EW's Best of 2005 List

The special year-end double issue of Entertainment Weekly: Best of 2005 (and Worst of 2005) comes out tomorrow (I think anyway) and this is their list of the Top 10 TV Shows of 2005:


1. Arrested Development (Fox)
2. Bodies (BBC America)
3. Lost (ABC)
4. The Staircase (Sundance)
5. Entourage (HBO)
6. Veronica Mars (UPN)
7. Stella/Wonder Showzen (Comedy Central/MTV2)
8. Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)
9. Everwood (WB)
10. Prison Break (Fox)

Only four shows are repeats from last year's list:

Arrested Development
Lost
Veronica Mars
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel

My personal TiVo Season Pass list has VM, AD and Lost in that order with Everwood hovering around number 4, so I'm pretty much in agreement with those choices. I like Prison Break and Entourage a lot also and The Staircase was fantastic, although it's not really a "TV show." It was actually a documentary shown in several parts. But absolutely mesmerizing from start to finish.

Interestingly, not only does current "hot" show Grey's Anatomy fail to make the EW Best of 2005 list, but the lead character of Meredith Grey is singled out as being number one on the "Worst" list. That's kind of funny. I happen to like GA a lot and it follows Everwood on my SP list, but I agree that Meredith is sort of a pill.

Also, I noticed that NBC and CBS do not have any shows on the list but the WB and UPN each get one and Fox has two. Wow, times have changed.

Veronica and feminism: Mutually Exclusive?

Is it possible to be a feminist and a fan of Veronica Mars?

I would think that the answer should be a resounding "yes," considering that the lead character is an intelligent, resourceful and independent young woman. Veronica's not perfect -- she's quite flawed, in fact -- nor is she a perfect "feminist role model." Whatever that means.

But in a television landscape filled with numerous CSI-clones that routinely depict ever-more-gruesome murders of young women (usually at the hands of their husbands, boyfriends or pimps), I find Veronica a breath of fresh air. She may be a lot of things, but a victim isn't one of them. She gets a lot of crap thrown at her, but she doesn't take it lying down. She gets mad. She gets even. You know the drill. Most of all, she doesn't expect a man to solve her problems for her or rescue her (although she's not above accepting help or rescue on occasion).

Apparently, though, I've got it all wrong. A friend recently sent me a link to a "feminist critique" of Veronica Mars suggesting that no "true feminist" should recommend the show because of the horrible message it sends to young women on the issue of date rape: "As feminists, we think there's no excuse for actively promoting a show that presents rape as some sort of more active social mixer or that presents rape as a charge that women make on a whim."

Date rape as a "more active social mixer"? Wow, I must have missed that message entirely. I've seen "A Trip to the Dentist" at least five or six times, but apparently I wasn't paying close enough attention.

I have so many problems with that "feminist critique" I hardly know where to begin. (Fwiw, it's from the Third Estate Sunday Review blog, which "focuses on politics and culture." Supposably it's a group blog by journalism students.) First of all, the authors apparently have a very limited knowledge of the show, the characters or the plot. (See their previous "review" of the show for more evidence of this. Apparently the entire review was based on a single episode -- "An Echolls Family Christmas." Where did they get the idea that Veronica's mother was dead? The "review" is pretty funny reading for VM fans, though. Homoeroticism? You don't say. I have many other issues with the so-called "review," but that's for another day. Their comments on KB's acting alone are so off-base that I hardly know where to begin.)

As evidence that the authors have a limited knowledge of VM, I offer these excerpts:

The show gets points, from some, for the fact that two African-Americans are billed in the credits. Now you hardly ever see those characters most episodes other than in the credits. But just the fact that they're in the credits is supposed to mean that the show is inclusive, according to some.

Wasn't Wallace in every episode (or nearly so) during season one? Yes, he's been gone (too long) from the last few S2 episodes, but I don't understand how any semi-regular viewer could say "you hardly ever see those characters most episodes." (I agree that Jackie doesn't belong in the credits, but neither do Dick and Beaver imho.)

