Episode #02.04: Green-Eyed Monster
Original Air Date: October 19, 2005
Written by: Dayna Lynne North
Directed by: Jason Bloom
Report Card (Capsule Episode Review)
Yearbook (Recurring & Guest Stars/Character Statistics)
Drama Club (Performances: Highlights and Lowlights)
Chemistry (The Analysis of LoVe Scenes)
Journalism (The Mystery of the Week)
Study Hall (Miscellaneous Plot Details)
Extra Credit (Clues to the Season Mystery Arcs)
History (Flashbacks)
Band Class (The Music of Veronica Mars)
Literature (LoVe Lines/In Memory/Quotable Quotes)
Social Science (In Reference To ... Pop Culture & The World)
Homeroom (On Second Viewing, Get a Clue)
Pep Squad Practice (Ambiguously (Or Not) Gay Logan Moments) (None)
Detention (While the Censors Were Out to Lunch ...) (None)
Philosophy (Unanswered Questions)
Principles of Democracy (Hindsight is 20/20)
Role Call (Written/Compiled By ...)
Grade: C
Membership Grade: C (33.3% / 51 votes)
Green-Eyed Monster suffers from two key detriments. The first are the performances: Almost all are off -- but for Jason Dohring, who has about two minutes of screen time, and Enrico Colantoni, who is wonderful. The other regulars appear to be phoning it in (or in Tessa Thompson's case, have a wrong number) and the guest stars range from awful (Laura Bell Bundy) to bland (Michael E. Rodgers). Number two is the complete lack of disconnect between show and viewer. There is just no spark, no pop in anything about this episode: Not the performances, the mystery of the week, the dialogue, the direction, nothing. It just kinda sits there.
Credited Cast Non-Appearance
Ryan Hansen - Dick Casablancas
Kyle Gallner - Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas
Recurring Guest Stars (Previous Episode Appearances)
Anastasia Baranova Lizzie Manning
- Season One Appearances
Reuben D'Anthony Darrell Fennel
- Season One Appearances
Erica Gimpel Alicia Fennel
- Season One Appearances
- Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang
Tina Majorino - Mac
- Season One Appearances
Michael Muhney Sheriff Don Lamb
- Season One Appearances
- Driver Ed
- Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang
Cress Williams Nathan Woods (a.k.a. Carl Morgan a.k.a. last week's Mystery Man)
- Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang
Guest Stars
Laura Bell Bundy Julie Bloch
Katie Mitchell Rose Manning
Geoff Pierson Stewart Manning
Michael E. Rodgers - Collin
Who's Who in Neptune
Julie Bloch Psychotic woman that hires Veronica to investigate her boyfriend, Collin.
Rose Manning Meg and Lizzie's mother.
Stewart Manning Meg and Lizzie's father.
Collin Scottish boyfriend of the insane Julie Bloch.
Highlights
Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars) - It's not often we see a continuing storyline for Keith, especially one that calls upon Colantoni's subtle skill as an actor: The ability to combine humor and drama at the same time. A perfect example of that talent was in his scene with Cress Williams (Nathan Woods). Despite the humor of the scene, Colantoni was able to effectively add undercurrents of concern (for Alicia) and threat (to Wood). Excellent.
Lowlights
Tessa Thompson (Jackie Cook) - It's not easy to be the new kid on the block. The actors have already established a rhythm and comfort level that can be somewhat intimidating to an actor. But the addition of a new character can provide a welcome dash of excitement, mystery, and fascination to an established show. Not to play the Buffy card, but the first appearance of James Marsters as Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer was an adrenalin rush of sheer joy.
Unfortunately, the addition of Tessa Thompson to the cast of Veronica Mars does not fall anywhere near that description. Her first appearance was overacted, stereotypical, too breathy, flat and boring. Subsequent appearances have only served to reinforce this first impression.
Her resum includes roles of layered complexity but this ability is simply not apparent in Green-Eyed Monster. I try to give new actors time to develop a role (after all David Boreanaz was terrible in his first appearance as Angel but he has developed a wonderful light touch as Booth in Bones that I adore), but unfortunately Thompson is hurting the show whenever she appears. As we say in the theatre: Time for this character to EXIT Stage left.
Scene One: The Annoying Tiny Blonde One and the Evildoer
There's a reason that I specifically used quotes from last season's An Echolls Family Christmas in the title of this scene analysis. The interaction between Logan and Veronica -- but for one aspect -- played circa pre-Lord of the Bling. Logan treated Veronica as if she were annoying and Veronica treated Logan as if he were the evildoer guilty of all sins in the universe.
No, Veronica didn't flat-out accuse Logan of making the anonymous tip, but her eyes, her expression, her body language, the words she chose to use and the tone of voice she used were all accusatory. Even the way Veronica began her conversation with him was pre-Lord of the Bling Veronica. She had the slight smile, the slight head tilt as if she was gearing up for battle. And there was no subtext as if the battle had to do with anything other than exchanging wordplay and dealing with a one-time friend who was now an enemy. There was no hint that this is the guy she'd dated for a couple of months, a guy she'd been intimate with, a guy who had told her that he loved her, a guy whose heart she has mercilessly stomped upon multiple times. A guy who -- as their last couple of meetings had evidenced -- she was still carrying a torch for. There was no sense of that at all.
Maybe it was because she realized how obvious she was last week, maybe she has been shoring up her resources to combat Logan. Maybe, but this constant fanwanking to explain why the hell Veronica and/or Logan are acting as if they don't give two figs about one another at all when this is supposed to be a triangle is getting tired.
And frankly, it's not just that Kristen Bell played the scene straight out of early season one script. It was the dialogue and direction mostly. Especially Logan's first line. I mean, what the hell was that?! Had he delivered his sex/cuddling/no phone call line at the beginning of the bedroom scene last week, loads of subtext, fabulous consistency, it would have been a brilliant move. But here? No, it didn't work. The time had passed for Logan to pull that shit out of his ass and taking in the rest of the scene (the accusing from Veronica, the "social betters" comment that, again, fit early season one interaction), it came across as just another 'she's a slut' insult from, you guessed it, early season one.
As for that one aspect of the interaction that worked -- that would be due to Jason Dohring. Under the layer of dialogue that did not correspond with the events of the last six to nine months, Jason added the slightest tinge of subtext that Logan was hurt that once again, Veronica was accusing him of something -- which he attempted to cover with his overly theatrical words and gestures (the twirling mustache comes to mind first).
The problem is that while Dohring was working the subtext, Bell was not. The dialogue had no layers, the direction indicated no deeper meaning so, upon first, second and third viewing, his subtext -- which actually acknowledged the passage of time and emotions and events that had transpired -- was almost lost. And that's just a shame. But then this whole, pulled straight out of Rob Thomas' ass "triangle" is nothing but a shame and one that makes not one iota of sense. So we're left with scenes that have to be fanwanked in order to "work" because the writing and direction aren't doing it for us.
Honestly, this episode didn't even hand us a straw to grasp.
We begin at Mars Investigations, where a woman comes into the office dressed in something straight out of Elle Woods' closet. FauxElle says she needs a detective, but while she came to the right place, they're closed on Sundays, which I'm pretty sure isn't because it's the Sabbath. Anyway, FauxElle needs to investigate her boyfriend, who is also her potential fianc, since she found a ring in his gym bag. Gross. Who snoops through someone else's gym bag? Actually, I seem to recall that Wallace does, so, never mind. FauxElle offers the name "Collin Nevin," and Veronica goes into the basic spiel. FauxElle wants the silver package, which is basically full-on Big Brother mode. Well, I'm certainly no expert on marriage or matters of the heart, but it seems to me that if you feel compelled to spy on your boyfriend to the point of hiring a private investigator, maybe you should cut your losses and end things now. But that's just me. Eager beaver Veronica tells Keith that Julie Bloch, as we now know her, is a jumpy potential fiance who practically handed them a blank check. Keith argues that he doesn't have time, so Veronica offers to help out with the easy stuff. But Keith tells her she already has a job, so they'll have to turn Julie down. Veronica fakes a phone call doing just that. Oh, Veronica. Lying to Keith again.
At Java the Hut, Julie explains that her family is wealthy, but she's pretending to be middle class because she usually attracts the kind of guys who cheat on her while she pays for everything. Collin has been making late-night phone calls and using excuses to get out of the house. His current excuse is tennis. Although I don't know why that's a lame excuse. Tennis is a perfectly reasonable activity, and tends to attract the country-club sort anyway.
Veronica's first task is watching Collin run laps. So far, pretty innocuous. And pretty boring. Julie calls and Veronica agrees to look into a number that he has received multiple calls from.
Veronica follows Collin to his tennis match, which turns out to be at someone's house. Well, maybe he's playing table tennis, a la Forrest Gump. He is greeted at the door with a hug from a woman. Okay, I knew right away that hug wasn't anything more than friendly. There was no leaning. Nevertheless, Veronica e-mails the photos to Julie and asks her about the address, which is a really bad move. Never give out addresses of potential mistresses to crazy-jealous fiances. It can only lead to trouble.
Veronica does her best peeping-tom impression and sneaks around outside the house in order to get a look inside. And when she does, she sees...a rabbi. Well, that was the last thing I expected. It would seem Collin is taking Hebrew lessons. Just then Veronica spots Julie screech to a stop in her car and rush toward the house. See, I told you. Trouble. Veronica runs to stop Julie before she can get to the house and does her best impression of Terry Tate, office linebacker, tackling Julie to the ground. Male viewers everywhere are disappointed that there is no mud. Or Jell-O. Don't ask me, not my demographic. Julie apparently ran out of the house without looking in the mirror, because she's still in curlers and has bleach on her eyebrows and above her lip. That would have made a really good impression with the rabbi, I'm sure. I think the bleach fumes are getting to her head, though, because she takes entirely too long to make the connection between the rabbi and the fact that she herself is Jewish.
In Veronica's bedroom, at 2:25 am (commence obsessive analysis of the time, like this summer's 3:07), Veronica is lying awake when Julie calls to obsess over Collin, but post-midnight girl talk is not part of the silver package. So she asks for a package upgrade to gold, the central feature of which seems to be a temptation scenario. A little too close to entrapment for my tastes. Veronica Dr. Phils that there's a fine line between looking for a problem and creating one. Nice try, but there's no talking sense to a lunatic, Veronica.
Veronica convinces Wallace to leave a make-out session with Jackie to help her with said temptation scenario, which involves Veronica being dressed like a sexy co-ed. Or an amateur hooker, one of the two. Wallace hands her a microphone from his trunk, which she sticks down her bra. Wait a second. What's with Wallace having all the spy gadgets in his trunk? Did he stop by Mars Investigations on his way there? Or does he keep them there in preparation for all the times Veronica snaps her fingers? I'm guessing the latter, which is just sad. Wallace goes off to get in position with the video camera, and Veronica lets the air out of her tire. Which would have been impossible the way she did it. You can't just take the cap off the valve like she did, you have to use something to push down the pin. Sorry, I'll stop nitpicking now.
At Collin's door, she starts to ask for help but stops to ask if he has an accent. Did she know before this that he was Scottish? Because he only said a few words and I for one didn't hear an accent. In any case, she says that foreign men are sexier than regular men. Which is totally true. I'm quite partial to a South African accent, myself. But, I have to say, Collin is totally not hot enough to be worthy of the accent. Collin heads outside to help Veronica with her tire. After some dirty talk of nuts and lotion, Collin explains that she was supposed to jack the car up first, and then points out a smudge on Veronica's forehead, handing her a handkerchief. Veronica bends over to use the car mirror, hilariously sticking her butt out in the process, as Wallace records the whole thing. Collin tells her to keep the handkerchief and suggests they just call a tow truck. Veronica needs a computer to turn in a midterm, and Collin reluctantly invites her in.
Inside, they head up the stairs, past a painting that conveniently declares itself to be art. Veronica talks a mile a minute, and includes a thinly veiled reference to girl-on-girl action. Is it just automatically assumed that that's a turn-on for every guy? I don't get it. Veronica is doing everything possible to seduce him, but Collin looks quite uncomfortable and is doing everything possible to avoid her. If you ask me, she's trying a little too hard. Not responding to her obvious advances hardly proves that he's not cheating. All it does is prove he doesn't go for the easy girls. At his computer, Veronica sets to copying Collin's files and asks him about movies after seeing posters for Matchstick Men and City of Angels on the wall. But it's not his house. He's house-sitting. For Nic Cage. Well, that would explain the movie posters and the pretentious art.
Outside, unable to hear what is going on in the condo through Veronica's mic, Wallace's patience finally wears thin and he rings the doorbell, then stalls for Veronica with a lame story about selling pens and candy for the starving children of the world. He should have gone with something that didn't actually involve selling a product. Like a walkathon or something. Veronica finally finishes on the computer and saves Wallace from the embarrassment of selling a box of opened candy. Collin watches in confusion as they leave.
Later that night, in Duncan's suite, Veronica checks Collin's browser history. She sees genealogygopher.com and deduces that he was checking into Julie's family. Genealogygopher isn't a real site, by the way, and I'm fairly positive that he wouldn't have been able to learn about Julie's family that way. Names have to be submitted to genealogy sites, they don't just automatically get entered. And often the most recent generation isn't on there, anyway. My genealogy is done all the way back to Charlemagne on one branch of the family tree, and I can't find myself on any of those sites.
The next morning, Julie calls and Veronica informs her that the seduction was a no-go. Julie says that this is the moment she officially became a jealous freak. No, Julie, I'm pretty sure that happened the moment you walked into a detective agency, if not long before.
Back at Mars Investigations, Julie comes in for the complete results of the investigation. The only thing that isn't automatically a glowing reflection on Collin's character is the fact that the house isn't his and that he looked into her family history. Which of course freaks Julie out. Keith finds the pair on the couch and asks Julie to leave in order to have it out with his disobedient daughter. After a well-deserved tongue-lashing from Keith, Veronica looks again at Collin's browser history and calls Julie, who opines about Prince Charming and ...Ooh! It's Logan! Logan just drove by!...What? Oh, sorry, I got distracted. Back to the phone call, Veronica tells Julie that Collin conducted his search well after he decided to propose to her, but that information is too late, since Julie already broke up with him. Via voicemail. Yeah, classy. But Julie doesn't care anyway, since he lied about the house and probably the trust fund as well. Despite her earlier assertion to the contrary, money does matter.
Later, Veronica is folding laundry, including Collin's handkerchief. She notices the insignia, recognizing it from a bottle in her mom's collection. I think there should have been a Scottish tartan involved. That would have been way more cool than that insignia. Anyway, this week's mystery ends with a letter to Julie from Veronica that accompanies the handkerchief, the bottle, and an article about Collin. He's basically richer than Julie could have possibly imagined and was everything he seemed, including devoted to her. She totally didn't deserve him, and I hope he finds someone who can truly appreciate him.
- Mars Investigations has a neon sign in the window behind Veronica's desk.
- Keith has begun his campaign for Sheriff and has signs and bumper stickers stored in his office.
- Mars Investigations is not usually open on Sundays.
- Duncan is not that good with computers. His father must be so proud.
- People looking for other detectives have a few choices. Nick Harris Investigations comes highly recommended. Vinnie Vanlowe is also still in business, but Keith seems less fond of him for some reason.
- Wallace, even though he needs help with trigonometry himself, is tutoring the "hottest girl in school" or the Queen Bitch of the Universe (depending upon how you look at it) in the subject. At school their relationship has advanced to her slapping his ass (while wearing an appalling micro mini bolero sweater), holding hands and enough PDA to make me lose my dinner.
