Veronica Mars rewatch - thoughts on Season 2 and on TV writing in general

[orangerful]

We marathoned the last two discs of Veronica Mars, Season 2 on Monday night. I had sort of been dreading the finale, though up until we got to the final disc, I hadn’t really understood why.

Here is the deal -- it’s really hard to write a show, or write a book, where you manage to reveal EVERYTHING in the last episode. I think this is the weakest thing about the writing in Veronica Mars.

lostacanthus and I were discussing Bryan Fuller’s work last week. She pointed out that he was working on Hannibal now and was hoping it lasted longer than most of his other shows. Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies were all fun shows with cool premises but, they lacked vision to take them beyond the first season. The shows were not character driven or even plot driven but more...quirk driven? Yes, the ACTORS were wonderful - I love Mandy Patinkin as Rube, giving Georgia advice about being a Reaper. I loved the Anti-Joan-of-Arcadia that was Jaye Tyler, played by Caroline Dhavernas. And how could you not fall instantly in love with Lee Pace as Ned the Pie Maker in Pushing Daisies? But while these actors, and the rest of the cast, were fantastic, the show and the characters were relatively stagnant and is probably the reason that, while I ADORED the shows when they were on, my love for them has not grown.

Veronica Mars is, at it’s core, a one-mystery series. It’s like stretching a Hercule Poirot novel out over 24 short stories. Hercule NEVER solves the crime until the last few pages, or at least never reveals it. And usually the reader is pretty unsure of exactly what the hell happened too. With both Season 1 and Season 2, the last two episodes are the big REVEAL of the entire mystery that has hung over the season (I can’t remember if this is an issue in Season 3 as much, I will get back to you after that rewatch). With Season 1, we just had the one mystery - who killed Lily Kane? Season 2, I guess the writers or the network felt that the stakes needed to be much higher or more complicated for us to enjoy it - so we get a very convoluted year long mystery about the bus crash, Logan’s murder trial, the Casablancas debacle, and, on top of all that, the leftovers from the Season 1 mystery. It was too much to try to wrap up in two episodes and, while the rest of the season felt like it had some fun mystery-of-the-week episodes, when it came time to “solve” the mystery, it felt like a train wreck.




And the “bonus” crime, of suddenly deciding that, oh wait, Veronica really was raped, and not by her they-were-broken-up-then-but-got-back-together-so-it-was-”okay” boyfriend but by Beaver? Was that just to make us feel better about him killing himself at the end? Actually, a LOT of the characters were abused this season to the point that I wasn’t sure why I liked Wallace at all. And we’re not even going to talk about Meg! Season 2 suffered from some of the same issues as LOST Season 2 -- introducing lots of new characters...only to write them off by the end of the year. Hmph.

The Logan/Veronica stuff wasn’t as pervasive as I remembered. I think it’s more of an issue for me in Season 3 when I was rooting for Piz. I have to say the “our love was epic” speech is sorta...well, it’s kinda cheesy. But I can believe that an 18 year old girl would find it romantic and have second thoughts about the asshole boyfriend she broke up with and then found banging his friend’s stepmom, that maybe he had changed.



So why do I keep watching? Why do I love this show so much? Because of the ACTORS. Again, I feel like the character growth in this show is minimal. The focus of the show is the mysteries and the big Mystery of the season. It’s not about having anyone really grow or evolve, just sleuth. Heck, Keith and Veronica almost have the EXACT SAME argument at the end of Season 2 as they do in Season 1 about Veronica lying to him. BUT let me tell you - I freaking LOVE Kristen Bell. I adore her. And I adore Enrico. And Percy. And for some reason, Ryan Hansen. Even when the episode was weak, the interaction between the actors and their characters was fun to watch. I think this was why the Kickstarter was able to be such a HUGE success. Veronica Mars fans LOVE the actors, we want to see them on the big screen. Even though Season 2 and 3 were nowhere NEAR as good as Season 1, we all stuck with it because how can we resist the charm of Kristen Bell?

