Episode #03.06: Hi, Infidelity
Original Air Date: November 07, 2006
Written by: John Enbom
Directed by: Michael Fields
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) (None)
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)
Detention (While the Censors Were Out to Lunch ...) (None)
Philosophy (Unanswered Questions)
Principles of Democracy (Hindsight is 20/20)
Extra Curricular Activities (Beyond the Broadcast) (None)
Role Call (Written/Compiled By ...)
Staff Grade: A
Membership Grade: A (57.5%% - 80 votes)
This episode -- like the last three -- retains the spirit of season one Veronica Mars much closer than did most of season two. Veronica is the girl we love, being a somewhat-better BFF to Wallace; speaking of ... Wallace is (once again) the guy who does the right thing even when it is a difficult decision. There is a lighthearted bounce to Logan once again (see Pep Squad Practice). The dialogue and direction are mostly strong and for the first time this season, the mystery is starting to heat up and stirring interest. The only negative -- and not the story, because noir is certainly welcome! -- is Keith's story. The problem is that Keith has ALWAYS been presented as the moral center of the show and to see that thrown away for a story that -- for many -- is out of character, well, it's a shame. Other than that though, Hi, Infidelity is most definitely a keeper.
Credited Cast Non-Appearance
Ryan Hansen - Dick Casablancas
Tina Majorino - Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie
Francis Capra - Eli "Weevil" Navarro
Recurring Guest Stars (Previous Episode Appearances)
Ed Begley Jr. - Cyrus O'Dell
- Wichita Linebacker
- President Evil
Ryan Devlin - Mercer Hayes
- Wichita Linebacker
- President Evil
Chastity Dotson - Nish
- My Big Fat Greek Rush Week
- Wichita Linebacker
- Charlie Don't Surf
Patrick Fabian - Professor Hank Landry
- Welcome Wagon
James Jordan - Tim Foyle
- Welcome Wagon
- President Evil
Krista Kalmus - Claire Nordhouse
- Wichita Linebacker
- Charlie Don't Surf
- President Evil
Jaime Ray Newman - Mindy O'Dell
- President Evil
Robert Ri'chard - Mason
- President Evil
Adam Rose - Max
- President Evil
Laura San Giacomo - Harmony Chase
- Charlie Don't Surf
Michael B. Silver - Professor Winkler
- President Evil
Guest Stars
Anna Campbell - Tina Callas
David Magidoff - Jeff Ratner
Matt McKenzie - Basketball Coach
Who's Who in Neptune
Tina Callas - Neptune Grand employee, who is friendly with Logan.
Jeff Ratner - Hearst student. In Veronica's criminology class, works at the Neptune Grand.
Basketball Coach - Wallace's basketball coach at Hearst.
With several good performances all weaving together, Hi, Infidelity once again featured the Veronica Mars cast delivering strong, nuanced portrayals that flowed seamlessly into a snappy, engaging episode.
Highlights
Julie Gonzalo (Parker Lee) - Gonzalo has more than justified her addition to the talented cast of Veronica Mars. In addition to serving as the personal hook for Veronica in the first mystery arc, Gonzalo has shined in her portrayal of all the various aspects of Parker. From perky and overenthusiastic pre-rape, agonized and traumatized post-rape, to angry and vengeful in the subsequent weeks, she has skillfully portrayed a wide range of emotion. In this episode, Gonzalo once again rides a delightful merry-go-round of emotions culminating in the chilling horror that she shares with the viewing audience when she meets Mercer. Although we lost one perky blonde when the coma baby storyline entered the picture, we now have a new perky blonde with a compelling personality all her own.
Ed Begley, Jr. (Dean Cyrus O'Dell) - Begley faced an even more difficult task than Julie Gonzalo. Van Clemmons was dearly loved by the fans of Veronica Mars and his role as Dean O'Dell was clearly analogous to that of a high school principal. But Begley has delivered several solid performances in a row and with Hi, Infidelity, he has earned the praise and affection of the Veronica Mars viewing audience. Begley has drawn an endearing portrait of a layered character that has fans everywhere jumping on the "I love the Dean" train.
Scene One: The Little Moments
There were a few bites to this scene, but mostly I just loved the lovey-dovey, touchy-feely and overall couple-y aspect here. Veronica holding onto his manly forearm for several seconds before lifting it up to slide into the seat next to him, resting her bent arm upon his shoulder/chest through the rest of the scene and casually taking his drink and sipping from the straw. It was fun to, you know, just watch and smile and squee at the pretty and the pretty of the couple and the ultra-pretty of the pretty couple acting so like a couple. I liked plenty.
As for the bite, well, you had the reference to Logan as a bad boy again, although, to be fair, this wasn't much more than a little nibble. It was commented upon rather casually in a throwaway, quipping manner. Still, the fact that the "bad boy" moniker is still being used -- even in the above sense -- is one that I'm not entirely comfortable with considering Rob Thomas' defining of Logan as the bad boy and how that appeared to justify the non-stop crap that was handed to the character, including Veronica's less-than-pleasant treatment. The other bit that rankled slightly was in regards to Veronica's commentary on Logan referencing the Jane Austen novel, Emma. We could take it as merely a riff on a guy referencing Jane Austen (see Pep Squad Practice), but taking into account the fact that Veronica has made more than one reference to Logan's lack of intellectual prowess, I must admit that my mind went there. And I didn't like the journey. Logan is NOT stupid and I'm growing weary of possible inferences on Veronica's part that he is. Of course, it could have been the whole guy referencing Jane Austen thing, but still ... I'm leery.
We also had Logan questioning whether Veronica was dragging him off to an intellectual treatise of which he had no interest. Good? Bad? I dunno, but it was a sure sign of continuity and that I like. Therefore, I'm going to just accept that it was simply writer John Enbom (who co-wrote the deliciously divine LoVe storyline of Wichita Linebacker which began with Logan's lack of interest in taking part in merely academic pursuits) being consistent -- even during the little moments -- with their interaction. So ... good.
Overall, I really enjoyed this scene despite the fact that there was nothing overt about their relationship. What I found so lovely was how they were acting so very much like a couple. Veronica's casual tactile attitude towards him, and his complete lack of reaction to it as if it was completely natural. Veronica leaning on him, sipping from his straw, the two talking about random events in their day, her asking him to go bowling and then the brief discussion about Mac and Parker. All of their interaction played out as two people who are intimately and actively involved in the other's life. And I liked plenty ... lots.
Scene Two: Every Moment Counts
Like all of their interaction in this episode, there was just a very couply feel. Veronica using her key, the over the top, but still sweet "Honey, I'm home," the quick kiss, sitting next to one another and again, the simple discussion of their day. All together it just created an aura of a young, happy couple at peace with one another and in love. And as each episode passes, the time bomb of their relationship ticks louder and louder so every moment we get that shows how very well they do function as a couple is much appreciated.