A few days later, as Wallace and Jackie are studying biology by Braille, Veronica calls for Wallace to help her. Wallace tries to weasel out, but at the offer of $200 leaves a very unhappy Jackie high and dry. Ha! Take that Queen Bitch! She says that she is going to talk to Veronica about coming between her and her man. Wallace correctly points out that it is not a good idea to piss off Veronica at which Jackie says the same is true about her. I'd put $200 on Veronica any day.
As Veronica and Wallace get ready for her to go undercover, he says that he needs his money up front to make peace with his woman. Veronica asks if they are exclusive, pointing out Jackie's date with Random Guy. Wallace rebuts that she saw them together weeks ago and that things have progressed now between himself and Jackie. Does Jackie know that? Oh and by the way the 'ship's name of Whackie cracks me up.
- Mars Investigations has several levels of service. The standard package involves background records and aliases. The premium package includes in-the-field investigation and questioning of old girlfriends and neighbors. The silver package has all the perks of the premium package plus surveillance, phone records and e-mail monitoring. The silver package can run several thousand dollars for a week but does not include post-midnight girl talk. A gold package, available for $3,000 a week digs even deeper. With that you get several months of internet activity, heavier surveillance and Mars will set up a temptation scenario to see if the target bites, or kisses as the case may be.
- Wallace is still working at the Sac-n-Pac and has a car now.
- Darrell is currently seven years old.
- Neptune has a Primrose Lane. Is there a Wisteria Lane as well?
- Alicia has a sign for Keith's Sheriff campaign in her front yard.
- The Echolls house has five registered phone lines.
- Veronica still wants to go to Stanford, but does not seem to think that she will be able to afford it. Keith is expecting the Kane scholarship to pay for her college.
- At the beginning of the episode Veronica was only going into the office to organize. Keith, after telling a client that his wife was unfaithful, when he was hired to find a missing uncle, realizes that he needs help. He goes to Veronica and asks her to come in a few times a week to file, answer the phones and do research. She agrees, but is going to keep her job at the Hut.
- Aww, Neptune Swingles is still in business. That's nice. I wonder if Mr. Heinrich is still looking for that someone special to share his love of horseback riding on the beach, hot tubbing with special friends and sensual charades.
- The Long Haul came out in 1982.
- Meg has been moved from intensive care to a regular ward. Even though Veronica says that hospitals weird her out, she goes to visit. Duncan, being even more wacko than usual, is there already. Before he can tell her how Meg is, Meg's parents come out of her room and upon seeing Duncan freak out. Her dad asks him why he comes every day. Meg's mom pipes in to blame Veronica for Meg being on the bus in the first place. Lizzie, of purity test fame, tries to interject into the conversation, but is shushed. Duncan and Veronica leave without saying anything.
As they walk down the hall Duncan non sequitors that Meg is important to him. Veronica is really surprised that he did not mention his visits or her parents' attitude and blows him off when he tries to make nice. She then lays awake later that night wondering if Duncan still loves Meg. Yeah, because dumping her on the last day of school and practically ignoring her presence on the field trip screams fidelity.
A few days later, Veronica surprises Duncan in his hotel room with dinner and the promise of something a little extra. Veronica tells him that she can spend the night since Keith will be with Alicia, and Duncan moves in for his dessert before dinner. Veronica seems okay with the idea but just wants to know why he had not told her about his daily visits to Meg. And then they have a reasonable conversation where he actually tells her what was going on with him and they discuss their relationship. Just kidding! Then, like a little baby, Duncan pulls away and decides he doesn't want sex or conversation after all.
Later that night, there is a knock at the door, which Veronica instantly assumes is Keith. Nice to know that someone can just march up to the Presidential Suite and knock, great security there. Duncan, looking much trimmer and more toned than he did several weeks ago, is relieved to hear that it is Lizzie. Veronica is less than thrilled, especially when Duncan wants her to hide in the bedroom when he answers the door. She gets in a good crack about how he is treating her like a hooker, but he closes the door anyway.
Lizzie wants Duncan to remove Meg's personal files and e-mail from Meg's secret laptop before her parents come to the school the next day to look at it. When Duncan makes it clear that he is no computer whiz, Lizzie says that they need to figure out a way because if her parents see the contents they will pull the plug on Meg tomorrow. Lizzie goes to use the bathroom and sees Veronica, who offers to help. Well, not that she can do anything but she knows just the person to call.
And that is Mac! Hi Mac! How are you? How was your summer? I love the hair. Anyway, Mac cracks Meg's computer in no time flat, while thanking Veronica for allowing her the chance to practice climbing out her window at 3 am. The backup goes to Duncan in a bright green, easy to recognize at a future time, flash drive. And, that's all for Mac. Bye! Come back again soon, I've missed you.
The next morning, as Duncan is brushing his teeth, and totally forgetting to suck in his gut (I take back what I said about him looking thinner), Veronica is left alone with a computer and temptation in a lovely shade of bright green. However, after considering it, she puts the flash drive back, without reading Meg's e-mails.
- When leaving for work, while wearing a very flattering purple dress that shows off Erica's stunning figure, Alicia sees the man from Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang driving by her house. The next day she surprises Keith, who is showing a previously unseen passion for ham and cheese sandwiches, at the office. After a very sweet kiss, enjoy them while we can, believe me, and before the poor boy can even take a bite, she asks to borrow a gun. Needless to say he is a little stunned by this request and asks very cutely who she intends to shoot. Alicia confesses that she did know the guy in Chicago who called out to her and that they used to date almost 20 years ago before she was married.
She goes on to say that the guy was crazy and that she might need to protect herself, hence the gun. Keith tells her that he will not give her a weapon that she does not know how to handle, and offers himself up as a full service and sleep over bodyguard. By the way, Alicia looks truly terrified and her face drops when Keith originally refuses her request. Alicia agrees to his proposal, looking a little more comforted, and they decide not to tell the kids what is going on. The next morning, Keith arrives at the door with donuts and pretends that he didn't spend the night there even though Wallace is so hip to his actions that he discusses them with Veronica later.
Keith has the Fennel house staked out and when Carl Morgan tries to break in, he takes pictures of him. They have a nice chat bristling with testosterone and menace. Carl knows Keith and Keith has done some research of his own. He thinks that Carl is a drug dealer and ex-con. Keith invites him to take the next plane out of town, and Carl responds that Alicia took something of his and that he won't leave without it.
Keith takes Carl's picture to Lamb asking him to do his job and arrest him. It seems that Carl is wanted in Chicago for questioning on an armed robbery. Keith spins a tale about him being associated with a drug dealer he is investigating and Sheriff Lamb seems to bite. Well, into the case, not into Keith, because yuck. And Lamb's Sheriff campaign is in full swing as well, if the posters in his office are anything to go by.
A few days later, Keith exits Alicia's to see all four of his tires have been booted. Isn't that a little overkill, Lamb? He calls to express his displeasure and is informed that Carl Morgan is really named Nathan Woods, a highly decorated Chicago police detective. Keith looks devastated and Rico does a killer job in just a few seconds of reaction time.
Keith goes to the office and takes out his frustration on Veronica by lowering the boom. He is pissed that she took a case behind his back and that she spent the night with Duncan and informs her that she is not as smart as she thinks she is. Veronica attempts to apologize but looks very upset that he knows about Duncan.
Keith uses his key to get into Alicia's house and takes some papers from her desk to do a background search. One of the papers is an Illinois birth certificate for Cherie Parker Saunders with a birth date of March 9. There is paperwork with the name Cherie Woods and by 1987 she was using the name Alicia Fennel. Keith is given some information by whoever he is talking to on the phone that makes him look even more upset. Boy, Rico not only had the best lines this episode, but the best reaction shots as well.
As Keith is presumably finding out what Wallace is about to know, Woods comes up to Wallace who is working on his car in his driveway. Woods calls Wallace by name and shows him a picture of himself and Alicia. Woods then tells Wallace that he is his father, and we cut.
- At school, Veronica is approached by Weevil, looking all kinds of fine. Veronica teasingly says that she is going to rub his bald head for good luck and he threatens her if she tries. Oh right, that would be Logan's job if the HoYay! fans are correct. While giving him shit for wearing a pair of hoop earrings, she flashes to the earring Lamb showed her and finally remembers that it is Weevil's. Jeez, way to keep up Veronica. We knew that last episode.
Veronica asks him where the earring is currently and Weevil replies that it is in some girl's shag carpeting. Now is that to imply that he is dating someone who is not an 09er? Because no 09er worth her salt is going to have shag carpet, let me tell you. Veronica tells him that actually the earring is with the police and Weevil, looking disconcerted, tells his posse that he will catch them later.
After threatening to turn him into Lamb, Weevil folds like a cheap suit. He tells her that a few days before Curly washed ashore, he got a call from an unknown guy saying that Moran was responsible for the bus crash. The caller told Weevil that Curly had been hired by a rival gang, the Fighting Fitzpatricks, to take care of Cervando. Before he died, Cervando had been going around telling people that he had hustled several grand from Liam Fitzpatrick at the River Styx. Weevil did not believe the caller because he rightly believed that even methed up Irish Catholics would not kill a bus full of kids to get to one biker. Just think of all the Hail Mary's they would have to do. Veronica, seeing the reason in Weevil's logic, asks for his cell phone and notes his recent caller's numbers. Aww, one is Hector. He may not be seen, but he lives on in the prop guy's memory.
Veronica researches the phone number and it comes back belonging to Aaron Echolls. After school, she confronts Logan, who is totally working a blue button down shirt, about the call. It was made September 24 and lasted 2 minutes, 23 seconds. She goes on to tell him that Curly and his father knew each other and asks him to explain. Logan sarcastically informs her that he does not know who Moran is, but sobers up pretty quickly when Veronica lays out the connection for him. Logan tells her that was the night of his 'Life's Short' party and that there were a ton of people at the house who could have made the call, including not only the 09ers, but also Weevil and his gang and the Sheriff and a bunch of deputies. Way to narrow things down for us dude.
- Lamb showing Veronica Weevil's earring in the evidence bag. (Read detailed breakdown.)
"Jealousy" (Stereophonics)
Scene: Collin attempts to change religions; Julie attempts a touchdown minus a football (while Veronica plays defense with a strong tackle). The crazy things kids do today to make it work.
"Jealous Love" (Robert Cray)
Scene: Wallace is actually hittin' that when his BFF totally drops the B from the acronym during a badly-timed phone call.
"So Jealous" (Tegan and Sara)
Scene: To snoop into the files of one Meg Manning on one Donut Robot's computer or not to snoop? The questions one faces when they don't want to face the answers staring them in the face.
LoVe Lines
Logan: (Seeing Veronica waiting for him.) Okay, God, I just can't take the begging. I'll relent. Just once. But, uh, no cuddling, and I won't call you in the morning.
Veronica: Saturday, September 24th, it was a two minute and twenty-three second phone call on Weevil's cell phone made from your house. The caller claimed that Curly Moran was responsible for the bus crash, the same Curly Moran who's friends with your dad. Any explanation?
Logan: My day is complete. (Twirling fake mustache.) Veronica Mars has accused me of evil. Where to start. Oh yes. Who the hell is Curly Moran? And how do you know he knows my dad and what conspiracy theory have you pulled out of your ass this time? (As he mimes pulling something from her ass.)
Veronica: The fact, evidenced by the poster in your house, is that Curly Moran was the stunt coordinator on The Long Haul, starring Aaron Echolls circa 1982. Now, September 24th?
Logan: Like I have any idea wha ... (Remembering something, he turns to dig through backpack.) Wait, I think I do remember the night, it was the night of my 'Life's Short' party. (Holds up flyer.)
Veronica: Of course, a group of lower-middle-class Neptune High students plummet to their death and the 09-ers throw a party.
Logan: Hence the "life's short" part. It was in their honor, and in the end it wasn't just your social betters. In fact, your pal Weevil and his biker boys crashed it. (Starting to walk away, he then turns back.) Oh, and, uh, Lamb and a half-dozen deputies came by to break it up, or at least collect the kegs.
Veronica: There are five numbers registered to your house. This call came from a number I don't recognize.
Logan: Geewilikers, Veronica. It sounds like you're onto something. Maybe the pool boy did it. (Makes a show of looking at his bare wrist as if checking time on a nonexistent watch just to get away from her.) Wow. (He leaves.)
Quotable Quotes
Veronica: The only way I'd ever make two grand in a week at the Hut is if they installed a pole.
Wallace: Hottest girl in school asked me for some help with her trig. I'm gonna give her a hand.
Alicia: You need help with trig.
Wallace: In fact, I might give her both hands.
Darrell: Are you hittin' that?
Keith: (To Alicia who just brought Keith a sandwich.) A guy dreams his whole life of a beautiful woman bringing him a sandwich.
Keith: (Coming into the Fennel home.) I was out early doing some surveillance. Thought I'd stop by, say hi, and send the Fennel men to school with a bellyful of sugar. (Pats Darrell on the head affectionately.)
Wallace: (Grabs a donut.) Mmmm. (Munches on the donut.) Keith Mars for sheriff.
Keith: (Snapping pictures.) Smile. Oh yeah. Work it. Work it! Work IT!
Carl/Nathan: (Starting towards Keith.) You're gonna be pulling that camera ...
Keith: Nuh-uh. (Lifting his jacket making his gun visible.) The light's much better where you're standing.
Carl/Nathan: Keith Mars. Former Sheriff. Private detective. Author.
Keith: Wow. Carl Morgan. Three years Lompoc. Assault and battery. Cocaine possession. Intent to sell. We should really give our publicists pats on the back.
Keith: The next time I shoot you, it won't be digitally. Unless I hit you in the finger and then we'll have a big laugh about it.
Carl/Nathan: Your old lady took something of mine. I'm not leaving until I get it back. (He turns and walks away.)
Keith: (Calling after him.) She isn't my old lady; she is my special lady friend!
Veronica: Julie, it's 2:27 in the morning. The silver package has its perks, but post-midnight girl talk is not one of them.
Julie: What if I get an upgrade, what comes after silver?
Veronica: (To herself.) Psycho?
Lamb: Who let you into my office?
Keith: That's funny; I was wondering the same thing.
Lamb: Drug dealer for me? It's not even my birthday.
Keith: He's buddies with a dealer I'm tracking. There's no bounty on him, nothing in it for me.
Lamb: Nothing but the joy of giving.
Keith: It's not a present, it's kinda your job, Sheriff. For now, anyway.
Weevil: Yo, Martha. I heard you took a ride downtown behind the 187. So did you flop for the cops or did the local Wapner hook you up with some ankle bling?
Veronica: You know the deal, Cuz. Every time a kitty cries in this town, one-time tries to put a case on me. Speaking of bling, what's up with the hoops? If I rub your head, do I get three wishes?
Weevil: You rub my head, you might want to make seeing tomorrow your first wish.
Veronica: Where's that disco ball you usually wear?
Weevil: It's probably deep in some chick's shag carpet.
Veronica: I think my dad put like five of the Fitzpatricks in Chino.
Weevil: Look, they're Irish Catholic. For every five you put away, there's ten more at home.
Weevil: I know I'm being brought in, I'll put on my good underwear, you know?
Veronica: You should really do that anyway.
Veronica: (To Wallace.) Sorry I'm late. Whipped cream fight at the sorority house!
Wallace: (To Veronica.) Do you own those clothes, or did you just make a stop at Dirty Coeds R' Us?
Wallace: See, when you assume, you really just make an ass out of you.
Veronica: Just stay as tight as you can.
Wallace: Just go "Lolita" his ass. Let me do my thing.
Collin: Can I help you with something?
Veronica: Please, that would be so great. Wait, do you have an accent?
Collin: Yeah, I'm Scottish.
Veronica: Really? Like, from Scotland? That's so awesome. Foreign men are so much sexier than regular men.
Veronica: I tried real hard -- I just couldn't get the nuts off. I think they're just too tight. But, I did just put lotion all over my hands, so they're kinda slippery.
