to be and KB does a superb job at reflecting all the competing emotions there.
But even as good as she is in the big emotional scenes, KB really earns my respect for making the most unbelievable aspect of Veronica's character completely believable. We're told repeatedly that other kids at school fear Veronica because of her reputation for getting even with anyone who crosses her, and we've seen boys twice her size back down in confrontations with her and even cower in fear. On paper, the idea that anyone could consider tiny five-foot-nothing Veronica to be a "badass" is patently absurd. KB somehow manages to make these scenes of "badass" Veronica work without looking completely ridiculous, which in my opinion is the ultimate test of her acting ability. She is able to give Veronica such a hard and cold look in her eyes when she confronts the evildoer that it's obvious that Veronica means business and is no one to be trifled with. Maybe it's the fact that Veronica is so tiny, and she is able to turn that to her advantage: the look in her eyes dares the person to underestimate her because of her size: Go ahead, just try me.
Veronica's secret weapon, though, is her ability to demonstrate utter fearlessness on her face and in her voice, even when we know she's nervous and maybe even a little afraid at times. In the Pilot, for example, when Weevil's PCH boys find her during her stakeout at the Camelot Motel, she says in the VMVO "this can't be good," so we know she's nervous. But still, she's not going to show Weevil that, and she completely keeps her cool as she trades sarcastic barbs with Weevil and puts down Felix with her taser, earning Weevil's respect in the process. Weevil's obviously used to people being afraid of him and his boys and he's endlessly amused by this tiny blonde girl who refuses to show any fear. But it's the look on Veronica's face and the steel that KB puts in Veronica's voice when she's truly pissed off that makes it believable that boys at her school could actually be afraid of her -- not because of any physical threat she presents but because she makes Veronica so intimidating with the sheer force of her will, combined of course with Veronica's well deserved reputation for getting even. When Veronica says she's going to ruin your life, she's not bluffing and her eyes and her voice let you know she's not bluffing. She seems capable of almost anything and that's what makes her so intimidating, despite her tiny frame. "That girl is whack." The obvious example is when she does the public smackdown of "snausage boy" in "Hot Dogs," but another good example is in "M.A.D." when she says to the two boys at the computer: "It's all fun and games until one of you gets my foot up your ass." That line looks utterly ridiculous on paper, but when Veronica says it in her "don't mess with me" voice, it's actually believable that those two boys would practically run away in fear of her. The best example of "badass" Veronica and her ability to intimidate people, however, is the first half of "A Trip to the Dentist," when Veronica's level of humiliation and anger rises gradually as she questions each person one after the other. She's friendly with Luke and Casey, but as she moves on to Madison, Sean, Dick, and finally poor Beaver, she grows increasingly furious and the steel in her voice gets harder and harder until she is practically spitting out her words. By the time she confronts Dick while holding his "baby" hostage underneath her tire, Veronica is so consumed with hatred that it's conceivable that she is considering running over Dick himself, which Dick obviously thinks is a distinct possibility as well. "You're freakin' nuts, you know that?" Finally, in another brilliant delivery of a line that's only two words, Veronica confronts Beaver and tells him she's doing "Really. Well." Beaver is genuinely scared of Veronica as an actual physical threat at that point when she punches him in the arm and he nearly falls over. KB makes it entirely believable that Veronica could absolutely kick Beaver's ass if she wanted to, and Beaver obviously thinks she can too. Now that's good acting. Having said all that, it's understandable why some people voted for Veronica as "Best Badass" in the Tubey Awards, but I still don't think she deserves to rank in that category, given the serious badasses on TV. Veronica is very good at playing the Badass, because she knows she has to do that to survive at Neptune High without crumpling like a dishrag. But underneath it all, she's really just a marshmallow. When push comes to shove and she is faced with a true physical threat without Backup or her taser to defend herself, she's just an ordinary 17 year-old girl, crying and screaming and terrified for her life. Sure, she's still smarter and more resourceful than most 17 year-olds, even when she's scared to death, but she's not really much of a badass when facing an adult who wants to harm her. By comparison, in the first season of Alias, Sydney Bristow got beaten up and even tortured and still never lost her cool. Yeah, she's a spy and all, but she was also just a graduate student by day back then. Sydney Bristow is a badass, and her parents Jack and Irina are both badasses of the highest order. Jack Bauer is a badass. These people do not cry and scream and run away from danger, they embrace danger and cause everyone else to run in fear from them. Okay, in the universe of TV teenage girls, Veronica would likely be considered quite the badass, but even Wanda Varner would give her a run for her money in that department, because Wanda looks like she could kick some serious ass. (Of course Buffy probably holds the position in perpetuity, I would imagine.) But I digress . . .
In any event . . . KB is so effective in many other scenes with Keith, Wallace, Duncan and of course in all her scenes with Logan, but it's impossible to single out just one or two for particular praise. She never misses a beat and manages to make it all look so easy, all the while allowing the audience to connect with Veronica so completely that in the last few episodes, it's as if we are experiencing all the emotional ups and downs right along with her. When she experienced total shock in "Weapons of Class Destruction," we were in total shock right along with her. (Most of us, anyway, who wisely avoided spoilers.) When she felt happy at the end of "Hot Dogs," we were happy too, and when she looked at Tad at the end of "M.A.D." and felt like she had been kicked in the stomach, I know I certainly felt that way also. And of course, through the entire episode of "A Trip to the Dentist," without a doubt KB's most powerful and affecting performance, Veronica felt various degrees of pain, fear, embarassment, anger, humiliation, blinding rage, absolute contempt, shock, horror, despair, disgust, relief, gratitude, guilt, and maybe a little bit of love, too. It's the rare actress who can make that cycle and back again in 42 minutes and make the audience not only believe it but feel it every step of the way right along with her. It was an emotionally draining experience just as a viewer and I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for KB to do some of Veronica's more humiliating scenes, but she seemed utterly fearless in tackling such difficult subject matter, maybe taking a page from Veronica's playbook.
Anyway, so yeah, Kristen Bell is good. Rewatching all the episodes during the summer repeats has allowed me to focus more on her performance instead of the twists and turns of the plot and now I appreciate even more just how good she is in every scene. Even though she didn't get an Emmy nomination, at least she has her Tubey Award for Favorite Actress. :)