Scene Three: Hee!
Hee! Really, that's my immediate and final response to this scene: Hee! As in funny, and in hah! hee! Veronica is jealous. And I love. I don't think we've ever truly witnessed direct jealousy from Veronica over Logan. Sure, it's been hinted at (and then denied), but here, there was no question. She was jealous. And not in a bad way, but in a possessive, 'he's mine, don't touch! you nice, pretty person even if you're helping me' way.
And I didn't remotely have a problem with Logan not introducing Veronica as his girlfriend. While he clearly was not (and had not) led Tina on -- judging from her reaction to Veronica's claiming of Logan -- he still may have figured there was a touch of a little crush there. So, then why would he rub it in her face especially since he was asking her to do a favor for Veronica? Doesn't make sense and was a people-smart strategy. Go Logan. On the other hand, while he may not have announced her as his girlfriend, neither did he hide their relationship. He did, after all, blow her a little kiss (squee!) in the middle of the conversation. So good for Logan all around.
As for his girlfriend's possessive streak coming out, let me say it again ... Hee! I loved. Her "girlfriend of Logan. My boyfriend." was just so hee! Completely unnecessary, but absolutely hilarious and squee-worthy for LoVe fans who have longed for verbal acknowledgment of their relationship from Veronica. Yes, we've got it from episode three and on, but it's never not nice to hear and particularly so in an amusing fashion as delivered here.
So ... hee!
Scene Four:: The "Gang's" All Here!
Not so hee! was the opening of this scene before Logan showed up with his verbal acknowledgement that drew forth another round of the "hee's!" First of all, we had Veronica's reaction to Logan's arrival. It was an unfortunate reminder to her reaction to Logan in Normal is the Watchword in The Java Hut flashback. And equally unfortunate, it reminded me of the difference with a negative slant to Welcome Wagon as I wrote in that case file:
and uncharacteristically stupidly blind to Piz's crush, why would she be uncomfortable? Because like in Normal is the Watchword she'd prefer to be with the guy she was talking to (Duncan then, Piz now) rather than her boyfriend (Logan, both times, sigh)? That's the only thing that makes sense about that look, and of course, that makes no sense in light of Veronica's love for Logan and supposed obliviousness to Piz's crush. So bad call by Kristen Bell. (Not the first and not the last in regard to the subtext between Veronica and Piz in this episode. Grrrr.)
Secondly, let's get this out there. Piz? Is a sleaze. He barely knows Veronica. He's based this neverending crush of his on a few hours of acquaintance and the fact that she's hot? Ridiculous ... especially at this point, almost two months down the road while in college, surrounded by scores of attractive California girls, with no encouragement from Veronica whatsoever. She has a boyfriend; he knows this and yet he's still acting like a lovesick puppy to her face, to her boyfriend's face and it's just pathetic and here's where we get to the sleazy part. Hello!?! His intention earlier was TOTALLY to ask her out on a "date" of sorts. It wasn't until she asked if he meant the two of them, that he drew Wallace's name out of a hat and then the lame "gang." Because you see, obviously, there was no gang. And Wallace was an afterthought when Veronica made it clear that just going bowling with him was not an option (although, I do feel strongly that Bell could have delivered that line with a bit more of that acknowledgement). Of course, even bringing Wallace into the equation, the fact that he asked no one else -- again! -- made it crystal clear that he was thinking of attempting to strike (no pun intended) some sparks with her. He has to know that Wallace has a completely-non-romantic relationship with Veronica, so Piz would have no romantic competition in such a setting.
When Wallace couldn't show up, there was no one else, leaving just Piz and Veronica, which left him claiming that he was "worried" about how it looked. Obviously he really wasn't ... since -- again! -- he asked NO ONE ELSE! When she questioned him about the gang (as did Parker) his hopes were crystal clear for all -- or in the case of Veronica and Parker's sudden stupidity, just Logan -- to see. There was never a "gang," there was just supposed to be Piz and Veronica, with the last-minute add-on of Wallace to cover that the sleaze-ball was asking out a girl who is in a serious, committed relationship. And of course, he had no explanation other than the obvious and so he badly, baldly side-stepped it. So, Piz = sleaze. Ahh, once again, Rob Thomas shows a singular talent for making the worst "good" guys ever on a television series!
Of course, on the other hand, his bad boy is just wonderful and easily as capable of providing the "hee" as is his heroine ... and here, in the perfectly reversed situation of the previous scene we had that hee! Logan introducing himself to Piz with the reminder, "her boyfriend" was just delicious. The smirk and knowing gleam in Jason Dohring's eyes as he staked his claim and then asked Piz, with faux innocent tongue-in-cheek cheer, "do you always go bowling? With the 'gang?'" was awesome. Just hysterical. HEE!
Scene Five: Trash-talking, Refreshments and Bad Bowling
There were some moments relationship-wise that I found very cute here and some not. At all. And I blame both Enbom and Bell for my distaste. Why in heaven's name when Parker asked about Piz did Veronica immediately jump in way too hastily with the comment that she had a boyfriend? The lone purpose for such a line of dialogue is to make viewers think that the only reason Veronica isn't with Piz/doesn't think of him that way is because she has a boyfriend. And I'm sorry, but EXCUSE ME!? Past the first episode -- which was mostly set-up -- Veronica has had barely any interaction with the guy beyond his annoying radio-push from episode three where he seemed to barely exist on her radar. And now all of a sudden we have a hint that she would be interested in him did she not have a boyfriend? Putting aside the whole LoVe aspect, nothing, absolutely nothing thus far has indicated in any way, shape or form that Veronica Mars would be interested in a guy like this. Absolutely nothing. Oh, and when you factor in the LoVe aspect, there's the fact that this season has FINALLY! managed to convince viewers that Veronica truly does love Logan, she truly does want to be with him. So the line really, REALLY bugged.
Then there was not only the delivery, but how Bell played the entire scene from that point on. As they weren't LoVe scenes, I didn't analyze the Piz/Veronica scene, but I will say here that I was not particularly impressed with the eyes all aglow look she was giving him in their first scene. As well, I was none too pleased with how she said "the two of us?" when he asked her bowling without any trace of 'dude, I have a boyfriend!' And of course, I did mention above how I liked even less the moment of discomfort she displayed when Piz looked upset by Logan's arrival. Bell has done a very good job this season of showing that Veronica loves Logan and pretty much in the first and definitely in the third, she showed that Veronica was not interested at all in Piz -- because you know she has a boyfriend who she loves! Well, her personal bias against Logan and Veronica and for the great Piz-meister showed up way too loud and clear for me (and many other viewers) in this episode. The entire subtext of the final moments of this scene revolved around a Veronica who was uncomfortable with Parker liking Piz and the look of -- God help me! -- almost yearning that she sent while Piz badly bowled made me want to hurl something at my TV.