Collin: You do know you've gotta jack the car up first, right?
Veronica: Oh, yeah. Do you have a jack?
Veronica: Oh, my girlfriend Paige would love this place. She's not my girlfriend girlfriend, she's just my friend. I mean, we share a dorm room, so, whatever. It's college, right?
Veronica: You should really let me know if you want to party with us. We're fun -- double the fun.
Collin: Oh, I don't have too many parties. I'm a pretty mellow guy.
Veronica: Really? You seem kind of--I don't know, wild to me, like a caged-animal kind of thing.
Collin: You'd have to ask my girlfriend about that. My actual girlfriend. We're not just dormmates, if you get my drift?
Collin goes to answer door after Wallace rings the bell.
Collin: Hello.
Veronica mouths, "Stall" and rolls her hands.
Wallace: Uh, hi. (Beat.) Would you like to help the hungry, starving children of ... the world?
Veronica mouths "What?"
Collin: I'm sorry, are you selling something?
Wallace: Yes! I am. I'm selling, um, pens and ... candy.
Veronica gives him the "thumbs up" and runs back to finish with the computer.
Collin: I'll take a couple of boxes of candy.
Wallace: All I got is this box of Ay Chihuahuas.
Collin: That box is open.
Wallace: You want a couple of pens?
Lizzie: Meg has a laptop my parents didn't know about. They're gonna wanna see what's on it. I don't have the password, but we're gonna have to get her personal stuff off this computer and put it back by morning.
Duncan: OK, so what do you want me to do?
Lizzie: You're the son of a computer visionary. Can't you do something?
Duncan: I can burn a CD.
Lizzie: All I know is that if my parents see what's on there, they'll pull the plug on Meg tomorrow.
Mac: I have to say, it is a little comforting. I haven't snuck out of my house at 3 a.m. in a while. Nice to know I still have the chops.
Veronica Mars Voiceover: Are you crazy, Duncan? Leaving this out here in the open? Do you leave heroin out when Iggy Pop spends the night?
Keith: (On the phone.) I'm thinking I might have a boot for you, too. Any ideas where I can put it?
Lamb: You started it with your "I found you a wanted man" b.s.
Julie: You know, you think you're dating Prince Charming, but you're really dating Prince Charming's Kato. I just called him. I ended it. It's over. As soon as he checks his messages.
Veronica: You broke up with him on his ... (Shaking head.)
Veronica: I bet he didn't even know about the money.
Julie: He lied about the house.
Veronica: He told you it was his?
Julie: It was implied, he probably lied about the trust fund, too.
Veronica: You didn't exactly tell him the truth, either.
Julie: It's one thing to lie and say you're not rich, the other way around is way less cool.
Veronica: I think I get it now. Money matters.
Julie: Of course it matters.
Keith: Now, I'm just talking about a little help with research, filing, the phones.
Veronica: I do give good phone.
Yoga (Referenced by Julie as she tells Veronica that Collin thinks she's in class.)
Yoga, which means "union" in Sanskrit, is a family of spiritual practices and thought that originated in India. The four main types of yoga are Karma, Bhakti, Jnana, and Raja. The asanas, or postures, of Hatha Yoga are a popular form of fitness and meditative exercises in the West. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism teach yoga as a means to enlightenment.
Modern yoga retains traditional elements of eastern religion, such as moral principles, postures designed to keep the body fit, spiritual philosophy, instruction by a guru, chanting mantras (sacred syllables), pranayama (breathing exercises), and stilling the mind through meditation.
Stanford (Referenced by Veronica snarking at Keith that tip money's not going to pay her way through school.)
Stanford University is an Ivy League University located in Stanford, California. This institution is known for its strong academic programs and highly competitive admissions process. Nearly 75% of students enrolled in the university attained a score of 700 or better on both the verbal and mathematical portions of the SAT exam. That said, only about 13% of applicants to Stanford are actually admitted. Perhaps more daunting than the rigorous academic barriers facing Stanford hopefuls, are the financial ones. Tuition and room and board cost almost $40,000 a year.
Starbucks (Referenced by Veronica as she tells Julie she's heading there because spying on Collin is dull.)
Starbucks is a large multinational chain of coffee shops with corporate headquarters in Seattle, Washington. The company was named in part after Starbuck, a character in Moby Dick, and its insignia is a stylized cartoon siren, or a melusine (two-tailed mermaid). The logo has changed several times since its conception. The original design showed the siren's bare breasts and a fully visible double fish tale. The current logo has the breasts fully covered and the stylized fishtails are hardly noticeable.
Starbucks serves coffee, a variety of hot and cold drinks, and pastries, and is popular among students and young professionals. Shops are often located inside other retail locations, such as bookstores or supermarkets, or in retail chains. Starbucks is known for the novel slang of its menu. The traditional "small," "medium," and "large" are substituted with "tall," "grande," and "venti" respectively.
The copious amount of Starbucks outlets in any given area is quite noticeable. As of February 2006, Starbucks has 6,216 company operated outlets worldwide; 5,028 in the United States. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least five Starbucks within fifteen minutes from my house.
The Simpsons has also spoofed the over-abundance of Starbucks. In the episode, Bart goes to the mall to get an ear piercing and passes at least two adjacent soon-to-be Starbucks on the way. Upon his arrival, the guy tells Bart "Better hurry up! In five minutes, this place is becoming a Starbucks!" In the movie Shrek 2, a parody of Starbucks (Farbucks) was attacked by a giant gingerbread man, and the townspeople can be seen fleeing from the ruins to another Farbucks across the street. A thinly disguised Starbucks is also destroyed by the anti-capitalist guerrillas in the movie Fight Club.
Chicago (Referenced by Alicia as she reminds Keith of the guy who called her "Cher" during their recent trip.)
Chicago is the largest city in Illinois, as well as the third-most populous city in the United States (over 2.8 million). It is referred to as the "Second City" (second to nation's capital Washington, D.C. in importance), the "Windy City," the "City of Big Shoulders," and "Chi-town." The city is located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. Chicago was founded in 1833 as a frontier town, and has since grown into one of the world's ten most influential cities. It is the financial, economic, and cultural capital of the Midwest, and is also recognized as a major center for transportation, business, and architecture.
Though there has been a decline in overall crime since the 1990s, the 1960s marked a period of intense gangland problems and saw a major rise in violent crimes. In 1974, with a population just over three million, the city had 970 murderers (resulting in a murder rate of 29:100,000). In 1992, the murder rate was 34:100,000. Chicago adopted crime-fighting techniques used by the NYPD and LAPD in 2004, and recorded a total of 448 homicides, the lowest on record since 1965. Organized crime has a long-standing place in Chicago's history, dating back to the 1910s, and boasting some of the most notorious crime lords and gangs, such as Al "Scarface" Capone and the Chicago Outfit, Bugs Moran, the Chicago Crime Syndicate, and the Chicago North Side Gang.
Chicago's theater scene is a major draw for aspiring actors, and is the birthplace of modern improvisation comedy. There is a major music scene in the city as well; it is the birthplace of the House music genre, had significant influences in Hip-Hop, and is home to a number of 90s Alternative, Punk, and Indie bands.
Dungeons and Dragons ... (Referenced when Jackie slaps Wallace's hiney at the lockers.)
Have you ever gone to Denny's late at night and looked at the people next to you and noticed that they were throwing around dice and talking about spells, elves, and wizardry? They weren't crazy. They were playing Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D for short. D&D is the grandfather of all role playing games. Players engage in a narrated "campaign" or adventure, in which they roll die to determine the fate of their characters. Warning: Although a seemingly harmless game, it quickly can become a socially crippling obsession that has literally inspired legions of grown men and women to dress up in costumes and congregate in basements across the country.
San Diego (Referenced by Keith as he suggests Carl hop on a plane out of town.)
It is believed that the first humans settled in the San Diego area some 20,000 years ago, along the coast, and 12,000 years ago in the desert area. However, it was in 1542 that Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed from Mexico into the Bay and claimed the area for Spain, naming it San Miguel. At the time, there were 20-30 thousand of the Kumeyaay tribe living there. In 1602, explorer Sebastian Vizcaino arrived on his ship, San Diego, and named the area for the Spanish Catholic saint, San Diego de Alcal. Then, in 1769, the first of a chain of twenty-one missions along the California coast was founded by Father Junipero Serra and the California Governor Gaspar de Portola. It was built on Presidio Hill and named Mission San Diego de Alcal. The first colonists arrived in 1774, and San Diego came under Mexican rule in 1821 when Mexico won its independence from Spain. Following that, in 1848, a treaty ending the war between the U.S. and Mexico set the official international border and declared San Diego an American city. Two years later, San Diego County was created and the City of San Diego was incorporated.
Today, with a population of around 1.25 million, San Diego is the second largest city in California and the seventh largest in the nation. According to the San Diego city website, more than 96 percent of the residents are employed, with a median family income of almost $40,000. The top industries are manufacturing, defense, tourism, and agriculture, with an additional focus on biotechnology/biosciences, electronics manufacturing, software, telecommunications, financial and business services, and defense and space manufacturing.
Located only seventeen miles from the Mexican border, with seventy miles of coastline and an overall land area of 342.4 square miles, San Diego is also home to many popular tourist attractions, such as Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, Legoland California, and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Races. Professional sports teams include the San Diego Chargers (football), the Padres (baseball), and the Gulls (hockey). In addition to ten community colleges located throughout the county, the city is also home to San Diego State, the largest California State University campus, and the University of California, San Diego.
Waiting for Godot ... (Referenced in the hospital by disembodied intercom voice "paging Dr. Godot.")
This was a cute, subtle literary reference to the play Waiting for Godot, written by Samuel Beckett in 1953. The entire play consists of two characters, Vladimir (nicknamed Didi) and Estragon (Gogo) waiting for two days on a country road for a man named Godot. They're not even sure they are in the right place, or when he is coming, or what he looks like. But continue to wait, they do. They encounter three other characters, Pozzo, Lucky (who is on a leash held by Pozzo), and a young boy who delivers messages each day that Godot will come tomorrow. Will Godot ever come? We'll never know. The play ends and still they wait. Go here for a dramatic rendition by guinea pigs!
So does Dr. Godot ever make an appearance? Or is there a patient somewhere at Neptune General waiting for days on end for a doctor that never comes? Hmm. Discuss.
"Rut-ro" from Scooby-Doo ... (Referenced by Veronica when Julie showed up in curlers and cream.)
On the Hannah-Barbera cartoon, Scooby Doo, that first aired on CBS in 1969, Velma, Shaggy, Fred and Daphne travel around the country in their van, the Mystery Machine, with the real star of the show, a Great Dane named Scooby. Casey Kasem, the top forty DJ, was the voice for Shaggy, the bumbling, wimpy, comic relief who is Scooby's best buddy. Fred, blonde and studly was the leader of the group and seemed to have an affinity for Daphne. Daphne, the sexy bimbo, was usually in need of saving but occasionally turned up a clue or two. The brain of the group was Velma who usually solved the mysteries and seemed to speak an unlimited number of languages. The show ran for several years, in many different incarnations, and Scooby became one of the most famous dogs in animation history.
In 2002, the franchise was revisited in a movie adaptation starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini and a CGI Scooby. A sequel followed and they are threatening to make a third.
Martha Stewart ... (Referenced during Weevil and Veronica's locker conversation.)
A well-known magazine and TV personality, whose expertise in cooking, gardening, etiquette, arts and crafts projects and homemaking have resulted in her own television shows, magazines, websites and books. Born Martha Helen Kostyra on August 3, 1941 in Nutley, New Jersey, Martha was part of a large Polish-American middle class family that included five brothers and sisters. A straight-A high school student, she received a partial scholarship to Barnard College in New York City and helped to pay the rest of her tuition with money earned from modeling jobs, in both TV commercials and print ads. Martha graduated from college with a major in History and Architectural History and soon after married Andy Stewart. (They would divorce in 1990.) She continued her modeling career until the birth of their daughter, Alexis, in 1965. Martha tried her hand as a stockbroker from 1967-1973, at which point she and her family moved to Westport, Connecticut, where they bought and restored the 1805 farmhouse that has been seen in the background of her television shows.
Running a catering business out of her basement, Martha received a publishing deal to co-write a book on the subject, called "Entertaining." The book was a massive success and thus began a career that would include dozens of books and newspaper columns on homemaking, a spokesperson job for K-Mart's home department, and the magazine and talk show called Martha Stewart Living. In order to fully control all her various projects, she created "Martha Stewart Living Omnipedia" in 1997.
Weevil's comment to Veronica refers to Martha's arrest and subsequent conviction in 2004 on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements, all related to a December, 2001 sale of 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems the day before an FDA announcement of its rejection of ImClone's application for a new cancer drug. Her sentence was for five months in prison, five months of home confinement, wearing an ankle monitor, a $30,000 fine and two years probation. She began serving her prison sentence on October 8, 2004 at a minimum security prison in Alderson, West Virginia and was released the following March. She maintained her innocence throughout the investigation, trial and conviction, but on January 6, 2006, her legal appeal was denied by the court.
187 ... (Referenced by Weevil with regard to Veronica being taken down to the police station.)
A 187 is the scanner code used by the police when referring to a homicide.
Judge Wapner ... (Referenced by Weevil with regard to Veronica being taken down to the police station.)
Judge Joseph A. Wapner became a reality TV pioneer when he presided over the courtroom television show, The People's Court, which ran in syndication from 1981 to 2003. The show had Wapner mediating between parties that were involved in small claims cases and paved the way for a variety of other similarly styled courtroom shows.
Genie / Three Wishes (Referenced by Veronica as she asks Weevil, "If I rub your head, do I get three wishes?")
The story of Aladdin's lamp is one of many tales of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. It is a rags-to-riches story of a young boy, Aladdin, who is asked to retrieve a magic oil lamp from a booby-trapped magical cave. When the sorcerer double-crosses him, Aladdin keeps the lamp and discovers that rubbing it summons forth a powerful genie who will grant his every wish.
Aladdin's story has been adapted into many films, including the animated 1992 Disney film, Aladdin. Many of the genies of the lamp are represented as bald men with gold hoop earrings, much like our own Eli Navarro. As an amusing side note, in the (really bad) 1996 film Kazaam, Francis Capra (Weevil) starred as Max, a young boy who finds in a boom box a genie (Shaquille O'Neal) who offers to grant him three wishes.
Hmm, maybe Veronica knows a little something about Weevil's secret past. Behold a much younger (and hairier) Francis Capra:
Disco Ball ... (Referenced as Weevil's bling at the lockers by Veronica.)
Also referred to as a "mirror ball" or "ball mirror," a disco ball is a large sphere covered with glass mirror pieces or other reflective material. The ball is most often suspended over a dance floor, with a spotlight focused on it as the ball rotates, causing patterns of scattered lights to be projected onto the floor, ceiling and walls.
Mirror balls were around long before the advent of disco music, even making an appearance in the film Casablanca in 1942. In the 1970s, the balls became known as "disco balls" as they became a standard feature in discotheques, combining with other effects such as strobe lighting to create an ambience that was an important part of the disco culture.
Chino (Referenced by Veronica when she tells Weevil her dad put five of the Fitzpatricks in prison.)
"Chino" actually refers to the California Institution for Men which is in Chino, California. The prison is a male-only state prison and is located in San Bernardino County. "Chino" opened in 1941, becoming the fourth prison in the state on an area of land of twenty-five hundred acres. As of 2005, it housed nearly 6,300 prisoners.
A Reception Center operated by "Chino" receives and processes the latest felons from a plethora of Southern California counties prior to transfer to other prisons. (Hmm, does that mean that Neptune is in Southern California?) This Reception Center makes "Chino" the first-stop for most convicted felons after county jails.