Not just the fact that while she thought she was raped, she was hanging around with the crowd of men that included one man suspected of raping her.

WTF? Who are they talking about? Logan? Veronica never suspected him of being a potential rapist until Tad the Cad spilled the beans about Logan having GHB, and after that, Veronica sure as heck wasn't "hanging around" with him. She avoided him like the plague until she found out the truth about what happened to her.

Because that's actually how the claim of rape and then the claim of nonrape was justified by people doing the show: we're a funny show.

Where is the source for this ridiculous statement? I have yet to see any interview with Rob Thomas, Diane Ruggiero or anyone else connected with VM say on the record that the not!rape storyline is "justified" because "we're a funny show." The statement is just absurd. Anyone who has seen "A Trip to the Dentist" would know that the issue was not handled with any hint of humor. It wasn't funny, it was quite serious and downright tragic.

Being a funny show, it's apparently important that they provide those humorous storylines and, apparently, nothing's funnier than a woman crying rape when she wasn't raped.

More evidence that the authors have not even bothered to watch the episode in question. I must have been in the bathroom during the funny parts. Okay, watching Veronica destroy Dick's surfboard was pretty funny, but something tells me that isn't what they are talking about. And Veronica never "cried rape." She woke up after a party and discovered that she was no longer a virgin, but had no memory of what happened. She never even told her father or anyone else in her life what happened so it's not like she was going around claiming to be a "rape victim." But the actual facts apparently aren't that important to the authors of this piece.

Sick minds at work on that show will do with that show whatever they want.

That statement speaks for itself. "Sick minds"? Do these people watch CSI or SVU? Then let's talk about sick. Depravity is weekly entertainment for most of the shows in the current CBS lineup, for crying out loud.

There is nothing that bugs me more than people who feel qualified to criticize the "message" of a film or television show but don't bother to actually watch the film or television show in question before criticizing it. (Actually, there are plenty of other things that bug me more -- we'll start with Tom Delay -- but I digress.) I get the definite impression that the authors were told only that "Veronica claimed to be a rape victim but then the writers changed their mind and it turned out she wasn't raped. It was actually consensual sex with her ex-boyfriend. And now they're dating again!" But beyond that very simplistic description of the storyline, the authors don't appear to have any idea what actually transpired on the show. Either that, or they have ignored so many crucial details that the entire "critique" is purposely misleading on the "date rape" issue.

Don't get me wrong -- I personally have some issues with the way the rape/not!rape has been handled, particularly the fact that Veronica began dating Duncan again with no discussion about everything that happened between them. It's as if she has amnesia about everything that happened at Shelly's party, and that really bugged me early on in the second season, although I'm mostly past it now. (Example: Veronica's behavior towards Dick - why would she even speak to him at all after his behavior at Shelly's party? There is plenty of blame to go around for the events of that night, but if anyone is a guilty party, it's surely Dick. But I've let that go because Veronica obviously has and it probably won't be addressed again. And also, Dick cracks me up. I guess I have to turn in my feminist card just for that. Sigh.)

I also accept the fact that many people were unhappy with how the "date rape" storyline was resolved, even hardcore fans who know every detail of the story and still are very unhappy with how it turned out. There was a lot of discussion on the Television Without Pity board after "A Trip to the Dentist" first aired and there were many thoughtful comments on all sides of the issue about the alleged "message" being sent by the show when Veronica reaches the conclusion that she was not, in fact, raped. I don't agree that any "message" was being sent necessarily (which I'll get into in a moment), but reasonable people will disagree on a subject this complicated and controversial. Reasonable feminists can disagree, even.

Which is sort of my whole problem with this commentary. The main point seems to be that a "true feminist" should be so horrified by the resolution of the "date rape" storyline that the show must be condemned in its entirety. The argument, as I understand it, is twofold: First, if you are a feminist, you must view the "date rape" scenario from the "feminist perspective," which means you must be horrified by the alleged "message" being sent. Second, because of this horrible "message" being sent about date rape, the show is without any redeeming qualities and no self-respecting feminist should watch it or recommend it to others, particularly young women.