Yes, the whole 'I hate asking someone if they like someone else' scenario voiceover we heard later supposedly made sense of her look of dismay at the end of this scene, but it was too little too late. First of all, again, Bell overplayed it. Veronica, in that conversation with Parker, came across as someone who was interested in Piz for many viewers. It's as simple and infuriating as that. Secondly, it was yet another little ploy by the writer to misdirect viewers -- we didn't know that Veronica had issues with Parker's request at that point, so all viewers could take from her reaction was that she was upset that Parker liked Piz. And finally, for that scene that showed up later (which again, I won't be analyzing ... not LoVe), it was laid on just a tad too thick. She was THAT uncomfortable asking if he liked Parker? Really? Nuh uh, too much. Way too much. Laid on way too thick. Not happy, folks. Sincerely not happy. Make it make sense and I'll put up with all the angst you want, but don't throw stuff at me just to justify a triangle out of the blue that makes no sense for character or story.
Ahem.
On a happier note ... what I found quite entertaining was the same thing I referenced before: Logan's amused possessiveness with Veronica which was clearly all for Piz's sake. As mentioned above, Logan clearly saw right through him and was just as clearly -- albeit subtly and with humor -- staking his claim. We once again had an over-the-top endearment ("Dearest darling ... ") offered with a smirk and laughter bubbling behind the words. And, while Veronica may have annoyed once he left, I also found the responding look she sent his way (clearly seeing right through him) rather cute.
Scene Six: Casual Comfort in the Coupling
Like the first two scenes, this one again doesn't offer much for analysis; it is simply Logan and Veronica in a very couple-like state. Their entire interaction was casual and comfortable. The two talked about different aspects of their life -- like the first scene, offering insight into the fact that the two share experiences about their lives with one another.
Some have wondered at Logan referencing Horshack and Rafe (from the prison experiment in My Big Fat Greek Rush Week) and it may have some deeper meaning for the overall arc (I doubt it, but who knows with this show), it may have just been dialogue in line with the cheating aspect of this episode. Or simply, it might have been Enbom's way of establishing that Logan and Veronica ARE in a serious relationship, they share what happens when the other isn't there because they are sharing their lives with one another. They don't live in separate bubbles and since I do believe (absolutely at last) that Logan and Veronica are the endgame, such small moments are necessary in showing this aspect of their relationship.
It's not all just contention, snark and passion (we're led to believe they're passionate, whether or not we've only sorta seen two instances of it this season). There is also love, there is commitment, there is sharing and genuine friendship and comfort. I like.
Scene Seven: The Sunshine of His Life
And what do we have here? A lovely acknowledgement (and a much lighter one than the one we received in Wichita Linebacker) that Logan is most amused by Veronica's sleuthing techniques. Seriously. Veronica accused this guy with not much proof at all, just a'jumping away to conclusion as is the Veronica Mars way and Logan's response is to smirk and quip about his rank in wealth and then (hah!) show a rather perverted sense of pride in Veronica's ability to annoy ... annoy like the wind! It was -- as most of their scenes this episode -- just so hee! Really. Just so very hee! Kissing her forehead while he comments that his girl (squee!) brings sunshine to all she knows (an obvious 'the opposite of' statement) was just so, guh! I loved it. We really did get some wonderfully sweet, charming, funny, awesome couple moments in this episode and this scene just offered one of those many fabulous moments.
Scene Eight: 'Trust Me' -- Gulp!
Oh, Logan. Logan, Logan, Logan ... I don't know what to say. Sigh. The last time Logan asked Veronica to trust him, she upped and ran out on him once his back was turned when she discovered something bad that there was no proof he had anything to do with. Veronica and trust has not gone merrily hand in hand for Logan Echolls like, oh, ever. Ever, ever, ever. Oh, Logan.
Is there any doubt for any viewer that Veronica won't trust him? Any whatsoever? Even a smidgen? Of course not. Because Veronica DOESN'T trust Logan. Wichita Linebacker showed that clearly. Sure, she showed a slight degree of trust by taking out the bug, but that was brought on more by guilt and the fear of losing Logan, rather than actual trust in him. And yes, she offered to try and act unnaturally, but the fact of the matter is her instinctual reaction is to not trust him still. And so him asking her that ... oy vey.
I commented last week that Logan is walking on eggshells with her and that, in part, explains his somewhat overall subdued attitude.
And {{sigh}} of course she won't. As much as we'd love to see her give the complete trust to Logan that she has given wholeheartedly (and inexplicably) only to Duncan), it ain't gonna happen. Not now. She's not ready yet. Who knows? Maybe she never will be. And that right there leads us to what is likely coming up: A break-up. To be honest, as much as I love seeing them together as a couple, I do think a break-up is necessary ... from Logan's end. Veronica needs to know that she needs to give 100% back to him. She needs to learn to trust him, to believe in him. Until she does, he can never trust her with his heart completely and they can never truly make it work. It really is sad because it has been made clear this season that Veronica DOES love Logan and that he IS right for her ... but she has got to learn to trust him. Unless she realizes that trust is part of the equation and one that he won't tolerate not having, she'll never truly make the effort to do so.
I guess the question then to ask is should she trust him? I think so. Yes, he treated her horribly after Lilly's death, but it didn't take her long to give as good as she got and then some. And even worse, once they had supposedly gotten over that, she accused him of rape and murder. And then she broke up with him when he had no one and went back to her old boyfriend in a matter of days. The balance is pretty damn equal now, if not tipped slightly in his favor. Logan has done more than enough to prove he is worthy of her trust. She just needs to take that step and DO IT! Will she before it's too late? Unfortunately, I think not.
Sigh.
Hearst Has A Strict Policy When it Comes to Plagiarism
Veronica Mars is sitting in her Introduction to Criminology lecture as their first assessable essay is handed back. Professor 'Puurrrr' Landry is winding down his You're-A-Bunch-of-Morons pep talk, by pointing out the only essay that was worthy of an 'A' grade. Simultaneously, his T.A., Tim Foyle, hands back Veronica's essay; the camera zooms in on: "A excellent work!" written in a red felt tip pen. "Nice job, Ms. Mars." Veronica's eyes widen in comic horror as about a hundred glares pin her to her chair. And she was trying so hard not to be the most hated girl on campus this year
As the class ends, Tim walks up to Landry with copies of the Columbia study his Professor had clearly requested. Landry brushes him off so he can catch up with Veronica who had been making a desperate bid to escape the lion's den. Too late. Now that he's announced to the class that she's his new pet, he wants to make it official by taking her out to lunch, buffing up her ego and asking if he can adopt her full time: As her faculty sponsor. Veronica looks like she's willing to start batting at a ball of string in his office whenever he likes.