River Styx ... (Referenced by Weevil while talking to Veronica by her locker about the River Stix bar.)
In Greek mythology, Styx ("hate") is the name of a river which formed the boundary between earth and the underworld, Hades. It circles Hades nine times, or as many domo arigato's you hear in Mr. Roboto. According to some legends, Styx had miraculous powers and could make someone immortal. That is one handy river. Mythology states that Achilles, or as most of you know him - Brad Pitt, was dipped in it as a child. He acquired invulnerability, with the exception of his heel, which was held by his mother in order to submerge him. Good thing the river made him invulnerable because people tend to frown upon mothers drowning their sons. His exposed heel thus became his only weak point, but repeated viewings of Troy might be necessary to fully appreciate Pitt's heel, among other things.
Meth-head (Methamphetamine) (Referenced by Weevil when he tells Veronica about the Fitzpatricks.)
Methamphetamine is a stimulant drug that produces an intense sensation of euphoria when swallowed or snorted. Users become addicted to meth quickly and tend to use more of it with increasing frequency. The negative side effects to the central nervous system are depression, aggressiveness, insomnia and paranoia. Meth use increases heart rate and blood pressure and can result in stroke, cardiovascular collapse, organ damage and death.
In the United States, the illegal manufacturing of methamphetamine is punishable from ten years to life in prison. The sale of ingredients used in meth production is also heavily monitored. In March of 2006, President Bush signed the Combat Meth Act, which limited the sale of ephedrine, the base ingredient of meth, to 3.6 grams per day, and customers must provide identification and sign a sales log. The manufacturing of meth in labs is highly dangerous, and there have been many cases of lab explosions to prove it. Meth labs have been found in garages, barns, apartments, etc.
Goldilocks ... (Referenced by Jackie as a not-intended-to-be-complimentary nickname for Veronica during her conversation with Wallace.)
The character of Goldilocks dates back to the 1830's in the popular English fairy tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In the tale, a family of three bears, while waiting for their porridge to cool, leave their house and go for a walk. Along comes Goldilocks, a mischievous girl who enters their house uninvited and messes with their things. She tastes their porridge, finding the father's to be too hot, the mother's too cold, but the baby's as "just right." So she eats it. Then she tries out their chairs and beds and decides the father's is too hard, the mother's is too soft and the baby's is just right - although she accidentally breaks the baby's chair.
When the bear family returns home, they find her asleep in the baby's bed and deal with her in various ways depending on who's telling the tale. Sometimes they scare her away, sometimes they kill her, and sometimes they all become good friends.
Pixi Stick ... (Referenced by Jackie when talking about Veronica.)
Pixi Stick is a powdery candy in a thin paper tube. Yeah, it is as gross as it sounds, but kids really like them. Halloween is just around the corner, go buy some! Jackie is obviously new in town or she would have known that Veronica isn't a pixi stick, she is a ... [say it with me now] marshmallow!
Lolita ... (Referenced when Veronica goes undercover in her Dirty Coeds R' Us-wear.)
Lolita is a novel by Russian author, Vladamir Nabokov, that tells the story of a middle aged man who is sexually obsessed, and eventually sexually involved, with his young step daughter, Delores. The name Lolita is now commonly used to describe young girls who are sexually alluring to men.
AAA (Referenced by Veronica as she pretends she needs Collin's help changing her tire.)
Triple A, or the American Automobile Association, is an American non-profit automobile lobby group and service organization. AAA was founded on March 4, 1902 in response to a lack of suitable highways and widespread public disapproval of the automobile.
Members belong to a regional club, and the individual clubs have reciprocal service system. Members of any participating club are able to receive service from any other affiliate club. Members pay dues which finance all club services and the operations of the national organization. AAA clubs provide emergency road services, distribute road maps and travel publications, and rate restaurants and hotels according to a "diamond" scale (one to five). The roadside assistance involves changing flat tires, jump-starting batteries, unlocking the doors, providing a tow, and delivering fuel to stranded vehicles.
Nicolas Cage ... (Referenced as Collin's friend and San Diego house owner with "art" and Cage movie posters.)
Academy Award winning actor, Nicolas Cage, was born Nicholas Kim Coppola in Long Beach, California on 01/07/64. The son of an Italian-American writer and professor and a German-American dancer, Nicolas is also the nephew of writer/director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire. When his parents divorced in 1976, Nicholas moved to Beverly Hills with his father and later left high school with a G.E.D. in order to pursue an acting career. He soon changed his name to Nicolas Cage, so as not to use his famous uncle's reputation to further his career. He chose the name Cage after Marvel comic book hero Luke Cage (Power Man) and avant-garde composer John Cage.
Cage's breakout role came in Valley Girl (1983) and he has since starred in numerous films, such as Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Raising Arizona (1987), Leaving Las Vegas (1995) - for which he won a Best Actor Oscar, The Rock (1996) and National Treasure (2004).
Cage has been married three times - to actress Patricia Arquette (1995-2001), Lisa Marie Presley (2002 - filing for divorce after only 4 months) and to his current wife, Alice Kim. He has two sons, Weston Coppola Cage (1990, by model Kristina Fulton) and Kal-el (Superman!) Coppola Cage (2005, by Alice Kim).
Google (Referenced by Veronica as she looks through Collin's browser history.)
Google is a search engine owned by Google, Inc. whose mission statement is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Google receives over 200 million queries a day. The name "Google" is derived from a play on the word "googol", which refers to the number represented by 1 followed by one hundred zeroes. Google's headquarters, located in California, are referred to as "the Googleplex."
Google began as a research project in January, 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University. The term "to google" has come to be used as a verb synonymous with "to search for something on the internet," though Google officials discourage the use of this phrase for fear that it will lead to trademark dilution.
There are several games that can be played with Google. In "Gwigle," participants learn advanced Google search tricks as they go through the puzzles. In "Googlewhack," you attempt to find two words that produce exactly one search result. (Examples: "dork turnspit", "unconstructive superegos", "bibliophilic sandwiched", "dripstone ingles") "Googlefight" pits two keywords against each other to find which one has more results. In "Guess the Google," the objective is to guess which search term resulted in the displayed images.
In addition to its webpage search engine, Google also provides services for searching images, Usenet newsgroups, news websites, videos, searching by locality, maps, and items for sale online.
Iggy Pop ... (Referenced by Veronica when deciding whether to download Meg's files.)
Iggy Pop is a skinny white guy with long brown hair who became famous in the late 1960s. He should not be confused with Janice Joplin, who was a skinny white lady with long brown hair, or Jimmy Hendrix, who was a skinny brown guy. Iggy Pop is considered the grandfather of punk rock, invented the stage dive, and influenced the music of the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, Nirvana, and the Misfits. His career had many stops and starts due to his long and well-known history of drug abuse. He reportedly kicked the habit in the mid-1980s. (Yay for him. Drugs are bad, kids.) He is also rumored to have had an affair with David Bowie. Wowee.
The movie Velvet Goldmine featured a character played by Ewan McGregor who was a "sexually ambiguous and drug-fueled" singer that many believe was inspired by Iggy Pop.
Lisa Marie Presley ... (Referenced as framed picture at Cage's house, Presley is Cage's former wife.)
The daughter of legendary singer Elvis Presley and actress Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, Lisa Marie was born on February 1, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. At nine years old, Lisa Marie inherited her father's estate. Her mother was put in charge of the inheritance and ensured that when Lisa Marie was old enough, she would have a healthy family fortune to inherit. Elvis Presley Enterprises was created to preserve and market the name, image and likeness of Elvis. On her 30th birthday, Lisa Marie took control of Elvis Presley Enterprises, worth approximately $150 million, becoming one of the most powerful women in entertainment.
In 2003, Lisa Marie launched her own career as a singer, with the album To Whom It May Concern, which reached #5 on the Billboard charts. This was followed in 2005 with a second album, Now What, which reached #9 on the charts. Both albums have reached Gold record status.
Lisa Marie has been married four times. Her first marriage, to Danny Keough in 1988, resulted in two children. The second marriage, to Michael Jackson in 1994, lasted for less than two years and was the subject of constant speculation and tabloid rumors. In 2002, Lisa Marie married actor Nicolas Cage, who was known to have a bit of an Elvis obsession. The marriage lasted only a few months. Most recently, Lisa Marie married her guitarist Michael Lockwood, in January of 2006.
Kiwanis Club ... (Referenced by Veronica when Keith walks in on her and Julie at Mars Investigations.)
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Its original purpose was to exchange business between members and to serve the poor. The organization was for men only until 1987, when affirmative action caught up with them. Since then female membership has grown to be 22% of total members, but the luncheons still serve the same rubber chicken. Kiwanis International also founded and supports Key Club, which is the oldest and largest service program for high school students in the world.
I Spy ... (Referenced by Keith while arguing with Veronica at Mars Investigations.)
I Spy is a popular children's guessing game. One person selects an object and then gives the other player a clue by saying "I spy with my little eye " and then adds something to describe a characteristic of the object. If the other player guesses correctly, he receives one point and chooses the next object. If he does not guess correctly the game drags on until any adult within hearing distance feels the urge to scream out the answer.
Brian "Kato" Kaelin ... (Referenced when Julie found out that Collin was house-sitting.)
Kato was living in the guesthouse when Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered. Kato was supposed to be an important prosecution witness against OJ Simpson, but "flaked" on the stand. His testimony lasted four days and landed him in the national spotlight. Due to his surfer mannerisms, he also became a national joke. Imagine Dick, Jr. trying to have a serious discussion and you pretty much can picture Kato in the witness chair.
PCH(er) (Referenced by Veronica as she considers the connection between Curly and the bikers.)
Pacific Coast Highway refers to sections of California's Route 1, beginning at San Juan Capistrano, south of Los Angeles, and ending where Route 1 merges with Highway 1 at Leggett, in Northern California. Route 1 is one of the longest (644 miles) and most scenic routes in California, providing breathtaking views of a large part of the Pacific Coast. It travels past dozens of historical landmarks and through such cities as San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
- In the hospital, they page Dr. Godot.
- Veronica's rut-ro. Very cute.
- Wallace is wearing a live strong bracelet.
- Veronica still has the bugged pencil sharpener on her desk.
- Logan's Dastardly Dan fake mustache twirl.
- If money was no object, why did Julie pick Mars Investigations? Surely there are more high brow agencies downtown?
- With his newfound notoriety and book sales, why doesn't Keith hire a few investigators and just manage them? He should have clients falling over themselves for his services. He should capitalize on that and grow the firm and as a manager he would have a lot more free time.
- In Ruskie Business, Mars Investigations did not seem to have several layers of service to offer the fake Russian bride. Was Veronica making this up as she went along, or have they expanded their offerings in the last year?
- How does Mars Investigations get phone records and e-mail monitoring done? In Driver Ed, Veronica had to sneak into the Sheriff's office to get the dump on the payphone, but now she is offering that service? How does that work?
- If it is Sunday, why is Keith in a full suit and tie?
- The Kanes are on trial but the scholarship is still being offered? How does that work? Plus, are Duncan and Veronica still eligible? I imagine that Celeste would rather cut off a limb than to hand Veronica one cent.
- How did Julie not recognize Lisa Marie Presley? That is just dumb.
- Is Darrell still played by Percy's brother?
- If Woods is a police detective, why did he let Alicia see him? Shouldn't he be better at surveillance?
- How is Veronica doing her surveillance during the day? Doesn't she have a little something called school to attend? How is she going to get the scholarship if she is never in class?
- Why does Veronica go to Starbucks? Doesn't she get free coffee at Java the Hut?
- If Alicia is so worried about Woods/Morgan, why wait a full day to ask Keith for help?
- Does Alicia know that he really is a cop and not his drug dealing alter ego?
- Why doesn't Wallace realize that he can do much better than Jackie? He is a big basketball stud, hell, date a cheerleader. No matter who she is, she would have to be a step up.
- Is Carl in vice? Is that why he did not correct Keith's opinion of him or tell him he was a cop?
- If Meg is so damn important to Duncan why has he been behaving like he didn't give a damn?
- How is Veronica getting an internet connection in her car to e-mail the picture? And it has to be a pretty fast connection because that picture downloaded and e-mailed in record time.
- What happened to the waterbed from Drinking the Kool-Aid?
- If Weevil was wearing the earring in his yearbook photo, why did it take Veronica so long to remember that it was his?
- Is the Sheriff's department still looking for a receptionist? Or was Veronica betting that Weevil didn't know that, presumably, Inga is not there anymore?
- How much time elapsed from when the bus crashed until Moran washed ashore? Wasn't it only three or four days? Not a huge window for someone to get Weevil's cell phone number and arrange an introduction.
- If Weevil did not believe the caller, how did his earring end up at the bar? And if he did not beat Curly to death, who did?
- What does Weevil's good underwear look like? Does it have reindeer? I hear they are all the rage in Neptune.
- If Wallace didn't want to be disturbed, why did he take Veronica's call? Of course, it is possible that she was in life threatening peril at that very moment, so maybe it was not that stupid of a decision.
- Why is the surveillance gear in Wallace's car?
- With all the bending over, how did Veronica not lose her mic? Why was there no reception in the house? It wasn't that far away.
- Why didn't Wallace just tell Jackie that he had to work to make money to pay for entertainment for her high strung ass?
- Did Wallace have a discussion with Jackie about being exclusive? Because she seems like the type to play the field. By which I mean service the entire football team, while dating him.
- Don't you have to push in the little metal piece in the tire to have it lose air like that? Does just taking the cap off do that?
- Is Veronica really wearing fishnets with knee high boots? Oh, call the fashion police.
- How did Veronica not know that Nicolas Cage had a house in San Diego?
- What high school in America offers Latin? Was Duncan just being a dick? And speaking of which, where is Dick Casablancas? No one mentions the events of last week, even in passing? Doesn't that seem odd?
- Why does Duncan's hotel room have real dishes and what looks like a kitchen?
- I know this goes without saying, but what is up with Duncan? When Veronica knocked on the hotel door, he looked positively possessed. Last week he was the poster child for a happy, happy, joy, joy existence and this week he is acting depressed and downright creepy. Is he on anti-depressants or anti-anxiety meds? That might explain the mood swings and the lack of sex drive.
- When Duncan refused to answer her reasonable and nicely asked question regarding Meg, why didn't she just walk? I know it was a plot device, but couldn't they find a believable reason to have her still in the hotel room when Lizzie showed up? The season long arc is starting to look like it should be "Where is Veronica's spine?"
- Meg had a laptop that her parents didn't know about? That sounds a little out of character. And what is on it that Lizzie feels Duncan can see, but no one else? And what could Meg possibly have done to make her parents want to see her dead?
- In Like a Virgin, Lizzie did not seem that fond of Meg. Are they really close enough now that Lizzie knows Meg's secrets? And how did Lizzie get the laptop from school? Wasn't it in Meg's locker?
- Why was Lizzie surprised to see Veronica at Duncan's? It is no secret that they are dating and they were at the hospital together as far as she knows.
- How did Keith not know that Carl Morgan was an alias? I refuse to believe that Lamb is a better detective than Keith. I just refuse.
- How did Keith know that Veronica spent the night at Duncan's hotel room?
- Who breaks up with charming, handsome Scotsmen via voice mail? Tacky.
- It's odd that Veronica was able to find out everything about Keith's last girlfriend with one internet search and yet Keith was stymied when researching Alicia. Why the difficulty that resulted in him calling someone to help him?
- Why did Weevil crash Logan's 'Life's Short' party? And what happened when he did? The two were about ready to throw down over the whole pool/Felix thing. Where are the flashbacks from that conversation?
- Also, Lamb busted up a party at the Echolls house? Unless the neighbors complained, how did he have probable cause to go in? And why?
