VM 2.3: Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang
Gosh, I love Veronica Mars. Have I mentioned that?
Here are my thoughts on VM episode 2.3 "Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang." I get the "cheatty" part, but where was the bang? That may be my only real complaint with this episode. Oh, wait, was it the scene where Logan was "banging" Kendall? Is that the bang? Okay, then I have no major complaints.
So the mystery of the week was Veronica investigating Kendall's infidelity. I really like how the MOTW was so integral to the overall plot again, and didn't have Veronica off on some silly detour when so many important things were happening. And Veronica's client was Beaver, someone we already know and like and care about.
Poor Beaver. Talk about unintended consequences of trying to get at the truth. He was trying to help his father, or so he thought, and he ended up bringing down his dad's whole company. Possibly sending his dad to prison. Wow, is every kid in this show going to have a parent in prison? Seems like they are heading in that direction. I'm sure even Lianne gets thrown in the clinker for public drunkenness every so often. Wherever she is.
And speaking of parents . . . boy, that stuff with Alicia was totally out of left field. WTF? I didn't see that coming. I can't believe she's been doing anything nefarious, though. I have to think there is a good explanation for her name change or whatever is going on. Did she change her name to run from an abusive spouse? Is the true story maybe that her husband isn't really dead and she left him in a Sleeping with the Enemy sort of situation? And what does Wallace know about it? No idea, but I'm interested to see where that story is going.
There were so many good things going on in this episode, it's hard to know where to start. Oh, who am I kidding? Let's start with Logan.
Oh, Logan. Logan in a fight. Logan cries. Logan getting some ack-shun with Kendall. Logan in a towel. Ahem, that bears repeating. Logan in a towel. And finally, Veronica actually speaks to Logan. In Logan's bedroom. When Logan is in a towel. Oh, Veronica, of course you are only in Logan's bedroom because you didn't want to feel responsible if anything happened to him. Of course. You do that for all the potential victims of jealous husbands, don't you? Of course you do. It's just part of the full service package you provide at Mars Investigations. And way to go on that storming out. You showed him.
I loved that Veronica finally spoke to Logan and confronted him directly about something. She called him on his self-destructive behavior and his death wish. Yeah, it's a cliche, but he wears it well. I loved that Logan remained so calm and cool about Veronica's discovery of his extracurricular activities, when he surely must be scared, a little, right? I'm with Veronica on that -- if he's not scared, he should be. But the whole conversation was fantastic and KB and JD were pitch perfect, as usual.
We've been waiting for Logan to talk to Duncan about Lilly and Aaron (or at least I have) and we finally got to see it as well. I thought Duncan attacking Logan was a bit OOC, though. I know Logan's barb was supposed to be a thinly veiled reference to Veronica (wasn't it?), but was it really that bad that Duncan thought he had to defend Veronica's honor? I didn't think so. And why didn't we see Veronica's face when Duncan lunged at Logan? I was annoyed at the editing there. No reaction shot from Veronica at all.
The fight was also too brief -- I would have preferred to see more of the fisticuffs and Logan's fist connecting with Duncan's face -- but the scene in the nurse's office was great. Finally, Logan confronts Duncan about Duncan abandoning him this summer and Duncan confesses that he didn't stand up for Logan because, you know, Logan's dad killed his sister and all. Okay, it's not all about Veronica. That much is obvious. Even though I'm not sure I believed Logan that Veronica is "in the rearview mirror," I still liked it when he told Duncan that he is angry at him for being such a sucky friend more than the Veronica situation. Duncan is a sucky friend for completely bailing on Logan. How is it Logan's fault that Aaron is a murdering scumbag? Logan hates him too. Yeah, Duncan. Suck on that. It was heartbreaking to see that Logan is genuinely hurt by Duncan's behavior, and JD rocked that scene.
As for scenes not involving Logan, I especially loved Veronica and Lamb in the interrogation room. I could use a scene like that in every episode. You're an adult now. Well, that makes one of us. More Lamb, please. MM was great as usual, and KB and MM play off each other very well.