Excited by the news that her favorite Professor has singled her out for his criminology program, she rushes home to gush about Landry to her father who, we all know, has been her criminal investigation idol up until this point. Keith starts to pout about being replaced -- wants to take on her professor in a wrestle -- but Veronica decides her two favorite idols would actually get along; they have a lot in common. Privately, I think Landry has more muscle, but Keith knows how to fight dirty.
The hitch in her academic wet dream appears when Landry's T.A. sends her a text message that he wants to see her. "Needed, not wanted," he corrects when she arrives. He needed to see her because one of the other students has lodged an official complaint, claiming she plagiarized. Like every university, Hearst has a program that scans online for similar phrases. In Tim's words, Veronica's paper, "lit up like a Christmas tree." Sure enough, when Tim shows Veronica her essay in the program almost every word is lit up in red. But this is Veronica Mars and when she says everyone is out to get her, she's not just being paranoid; they really do want to get her. She tells Tim that obviously "someone" is trying to screw with her. Acting as inconspicuous as Robert Downey Jr. at a drug free event, Tim jumps in horrified at the thought Veronica would accuse him just because he doesn't like her. Landry will obviously have to be informed that the apple of his eye, the twinkle in his teeth, the buff in his shoe (please don't make me go on, it only gets worse) is a no-good, dirty plagiarizer. Tim offers Veronica a choice: Either he tells Landry, or she does. Right at that moment, Landry appears in Tim's doorway. Damn him and his brilliant timing
We come back from the credits to find Veronica being confronted by another horrifying situation. Not only has Landry informed her that she only has three days to prove she didn't plagiarize her paper, but now she has to deal with Piz gushing about The Clash too? The world really is out to get her, or at least get in her pants. But apparently Veronica is so frazzled by the plagiarism charge that her lust radar is faulty and she agrees to go out with Piz and "the gang" without picking up on his date-vibes.
Veronica believes that if you look close enough everyone appears to be hiding dark secrets (and she should know since she's accused everyone she knows of hiding dark secrets), so she decides to confront her accuser head on and see what happens. She stands in front of the lecture hall and tells the whole class that someone has accused her of plagiarism and she would like to know who it was. Ballsy, but now everyone probably hates her even more. Nice one, Veronica. She doesn't really expect anyone to confess because she has her money on Tim Foyle being the culprit since he's such a bad-wigged bastard (and you can't say that about many people). To her surprise, someone does put his hand up: Jeff Ratner. She doesn't know him but he seems to know her because he -- naturally -- hates her.
Now on this show we've had plenty of smug rich kids who like to keep their obnoxious arrogance at an equivalent weight to their annual income in gold. Paradoxically, Jeff Ratner is a "common man" that likes to think he's worth his weight in gold. He has all the charm of Dick Casablancas without the money to pay people to ignore it. And that's just tacky. He tells Veronica he made the complaint because he likes when snotty, teacher's pets (that are humiliating the rest of the class) get exposed as cheats. "Yeah. You cheated. I caught you. Deal with it." All he needed was a head wobble and a click of his fingers and he could have officially become a bi-atch, sister. The class applauds and Veronica stands there a little angry, a little embarrassed and if you listen hard enough I'm pretty sure that the theme from The Terminator is starting to play. Oh, Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey why don't you just paint a giant bullseye on your ass next time?
When you've been unfairly accused of cheating, the best thing to do is rub shoulders with the most accomplished cheater you know. Or at least, an amateur who decided going pro was too much for his conscience. Veronica goes to see her BFF "Evil Wallace" to get the skinny on his inside source, the tutor that helped him cheat in President Evil. As soon as she gets his name -- Max -- she rushes over to his dorm for assistance. Max struggles to understand the concept of helping Veronica find a cheat rather than become one but she somehow gets him to find what she's looking for anyway. She gets him to search through free sites for an exact copy of her essay on modern forensics. He finds it in two seconds, apparently posted a year ago by a Hearst student named Rory Finch.
Veronica was going to break into the Dean's office using Weevil's keys -- yes, Weevil forgives Veronica just as quickly as Logan does; she must put something 'magic' in her snickerdoodles -- but the door is open so she walks right in. She starts going through the files looking for a student named Rory Finch without thinking about the fact that the door could be open because the Dean is still using his office. So she's shocked when he walks in two seconds later. Yeah, she's a wily one.
Luckily, the Dean did not fall from the same tree as Veronica's old protg Van Clemmons (how we miss him), though it might be fair to compare his brain to something else wooden. The Dean is more interested in drinking scotch, eating popcorn and watching televised violence while his forbidding wife is at one of her functions. He tells her that if Veronica sees his wife, she doesn't need to know he's been doing naughty, forbidden things. While he's distracted, Veronica collects what she came for and makes a clean get away with the Dean none-the-wiser.
Later, she tells Wallace that she has discovered that no student named Rory Finch ever attended Hearst college. The hearst.org e-mail address was a fake set up three days ago to post her paper from none other than the Neptune Grand. As far as the plagiarism charge is concerned, she's in the clear and Wallace is pleased that it's over. But this is Veronica Mars, it's not over until her foot is up some proverbial fat lady's ass and she's singing soprano. Too graphic? Yeah. I'll never mix vengeful Veronica Mars lines again.
Veronica heads on over to the Neptune Grand to pick up Logan for the bowling date Piz doesn't know she invited her boyfriend on. (Sidebar: Is Logan ever going to be the man in this relationship?) After smacking a kiss on his very receptive lips, she asks him for a favor. (Code for intimacy in Veronica Mars land, yay!) She wants to know if Logan has any inside connections in the seedy Neptune Grand that could slip him information he's not supposed to know. Logan thinks for a moment as he ties his shoes and then slides Veronica a conspiratorial look. Of course he has 'connections;' he's Logan Echolls, never far from the queue of gorgeous blondes panting after him. Enter Tina, Neptune Grand clerk, all too willing to do 'anything' for her pal, Logan. As amusing as her jealousy is, Veronica remembers to retract her claws (mostly); it's not clever to scratch out the eyes of the person you're asking for a favor. Maybe later
Logan asks Tina if she could find someone registered in the hotel; Veronica jumps in with the name 'Rory Finch.' After pretending to be concerned about the legalities, Tina looks up the name in their database to find Rory Finch's registered stays. He checked in a week ago and stayed a few other times going back a couple of months. Always for one night. Veronica, in full spy-mode, asks for any information Tina has but unfortunately Rory Finch only has a post-office box as an address and he paid in cash. Veronica asks Tina to call her on her cell phone if Rory Finch checks in again. "Sure. Any friend of Logan's," she flirts with a smile. Okay, so, that comment about the claws? A couple of them slip out as Veronica curls her arm around Logan's elbow, "Girlfriend of Logan's. Come on boyfriend, let's bowl." Okay, Veronica -- as amusing as it is -- there's no need to mark your territory. Much.