- What happened between Alicia and Woods? Were they married, as the papers Keith had seems to indicate? Are they still married? Why did she lie? And why does she seem so scared?
- Is Woods really Wallace's dad? Does that mean Darrell and Wallace are half brothers?
ameriott45 (Amy): Social Science
CandiceH04 (Candice): History
duchessjms (Jayne): Social Science
holly96 (Holly): Journalism; Literature; Social Science
JenniferH: Report Card; Drama Club; Chemistry; Band Class (Scene Description)
Krissy215 (Krissy): Band Class (Song Identifier); Literature; Social Science
Mastermia (Maria): Study Hall; Extra Credit; Homeroom; Philosophy; Principles of Democracy
Maxymama: Literature; Social Science
Melinda1013 (Melinda): Literature
ramwitz (Margarita): Yearbook
samwg (Shannon): Social Science
Tar Frimmer (Joanne): Social Science
TLP70 (Tracie): Social Science
Original Air Date: October 19, 2005
Written by: Dayna Lynne North
Directed by: Jason Bloom
Grade: C
Membership Grade: C (33.3% / 51 votes)
Green-Eyed Monster suffers from two key detriments. The first are the performances: Almost all are off -- but for Jason Dohring, who has about two minutes of screen time, and Enrico Colantoni, who is wonderful. The other regulars appear to be phoning it in (or in Tessa Thompson's case, have a wrong number) and the guest stars range from awful (Laura Bell Bundy) to bland (Michael E. Rodgers). Number two is the complete lack of disconnect between show and viewer. There is just no spark, no pop in anything about this episode: Not the performances, the mystery of the week, the dialogue, the direction, nothing. It just kinda sits there.
Credited Cast Non-Appearance
Ryan Hansen - Dick Casablancas
Kyle Gallner - Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas
Recurring Guest Stars (Previous Episode Appearances)
Anastasia Baranova Lizzie Manning
Reuben D'Anthony Darrell Fennel
Erica Gimpel Alicia Fennel
Tina Majorino - Mac
Michael Muhney Sheriff Don Lamb
Cress Williams Nathan Woods (a.k.a. Carl Morgan a.k.a. last week's Mystery Man)
Guest Stars
Laura Bell Bundy Julie Bloch
Katie Mitchell Rose Manning
Geoff Pierson Stewart Manning
Michael E. Rodgers - Collin
Who's Who in Neptune
Julie Bloch Psychotic woman that hires Veronica to investigate her boyfriend, Collin.
Rose Manning Meg and Lizzie's mother.
Stewart Manning Meg and Lizzie's father.
Collin Scottish boyfriend of the insane Julie Bloch.
Highlights
Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars) - It's not often we see a continuing storyline for Keith, especially one that calls upon Colantoni's subtle skill as an actor: The ability to combine humor and drama at the same time. A perfect example of that talent was in his scene with Cress Williams (Nathan Woods). Despite the humor of the scene, Colantoni was able to effectively add undercurrents of concern (for Alicia) and threat (to Wood). Excellent.
Lowlights
Tessa Thompson (Jackie Cook) - It's not easy to be the new kid on the block. The actors have already established a rhythm and comfort level that can be somewhat intimidating to an actor. But the addition of a new character can provide a welcome dash of excitement, mystery, and fascination to an established show. Not to play the Buffy card, but the first appearance of James Marsters as Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer was an adrenalin rush of sheer joy.
Unfortunately, the addition of Tessa Thompson to the cast of Veronica Mars does not fall anywhere near that description. Her first appearance was overacted, stereotypical, too breathy, flat and boring. Subsequent appearances have only served to reinforce this first impression.
Her resum includes roles of layered complexity but this ability is simply not apparent in Green-Eyed Monster. I try to give new actors time to develop a role (after all David Boreanaz was terrible in his first appearance as Angel but he has developed a wonderful light touch as Booth in Bones that I adore), but unfortunately Thompson is hurting the show whenever she appears. As we say in the theatre: Time for this character to EXIT Stage left.
Scene One: The Annoying Tiny Blonde One and the Evildoer
There's a reason that I specifically used quotes from last season's An Echolls Family Christmas in the title of this scene analysis. The interaction between Logan and Veronica -- but for one aspect -- played circa pre-Lord of the Bling. Logan treated Veronica as if she were annoying and Veronica treated Logan as if he were the evildoer guilty of all sins in the universe.
No, Veronica didn't flat-out accuse Logan of making the anonymous tip, but her eyes, her expression, her body language, the words she chose to use and the tone of voice she used were all accusatory. Even the way Veronica began her conversation with him was pre-Lord of the Bling Veronica. She had the slight smile, the slight head tilt as if she was gearing up for battle. And there was no subtext as if the battle had to do with anything other than exchanging wordplay and dealing with a one-time friend who was now an enemy. There was no hint that this is the guy she'd dated for a couple of months, a guy she'd been intimate with, a guy who had told her that he loved her, a guy whose heart she has mercilessly stomped upon multiple times. A guy who -- as their last couple of meetings had evidenced -- she was still carrying a torch for. There was no sense of that at all.
Maybe it was because she realized how obvious she was last week, maybe she has been shoring up her resources to combat Logan. Maybe, but this constant fanwanking to explain why the hell Veronica and/or Logan are acting as if they don't give two figs about one another at all when this is supposed to be a triangle is getting tired.
And frankly, it's not just that Kristen Bell played the scene straight out of early season one script. It was the dialogue and direction mostly. Especially Logan's first line. I mean, what the hell was that?! Had he delivered his sex/cuddling/no phone call line at the beginning of the bedroom scene last week, loads of subtext, fabulous consistency, it would have been a brilliant move. But here? No, it didn't work. The time had passed for Logan to pull that shit out of his ass and taking in the rest of the scene (the accusing from Veronica, the "social betters" comment that, again, fit early season one interaction), it came across as just another 'she's a slut' insult from, you guessed it, early season one.
As for that one aspect of the interaction that worked -- that would be due to Jason Dohring. Under the layer of dialogue that did not correspond with the events of the last six to nine months, Jason added the slightest tinge of subtext that Logan was hurt that once again, Veronica was accusing him of something -- which he attempted to cover with his overly theatrical words and gestures (the twirling mustache comes to mind first).
The problem is that while Dohring was working the subtext, Bell was not. The dialogue had no layers, the direction indicated no deeper meaning so, upon first, second and third viewing, his subtext -- which actually acknowledged the passage of time and emotions and events that had transpired -- was almost lost. And that's just a shame. But then this whole, pulled straight out of Rob Thomas' ass "triangle" is nothing but a shame and one that makes not one iota of sense. So we're left with scenes that have to be fanwanked in order to "work" because the writing and direction aren't doing it for us.
Honestly, this episode didn't even hand us a straw to grasp.
We begin at Mars Investigations, where a woman comes into the office dressed in something straight out of Elle Woods' closet. FauxElle says she needs a detective, but while she came to the right place, they're closed on Sundays, which I'm pretty sure isn't because it's the Sabbath. Anyway, FauxElle needs to investigate her boyfriend, who is also her potential fianc, since she found a ring in his gym bag. Gross. Who snoops through someone else's gym bag? Actually, I seem to recall that Wallace does, so, never mind. FauxElle offers the name "Collin Nevin," and Veronica goes into the basic spiel. FauxElle wants the silver package, which is basically full-on Big Brother mode. Well, I'm certainly no expert on marriage or matters of the heart, but it seems to me that if you feel compelled to spy on your boyfriend to the point of hiring a private investigator, maybe you should cut your losses and end things now. But that's just me. Eager beaver Veronica tells Keith that Julie Bloch, as we now know her, is a jumpy potential fiance who practically handed them a blank check. Keith argues that he doesn't have time, so Veronica offers to help out with the easy stuff. But Keith tells her she already has a job, so they'll have to turn Julie down. Veronica fakes a phone call doing just that. Oh, Veronica. Lying to Keith again.
At Java the Hut, Julie explains that her family is wealthy, but she's pretending to be middle class because she usually attracts the kind of guys who cheat on her while she pays for everything. Collin has been making late-night phone calls and using excuses to get out of the house. His current excuse is tennis. Although I don't know why that's a lame excuse. Tennis is a perfectly reasonable activity, and tends to attract the country-club sort anyway.
Veronica's first task is watching Collin run laps. So far, pretty innocuous. And pretty boring. Julie calls and Veronica agrees to look into a number that he has received multiple calls from.
Veronica follows Collin to his tennis match, which turns out to be at someone's house. Well, maybe he's playing table tennis, a la Forrest Gump. He is greeted at the door with a hug from a woman. Okay, I knew right away that hug wasn't anything more than friendly. There was no leaning. Nevertheless, Veronica e-mails the photos to Julie and asks her about the address, which is a really bad move. Never give out addresses of potential mistresses to crazy-jealous fiances. It can only lead to trouble.
Veronica does her best peeping-tom impression and sneaks around outside the house in order to get a look inside. And when she does, she sees...a rabbi. Well, that was the last thing I expected. It would seem Collin is taking Hebrew lessons. Just then Veronica spots Julie screech to a stop in her car and rush toward the house. See, I told you. Trouble. Veronica runs to stop Julie before she can get to the house and does her best impression of Terry Tate, office linebacker, tackling Julie to the ground. Male viewers everywhere are disappointed that there is no mud. Or Jell-O. Don't ask me, not my demographic. Julie apparently ran out of the house without looking in the mirror, because she's still in curlers and has bleach on her eyebrows and above her lip. That would have made a really good impression with the rabbi, I'm sure. I think the bleach fumes are getting to her head, though, because she takes entirely too long to make the connection between the rabbi and the fact that she herself is Jewish.
In Veronica's bedroom, at 2:25 am (commence obsessive analysis of the time, like this summer's 3:07), Veronica is lying awake when Julie calls to obsess over Collin, but post-midnight girl talk is not part of the silver package. So she asks for a package upgrade to gold, the central feature of which seems to be a temptation scenario. A little too close to entrapment for my tastes. Veronica Dr. Phils that there's a fine line between looking for a problem and creating one. Nice try, but there's no talking sense to a lunatic, Veronica.
Veronica convinces Wallace to leave a make-out session with Jackie to help her with said temptation scenario, which involves Veronica being dressed like a sexy co-ed. Or an amateur hooker, one of the two. Wallace hands her a microphone from his trunk, which she sticks down her bra. Wait a second. What's with Wallace having all the spy gadgets in his trunk? Did he stop by Mars Investigations on his way there? Or does he keep them there in preparation for all the times Veronica snaps her fingers? I'm guessing the latter, which is just sad. Wallace goes off to get in position with the video camera, and Veronica lets the air out of her tire. Which would have been impossible the way she did it. You can't just take the cap off the valve like she did, you have to use something to push down the pin. Sorry, I'll stop nitpicking now.
At Collin's door, she starts to ask for help but stops to ask if he has an accent. Did she know before this that he was Scottish? Because he only said a few words and I for one didn't hear an accent. In any case, she says that foreign men are sexier than regular men. Which is totally true. I'm quite partial to a South African accent, myself. But, I have to say, Collin is totally not hot enough to be worthy of the accent. Collin heads outside to help Veronica with her tire. After some dirty talk of nuts and lotion, Collin explains that she was supposed to jack the car up first, and then points out a smudge on Veronica's forehead, handing her a handkerchief. Veronica bends over to use the car mirror, hilariously sticking her butt out in the process, as Wallace records the whole thing. Collin tells her to keep the handkerchief and suggests they just call a tow truck. Veronica needs a computer to turn in a midterm, and Collin reluctantly invites her in.
Inside, they head up the stairs, past a painting that conveniently declares itself to be art. Veronica talks a mile a minute, and includes a thinly veiled reference to girl-on-girl action. Is it just automatically assumed that that's a turn-on for every guy? I don't get it. Veronica is doing everything possible to seduce him, but Collin looks quite uncomfortable and is doing everything possible to avoid her. If you ask me, she's trying a little too hard. Not responding to her obvious advances hardly proves that he's not cheating. All it does is prove he doesn't go for the easy girls. At his computer, Veronica sets to copying Collin's files and asks him about movies after seeing posters for Matchstick Men and City of Angels on the wall. But it's not his house. He's house-sitting. For Nic Cage. Well, that would explain the movie posters and the pretentious art.
Outside, unable to hear what is going on in the condo through Veronica's mic, Wallace's patience finally wears thin and he rings the doorbell, then stalls for Veronica with a lame story about selling pens and candy for the starving children of the world. He should have gone with something that didn't actually involve selling a product. Like a walkathon or something. Veronica finally finishes on the computer and saves Wallace from the embarrassment of selling a box of opened candy. Collin watches in confusion as they leave.
Later that night, in Duncan's suite, Veronica checks Collin's browser history. She sees genealogygopher.com and deduces that he was checking into Julie's family. Genealogygopher isn't a real site, by the way, and I'm fairly positive that he wouldn't have been able to learn about Julie's family that way. Names have to be submitted to genealogy sites, they don't just automatically get entered. And often the most recent generation isn't on there, anyway. My genealogy is done all the way back to Charlemagne on one branch of the family tree, and I can't find myself on any of those sites.
The next morning, Julie calls and Veronica informs her that the seduction was a no-go. Julie says that this is the moment she officially became a jealous freak. No, Julie, I'm pretty sure that happened the moment you walked into a detective agency, if not long before.
Back at Mars Investigations, Julie comes in for the complete results of the investigation. The only thing that isn't automatically a glowing reflection on Collin's character is the fact that the house isn't his and that he looked into her family history. Which of course freaks Julie out. Keith finds the pair on the couch and asks Julie to leave in order to have it out with his disobedient daughter. After a well-deserved tongue-lashing from Keith, Veronica looks again at Collin's browser history and calls Julie, who opines about Prince Charming and ...Ooh! It's Logan! Logan just drove by!...What? Oh, sorry, I got distracted. Back to the phone call, Veronica tells Julie that Collin conducted his search well after he decided to propose to her, but that information is too late, since Julie already broke up with him. Via voicemail. Yeah, classy. But Julie doesn't care anyway, since he lied about the house and probably the trust fund as well. Despite her earlier assertion to the contrary, money does matter.
Later, Veronica is folding laundry, including Collin's handkerchief. She notices the insignia, recognizing it from a bottle in her mom's collection. I think there should have been a Scottish tartan involved. That would have been way more cool than that insignia. Anyway, this week's mystery ends with a letter to Julie from Veronica that accompanies the handkerchief, the bottle, and an article about Collin. He's basically richer than Julie could have possibly imagined and was everything he seemed, including devoted to her. She totally didn't deserve him, and I hope he finds someone who can truly appreciate him.
- Mars Investigations has a neon sign in the window behind Veronica's desk.
- Keith has begun his campaign for Sheriff and has signs and bumper stickers stored in his office.
- Mars Investigations is not usually open on Sundays.
- Duncan is not that good with computers. His father must be so proud.
- People looking for other detectives have a few choices. Nick Harris Investigations comes highly recommended. Vinnie Vanlowe is also still in business, but Keith seems less fond of him for some reason.
- Wallace, even though he needs help with trigonometry himself, is tutoring the "hottest girl in school" or the Queen Bitch of the Universe (depending upon how you look at it) in the subject. At school their relationship has advanced to her slapping his ass (while wearing an appalling micro mini bolero sweater), holding hands and enough PDA to make me lose my dinner.
A few days later, as Wallace and Jackie are studying biology by Braille, Veronica calls for Wallace to help her. Wallace tries to weasel out, but at the offer of $200 leaves a very unhappy Jackie high and dry. Ha! Take that Queen Bitch! She says that she is going to talk to Veronica about coming between her and her man. Wallace correctly points out that it is not a good idea to piss off Veronica at which Jackie says the same is true about her. I'd put $200 on Veronica any day.