I also loved the stuff between Veronica and Wallace and the retracting of the claws. Still not liking Jackie. Wallace can do better. But I think the actress is fine in the role. No complaints there. I also loved the conversation about Colin Firth and his mysterious allure. I'm a big fan of the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice and I totally get the allure of Colin Firth so I found all that hilarious. And Wallace continues to be adorable. Jackie better not be playing him or she will be witnessing Veronica's claws faster than you can say Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
If I had a complaint about this episode, it's that Veronica's resolution of the real estate fraud was a little hard to believe. I'm not sure she would have been able to figure out the shady REIT so easily and quickly. I'm not an expert on REITs, but if Casablancas was registering with the SEC and all that, there would have been more safeguards in place that would have prevented him from selling investments to the public in a luxury hotel that didn't even exist. It's not quite that easy to pull off such a major fraud. I know we are expected to suspend disbelief a lot about Veronica's abilities to figure things out that mystify local law enforcement, but this was a bit much. A high school girl is going to visit the Sandpiper Hotel when nobody else thinks to do that? When people are investing thousands and perhaps millions in this company and this hotel? I don't think so.
But it's a minor quibble, and the implausibility of that part of the MOTW didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this epsiode. Real estate fraud does exist, but it's complicated and it would have been very hard to explain it fully in the context of this show and keep the audience engaged in the story. So I'll give that a pass. Veronica found out that Big Dick was up to no good and his company is getting taken down by the feds. That's enough to keep me interested. What does this mean for Kendall? Did Dick Sr. leave her when he got in that helicopter? Is she going to be part of the criminal investigation also? I can only guess yes, since she was obviously involved in bribing the assessor and all that. And what does all this mean for Kendall's dalliance with Logan? I'm sure Kendall is not going to take all this lying down. (Pun intended.) I guess we'll have to stay tuned. I can't wait to see the inevitable showdown between Kendall and Veronica. Talk about claws.
The only other complaint I have about this episode, and again it's minor, is that it strains credulity that Logan would still have Aaron's movie posters all over the wall. Yes, I get that we needed to see that Long Haul poster on the wall for Veronica to make the connection to David "Curly" Moran, but still, is Logan really going to want to look at Aaron's big mug on the wall every day? I don't think so. He would have ripped all those posters off the wall long ago. They are such a symbol of Aaron's ego and his phony public image and everything that Logan hated. But still, because the posters served a major point in the plot and because the overall episode was so engaging, I can overlook that.
Episode Grade: A
Best episode so far this season. The plot thickens, and then thickens again. Logan and Duncan fight and have a real conversation about Lilly and Aaron. Veronica finds out about Logan and Kendall. Logan in a towel. OMG, the bus crash was meant to kill Veronica! And Aaron may have been behind it! What more is there to say? This is good television.
Favorite line: My underbelly is rock hard. It can go all night.
Here are my thoughts on VM episode 2.3 "Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang." I get the "cheatty" part, but where was the bang? That may be my only real complaint with this episode. Oh, wait, was it the scene where Logan was "banging" Kendall? Is that the bang? Okay, then I have no major complaints.
So the mystery of the week was Veronica investigating Kendall's infidelity. I really like how the MOTW was so integral to the overall plot again, and didn't have Veronica off on some silly detour when so many important things were happening. And Veronica's client was Beaver, someone we already know and like and care about.
Poor Beaver. Talk about unintended consequences of trying to get at the truth. He was trying to help his father, or so he thought, and he ended up bringing down his dad's whole company. Possibly sending his dad to prison. Wow, is every kid in this show going to have a parent in prison? Seems like they are heading in that direction. I'm sure even Lianne gets thrown in the clinker for public drunkenness every so often. Wherever she is.
And speaking of parents . . . boy, that stuff with Alicia was totally out of left field. WTF? I didn't see that coming. I can't believe she's been doing anything nefarious, though. I have to think there is a good explanation for her name change or whatever is going on. Did she change her name to run from an abusive spouse? Is the true story maybe that her husband isn't really dead and she left him in a Sleeping with the Enemy sort of situation? And what does Wallace know about it? No idea, but I'm interested to see where that story is going.
There were so many good things going on in this episode, it's hard to know where to start. Oh, who am I kidding? Let's start with Logan.
Oh, Logan. Logan in a fight. Logan cries. Logan getting some ack-shun with Kendall. Logan in a towel. Ahem, that bears repeating. Logan in a towel. And finally, Veronica actually speaks to Logan. In Logan's bedroom. When Logan is in a towel. Oh, Veronica, of course you are only in Logan's bedroom because you didn't want to feel responsible if anything happened to him. Of course. You do that for all the potential victims of jealous husbands, don't you? Of course you do. It's just part of the full service package you provide at Mars Investigations. And way to go on that storming out. You showed him.
I loved that Veronica finally spoke to Logan and confronted him directly about something. She called him on his self-destructive behavior and his death wish. Yeah, it's a cliche, but he wears it well. I loved that Logan remained so calm and cool about Veronica's discovery of his extracurricular activities, when he surely must be scared, a little, right? I'm with Veronica on that -- if he's not scared, he should be. But the whole conversation was fantastic and KB and JD were pitch perfect, as usual.