Later, Veronica and Logan are unwinding from the stress of participating in the bowling soap opera, The Piz and the Beautiful, when room service knocks on the door. As soon as Logan greets the waiter at the door, Veronica recognizes his voice and shoots to her feet. It's Jeff Ratner, in his spiffy Neptune Grand uniform. Veronica smiles like the proverbial cat licking her lips for her next canary. Logan recognizes the look (since it's been aimed at him in many pleasant -- and not so pleasant -- moments) and smiles as he stands back to watch his girl work. As Logan tries out his steak in the background, Veronica explains that Ratner is the guy trying to get her tossed out of Landry's class. Since he works at the Neptune Grand, it's clear that Ratner has to be Rory Finch. Ratner is just pissed off that the pretty, blonde girl-detective has been too busy snuggling up to her boyfriend in the penthouse suite to notice that he's worked there for two years. To Ratner, Veronica is another 09er-type looking down on the "little people" as she lounges around withCaptainAdmiral Moneybags. He doesn't seem sorry for what he's done either, and Veronica's predatory glare reaches optimum Die-Now range as he leaves them to their dinner. "That's my girl," Logan says, "spreading sunshine wherever she goes." If by sunshine he means death threats, then yeah. That's his girl. And aren't they just perfect for each other?
Just when Veronica thinks it's over, she gets a call from her new pal, Tina, telling her that Rory Finch has checked in again. She picks up Rory's room number and moves toward the elevator only to come across the disturbing scene of Keith Mars making moves in the Neptune Grand bar. He's ordering two martinis for himself and the lovely -- but very much married -- Harmony. Veronica worries that Keith is getting too attached to an unhappily married woman as she travels up to the ninth floor to confront her illusive nemesis.
She knocks on the door of room 906, snark and taser ready to go, and the door opens. It's Mrs. O'Dell, the Dean's wife. Not exactly the first person Veronica thought would have a motive to accuse her of plagiarism. Instead of opening a can of whoop-ass, Veronica is too confused to do much more than murmur "wrong room." Just as she's about to add a couple of wrinkles to her forehead with all that frowning, the elevator dings open and she looks up to see Professor Landry walking toward her with a bottle of wine. After an awkward conversation in the hallway, Veronica says, "I'll see you in class ... Rory Finch." Sure enough the Professor looks back at her guiltily and Veronica's shoulders slump as the doors to the elevator close behind her. Hmmm. Looks like her father isn't the only one a little too interested in an unhappily married woman. See, they do have a lot in common!
Veronica goes to see Tim Foyle again to hand in the proof that she didn't plagiarize her essay. That's the end of that. He asks her if she figured out who was behind it. She did, via a process of elimination, "Why did you do it?" Tim pauses the conversation with a standard 'it wasn't me' disclaimer, before 'hypothetically' claiming that someone in his position might send Veronica on a treasure hunt so that she could see that her professor wasn't the jewel she thought he was. It might be helpful to Veronica to see the professor for whom he really is, before she falls for his charm like Tim did when he was the star pupil. Before she leaves his office, her new sleuthing nemesis asks if she really believed Jeff Ratner was behind everything.
Oh crap.
The scene shifts to reveal Neptune Grand security opening up Ratner's car trunk and discovering dozens of little shampoo bottles, towels and soaps that he's 'stolen' from them. He denies that he put them there but he's busted.
Whoops.
Can we let this one moment of incorrectly targeted revenge slide because he's a tool? Why not! Yeah, karma's a bitch and her name's Veronica. He may have been innocent but at least she won't have to worry about his voice interrupting her boyfriend-time again when they're snuggling in the penthouse. Let this be a lesson to him, never try to out-sass a member of the Mars family.
- Veronica, having just been falsely accused of plagiarism, is walking through the cafeteria in a daze, shaking her head in shock. Piz notices her, from a nearby table, and runs over to her, excited about a record album he's holding. He babbles on about how he picked up an unscratched vinyl of London Calling for ninety-nine cents because some lady threw her husband out and had a garage sale to get rid of all his stuff. He's living in Awesome!Land right now, but Veronica can only take it for a moment before she blurts out that her mentor/professor has just given her three days to prove she didn't plagiarize a major paper. The universe is aligned against her (again), so nothing at all is awesome right now. So Piz suggests she go bowling. At first she's doubtful that bowling could be a solution to her problems (as am I), and then she looks nervously worried that he might be suggesting that they go bowling together alone. Quickly covering, so as to remove her worries, he throws in that Wallace and "the whole gang" should come, too. Thursday nights are dollar nights at Fun Bowl. She questions whether bowling will take her mind off of the fact that everyone is out to get her, but he assures her that it worked for Nixon. And it'll be fun.
A classroom clock hits 2:00 pm exactly. The proctor standing at the front of the class tells the students currently taking a Sociology test that it's time to put their pencils down and turn their papers in. Everyone does as they're told, getting up from their desks and setting their papers in front of the proctor. Everyone that is, except for Logan. He glances at the other students leaving as he spends just a few seconds longer finishing up his sentence. Satisfied, he takes it to the front of the class and tosses it down. The proctor picks it up and gives it back to Logan. He's sorry, but since Logan kept writing after he called time, he can't accept it. Logan protests that he was just finishing his thought, but the guy repeats that time was called. Seeing he's not getting anywhere with the jerk, Logan acts indignant and asks the guy if he has any idea who he is? The proctor gets annoyed and says that he doesn't and he really doesn't care. When he goes to get his jacket, Logan takes the opportunity to stick his paper in the middle of the pile. The proctor turns around to see Logan shuffle all the papers together and realizes he's been outsmarted. Throwing a smile back at the guy, Logan leaves. Heh.
Later, Logan and Mercer are sharing a table in the cafeteria. Mercer's impressed at Logan's tale of victorious battle against the evil proctor, and goes on about how classically awesome it was. Until he sees Veronica walk up behind Logan. Then he puts on an act of righteous condemnation. He doesn't condone what Logan did and had nothing to do with his decision to do it. Curious, Veronica asks what he's talking about. Cheating, Mercer tattles. He told Logan it was wrong and that he's going to burn in HELL. Logan's positive he'll see him there. When Mercer leaves, Veronica lifts Logan's arm off the back of a chair and sits next to him. He puts his arm around her as she asks him if he cheated. He explains that he took ten extra seconds on a test, but doesn't she love the bad boys? She does, but thinks he needs to turn in his membership if that's the baddest he can be. Leaning on his shoulder and confiscating his soda, she asks him if he'd like to go bowling tomorrow night. He's in, as long as it's actual bowling and not a seminar about bowling. Veronica tells him that it could be fun. It'll be with Wallace, his roommate and some other guys. Logan notices that Veronica's staring across the room. Parker's alone at a table, looking a little sad. Veronica mentions that Parker's been all alone this week because Mac's been working on a project. Maybe they should invite Parker along for the bowling?