Where to start? First of all, as I mentioned above, I don't agree that the resolution of the "date rape" storyline is intended to send any message about date rape at all. Of course date rape happens. Of course it's horrible. Of course some rape victims get accused of falsely "crying rape" and we should support rape victims, not tear them down. I've marched in plenty of "Take Back the Night" marches, so perhaps my problem is that I see this as a given. But just because this is a sad fact of life does not mean that I need to see this "message" hammered home in every single film or television show that dares to broach the topic.

It's also a sad fact of life that many real-life date rape scenarios are fraught with grey areas, particularly when alcohol or drugs are involved. When two people are both intoxicated, sometimes things happen. Sometimes bad things happen. I don't agree with the "feminist perspective" that the male is always to blame and the female is always a "victim," regardless of whether she became intoxicated voluntarily and regardless of whether she appeared to be a ready and willing participant. In fact, I see that perspective as somewhat anti-feminist. Regardless of one's viewpoint on this subject, however, the issue is what actually happened on Veronica Mars and what kind of "message" it sent to viewers.

On VM, two high school students who were desperately in love were kept apart by forces outside their control as a result of the mistakes and machinations of their parents. The boy was led to believe (wrongly) that the girl was his biological half-sister and ended the relationship without giving the girl any reason for the break-up. A few months later, the two of them ended up at the same party and after a remarkable series of events, both of them were involuntarily drugged with GHB without their knowledge and found themselves alone in a guest room at the party. One thing led to another and they had sex, then fell asleep and/or passed out from the effects of the GHB. The boy awoke and was horrified to discover that he had had sex with his "sister" and left the girl alone in the room without so much as a note. The girl awoke with no memory of what had happened the night before and was horrified to discover that her underwear was on the floor and she was no longer a virgin. Tragically, the girl spent the next year believing she had been raped by an unknown assailant at the party and the boy spent the next year believing he had committed incest.

Eventually the girl learns the truth about what happened by grilling other people who were at the party and confronts the boy, who finally confesses that he left her alone because he thought she was his sister and he was horrified by what he had done. The girl is shocked, but ultimately concludes, based on all the available evidence including an eyewitness account, that the sex was consensual (she was in love with the boy, after all, and had previously dated him for months), and that no rape occurred. She also learns that the boy's best friend gave him GHB without his knowledge, but it's not entirely clear whether this fact is crucial to her decision that she was not "raped." In any event, in her mind, she was not raped and she apparently harbors no lingering ill will against the boy once she understood his rationale for leaving her. After discovering that they are in fact *not* related in any way, the two of them resume their dating relationship a few months later.

So that's what happened on VM in a nutshell. What "message" does this send about date rape? Beats me. The facts are so unusual and so specific and so unlikely to occur in real life that I seriously doubt that the writers intended to send any message about date rape at all. One could argue that the "message" being sent is that a girl is capable of having consensual sex, even when intoxicated, and that this is a horrible "message" to send. I don't agree that is the message, but I can understand that perspective. On the other hand, the boy was also intoxicated without his consent, so it seems unfair to call him a "rapist" and her a "victim" merely because she's female and he's male. He wasn't able to consent either, so weren't both of them victims? Neither of them would have had sex voluntarily with the other had they not been drugged with GHB.

As YuppieLawyer said on the TwoP board: "All that said, I hardly think that an episode of Veronica Mars is going to make it more difficult for rape victims to be believed." Indeed. Given that there have been numerous other TV shows and movies that have addressed this subject, I hardly think it fair to expect a single episode of one show to offer the definitive word on the subject. Furthermore, although the authors apparently view VM as a "teen" show directed at younger viewers, VM is rated TV-14 and more than earns its rating. If the concern is that younger viewers might be confused by the "message" being sent about date rape, I don't have much sympathy for parents who allow their young children to watch a show that is aimed at mature teens and adults. (I happen to think that ATttD would be a great way to open up discussion with a 15 or 16-year-old on the subject of drugs, alcohol and date rape, but YMMV.)