So on to Season 3! I really have NO memory of this season, apart from Piz being adorable. We will see if I still feel that way after the rewatch.

Comments

[geekslave.livejournal.com]

I felt the same way about "Pushing Daisies." I liked it, but didn't get the over the top love a lot of people had for it.

Stacey

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

It was such a pretty show and I really wanted to love it but it just never pulled me in. I don't think I was emotionally invested beyond looking at how pretty the sets were and the costumes and Lee Pace.

[geekslave.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I never felt attached to the characters. And sometimes I felt it was just quirky for quirky's sake.

Stacey

[thekaiserchief.livejournal.com]

Ugh, Meg. Not a fan of her. Or of Wallace's girlfriend (the name escapes me at the moment).

I can't help but love the "our love was epic" speech because I am a bit of a romantic at heart. Though in season 3, I did love Piz (related: someone else who loves Piz? Yay!)

Season 1 is better, I agree, but the actors are just so good that I was constantly invested in these season 2 episodes as well.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Ah, but WHICH of Wallace's girlfriends that season? That was what was so annoying. They had him going out with the only other black character new girl, who was the daughter of the baseball player who was initially the bus suspect. BUT they broke up and he started dating the cute blonde girl who was very sweet and stupid Wallace kissed the other girl at the prom, which I felt was SO out of character for him!

(oh yes, I adore Chris Lowell/Piz's face...he's just so cute)

[thekaiserchief.livejournal.com]

Oh, I was talking about the new girl. And I hated that out of character moment for Wallace. He wouldn't kiss another girl like that! :/

[lostacanthus.livejournal.com]

Reading your re-watch posts makes me realize how little I actually remember about the show! During S2 I do remember liking Cassidy a lot, until the end when everything was kinda dumped on you, and I mean dumped, sheesh. (Everything you just listed, yeah, that is wayyy too much stuff to reveal.) Anyway, I know I wasn't happy about it, and it did seem really sudden, and I wanted him and Mac to work so bad but uh, well, you know. I MADE THEM A FANMIX UGH UGH UGH. I think also I was in that phase of liking those kinds of boys. It was right around the time I had a huge crush on Pyro from the X-Men movies, lol. So it will be interesting to see what I think about him now!

LOL omg I love Veronica/Logan, which I think you know, but I do not remember the "our love was epic" speech! XD I'm the worst x) THIS DEFINITELY CALLS FOR A REWATCH. In fact, I'm getting my DVDs out RIGHT NOW.

Also, is this the first time you've rewatched everything from start to finish? It just makes me think about what we were talking about with watching Buffy... how watching week to week vs marathoning can change how you experience a show. Which I will never get over!



(For the rest of my life, any time I watch a show I will think about that, lol. I love talking TV with you.)

Anyway, the first time I watched S2 it was on DVD (right around the time S3 started), so I got it all at once... and I don't know where I was going with this.


You're totally right about the actors being the main attraction. (& we can go back to our earlier conversation about Whedon vs Fuller, if we were to make a scale or a chart or something, I think Rob Thomas would be closer to the Whedon end of things, because he's got the loveable, awesome cast and the clever dialogue, but he is lacking some depth and character development. I GUESS I'M NEVER LETTING THIS IDEA GO. I am tempted to throw Harmon in here? They are all pretty big deals AND I'M GOING CRAZY. YOU NEED TO STOP ME.)

THE CAST. YES. THE CAST. THAT'S WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT.

Even when the episode was weak, the interaction between the actors and their characters was fun to watch.
This. And it's kind of why it is so hard to hate Dick Casablancas, because Ryan Hansen is so perfect! If he was played by anyone else it might be easier to hate him? lol. It's always magic when there is a good cast.

Have you been watching "Enlisted"? In case you needed more Chris Lowell being adorable.