So Veronica walks over to Parker's table as she's about to leave and asks her if she'd like to go bowling together. For a little hatchet-burying between them. Unless she'd rather see Veronica fed to bears. Parker smiles at that. Or possibly, the bowling invitation.
Wallace returns to his dorm room, loaded up with his books. Piz is dressed for bowling and ready to go out for some fun. Wallace sits at his desk, getting ready to study and complains that he's pretty sure he'll never have fun again. Then it dawns on him that this was the night they were supposed to go bowling with Veronica. Whoops. He can't make it because he has studying to do. Piz starts freaking out that Wallace has to go because he told Veronica the whole gang, including Wallace, would be there. Wallace is amused at his predicament, realizing that it'll look like he set her up and it'll be awkward, but it's not his problem right now.
Veronica's trying to decide what shirt to wear on bowling night, so she consults Keith for his expert opinion. Should she wear the "earnest, I'm really bowling" bowling shirt? Or the "I'm too cool for bowling and I'm only here ironically" Moose-Tastic t-shirt? Keith wonders when crappy old shirts with stupid stuff on them became cool. Veronica's wondering why she asks him these things anyway.
"Hi, honey, I'm home!" Veronica calls out as she walks into Logan's place. He's sitting in his bedroom, putting his shoes on. When he starts to ask about the Moose-Tastic shirt she's wearing, she cuts him off with a kiss. She's so tired of explaining.
And it's time to bowl at Fun Bowl! Piz sees Veronica walk in and calls her over. She looks around expectantly, wondering where everyone else is. His smile falls when he sees her boyfriend walking up. Logan reintroduces himself as Logan. Her boyfriend. Veronica asks again where Wallace and the rest of the gang are. Piz admits that Wallace had a crisis, so bailed. Seeing no one else around, Veronica realizes it might just be the three of them, which awkward. Before he has to explain that "the gang" are only imaginary friends of his, Parker joins them. Veronica's happy (and a bit relieved) to see her. Like the others, Parker's curious where everyone else is hiding themselves. Everyone turns to Piz for an answer. Laughing nervously, he points out that they all need shoes. Logan asks his "darling" for the size of her "dainty feet" that he loves so much, then walks Piz over to the shoe counter, asking him if he goes bowling with "the gang" a lot. (Heh.) When the girls are alone, Parker gets upset with Veronica because she thinks she's been set up on a double date with Piz. Veronica swears that isn't the case. Parker considers it, then relents to stay, but doesnt consider this to be a fun evening.
And strike! Parker's just bowled one and is screaming and raising her arms in victory, taunting the other team that's she's just bowled two-thirds of a turkey. She high-fives her teammate, Logan, so hard that he has to rub his dainty little hand. Parker continues heckling the other team, especially Piz who's getting ready for his turn. Logan goes to get some refreshments and the girls have a moment alone. Veronica asks Parker if this is fun and the girl apologizes for being grumpy about it earlier. She's enjoying being out in the world again. Seeing that Piz has just bowled a 7-10, the worst spare to have to make, Veronica weakly tries to encourage her teammate to make it, while Parker obnoxiously tells him, "Don't blow it, Pizzzz." He sullenly makes his way back to the lane and Parker asks Veronica for some info. Like, is he single? Veronica's confused at the sudden turn in conversation. Parker thinks he's cute. Veronica looks even more confused. And she wants Veronica to find out what Piz thinks of her. At this, Veronica looks like she's just been invited to another slumber party at Gia's. (Can't say that I blame her.) Who knew making new girlfriends came with such girly-girl drama?
Back at the hotel, Veronica plops herself down on Logan's couch, vowing no more fun because it's too exhausting. Logan's changing his shirt in the other room and suggests that they should get some weight-training in before their next bowling outing. Veronica clarifies that she wasn't talking about the physical exertion so much as the whole ridiculous soap opera plot she got pulled into. She's been tasked with finding out if Piz likes Parker and isn't sure if she's just supposed to go the whole junior high route of passing him a note or what. Suddenly noticing Logan's test paper laying out, Veronica looks at it and asks him if he got an A. Logan says he did, but sarcastically jokes that the "cheating" cheapens it. He climbs over the back of the couch and sits next to her, while he tells her that his former "cellmate" Horshack got caught taking two tests. The second test he was taking for their psycho guard, Rafe. (Hmm. I wonder if that'll make it into the professor's study results.)
The next day, Veronica unhappily walks to the radio station remembering with horror the time, eight years ago, that Suzie Doyle made her ask Brad Stark if he liked her. The potential love match never spoke again and Veronica has no illusions that she's gotten any better at it. She enters the room and uncomfortably waves at Piz, who's on the phone. When he hangs up she politely thanks him for the fun bowling night. He's glad she had fun and hopes Logan did, too. (Riiiight.) She agrees that Logan had a good time, everyone had a good time. Including Parker, she adds. Cool, he's glad since she seems nice. Seeing an opening at last, Veronica asks if he really thinks so. Because Then, she has to stop because of the temporary paralysis brought on by the traumatic stress flashback to a similar sixth grade conversation. Somehow she manages to go on and tell him that Parker thought he was cool. He stares blankly at her. And also cute, she says almost expectantly. He laughs nervously, then gets it, but starts stammering that Parker's really nice but not his type. She's disappointed and clearly dreading having to break the news to Parker.
Veronica's working in the library when Parker rushes up to her, all atwitter that she's found out about Piz's radio show. He'll be on tonight and since the station is right in the Student Union, she was thinking the two of them could just "drop by." Not wanting to risk further trauma by telling the girl that Piz isn't interested, Veronica tries to kill the idea by suggesting it'll be really late. Parker doesn't care, though. It'll be fun! Piz is finishing up his radio show, when he sees Veronica walk up to the window. He nods a greeting and tells listeners that it's time for Club Flush next. Then he sees Parker walk up beside Veronica and smile at him. He smiles and waves back, a little, totally feeling the awkward. The girls walk in to the station and Parker goes on and on about how interested she is in how all the stuff works. Maybe Piz can show her sometime. Fortunately (or unfortunately), she remains oblivious to the daggered eye look Piz just shot at Veronica, who looks just a bit embarrassed at her cowardice. Piz cuts Parker's tour short, though, because the guy who does the club in house show is supposed to be starting right now. So the clueless girl suggests they all go for pizza.