In any event, this issue was debated at length after "A Trip to the Dentist" aired, and I don't want to rehash that entire debate. My point is that reasonable people can disagree, and I don't believe there is one acceptable point of view that must be held before one can call oneself a "true feminist." Furthermore, even if one has a problem with this particular storyline, does it mean that the show can't be enjoyed and embraced for everything else that is good about it? I happen to think that Veronica is a fantastic character and VM the show embraces many "feminist ideals" of female independence and empowerment. Reasonable people may disagree, but I resent being told that I can't be a feminist if I like this show.

Agree? Disagree? I'm interested in hearing from other "feminists" who are VM fans. (I know it's a somewhat controversial term lately, but I tend to go with Gloria Steinem's definition that a feminist is a person who believes that women are people, too. At least I think it was Gloria Steinem.) I know I can't be the only one. Do you feel the need to defend your VM viewing to maintain your street cred with the feminist demo?

I would comment directly on the blog in question to express my disagreement, but they don't allow comments. Plus, I'm more interested in what people who actually watch VM think about this issue anyway. It seems pointless to argue with someone who hasn't even seen the episode in question, let alone all of the episodes leading up to that episode to fully appreciate the full context of everything that has happened.

Isn't he the guy from Matchbox 20?

Screw the Golden Globes.

The Writers Guild has nominated Veronica Mars for outstanding achievement in television writing during the 2005 season. The season two premiere episode "Normal is the Watchword" was nominated for Episodic Drama, and is up against episodes of House, The West Wing, CSI, Nip/Tuck, and Six Feet Under. Pretty good company.

Personally, I think VM should have been recognized as one of the best-written dramatic series overall (certainly over Grey's Anatomy), because I think the excellence of the writing is more apparent in the ongoing storytelling arcs than in any single episode. And NitW would not be my choice for best-written single episode either, but there is no doubt that Rob Thomas is a great writer and the nomination is well deserved.

Congratulations, Rob Thomas.

VM 2.10: One Angry Veronica

Here are my thoughts on this week's episode of Veronica Mars.

This week's episode was 2.10 - "One Angry Veronica." I really don't have much to say about this episode, because I found the 12 Angry Men storyline about Veronica serving jury duty to be, in a word, boring. Something this show rarely is to me, even when it has a subpar episode. Which makes this one even more subpar. Like double bogey.

In addition to boring me to tears, the jury plot was so implausible for so many reasons. For one thing, it was completely unreasonable that the jury would have voted to convict the defendants on such a wildly speculative theory based on no real evidence at all. Um, reasonable doubt? Look into it. Truly, there were so many problems with the entire storyline, it's hardly worth even going into. Like the judge calling Veronica into her chambers by herself, without the rest of the jury. Yeah, that would happen. Weevil could have driven through the plot holes on his big ol' hog even with Logan riding shotgun in the sidecar, both of them with capes a'flyin'.

Anyway, I understand that the point of the jury storyline was twofold: one, it re-affirmed the ongoing racial hostilities and simmering tensions in the Neptune class war (like we needed more re-affirming), and b, it gave the 09ers another excuse to go back to hating Veronica and shunning her, so she would again become a social outcast. Frankly, I haven't seen much evidence that she was ever truly accepted back into 09erdom in the first place. Based on what we've seen on the show, it appears that Duncan's crowd is friendly enough to Veronica in the presence of the Donut, but otherwise? Not so much. Ashley Banks and Madison Sinclair and others of their ilk have been just as nasty to Veronica as ever. And Dick is still dickish to her, morphing into transparently fake ass-kissing only when he feels it prudent in the presence of the Donut or the Logan.