As Veronica and Wallace get ready for her to go undercover, he says that he needs his money up front to make peace with his woman. Veronica asks if they are exclusive, pointing out Jackie's date with Random Guy. Wallace rebuts that she saw them together weeks ago and that things have progressed now between himself and Jackie. Does Jackie know that? Oh and by the way the 'ship's name of Whackie cracks me up.
- Mars Investigations has several levels of service. The standard package involves background records and aliases. The premium package includes in-the-field investigation and questioning of old girlfriends and neighbors. The silver package has all the perks of the premium package plus surveillance, phone records and e-mail monitoring. The silver package can run several thousand dollars for a week but does not include post-midnight girl talk. A gold package, available for $3,000 a week digs even deeper. With that you get several months of internet activity, heavier surveillance and Mars will set up a temptation scenario to see if the target bites, or kisses as the case may be.
- Wallace is still working at the Sac-n-Pac and has a car now.
- Darrell is currently seven years old.
- Neptune has a Primrose Lane. Is there a Wisteria Lane as well?
- Alicia has a sign for Keith's Sheriff campaign in her front yard.
- The Echolls house has five registered phone lines.
- Veronica still wants to go to Stanford, but does not seem to think that she will be able to afford it. Keith is expecting the Kane scholarship to pay for her college.
- At the beginning of the episode Veronica was only going into the office to organize. Keith, after telling a client that his wife was unfaithful, when he was hired to find a missing uncle, realizes that he needs help. He goes to Veronica and asks her to come in a few times a week to file, answer the phones and do research. She agrees, but is going to keep her job at the Hut.
- Aww, Neptune Swingles is still in business. That's nice. I wonder if Mr. Heinrich is still looking for that someone special to share his love of horseback riding on the beach, hot tubbing with special friends and sensual charades.
- The Long Haul came out in 1982.
- Meg has been moved from intensive care to a regular ward. Even though Veronica says that hospitals weird her out, she goes to visit. Duncan, being even more wacko than usual, is there already. Before he can tell her how Meg is, Meg's parents come out of her room and upon seeing Duncan freak out. Her dad asks him why he comes every day. Meg's mom pipes in to blame Veronica for Meg being on the bus in the first place. Lizzie, of purity test fame, tries to interject into the conversation, but is shushed. Duncan and Veronica leave without saying anything.
As they walk down the hall Duncan non sequitors that Meg is important to him. Veronica is really surprised that he did not mention his visits or her parents' attitude and blows him off when he tries to make nice. She then lays awake later that night wondering if Duncan still loves Meg. Yeah, because dumping her on the last day of school and practically ignoring her presence on the field trip screams fidelity.
A few days later, Veronica surprises Duncan in his hotel room with dinner and the promise of something a little extra. Veronica tells him that she can spend the night since Keith will be with Alicia, and Duncan moves in for his dessert before dinner. Veronica seems okay with the idea but just wants to know why he had not told her about his daily visits to Meg. And then they have a reasonable conversation where he actually tells her what was going on with him and they discuss their relationship. Just kidding! Then, like a little baby, Duncan pulls away and decides he doesn't want sex or conversation after all.
Later that night, there is a knock at the door, which Veronica instantly assumes is Keith. Nice to know that someone can just march up to the Presidential Suite and knock, great security there. Duncan, looking much trimmer and more toned than he did several weeks ago, is relieved to hear that it is Lizzie. Veronica is less than thrilled, especially when Duncan wants her to hide in the bedroom when he answers the door. She gets in a good crack about how he is treating her like a hooker, but he closes the door anyway.
Lizzie wants Duncan to remove Meg's personal files and e-mail from Meg's secret laptop before her parents come to the school the next day to look at it. When Duncan makes it clear that he is no computer whiz, Lizzie says that they need to figure out a way because if her parents see the contents they will pull the plug on Meg tomorrow. Lizzie goes to use the bathroom and sees Veronica, who offers to help. Well, not that she can do anything but she knows just the person to call.
And that is Mac! Hi Mac! How are you? How was your summer? I love the hair. Anyway, Mac cracks Meg's computer in no time flat, while thanking Veronica for allowing her the chance to practice climbing out her window at 3 am. The backup goes to Duncan in a bright green, easy to recognize at a future time, flash drive. And, that's all for Mac. Bye! Come back again soon, I've missed you.
The next morning, as Duncan is brushing his teeth, and totally forgetting to suck in his gut (I take back what I said about him looking thinner), Veronica is left alone with a computer and temptation in a lovely shade of bright green. However, after considering it, she puts the flash drive back, without reading Meg's e-mails.
- When leaving for work, while wearing a very flattering purple dress that shows off Erica's stunning figure, Alicia sees the man from Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang driving by her house. The next day she surprises Keith, who is showing a previously unseen passion for ham and cheese sandwiches, at the office. After a very sweet kiss, enjoy them while we can, believe me, and before the poor boy can even take a bite, she asks to borrow a gun. Needless to say he is a little stunned by this request and asks very cutely who she intends to shoot. Alicia confesses that she did know the guy in Chicago who called out to her and that they used to date almost 20 years ago before she was married.
She goes on to say that the guy was crazy and that she might need to protect herself, hence the gun. Keith tells her that he will not give her a weapon that she does not know how to handle, and offers himself up as a full service and sleep over bodyguard. By the way, Alicia looks truly terrified and her face drops when Keith originally refuses her request. Alicia agrees to his proposal, looking a little more comforted, and they decide not to tell the kids what is going on. The next morning, Keith arrives at the door with donuts and pretends that he didn't spend the night there even though Wallace is so hip to his actions that he discusses them with Veronica later.
Keith has the Fennel house staked out and when Carl Morgan tries to break in, he takes pictures of him. They have a nice chat bristling with testosterone and menace. Carl knows Keith and Keith has done some research of his own. He thinks that Carl is a drug dealer and ex-con. Keith invites him to take the next plane out of town, and Carl responds that Alicia took something of his and that he won't leave without it.
Keith takes Carl's picture to Lamb asking him to do his job and arrest him. It seems that Carl is wanted in Chicago for questioning on an armed robbery. Keith spins a tale about him being associated with a drug dealer he is investigating and Sheriff Lamb seems to bite. Well, into the case, not into Keith, because yuck. And Lamb's Sheriff campaign is in full swing as well, if the posters in his office are anything to go by.
A few days later, Keith exits Alicia's to see all four of his tires have been booted. Isn't that a little overkill, Lamb? He calls to express his displeasure and is informed that Carl Morgan is really named Nathan Woods, a highly decorated Chicago police detective. Keith looks devastated and Rico does a killer job in just a few seconds of reaction time.
Keith goes to the office and takes out his frustration on Veronica by lowering the boom. He is pissed that she took a case behind his back and that she spent the night with Duncan and informs her that she is not as smart as she thinks she is. Veronica attempts to apologize but looks very upset that he knows about Duncan.
Keith uses his key to get into Alicia's house and takes some papers from her desk to do a background search. One of the papers is an Illinois birth certificate for Cherie Parker Saunders with a birth date of March 9. There is paperwork with the name Cherie Woods and by 1987 she was using the name Alicia Fennel. Keith is given some information by whoever he is talking to on the phone that makes him look even more upset. Boy, Rico not only had the best lines this episode, but the best reaction shots as well.
As Keith is presumably finding out what Wallace is about to know, Woods comes up to Wallace who is working on his car in his driveway. Woods calls Wallace by name and shows him a picture of himself and Alicia. Woods then tells Wallace that he is his father, and we cut.
- At school, Veronica is approached by Weevil, looking all kinds of fine. Veronica teasingly says that she is going to rub his bald head for good luck and he threatens her if she tries. Oh right, that would be Logan's job if the HoYay! fans are correct. While giving him shit for wearing a pair of hoop earrings, she flashes to the earring Lamb showed her and finally remembers that it is Weevil's. Jeez, way to keep up Veronica. We knew that last episode.
Veronica asks him where the earring is currently and Weevil replies that it is in some girl's shag carpeting. Now is that to imply that he is dating someone who is not an 09er? Because no 09er worth her salt is going to have shag carpet, let me tell you. Veronica tells him that actually the earring is with the police and Weevil, looking disconcerted, tells his posse that he will catch them later.
After threatening to turn him into Lamb, Weevil folds like a cheap suit. He tells her that a few days before Curly washed ashore, he got a call from an unknown guy saying that Moran was responsible for the bus crash. The caller told Weevil that Curly had been hired by a rival gang, the Fighting Fitzpatricks, to take care of Cervando. Before he died, Cervando had been going around telling people that he had hustled several grand from Liam Fitzpatrick at the River Styx. Weevil did not believe the caller because he rightly believed that even methed up Irish Catholics would not kill a bus full of kids to get to one biker. Just think of all the Hail Mary's they would have to do. Veronica, seeing the reason in Weevil's logic, asks for his cell phone and notes his recent caller's numbers. Aww, one is Hector. He may not be seen, but he lives on in the prop guy's memory.
Veronica researches the phone number and it comes back belonging to Aaron Echolls. After school, she confronts Logan, who is totally working a blue button down shirt, about the call. It was made September 24 and lasted 2 minutes, 23 seconds. She goes on to tell him that Curly and his father knew each other and asks him to explain. Logan sarcastically informs her that he does not know who Moran is, but sobers up pretty quickly when Veronica lays out the connection for him. Logan tells her that was the night of his 'Life's Short' party and that there were a ton of people at the house who could have made the call, including not only the 09ers, but also Weevil and his gang and the Sheriff and a bunch of deputies. Way to narrow things down for us dude.
- Lamb showing Veronica Weevil's earring in the evidence bag. (Read detailed breakdown.)
"Jealousy" (Stereophonics)
Scene: Collin attempts to change religions; Julie attempts a touchdown minus a football (while Veronica plays defense with a strong tackle). The crazy things kids do today to make it work.
"Jealous Love" (Robert Cray)
Scene: Wallace is actually hittin' that when his BFF totally drops the B from the acronym during a badly-timed phone call.
"So Jealous" (Tegan and Sara)
Scene: To snoop into the files of one Meg Manning on one Donut Robot's computer or not to snoop? The questions one faces when they don't want to face the answers staring them in the face.
LoVe Lines
Logan: (Seeing Veronica waiting for him.) Okay, God, I just can't take the begging. I'll relent. Just once. But, uh, no cuddling, and I won't call you in the morning.
Veronica: Saturday, September 24th, it was a two minute and twenty-three second phone call on Weevil's cell phone made from your house. The caller claimed that Curly Moran was responsible for the bus crash, the same Curly Moran who's friends with your dad. Any explanation?
Logan: My day is complete. (Twirling fake mustache.) Veronica Mars has accused me of evil. Where to start. Oh yes. Who the hell is Curly Moran? And how do you know he knows my dad and what conspiracy theory have you pulled out of your ass this time? (As he mimes pulling something from her ass.)
Veronica: The fact, evidenced by the poster in your house, is that Curly Moran was the stunt coordinator on The Long Haul, starring Aaron Echolls circa 1982. Now, September 24th?
Logan: Like I have any idea wha ... (Remembering something, he turns to dig through backpack.) Wait, I think I do remember the night, it was the night of my 'Life's Short' party. (Holds up flyer.)
Veronica: Of course, a group of lower-middle-class Neptune High students plummet to their death and the 09-ers throw a party.
Logan: Hence the "life's short" part. It was in their honor, and in the end it wasn't just your social betters. In fact, your pal Weevil and his biker boys crashed it. (Starting to walk away, he then turns back.) Oh, and, uh, Lamb and a half-dozen deputies came by to break it up, or at least collect the kegs.
Veronica: There are five numbers registered to your house. This call came from a number I don't recognize.
Logan: Geewilikers, Veronica. It sounds like you're onto something. Maybe the pool boy did it. (Makes a show of looking at his bare wrist as if checking time on a nonexistent watch just to get away from her.) Wow. (He leaves.)
Quotable Quotes
Veronica: The only way I'd ever make two grand in a week at the Hut is if they installed a pole.
Wallace: Hottest girl in school asked me for some help with her trig. I'm gonna give her a hand.
Alicia: You need help with trig.
Wallace: In fact, I might give her both hands.
Darrell: Are you hittin' that?
Keith: (To Alicia who just brought Keith a sandwich.) A guy dreams his whole life of a beautiful woman bringing him a sandwich.
Keith: (Coming into the Fennel home.) I was out early doing some surveillance. Thought I'd stop by, say hi, and send the Fennel men to school with a bellyful of sugar. (Pats Darrell on the head affectionately.)
Wallace: (Grabs a donut.) Mmmm. (Munches on the donut.) Keith Mars for sheriff.
Keith: (Snapping pictures.) Smile. Oh yeah. Work it. Work it! Work IT!
Carl/Nathan: (Starting towards Keith.) You're gonna be pulling that camera ...
Keith: Nuh-uh. (Lifting his jacket making his gun visible.) The light's much better where you're standing.
Carl/Nathan: Keith Mars. Former Sheriff. Private detective. Author.
Keith: Wow. Carl Morgan. Three years Lompoc. Assault and battery. Cocaine possession. Intent to sell. We should really give our publicists pats on the back.
Keith: The next time I shoot you, it won't be digitally. Unless I hit you in the finger and then we'll have a big laugh about it.
Carl/Nathan: Your old lady took something of mine. I'm not leaving until I get it back. (He turns and walks away.)
Keith: (Calling after him.) She isn't my old lady; she is my special lady friend!
Veronica: Julie, it's 2:27 in the morning. The silver package has its perks, but post-midnight girl talk is not one of them.
Julie: What if I get an upgrade, what comes after silver?
Veronica: (To herself.) Psycho?
Lamb: Who let you into my office?
Keith: That's funny; I was wondering the same thing.
Lamb: Drug dealer for me? It's not even my birthday.
Keith: He's buddies with a dealer I'm tracking. There's no bounty on him, nothing in it for me.
Lamb: Nothing but the joy of giving.
Keith: It's not a present, it's kinda your job, Sheriff. For now, anyway.
Weevil: Yo, Martha. I heard you took a ride downtown behind the 187. So did you flop for the cops or did the local Wapner hook you up with some ankle bling?
Veronica: You know the deal, Cuz. Every time a kitty cries in this town, one-time tries to put a case on me. Speaking of bling, what's up with the hoops? If I rub your head, do I get three wishes?
Weevil: You rub my head, you might want to make seeing tomorrow your first wish.
Veronica: Where's that disco ball you usually wear?
Weevil: It's probably deep in some chick's shag carpet.
Veronica: I think my dad put like five of the Fitzpatricks in Chino.
Weevil: Look, they're Irish Catholic. For every five you put away, there's ten more at home.
Weevil: I know I'm being brought in, I'll put on my good underwear, you know?
Veronica: You should really do that anyway.
Veronica: (To Wallace.) Sorry I'm late. Whipped cream fight at the sorority house!
Wallace: (To Veronica.) Do you own those clothes, or did you just make a stop at Dirty Coeds R' Us?
Wallace: See, when you assume, you really just make an ass out of you.
Veronica: Just stay as tight as you can.
Wallace: Just go "Lolita" his ass. Let me do my thing.
Collin: Can I help you with something?
Veronica: Please, that would be so great. Wait, do you have an accent?
Collin: Yeah, I'm Scottish.
Veronica: Really? Like, from Scotland? That's so awesome. Foreign men are so much sexier than regular men.
Veronica: I tried real hard -- I just couldn't get the nuts off. I think they're just too tight. But, I did just put lotion all over my hands, so they're kinda slippery.
Collin: You do know you've gotta jack the car up first, right?
Veronica: Oh, yeah. Do you have a jack?