- Dean O'Dell walks out of his office to greet Professor Winkler, apologizing for keeping him waiting. Wallace is sitting there, looking like a condemned man. He gets up to face the music, just as Veronica walks out of the Dean's office and past him, surprised to see him there. Wallace throws an ashamed glance back at his BFF, then is ushered into the Dean's office. Everyone's seated and Winkler explains that even though it's hardly the first time they've caught an athlete cheating, he's accepting partial responsibility for accepting Wallace into his program in the first place. They usually don't take athletes, especially ones with standardized test scores as low as Wallace's. The program is just too demanding. Wallace is squirming by now, what with being caught cheating and now being basically told he's not smart enough for the engineering program. The shame is momentarily interrupted when Mindy brings her husband his bagged lunch. As the Dean grumbles about having no cookie, Mindy tells him to be merciful with the boy before him, then leaves. O'Dell asks Wallace what he has to say for himself. Wallace is in complete agreement with Mrs. O'Dell's thoughts on mercy.
Wallace and his friend Mason are sitting on the gym floor, stretching before basketball practice. Mason's confused as to why Wallace is bummed. He wanted to drop his class before and now, when given the chance to do so after add/drops are over, he's not happy. Wallace hasn't decided yet what he wants to do. The coach blows his whistle and calls the team to the floor. He tosses the ball to Wallace and tells him he's going to be the starter today. Wallace is surprised, but pleased. Mason not so much. He starts to protest, but the coach warns Mason that if he wants to keep his starting job, he needs to keep earning it. Wallace pats Mason on the back and takes the ball to the court. Mason is not a happy baller.
Veronica shows up at Wallace's room and pokes her head in to see if he's there. He is, but denies that "Wallace" is there, as he sits moping and staring at the airplane in his hand. Veronica's confused and Wallace explains that he in fact is Evil Wallace and he knows that Veronica Mars doesn't hang with the evil and morally bankrupt. She assures him that Evil Wallace wouldn't have confessed and faced the consequences, so nope, she smiles, he's Regular Wallace. He gives her the news that he's been given the chance to drop his class with no repercussions, but it means giving up his major. Pointing at the airplane in his hand, he explains that figuring out how stuff works was the first thing he was ever into. It's all he's ever wanted to do. She tells him that she knows that Regular Wallace will work it all out.
Professor Winkler's passing some papers out to his engineering class, advising them that these formulas need to be memorized as soon as possible. He's surprised to see Wallace enter the class. Wallace doesn't want to drop it. It may not be the smart choice, but he'll take the zero on the last test and if he averages a C or above on the remaining four tests, he'll be able to pass. Winkler smiles and gives him the latest assignment.
Later, Wallace is in the library, studying, with some tunes playing on his iPod. Veronica, who's wrapping up her shift at the help desk, goes over to him and whispers that he's going to ruin his eyes with all that book-learnin' he's doing. Loudly (way too loudly), Wallace tells her he took the zero on the test and stayed in Winkler's class. She makes a face and points at his earphones. He takes them out and explains that he needs to study. She suspected as much. When he goes back to work, she leans in and whispers some words of encouragement: he's Rocky, mechanical engineering is Mr. T and "Eye of the Tiger" is playing. Done imparting her special kind of wisdom, Veronica tells him she'll see him later on and leaves. After a second, he realizes what she just said and gets confused, so he calls after her, "What? When?"
It's 9:06 a.m. and Wallace's alarm buzzer is going off. He's dead to the world, though, books open still from a long night of studying. Piz walks into the room, hair still wet from his shower, and calls out to Wallace. No response. He starts to walk over to him and bumps into a tennis racket, which he picks up on his way. Piz tries to get some kind of reaction from Wallace by telling him that school policy will let him keep his stuff if he's dead, so he just shouldn't say anything. Still nothing. So he starts poking Wallace gently with the racket. This finally gets a conscious reaction from the poor guy, who then freaks out when he sees how late it is. Piz acts disappointed and calls out that he could have taken his iPod as Wallace grabs his bag and runs out.
Wallace shows up at the gym as his team is already on the court, practicing. He rushes over to the coach and apologizes for missing his alarm. Mason sarcastically calls Wallace "Sleeping Beauty," but the coach shoos him back into the game. Turning his attention to his new starter, the coach warns Wallace that he shouldn't blow this chance by staying up partying all night. Poor overwhelmed Wallace goes to suit up, rubbing his head in frustration along the way.
The latest engineering class practice quiz is being passed back to the students with the warning that all material will be on the next exam. Getting to Wallace, he returns the quiz. He scored a 67, which is a D+. Winkler smiles that it's some real improvement, but Wallace is still disappointed.
Wallace goes to his coach, later, and makes a difficult decision. He explains that he has a class that's killing him and he doesn't want to drop it and have to change majors, so he feels he needs to take the semester off from basketball. He could be back by mid-season. He does this, knowing that he might not get to keep his scholarship. Fortunately, the coach isn't such a hardass, though. He tells Wallace to keep the scholarship, but he should also know that he's throwing away his chance to be a starter and probably won't be able to play on the team at all this year. Is he really prepared for that? Wallace nods that he is.
And we later see Wallace taking copious notes as Winkler lectures on Hooke's Law. Aww. I think Alicia would be a little proud of her boy.
- Keith's at home, doing the dishes, when the phone rings. It's Harmony Chase. He's surprised to hear from her and asks if everything's okay. It is. She knows that their professional relationship is over, but she really enjoyed talking with Keith. Her husband and daughter are in Orlando for a couple of weeks and she has passes for the Noir Festival at the Orient, but no one to go with. She was thinking that maybe he'd like to join her and take in a movie, since he's a guy with an interest in the noir business. Keith hesitates to answer, glancing a bit nervously towards Veronica's room as he considers the offer.
Later, we see Keith and Harmony exiting a movie theater that's playing The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. She's asking him if what they just saw was an accurate depiction of life as a P.I. Keith says it's pretty close, even though he's never been hired to locate a Maltese falcon. A Maltese dog, on the other hand, did once try to elude him. They laugh as he explains that he had a client whose show dog was kidnapped by her ex-husband. As they come to the end of their "not a date," Harmony thanks him for coming. With the way things are with her husband these days, she can't remember the last time she just hung out and talked with someone. Keith agrees, then after a momentary pause, tells her goodnight and shakes her hand. Then follows it up with a nervously awkward hug.