Moving away from the jury story (yes, please!), there were some things to like about this episode. In a word, Logan. He brings the pretty even when he's bringing the pain. All together now: Poor Logan. Sure, it was dumb to destroy the tapes, but totally in character that he would do something like that, believing that he was somehow preserving the sanctity or dignity of Lilly's memory.

Just as it was believable that Logan would watch the tapes before erasing them. Oh, Logan, you poor screwed up masochistic kid. He lives for the pain and the drama, that boy. But I hope that actually watching Lilly get it on with Aaron will allow him to finally put Lilly and that relationship to rest, once and for all. Even Logan has to deal with his pain and guilt and anguish at some point and move on with his life, and I think he's starting to turn a corner. Yeah, he called Lilly the "love of his life," but that was just Logan the drama queen using that "defiling" line to express his contempt for his father. I don't think it indicates that Logan is completely blind to Lilly's faults or that he's so hung up on her that he's not able to move on to a real relationship with a living girl (whose name rhymes with Meronica Vars, maybe?). Anyway, JD totally sold that scene in the hotel suite and it was all very real and believable to me that Logan would do all the things he did.

Is it believable that Leo would steal the tapes in the first place? Eh, not so much. Nothing we've seen from Leo before would indicate he'd do something so illegal and unethical and stupid, but then again, he's apparently been hiding his little sister with Down's syndrome all this time, so there ya go.

What else? Oh, yeah, Duncan. The less said about him, the better. I kept waiting for "one angry Veronica" to show up, but she was MIA. What with the jury duty and all.

Meg? Sorry to see her go, because I liked the character last year and Alona Tal did a good job with the role. I actually even teared up a little when Keith told Veronica she had died. It's too bad that Veronica's two closest female friends have both died under mysterious circumstances. Mac might be getting worried about now. Veronica's turning into Jessica Fletcher, for pete's sake.

Lamb? Heh. His fascination with his own physique was amusing, but almost over-the-top in the "let's give the fans something to squee about" sort of way. He even played with the waistband of his pants for a second. Ever the tease. But hey, Michael Muhney looks good, so I'm not complaining. If they can put Kendall in all those skimpy outfits, I don't mind seeing a little rack of Lamb once in a while.

And last but not least: Yea! for Wallace's return. What a welcome surprise that was, and yet again, I teared up at his appearance at Veronica's doorstep and how happy she was to see him. I'm such a sap.

Episode Grade: B

This was an underwhelming episode to me because the jury storyline was both implausible and boring and did not advance any of our main mysteries at all. The only saving grace was the Keith/Logan scenes and in particular, the scene of Logan watching, and then destroying, the Lilly/Aaron sex tapes. That one scene alone may rank as one of my favorite VM scenes ever.

cindywrites summed up the episode best when she (excuse me, Buffy) said:

Trial plot? Bad. Logan? Pretty.

Favorite line: Which one are you? Blinky? Humpty? . . . Zorro?

Veronica Mars in the West Wing

Anyone else annoyed by the endless comparisons between Veronica Mars and Buffy?

The next time someone tries to say that VM is really just warmed-over Buffy, point them in bellanut's direction. VM is really just trying to copy The West Wing, obviously. I sort of figured, with that whole election subplot.

VM 2.9: My Mother the Fiend

Here are my thoughts on this week's episode of Veronica Mars, plus some brief comments on last week's episode as well.

Last week's VM episode was 2.8 - "Ahoy Mateys." I'm a week late on this one, so I'll be brief. Logan had a gun. He saved Veronica. Scary, but somehow hot. Is that wrong? Veronica was so upset that she forgot to thank Logan for saving her tiny blonde ass. But she cried because she was more upset about Logan carrying a gun than she was about the fact that she nearly got cut into pieces by an Irish thug. Logan didn't know what to make of that.