Veronica: Oh, my girlfriend Paige would love this place. She's not my girlfriend girlfriend, she's just my friend. I mean, we share a dorm room, so, whatever. It's college, right?
Veronica: You should really let me know if you want to party with us. We're fun -- double the fun.
Collin: Oh, I don't have too many parties. I'm a pretty mellow guy.
Veronica: Really? You seem kind of--I don't know, wild to me, like a caged-animal kind of thing.
Collin: You'd have to ask my girlfriend about that. My actual girlfriend. We're not just dormmates, if you get my drift?
Collin goes to answer door after Wallace rings the bell.
Collin: Hello.
Veronica mouths, "Stall" and rolls her hands.
Wallace: Uh, hi. (Beat.) Would you like to help the hungry, starving children of ... the world?
Veronica mouths "What?"
Collin: I'm sorry, are you selling something?
Wallace: Yes! I am. I'm selling, um, pens and ... candy.
Veronica gives him the "thumbs up" and runs back to finish with the computer.
Collin: I'll take a couple of boxes of candy.
Wallace: All I got is this box of Ay Chihuahuas.
Collin: That box is open.
Wallace: You want a couple of pens?
Lizzie: Meg has a laptop my parents didn't know about. They're gonna wanna see what's on it. I don't have the password, but we're gonna have to get her personal stuff off this computer and put it back by morning.
Duncan: OK, so what do you want me to do?
Lizzie: You're the son of a computer visionary. Can't you do something?
Duncan: I can burn a CD.
Lizzie: All I know is that if my parents see what's on there, they'll pull the plug on Meg tomorrow.
Mac: I have to say, it is a little comforting. I haven't snuck out of my house at 3 a.m. in a while. Nice to know I still have the chops.
Veronica Mars Voiceover: Are you crazy, Duncan? Leaving this out here in the open? Do you leave heroin out when Iggy Pop spends the night?
Keith: (On the phone.) I'm thinking I might have a boot for you, too. Any ideas where I can put it?
Lamb: You started it with your "I found you a wanted man" b.s.
Julie: You know, you think you're dating Prince Charming, but you're really dating Prince Charming's Kato. I just called him. I ended it. It's over. As soon as he checks his messages.
Veronica: You broke up with him on his ... (Shaking head.)
Veronica: I bet he didn't even know about the money.
Julie: He lied about the house.
Veronica: He told you it was his?
Julie: It was implied, he probably lied about the trust fund, too.
Veronica: You didn't exactly tell him the truth, either.
Julie: It's one thing to lie and say you're not rich, the other way around is way less cool.
Veronica: I think I get it now. Money matters.
Julie: Of course it matters.
Keith: Now, I'm just talking about a little help with research, filing, the phones.
Veronica: I do give good phone.
Yoga (Referenced by Julie as she tells Veronica that Collin thinks she's in class.)
Yoga, which means "union" in Sanskrit, is a family of spiritual practices and thought that originated in India. The four main types of yoga are Karma, Bhakti, Jnana, and Raja. The asanas, or postures, of Hatha Yoga are a popular form of fitness and meditative exercises in the West. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism teach yoga as a means to enlightenment.
Modern yoga retains traditional elements of eastern religion, such as moral principles, postures designed to keep the body fit, spiritual philosophy, instruction by a guru, chanting mantras (sacred syllables), pranayama (breathing exercises), and stilling the mind through meditation.
Stanford (Referenced by Veronica snarking at Keith that tip money's not going to pay her way through school.)
Stanford University is an Ivy League University located in Stanford, California. This institution is known for its strong academic programs and highly competitive admissions process. Nearly 75% of students enrolled in the university attained a score of 700 or better on both the verbal and mathematical portions of the SAT exam. That said, only about 13% of applicants to Stanford are actually admitted. Perhaps more daunting than the rigorous academic barriers facing Stanford hopefuls, are the financial ones. Tuition and room and board cost almost $40,000 a year.
Starbucks (Referenced by Veronica as she tells Julie she's heading there because spying on Collin is dull.)
Starbucks is a large multinational chain of coffee shops with corporate headquarters in Seattle, Washington. The company was named in part after Starbuck, a character in Moby Dick, and its insignia is a stylized cartoon siren, or a melusine (two-tailed mermaid). The logo has changed several times since its conception. The original design showed the siren's bare breasts and a fully visible double fish tale. The current logo has the breasts fully covered and the stylized fishtails are hardly noticeable.
Starbucks serves coffee, a variety of hot and cold drinks, and pastries, and is popular among students and young professionals. Shops are often located inside other retail locations, such as bookstores or supermarkets, or in retail chains. Starbucks is known for the novel slang of its menu. The traditional "small," "medium," and "large" are substituted with "tall," "grande," and "venti" respectively.
The copious amount of Starbucks outlets in any given area is quite noticeable. As of February 2006, Starbucks has 6,216 company operated outlets worldwide; 5,028 in the United States. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least five Starbucks within fifteen minutes from my house.
The Simpsons has also spoofed the over-abundance of Starbucks. In the episode, Bart goes to the mall to get an ear piercing and passes at least two adjacent soon-to-be Starbucks on the way. Upon his arrival, the guy tells Bart "Better hurry up! In five minutes, this place is becoming a Starbucks!" In the movie Shrek 2, a parody of Starbucks (Farbucks) was attacked by a giant gingerbread man, and the townspeople can be seen fleeing from the ruins to another Farbucks across the street. A thinly disguised Starbucks is also destroyed by the anti-capitalist guerrillas in the movie Fight Club.
Chicago (Referenced by Alicia as she reminds Keith of the guy who called her "Cher" during their recent trip.)
Chicago is the largest city in Illinois, as well as the third-most populous city in the United States (over 2.8 million). It is referred to as the "Second City" (second to nation's capital Washington, D.C. in importance), the "Windy City," the "City of Big Shoulders," and "Chi-town." The city is located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. Chicago was founded in 1833 as a frontier town, and has since grown into one of the world's ten most influential cities. It is the financial, economic, and cultural capital of the Midwest, and is also recognized as a major center for transportation, business, and architecture.
Though there has been a decline in overall crime since the 1990s, the 1960s marked a period of intense gangland problems and saw a major rise in violent crimes. In 1974, with a population just over three million, the city had 970 murderers (resulting in a murder rate of 29:100,000). In 1992, the murder rate was 34:100,000. Chicago adopted crime-fighting techniques used by the NYPD and LAPD in 2004, and recorded a total of 448 homicides, the lowest on record since 1965. Organized crime has a long-standing place in Chicago's history, dating back to the 1910s, and boasting some of the most notorious crime lords and gangs, such as Al "Scarface" Capone and the Chicago Outfit, Bugs Moran, the Chicago Crime Syndicate, and the Chicago North Side Gang.
Chicago's theater scene is a major draw for aspiring actors, and is the birthplace of modern improvisation comedy. There is a major music scene in the city as well; it is the birthplace of the House music genre, had significant influences in Hip-Hop, and is home to a number of 90s Alternative, Punk, and Indie bands.
Dungeons and Dragons ... (Referenced when Jackie slaps Wallace's hiney at the lockers.)
Have you ever gone to Denny's late at night and looked at the people next to you and noticed that they were throwing around dice and talking about spells, elves, and wizardry? They weren't crazy. They were playing Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D for short. D&D is the grandfather of all role playing games. Players engage in a narrated "campaign" or adventure, in which they roll die to determine the fate of their characters. Warning: Although a seemingly harmless game, it quickly can become a socially crippling obsession that has literally inspired legions of grown men and women to dress up in costumes and congregate in basements across the country.
San Diego (Referenced by Keith as he suggests Carl hop on a plane out of town.)
It is believed that the first humans settled in the San Diego area some 20,000 years ago, along the coast, and 12,000 years ago in the desert area. However, it was in 1542 that Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed from Mexico into the Bay and claimed the area for Spain, naming it San Miguel. At the time, there were 20-30 thousand of the Kumeyaay tribe living there. In 1602, explorer Sebastian Vizcaino arrived on his ship, San Diego, and named the area for the Spanish Catholic saint, San Diego de Alcal. Then, in 1769, the first of a chain of twenty-one missions along the California coast was founded by Father Junipero Serra and the California Governor Gaspar de Portola. It was built on Presidio Hill and named Mission San Diego de Alcal. The first colonists arrived in 1774, and San Diego came under Mexican rule in 1821 when Mexico won its independence from Spain. Following that, in 1848, a treaty ending the war between the U.S. and Mexico set the official international border and declared San Diego an American city. Two years later, San Diego County was created and the City of San Diego was incorporated.
Today, with a population of around 1.25 million, San Diego is the second largest city in California and the seventh largest in the nation. According to the San Diego city website, more than 96 percent of the residents are employed, with a median family income of almost $40,000. The top industries are manufacturing, defense, tourism, and agriculture, with an additional focus on biotechnology/biosciences, electronics manufacturing, software, telecommunications, financial and business services, and defense and space manufacturing.
Located only seventeen miles from the Mexican border, with seventy miles of coastline and an overall land area of 342.4 square miles, San Diego is also home to many popular tourist attractions, such as Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, Legoland California, and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Races. Professional sports teams include the San Diego Chargers (football), the Padres (baseball), and the Gulls (hockey). In addition to ten community colleges located throughout the county, the city is also home to San Diego State, the largest California State University campus, and the University of California, San Diego.
Waiting for Godot ... (Referenced in the hospital by disembodied intercom voice "paging Dr. Godot.")
This was a cute, subtle literary reference to the play Waiting for Godot, written by Samuel Beckett in 1953. The entire play consists of two characters, Vladimir (nicknamed Didi) and Estragon (Gogo) waiting for two days on a country road for a man named Godot. They're not even sure they are in the right place, or when he is coming, or what he looks like. But continue to wait, they do. They encounter three other characters, Pozzo, Lucky (who is on a leash held by Pozzo), and a young boy who delivers messages each day that Godot will come tomorrow. Will Godot ever come? We'll never know. The play ends and still they wait. Go here for a dramatic rendition by guinea pigs!
So does Dr. Godot ever make an appearance? Or is there a patient somewhere at Neptune General waiting for days on end for a doctor that never comes? Hmm. Discuss.
"Rut-ro" from Scooby-Doo ... (Referenced by Veronica when Julie showed up in curlers and cream.)
On the Hannah-Barbera cartoon, Scooby Doo, that first aired on CBS in 1969, Velma, Shaggy, Fred and Daphne travel around the country in their van, the Mystery Machine, with the real star of the show, a Great Dane named Scooby. Casey Kasem, the top forty DJ, was the voice for Shaggy, the bumbling, wimpy, comic relief who is Scooby's best buddy. Fred, blonde and studly was the leader of the group and seemed to have an affinity for Daphne. Daphne, the sexy bimbo, was usually in need of saving but occasionally turned up a clue or two. The brain of the group was Velma who usually solved the mysteries and seemed to speak an unlimited number of languages. The show ran for several years, in many different incarnations, and Scooby became one of the most famous dogs in animation history.
In 2002, the franchise was revisited in a movie adaptation starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini and a CGI Scooby. A sequel followed and they are threatening to make a third.
Martha Stewart ... (Referenced during Weevil and Veronica's locker conversation.)
A well-known magazine and TV personality, whose expertise in cooking, gardening, etiquette, arts and crafts projects and homemaking have resulted in her own television shows, magazines, websites and books. Born Martha Helen Kostyra on August 3, 1941 in Nutley, New Jersey, Martha was part of a large Polish-American middle class family that included five brothers and sisters. A straight-A high school student, she received a partial scholarship to Barnard College in New York City and helped to pay the rest of her tuition with money earned from modeling jobs, in both TV commercials and print ads. Martha graduated from college with a major in History and Architectural History and soon after married Andy Stewart. (They would divorce in 1990.) She continued her modeling career until the birth of their daughter, Alexis, in 1965. Martha tried her hand as a stockbroker from 1967-1973, at which point she and her family moved to Westport, Connecticut, where they bought and restored the 1805 farmhouse that has been seen in the background of her television shows.
Running a catering business out of her basement, Martha received a publishing deal to co-write a book on the subject, called "Entertaining." The book was a massive success and thus began a career that would include dozens of books and newspaper columns on homemaking, a spokesperson job for K-Mart's home department, and the magazine and talk show called Martha Stewart Living. In order to fully control all her various projects, she created "Martha Stewart Living Omnipedia" in 1997.
Weevil's comment to Veronica refers to Martha's arrest and subsequent conviction in 2004 on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements, all related to a December, 2001 sale of 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems the day before an FDA announcement of its rejection of ImClone's application for a new cancer drug. Her sentence was for five months in prison, five months of home confinement, wearing an ankle monitor, a $30,000 fine and two years probation. She began serving her prison sentence on October 8, 2004 at a minimum security prison in Alderson, West Virginia and was released the following March. She maintained her innocence throughout the investigation, trial and conviction, but on January 6, 2006, her legal appeal was denied by the court.
187 ... (Referenced by Weevil with regard to Veronica being taken down to the police station.)
A 187 is the scanner code used by the police when referring to a homicide.
Judge Wapner ... (Referenced by Weevil with regard to Veronica being taken down to the police station.)
Judge Joseph A. Wapner became a reality TV pioneer when he presided over the courtroom television show, The People's Court, which ran in syndication from 1981 to 2003. The show had Wapner mediating between parties that were involved in small claims cases and paved the way for a variety of other similarly styled courtroom shows.
Genie / Three Wishes (Referenced by Veronica as she asks Weevil, "If I rub your head, do I get three wishes?")
The story of Aladdin's lamp is one of many tales of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. It is a rags-to-riches story of a young boy, Aladdin, who is asked to retrieve a magic oil lamp from a booby-trapped magical cave. When the sorcerer double-crosses him, Aladdin keeps the lamp and discovers that rubbing it summons forth a powerful genie who will grant his every wish.
Aladdin's story has been adapted into many films, including the animated 1992 Disney film, Aladdin. Many of the genies of the lamp are represented as bald men with gold hoop earrings, much like our own Eli Navarro. As an amusing side note, in the (really bad) 1996 film Kazaam, Francis Capra (Weevil) starred as Max, a young boy who finds in a boom box a genie (Shaquille O'Neal) who offers to grant him three wishes.
Hmm, maybe Veronica knows a little something about Weevil's secret past. Behold a much younger (and hairier) Francis Capra:
Disco Ball ... (Referenced as Weevil's bling at the lockers by Veronica.)
Also referred to as a "mirror ball" or "ball mirror," a disco ball is a large sphere covered with glass mirror pieces or other reflective material. The ball is most often suspended over a dance floor, with a spotlight focused on it as the ball rotates, causing patterns of scattered lights to be projected onto the floor, ceiling and walls.
Mirror balls were around long before the advent of disco music, even making an appearance in the film Casablanca in 1942. In the 1970s, the balls became known as "disco balls" as they became a standard feature in discotheques, combining with other effects such as strobe lighting to create an ambience that was an important part of the disco culture.
Chino (Referenced by Veronica when she tells Weevil her dad put five of the Fitzpatricks in prison.)
"Chino" actually refers to the California Institution for Men which is in Chino, California. The prison is a male-only state prison and is located in San Bernardino County. "Chino" opened in 1941, becoming the fourth prison in the state on an area of land of twenty-five hundred acres. As of 2005, it housed nearly 6,300 prisoners.
A Reception Center operated by "Chino" receives and processes the latest felons from a plethora of Southern California counties prior to transfer to other prisons. (Hmm, does that mean that Neptune is in Southern California?) This Reception Center makes "Chino" the first-stop for most convicted felons after county jails.
River Styx ... (Referenced by Weevil while talking to Veronica by her locker about the River Stix bar.)