We've been waiting for Logan to talk to Duncan about Lilly and Aaron (or at least I have) and we finally got to see it as well. I thought Duncan attacking Logan was a bit OOC, though. I know Logan's barb was supposed to be a thinly veiled reference to Veronica (wasn't it?), but was it really that bad that Duncan thought he had to defend Veronica's honor? I didn't think so. And why didn't we see Veronica's face when Duncan lunged at Logan? I was annoyed at the editing there. No reaction shot from Veronica at all.
The fight was also too brief -- I would have preferred to see more of the fisticuffs and Logan's fist connecting with Duncan's face -- but the scene in the nurse's office was great. Finally, Logan confronts Duncan about Duncan abandoning him this summer and Duncan confesses that he didn't stand up for Logan because, you know, Logan's dad killed his sister and all. Okay, it's not all about Veronica. That much is obvious. Even though I'm not sure I believed Logan that Veronica is "in the rearview mirror," I still liked it when he told Duncan that he is angry at him for being such a sucky friend more than the Veronica situation. Duncan is a sucky friend for completely bailing on Logan. How is it Logan's fault that Aaron is a murdering scumbag? Logan hates him too. Yeah, Duncan. Suck on that. It was heartbreaking to see that Logan is genuinely hurt by Duncan's behavior, and JD rocked that scene.
As for scenes not involving Logan, I especially loved Veronica and Lamb in the interrogation room. I could use a scene like that in every episode. You're an adult now. Well, that makes one of us. More Lamb, please. MM was great as usual, and KB and MM play off each other very well.
I also loved the stuff between Veronica and Wallace and the retracting of the claws. Still not liking Jackie. Wallace can do better. But I think the actress is fine in the role. No complaints there. I also loved the conversation about Colin Firth and his mysterious allure. I'm a big fan of the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice and I totally get the allure of Colin Firth so I found all that hilarious. And Wallace continues to be adorable. Jackie better not be playing him or she will be witnessing Veronica's claws faster than you can say Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
If I had a complaint about this episode, it's that Veronica's resolution of the real estate fraud was a little hard to believe. I'm not sure she would have been able to figure out the shady REIT so easily and quickly. I'm not an expert on REITs, but if Casablancas was registering with the SEC and all that, there would have been more safeguards in place that would have prevented him from selling investments to the public in a luxury hotel that didn't even exist. It's not quite that easy to pull off such a major fraud. I know we are expected to suspend disbelief a lot about Veronica's abilities to figure things out that mystify local law enforcement, but this was a bit much. A high school girl is going to visit the Sandpiper Hotel when nobody else thinks to do that? When people are investing thousands and perhaps millions in this company and this hotel? I don't think so.
But it's a minor quibble, and the implausibility of that part of the MOTW didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this epsiode. Real estate fraud does exist, but it's complicated and it would have been very hard to explain it fully in the context of this show and keep the audience engaged in the story. So I'll give that a pass. Veronica found out that Big Dick was up to no good and his company is getting taken down by the feds. That's enough to keep me interested. What does this mean for Kendall? Did Dick Sr. leave her when he got in that helicopter? Is she going to be part of the criminal investigation also? I can only guess yes, since she was obviously involved in bribing the assessor and all that. And what does all this mean for Kendall's dalliance with Logan? I'm sure Kendall is not going to take all this lying down. (Pun intended.) I guess we'll have to stay tuned. I can't wait to see the inevitable showdown between Kendall and Veronica. Talk about claws.
The only other complaint I have about this episode, and again it's minor, is that it strains credulity that Logan would still have Aaron's movie posters all over the wall. Yes, I get that we needed to see that Long Haul poster on the wall for Veronica to make the connection to David "Curly" Moran, but still, is Logan really going to want to look at Aaron's big mug on the wall every day? I don't think so. He would have ripped all those posters off the wall long ago. They are such a symbol of Aaron's ego and his phony public image and everything that Logan hated. But still, because the posters served a major point in the plot and because the overall episode was so engaging, I can overlook that.
Episode Grade: A
Best episode so far this season. The plot thickens, and then thickens again. Logan and Duncan fight and have a real conversation about Lilly and Aaron. Veronica finds out about Logan and Kendall. Logan in a towel. OMG, the bus crash was meant to kill Veronica! And Aaron may have been behind it! What more is there to say? This is good television.
Favorite line: My underbelly is rock hard. It can go all night.
posted by Magnolia at
10:27 PM
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