Then again, he didn't have much time to ponder Veronica's reaction before he was knocked unconscious, kidnaped, and tied up by some masked men. One of them seemed obviously "Thumper," the other bald PCHer, who was talking to someone on his cell phone the entire time he was threatening to shoot Logan unless he spilled the beans about what happened the night Felix was killed. Logan swore he didn't know anything, even after they threatened to shoot his kneecap (or other nether regions). In the end, Logan, clever boy, finds out that Weevil was on the other end of the line and was behind the whole kidnaping plot. Logan swears revenge. What a shocker.

The MOTW was not all that interesting to me, although we did learn more about another victim of the bus crash - Marcos Oliveres, aka Cap'n Crunk. Closeted gay teen who also ran a pirate radio show about the goings-on at Neptune High, a la Christian Slater in Pump Up the Volume. The most interesting part of the MOTW was Veronica and Mac working together again to find the source of the broadcast. Funny stuff. More Mac, please.

More interesting than the MOTW were Duncan's weird dreams about Meg and Veronica. Apparently Donut believes that only he can save Meg, although it's not clear how or why that would be. Interesting, if only because this appears to be the first time we've been given any indication about what is going on in Duncan's head. The episode ends with Duncan opening the mysterious envelope he found in Meg's air vent last week and saying "Oh my god." Dun, dun, dun . . .

Episode Grade: A-

Favorite line: I've had a very bad year.


***************************


This week's episode was 2.9 - "My Mother, the Fiend." Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I loved this episode, even more than last week. It probably ranks behind "Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang" and "Rat Saw God" as my third favorite so far this season.

The theme was "mothers," and it was amusing how many different subplots involving mothers were all worked into this one episode. The main MOTW involved Veronica's search for the truth surrounding her mother's suspension from high school 25 years ago. Veronica was convinced that Celeste had broken up Lianne and Jake when she became pregnant after dating Jake briefly during an "off" period with Lianne, and then had dumped her baby in the girl's bathroom on prom night. Either that, or Celeste lied about being pregnant to break Lianne and Jake up. Either way, Veronica wanted to find out the truth about how Celeste had screwed over Lianne by "stealing" Jake away, because Veronica couldn't bear the thought of her mother being the "Mean Girl" instigator of any malicious gossip. As bad a mom as Lianne turned out to be, Veronica still wants to hold out hope that she is, or was, a good person underneath it all.

Veronica's search for the truth led her to discover that Trina was adopted and was the prom baby left in the bathroom. Although Veronica was tempted to "expose" Celeste as Trina's birth mother, she wisely thought better of it before learning the truth. Good thing. Unfortunately (from Veronica's point of view), Celeste was not the mother and had nothing to do with the prom baby. Trina's birth mother was a deaf student named Mary Mooney who had become pregnant from an affair with (then) Vice-Principal Moorehead. Heheheheh. They said more head. [/beavis] It was actually Moorehead who had left the baby in the girl's bathroom on prom night.

The title of the episode comes from Veronica's limited knowledge of sign language and her inability to distinguish "friend" from "fiend." I know enough about sign language to have figured that one out pretty early on, and it wasn't that difficult anyway, so it was a little hard to believe that Veronica didn't seem to suspect that Mary had signed "friend" instead of "fiend," but okay, I'll let that one pass. Veronica has had enough bad news about her mom in the past two years, so it was nice that she discovered that Lianne actually was a good person in her days at Neptune High, anyway.

In the end, the entire MOTW was a set-up by the oh-so-devious Van Clemmons, who totally used Veronica to get the dirt on Principal Moorehead and get him fired. It's not clear how long Clemmons knew about Moorhead's dirty little secret, but using Veronica to figure it out was pure genius. Machiavelli, indeed. Well played, Clemmons. He definitely jumped up a notch in Veronica's eyes for having the cojones to pull this off and getting her to do his dirty work for him. It's rare that we see Veronica get played so completely like that and having Clemmons be the person who does it was quite a nice twist.