Also, now I am pretty tempted to go and re-read all my old Veronica Mars posts, thanks. :P

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

You know I will sit here and talk TV all night long! aw yeah.

I dunno, I feel like Thomas leans more towards Fuller than Whedon and just lucked out because he got an awesome cast. With any different group of actors, I think Veronica Mars would have died a quick death. Kristen Bell is that show. She's like Alan Rickman - just casting her in a part gives the roll extra depth that was never on paper (that is my theory as to why everyone loves Snape, but that's another rant for another day).

[jellibean.livejournal.com]

I just gave Season 3 to my friend last night--she marathoned the first two seasons over the past week or two. I've really enjoyed talking to her about it and experiencing someone else watching it for the first time. I vividly remember the first two seasons, and the first half of season three, but I barely remember the 2nd half of season 3 at all. It's so weird.

The funniest part is that my friend is getting all caught up on the relationship drama, which isn't something I really latched onto at all. Maybe I should have paid better attention to it though... in law school, I recommended that my professor screen "One Angry Veronica" in a class, and I was MORTIFIED by all the relationship drama going on in the B plot. (By that point in the season, Veronica was struggling with her ex-boyfriend's pregnant comatose girlfriend, and I was like, "NO BUT THE SHOW IS REALLY GOOD ASIDE FROM THAT!" haha)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

OMG I KNOW! I remembered loving the "One Angry Veronica" episode and I went to watch it again and had the same reaction you did. Ugh, Season 2! The whole Meg thing was so not in sync with the rest of the show.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Veronica Mars is, at it’s core, a one-mystery series. It’s like stretching a Hercule Poirot novel out over 24 short stories.

This is probably why the first season worked so well as opposed to the rest of the show. It had a perfect setup, one main mystery and everything else in the season was building up to how that mystery was to be solved by the finale. There were no other twists or turns or other convoluted moments to make things ~interesting in the middle. We already had the biggest mystery of all flowing throughout the season; what happened to Lilly Kane? Who murdered her and why? Was it a boy she was seeing? Someone in her own family? etc. Also, they had a unique construct that was very Twin Peaks. The flashbacks, Veronica seeing Lilly in a dream or hallucination trying to get answers to solve her murder, and all of that made the first season so beautiful and haunting and different from other shows at that time.

I feel like after the first season wrapped that mystery up, they wanted to outdo that first mystery and go bigger, but unfortunately this is where things fell apart because by attempting to try and one-up what they did the first time, they really just fell incredibly flat altogether on many accounts from the writing to the plots to the "big shocking twists" that really made zero sense, etc. Veronica Mars suffered the unfortunate sophomore slump, and it was awful.

I could rant forever on that, but you hit the nail on the head for most of what happened in that season that I had many issues with. I also agree about there not being much character growth happening. Some, yes, but not by much, and it's one of the reasons why I'm apprehensive and dreading the movie because it will make everyone the same as they were all those years ago for ~nostalgic reasons. Which I get, I really do, but as someone who wants to see certain characters evolve from how they were many years ago I dread just seeing them play the teen versions of these characters just older, y'know?

In short, Veronica Mars is still great, but after rewatching and gaining a different perspective on it you realize that it could have been better in certain aspects, especially after the first season. I still stand by the opinion that S3 was better than S2, but neither were up to par with S1.

(Also, yay for another person who thought Piz was adorable!)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Ugh, when they tried to bring the whole "mystical" side of the show back with Veronica dreaming she is on the bus, talking to the students -- it just didn't work.

Yeah, Veronica Mars is not surviving the rewatch unscathed, that is for sure. I still enjoy the show, but marathoning it is really showing me some flaws in the writing and pacing that I didn't remember. Plus, it's been, what 7 years since I watched this show? I've seen a LOT more TV since then, plus I've rewatched Buffy and Gilmore Girls and...well, up against those shows, you really start to see the flaws in VM.

But I agree with you on all the things. Including that Piz is adorable. :-O