In Greek mythology, Styx ("hate") is the name of a river which formed the boundary between earth and the underworld, Hades. It circles Hades nine times, or as many domo arigato's you hear in Mr. Roboto. According to some legends, Styx had miraculous powers and could make someone immortal. That is one handy river. Mythology states that Achilles, or as most of you know him - Brad Pitt, was dipped in it as a child. He acquired invulnerability, with the exception of his heel, which was held by his mother in order to submerge him. Good thing the river made him invulnerable because people tend to frown upon mothers drowning their sons. His exposed heel thus became his only weak point, but repeated viewings of Troy might be necessary to fully appreciate Pitt's heel, among other things.
Meth-head (Methamphetamine) (Referenced by Weevil when he tells Veronica about the Fitzpatricks.)
Methamphetamine is a stimulant drug that produces an intense sensation of euphoria when swallowed or snorted. Users become addicted to meth quickly and tend to use more of it with increasing frequency. The negative side effects to the central nervous system are depression, aggressiveness, insomnia and paranoia. Meth use increases heart rate and blood pressure and can result in stroke, cardiovascular collapse, organ damage and death.
In the United States, the illegal manufacturing of methamphetamine is punishable from ten years to life in prison. The sale of ingredients used in meth production is also heavily monitored. In March of 2006, President Bush signed the Combat Meth Act, which limited the sale of ephedrine, the base ingredient of meth, to 3.6 grams per day, and customers must provide identification and sign a sales log. The manufacturing of meth in labs is highly dangerous, and there have been many cases of lab explosions to prove it. Meth labs have been found in garages, barns, apartments, etc.
Goldilocks ... (Referenced by Jackie as a not-intended-to-be-complimentary nickname for Veronica during her conversation with Wallace.)
The character of Goldilocks dates back to the 1830's in the popular English fairy tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In the tale, a family of three bears, while waiting for their porridge to cool, leave their house and go for a walk. Along comes Goldilocks, a mischievous girl who enters their house uninvited and messes with their things. She tastes their porridge, finding the father's to be too hot, the mother's too cold, but the baby's as "just right." So she eats it. Then she tries out their chairs and beds and decides the father's is too hard, the mother's is too soft and the baby's is just right - although she accidentally breaks the baby's chair.
When the bear family returns home, they find her asleep in the baby's bed and deal with her in various ways depending on who's telling the tale. Sometimes they scare her away, sometimes they kill her, and sometimes they all become good friends.
Pixi Stick ... (Referenced by Jackie when talking about Veronica.)
Pixi Stick is a powdery candy in a thin paper tube. Yeah, it is as gross as it sounds, but kids really like them. Halloween is just around the corner, go buy some! Jackie is obviously new in town or she would have known that Veronica isn't a pixi stick, she is a ... [say it with me now] marshmallow!
Lolita ... (Referenced when Veronica goes undercover in her Dirty Coeds R' Us-wear.)
Lolita is a novel by Russian author, Vladamir Nabokov, that tells the story of a middle aged man who is sexually obsessed, and eventually sexually involved, with his young step daughter, Delores. The name Lolita is now commonly used to describe young girls who are sexually alluring to men.
AAA (Referenced by Veronica as she pretends she needs Collin's help changing her tire.)
Triple A, or the American Automobile Association, is an American non-profit automobile lobby group and service organization. AAA was founded on March 4, 1902 in response to a lack of suitable highways and widespread public disapproval of the automobile.
Members belong to a regional club, and the individual clubs have reciprocal service system. Members of any participating club are able to receive service from any other affiliate club. Members pay dues which finance all club services and the operations of the national organization. AAA clubs provide emergency road services, distribute road maps and travel publications, and rate restaurants and hotels according to a "diamond" scale (one to five). The roadside assistance involves changing flat tires, jump-starting batteries, unlocking the doors, providing a tow, and delivering fuel to stranded vehicles.
Nicolas Cage ... (Referenced as Collin's friend and San Diego house owner with "art" and Cage movie posters.)
Academy Award winning actor, Nicolas Cage, was born Nicholas Kim Coppola in Long Beach, California on 01/07/64. The son of an Italian-American writer and professor and a German-American dancer, Nicolas is also the nephew of writer/director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire. When his parents divorced in 1976, Nicholas moved to Beverly Hills with his father and later left high school with a G.E.D. in order to pursue an acting career. He soon changed his name to Nicolas Cage, so as not to use his famous uncle's reputation to further his career. He chose the name Cage after Marvel comic book hero Luke Cage (Power Man) and avant-garde composer John Cage.
Cage's breakout role came in Valley Girl (1983) and he has since starred in numerous films, such as Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Raising Arizona (1987), Leaving Las Vegas (1995) - for which he won a Best Actor Oscar, The Rock (1996) and National Treasure (2004).
Cage has been married three times - to actress Patricia Arquette (1995-2001), Lisa Marie Presley (2002 - filing for divorce after only 4 months) and to his current wife, Alice Kim. He has two sons, Weston Coppola Cage (1990, by model Kristina Fulton) and Kal-el (Superman!) Coppola Cage (2005, by Alice Kim).
Google (Referenced by Veronica as she looks through Collin's browser history.)
Google is a search engine owned by Google, Inc. whose mission statement is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Google receives over 200 million queries a day. The name "Google" is derived from a play on the word "googol", which refers to the number represented by 1 followed by one hundred zeroes. Google's headquarters, located in California, are referred to as "the Googleplex."
Google began as a research project in January, 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University. The term "to google" has come to be used as a verb synonymous with "to search for something on the internet," though Google officials discourage the use of this phrase for fear that it will lead to trademark dilution.
There are several games that can be played with Google. In "Gwigle," participants learn advanced Google search tricks as they go through the puzzles. In "Googlewhack," you attempt to find two words that produce exactly one search result. (Examples: "dork turnspit", "unconstructive superegos", "bibliophilic sandwiched", "dripstone ingles") "Googlefight" pits two keywords against each other to find which one has more results. In "Guess the Google," the objective is to guess which search term resulted in the displayed images.
In addition to its webpage search engine, Google also provides services for searching images, Usenet newsgroups, news websites, videos, searching by locality, maps, and items for sale online.
Iggy Pop ... (Referenced by Veronica when deciding whether to download Meg's files.)
Iggy Pop is a skinny white guy with long brown hair who became famous in the late 1960s. He should not be confused with Janice Joplin, who was a skinny white lady with long brown hair, or Jimmy Hendrix, who was a skinny brown guy. Iggy Pop is considered the grandfather of punk rock, invented the stage dive, and influenced the music of the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, Nirvana, and the Misfits. His career had many stops and starts due to his long and well-known history of drug abuse. He reportedly kicked the habit in the mid-1980s. (Yay for him. Drugs are bad, kids.) He is also rumored to have had an affair with David Bowie. Wowee.
The movie Velvet Goldmine featured a character played by Ewan McGregor who was a "sexually ambiguous and drug-fueled" singer that many believe was inspired by Iggy Pop.
Lisa Marie Presley ... (Referenced as framed picture at Cage's house, Presley is Cage's former wife.)
The daughter of legendary singer Elvis Presley and actress Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, Lisa Marie was born on February 1, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. At nine years old, Lisa Marie inherited her father's estate. Her mother was put in charge of the inheritance and ensured that when Lisa Marie was old enough, she would have a healthy family fortune to inherit. Elvis Presley Enterprises was created to preserve and market the name, image and likeness of Elvis. On her 30th birthday, Lisa Marie took control of Elvis Presley Enterprises, worth approximately $150 million, becoming one of the most powerful women in entertainment.
In 2003, Lisa Marie launched her own career as a singer, with the album To Whom It May Concern, which reached #5 on the Billboard charts. This was followed in 2005 with a second album, Now What, which reached #9 on the charts. Both albums have reached Gold record status.
Lisa Marie has been married four times. Her first marriage, to Danny Keough in 1988, resulted in two children. The second marriage, to Michael Jackson in 1994, lasted for less than two years and was the subject of constant speculation and tabloid rumors. In 2002, Lisa Marie married actor Nicolas Cage, who was known to have a bit of an Elvis obsession. The marriage lasted only a few months. Most recently, Lisa Marie married her guitarist Michael Lockwood, in January of 2006.
Kiwanis Club ... (Referenced by Veronica when Keith walks in on her and Julie at Mars Investigations.)
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Its original purpose was to exchange business between members and to serve the poor. The organization was for men only until 1987, when affirmative action caught up with them. Since then female membership has grown to be 22% of total members, but the luncheons still serve the same rubber chicken. Kiwanis International also founded and supports Key Club, which is the oldest and largest service program for high school students in the world.
I Spy ... (Referenced by Keith while arguing with Veronica at Mars Investigations.)
I Spy is a popular children's guessing game. One person selects an object and then gives the other player a clue by saying "I spy with my little eye " and then adds something to describe a characteristic of the object. If the other player guesses correctly, he receives one point and chooses the next object. If he does not guess correctly the game drags on until any adult within hearing distance feels the urge to scream out the answer.
Brian "Kato" Kaelin ... (Referenced when Julie found out that Collin was house-sitting.)
Kato was living in the guesthouse when Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered. Kato was supposed to be an important prosecution witness against OJ Simpson, but "flaked" on the stand. His testimony lasted four days and landed him in the national spotlight. Due to his surfer mannerisms, he also became a national joke. Imagine Dick, Jr. trying to have a serious discussion and you pretty much can picture Kato in the witness chair.
PCH(er) (Referenced by Veronica as she considers the connection between Curly and the bikers.)
Pacific Coast Highway refers to sections of California's Route 1, beginning at San Juan Capistrano, south of Los Angeles, and ending where Route 1 merges with Highway 1 at Leggett, in Northern California. Route 1 is one of the longest (644 miles) and most scenic routes in California, providing breathtaking views of a large part of the Pacific Coast. It travels past dozens of historical landmarks and through such cities as San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
- In the hospital, they page Dr. Godot.
- Veronica's rut-ro. Very cute.
- Wallace is wearing a live strong bracelet.
- Veronica still has the bugged pencil sharpener on her desk.
- Logan's Dastardly Dan fake mustache twirl.
- If money was no object, why did Julie pick Mars Investigations? Surely there are more high brow agencies downtown?
- With his newfound notoriety and book sales, why doesn't Keith hire a few investigators and just manage them? He should have clients falling over themselves for his services. He should capitalize on that and grow the firm and as a manager he would have a lot more free time.
- In Ruskie Business, Mars Investigations did not seem to have several layers of service to offer the fake Russian bride. Was Veronica making this up as she went along, or have they expanded their offerings in the last year?
- How does Mars Investigations get phone records and e-mail monitoring done? In Driver Ed, Veronica had to sneak into the Sheriff's office to get the dump on the payphone, but now she is offering that service? How does that work?
- If it is Sunday, why is Keith in a full suit and tie?
- The Kanes are on trial but the scholarship is still being offered? How does that work? Plus, are Duncan and Veronica still eligible? I imagine that Celeste would rather cut off a limb than to hand Veronica one cent.
- How did Julie not recognize Lisa Marie Presley? That is just dumb.
- Is Darrell still played by Percy's brother?
- If Woods is a police detective, why did he let Alicia see him? Shouldn't he be better at surveillance?
- How is Veronica doing her surveillance during the day? Doesn't she have a little something called school to attend? How is she going to get the scholarship if she is never in class?
- Why does Veronica go to Starbucks? Doesn't she get free coffee at Java the Hut?
- If Alicia is so worried about Woods/Morgan, why wait a full day to ask Keith for help?
- Does Alicia know that he really is a cop and not his drug dealing alter ego?
- Why doesn't Wallace realize that he can do much better than Jackie? He is a big basketball stud, hell, date a cheerleader. No matter who she is, she would have to be a step up.
- Is Carl in vice? Is that why he did not correct Keith's opinion of him or tell him he was a cop?
- If Meg is so damn important to Duncan why has he been behaving like he didn't give a damn?
- How is Veronica getting an internet connection in her car to e-mail the picture? And it has to be a pretty fast connection because that picture downloaded and e-mailed in record time.
- What happened to the waterbed from Drinking the Kool-Aid?
- If Weevil was wearing the earring in his yearbook photo, why did it take Veronica so long to remember that it was his?
- Is the Sheriff's department still looking for a receptionist? Or was Veronica betting that Weevil didn't know that, presumably, Inga is not there anymore?
- How much time elapsed from when the bus crashed until Moran washed ashore? Wasn't it only three or four days? Not a huge window for someone to get Weevil's cell phone number and arrange an introduction.
- If Weevil did not believe the caller, how did his earring end up at the bar? And if he did not beat Curly to death, who did?
- What does Weevil's good underwear look like? Does it have reindeer? I hear they are all the rage in Neptune.
- If Wallace didn't want to be disturbed, why did he take Veronica's call? Of course, it is possible that she was in life threatening peril at that very moment, so maybe it was not that stupid of a decision.
- Why is the surveillance gear in Wallace's car?
- With all the bending over, how did Veronica not lose her mic? Why was there no reception in the house? It wasn't that far away.
- Why didn't Wallace just tell Jackie that he had to work to make money to pay for entertainment for her high strung ass?
- Did Wallace have a discussion with Jackie about being exclusive? Because she seems like the type to play the field. By which I mean service the entire football team, while dating him.
- Don't you have to push in the little metal piece in the tire to have it lose air like that? Does just taking the cap off do that?
- Is Veronica really wearing fishnets with knee high boots? Oh, call the fashion police.
- How did Veronica not know that Nicolas Cage had a house in San Diego?
- What high school in America offers Latin? Was Duncan just being a dick? And speaking of which, where is Dick Casablancas? No one mentions the events of last week, even in passing? Doesn't that seem odd?
- Why does Duncan's hotel room have real dishes and what looks like a kitchen?
- I know this goes without saying, but what is up with Duncan? When Veronica knocked on the hotel door, he looked positively possessed. Last week he was the poster child for a happy, happy, joy, joy existence and this week he is acting depressed and downright creepy. Is he on anti-depressants or anti-anxiety meds? That might explain the mood swings and the lack of sex drive.
- When Duncan refused to answer her reasonable and nicely asked question regarding Meg, why didn't she just walk? I know it was a plot device, but couldn't they find a believable reason to have her still in the hotel room when Lizzie showed up? The season long arc is starting to look like it should be "Where is Veronica's spine?"
- Meg had a laptop that her parents didn't know about? That sounds a little out of character. And what is on it that Lizzie feels Duncan can see, but no one else? And what could Meg possibly have done to make her parents want to see her dead?
- In Like a Virgin, Lizzie did not seem that fond of Meg. Are they really close enough now that Lizzie knows Meg's secrets? And how did Lizzie get the laptop from school? Wasn't it in Meg's locker?
- Why was Lizzie surprised to see Veronica at Duncan's? It is no secret that they are dating and they were at the hospital together as far as she knows.
- How did Keith not know that Carl Morgan was an alias? I refuse to believe that Lamb is a better detective than Keith. I just refuse.
- How did Keith know that Veronica spent the night at Duncan's hotel room?
- Who breaks up with charming, handsome Scotsmen via voice mail? Tacky.
- It's odd that Veronica was able to find out everything about Keith's last girlfriend with one internet search and yet Keith was stymied when researching Alicia. Why the difficulty that resulted in him calling someone to help him?
- Why did Weevil crash Logan's 'Life's Short' party? And what happened when he did? The two were about ready to throw down over the whole pool/Felix thing. Where are the flashbacks from that conversation?
- Also, Lamb busted up a party at the Echolls house? Unless the neighbors complained, how did he have probable cause to go in? And why?
- What happened between Alicia and Woods? Were they married, as the papers Keith had seems to indicate? Are they still married? Why did she lie? And why does she seem so scared?
- Is Woods really Wallace's dad? Does that mean Darrell and Wallace are half brothers?
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