Not only did we have a story about Veronica's search for the truth about her mother's past, and Trina's reunion with her birth mother, but we also had a visit from the uber-bitch of motherhood, Celeste Kane herself. She and Veronica traded their usual barbs as Celeste came back to Neptune to visit her precious son. Celeste had some choice words for Veronica about her "drunken whore of a mother," or something to that effect. Nice. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Celeste. At least Duncan had the good grace to be angry with Mommy Sneerest for that one. It only took him about three years or so to learn how to stand up to his mother.

Yet another subplot about motherhood had Veronica and Duncan pairing up to care for a "baby think it over" as part of a project for Sex Ed class. Yes, Mrs. "chlamydia is not a flower" Hauser was back this week, and was even involved in the MOTW as the true "Mean Girl" responsible for spreading gossip back in the day. Anyway, the fake baby subplot served only to provide some amusing moments as Veronica proved herself not all that interested in being a fake mommy.

More amusing than the fake baby was the meeting between Kendall and Trina. Sure, the whole scene in Duncan's hotel suite was pretty contrived, but it was hilarious. Rode hard, meet put away wet. It was pretty amusing how Trina and Kendall couldn't even muster any pretense at being offended because both of them are so accustomed to trading insults with Logan. Trina just ignored Logan's barb to move straight to insulting Kendall for dating a boy in high school. And of course Kendall gave right back, insulting Trina by lumping her in with Joey Travolta and other celebrity relatives of that ilk. Good times.

Speaking of Kendall, what are we to make of her comment to Duncan that she has "been in both of their beds," meaning both Logan and Duncan? Does this mean that she and Duncan did get it on in some fashion? Strangely, he didn't contradict her comment about having been in his bed, but at the same time, he appeared to give her the brush off as if he wasn't remotely interested in her come ons. I guess it's still supposed to be ambiguous then? It seemed weird to me that he had no response to that to indicate whether it was true or not, but I can only guess that something happened or otherwise she would not have been so casual about it with him. Or maybe not.

Then again, Kendall was pretty casual with Logan and even kissed him in front of Duncan and Trina, calling him "baby" (ewww), even though he very pointedly wiped his mouth immediately afterwards. It seemed to me that Logan was totally done with her, but she was just kissing up to him, so to speak, hoping he would be interested in buying the Maserati or something. After his very blatant kiss-off last week, it doesn't seem like those two will be knocking boots anymore, but I guess if she's still offering the milk for free, he's not going to kick her out of bed. Or whatever. I have to wonder what kind of conversation occurred between Duncan and Logan after Kendall left the suite. Would Duncan admit to Logan what happened with Kendall? Would they both just ignore it? I can't imagine that Logan wouldn't have something to say to Duncan about the situation, even if it's just a snarky comment. But Duncan would probably just ignore it.

Anyway, in other Kendall developments, she's been managing to make money by selling off Big Dick's possessions one by one, and in an effort to make her stop, Beaver offered her a chance to work for him in his new real estate venture Phoenix Land Trust. Our little Cassidy is all grown up, it seems. Or at least he's trying. He's using his trust fund money to start his own company, although it seems to me that few people are going to want to invest in any company run by anyone associated with the Casablancas name at this point. What with Big Dick still on the lam for swindling investors out of millions, and all. But maybe there are more suckers born every minute than I imagined. Perhaps there is more to the story with this Phoenix Land Trust business? Maybe Beavidy has some tricks up his sleeve? I guess we'll see.

And speaking of Beaver, his scenes with Mac were too adorable for words. Our little boy is growing up, indeed, getting the attention of an older woman. Go Beavs. And Mac was pretty cute herself, trying to get a piece of the action financially, as usual. Go Mac. Something tells me it won't be long before Beaver and Mac are, um, macking. Or something. Could those two be any cuter? [/chandler] Nope.

But the most amusing part of the whole episode, at least to me, was the Logan and Weevil scenes. Quelle surprise. Logan, true to his word, got revenge on Weevil by ambushing him at his uncle's body shop (apparently), and beating on him but good with his 09er toadies. (I'm guessing Dick was there, although we didn't see him.) Then Weevil found himself taped to the flagpole the next day. As Veronica said, "what goes around comes around." After what he's done to Logan, I found it hard to muster any sympathy for Weevs, same as Veronica.

The most amusing part, though, was Weevil's next confrontation with Logan in the bathroom. Finally clueing in to what VM fans have been hoping to see for weeks now, Weevil finally admits to Logan that he knows Logan didn't kill Felix and sort of makes a halfhearted suggestion that they team up to find out who killed Felix. Logan, of course, mocks Weevil for his non-apology and Weevil, of course, tells Logan that he's not really apologizing as he has to bash Logan's face in to make a good showing for his homies, after that flagpole incident and all. So the boys commence the fisticuffs, as I was yelling at my TV, "Not the face! Please don't hurt his pretty face!"

Both of them seemed to get some good shots in, but only Logan's face was bleeding profusely, and it looked as if he might have lost a tooth or something. Let's just hope those bruises heal fast, as his bruises from last week's kidnaping incident appeared to have healed fast. We don't want that pretty face mangled for too long, because the boys have to get their matching capes so Logan can ride shotgun in the sidecar. A show of hands as to who would pay good money to see that? Anyone else? Seriously, the Logan and Weevil show is always fun.

Last but not least was the final big reveal. Veronica managed to make her way into Meg's hospital room without the attack dog parents around (perhaps Lamb is keeping a good watch on them still at Casa Manning), and Veronica discovers that Meg is about to be . . . wait for it . . . a mother. Yes, comatose Meg is quite preggers and seems to be due pretty soon. Quelle surprise, part deux. Okay, not really, as Meg's pregnancy has been widely suspected for some time, but perhaps some viewers out there were surprised by that development. It certainly helps explain Meg's hostility towards Veronica in "Normal is the Watchword," at least a little bit.

The big question to me is whether Duncan knows that Meg is pregnant. Did Meg tell him before he dumped her? After? Did he know about it when he started dating Veronica? Did he learn about it more recently? Any way you slice it, if Duncan has known for any length of time that Meg is pregnant and didn't see fit to tell Veronica, he's a jerk in my book. Did he not feel like it was something Veronica ought to know? Add this little secret to the Kendall situation, and Duncan is really looking like the slimiest of slimeballs. In any event, Donut's got some splainin' to do.

Other miscellaneous comments: Evan Rachel Wood will be playing the "Veronica" character in upcoming made-for-TV masterpiece The Aaron Echolls Story Heh. And Veronica found out about the rat that Keith is not too discreetly hiding in a Ziploc bag in their freezer. Veronica's indignation at Keith not telling her about the rat is pretty funny considering how she has been keeping everything from him lately. I hope she comes clean with everything she knows so the two of them can finally start working together on the truth behind the bus crash. Team Mars generally functions better as an actual team.

Okay, once and for all: Where the heck is Wallace? I'm really missing him. Come back, Wallace! (Although feel free to leave Jackie wherever she is. There are plenty of other characters getting their own storylines now and we don't really need you, Jackie. Thanks a bunch.)


Episode Grade: A

Except for the big "Meg is pregnant" reveal, this episode did not move the main plots along in any dramatic fashion, but it was filled with great moments and hugely entertaining imho. And Logan and Weevil are finally making a move to end their bitterness and start to work together on solving the mystery of Felix's murder. I'm sure many moments of hilarity will be coming our way where that dynamic duo is concerned.

[The less said about the alternate ending gimmick, the better. I can't imagine that alternate ending was ever truly under consideration as the real ending, but you can never really count anything out on this show.]

Favorite line: Rode hard, meet put away wet.

As if there were any contest. This line had me laughing so hard, I think it's probably my favorite single line of the season so far, and perhaps my favorite VM line ever. Logan never disappoints.