On another day, Keith's home and talking to Harmony again on the phone. The film festival is playing Out of the Past, one of his favorites, tomorrow night. Harmony, however, has a conference at the Neptune Grand, so she doesnt think she'll be able to make it. She'd still like to do something, though. He's disappointed, but tells her to keep him posted and hangs up.
A couple of minutes later, Veronica notices the film festival pamphlet on the counter and asks him if he was just making a date with the person he was talking to on the phone. He denies it and when he mentions that it was Harmony he was talking to, Veronica gets concerned. This is the Harmony with the non-cheating husband? He's going on a date with a married woman? He tries to laugh it off, that it's not a date. They only saw a movie, had a drink and talked. Which, like Veronica points out, is often called a date. Keith insists they're just mature adults who happen to be friends. Veronica's skeptical face pretty much says it all.
The next evening, Veronica is walking across the lobby at the Neptune Grand, when she spots her father at the bar. She goes over to say hi and he tells her he's just there grabbing a drink. When the bartender places two martinis before him, Veronica catches the guilty glance Keith throws across the room. Yep, there's Harmony over there. Another round is played of "What are you doing going out with a married woman?" / "It's complete innocent." And in the end Keith's attempts to convince Veronica not to worry about the situation fail miserably, as she walks away.
While the "mature adults" enjoy their martinis, Keith comments that he'll have to settle for just one if he's going to be able to drive home. Harmony tells him that they really don't have to worry if they don't want to. Keith pretends to not catch on to her meaning, so she tries to be more explicit. After a long, nervous pause, she confesses that she's been doing a lot of thinking and she doesnt want to be counting her regrets when she's on her deathbed one day. Keith still feigns ignorance, so Harmony spits it out. She got a room at the hotel, so if there's a chance they might want to use it ... She sees the uncomfortable look on Keith's face and is aghast and totally embarrassed now. Keith gently tells her that he doesn't know if that's such a good idea for them right now. She apologizes for ruining things between them, but he assures her she didn't. She's amazing, but he can't do this. He really wants to say yes, but he doesn't know which he would regret more. Being with her or not being with her. So he apologizes and leaves, as Harmony tries not to cry.
Keith drives home from the hotel, lost in thought as he sits in the intersection waiting to make a turn. Suddenly, a truck crashes right into his car. (Gasps are heard across the fandom.) The other driver gets out and rushes to see if Keith's ok. He is. (Sighs of relief replace the gasps.) His airbag is currently smothering his face, but he's good. The truck driver swears that he didn't see the stop sign and after Keith gets out of the car, trying to gather his bearings, he goes to call for help. Keith stands there for a moment, catching his breath. Then he starts laughing a little in relief. And a look of determination comes over his face.
Harmony's standing at the door of her hotel room, looking through the peep hole. She opens it to find Keith standing there. Not saying a word, he grabs her and kisses her passionately, shutting the door as the intensity of their kiss grows.
The next morning, Veronica is cooking eggs and calling out to her father to come eat his breakfast. There's no response. She calls out again and still nothing. So she goes to his room and, after knocking, opens the door to find his bed hasn't been slept in.
- Veronica's paper, when shown to her online by Tim, shows the following information:
- Wallace's player number on the Hearst basketball team is #3.
- Parker wears size seven shoes.
- Tim Foyle has been studying under Professor Landry for three years.
- Mason's player number on the basketball team is #15.
- Max lives in Clark Hall.
- Veronica and Nish are sitting in the reception area outside the Dean's office on opposite ends of the couch, the physical manifestation of their opposing perspectives on the latest development in the Hearst Serial Rapist mystery. In the background we can hear Dean ODell giving faux-rape victim Claire hell for faking her attack. I so love that you hear him quip "What universe do you live in?" and "Are you completely insane?" Excellent questions, sir!
Nish snottily asks Veronica if this is what she wanted and of course, Veronicas like "Yes, Nish. I totally wanted Claire to be faking her attack so that she could ruin the credibility of the other victims. Because honestly, nothing would make me happier than to see this rapist continue assaulting women at this University." Stupidest. Question. Ever. Grrr. But there's no more time for chit-chat because the Dean's ready to bring the girls into the fray.
Veronica and Nish enter the office in just enough time to witness the Dean putting Claire's lawyer handily in his place. He reminds this dude that they have facts, witness statements, photos and the boyfriend who helped perpetrate the faux rape -- all courtesy of Veronica -- in support of the allegations against Claire. Which means that, in light of the school charter, his options for how to deal with her are very clear. He tells the lawyer that he's welcome to fight the charter if he likes, but the University's lawyers are way scarier than he is. (Not that that would be hard.) Then he tells Claire that she's expelled from Hearst as of that moment and she and her lawyer need to beat it, pronto. Claire stalks to the door, lawyer in tow, and snaps at Veronica, "Happy?" Like Veronica, I'm not going to bother responding to this again because I'm fairly confident that I covered the appropriate response to this stupid question pretty thoroughly about one paragraph up.
The Dean barely pauses for a breath before diving right into his issues with Nish. The Dean is rather perturbed that Nish didn't deem the story Veronica put together on Claire's faked attack worthy of publication in the school newspaper. After all, the evidence was simple and clear. Nish goes right into her horrendously annoying one-note feminist rant about how she felt she had a responsibility to "exercise some judgment" because "it's a powder keg out there." I'm going to read that as "it didnt further my crazy, man-hating agenda against the fraternity houses so it wasn't worth including." The Dean clearly agrees with me because he points out that Nish seemed to be lacking in caution when she implicated the Pi Sig house in the rapes. She ought to at least be pretending to be objective.
That having been said, he thinks it's about time Nish stepped down as editor of the paper. Nish gets all anxious and panicky and tells him that he can't do that because it's a student-run paper! As the Dean reminds her, he's a cagey old man and there are no limits to what he can and cannot do at Hearst. So she's done now too, for good. Dismissed.
Can I just pause for a moment to say: Go Dean! Go Dean! Go, go, go Dean! I never imagined I would say this, but the Dean is so bad ass. He totally rules.
Nish storms out, but not before telling both the Dean and Veronica that they'll both regret this. I don't think either one of them is particularly bothered by this threat 'cause really, what can the girl do?
Several days later, Veronica is indulging Parker's newfound crush on Piz (and I give that a great big 'whatever') by accompanying her on a "drop by" of Pizs radio show. As the trio is on the way out for some pizza, Mercer is on his way in to do his radio show "Club Flush." Seeing a new hot girl he hasn't met, Mercer introduces himself to Parker and seems a bit taken with her. She seems less than thrilled. In fact, she looks downright peaked. Completely forgetting her desire to hang out with Piz and gorge on pizza, she drags Veronica out of the studio.
Veronica can clearly see that Parker is upset and wonders what has triggered her anxiety. Parker tells Veronica that meeting Mercer really wigged her out because she recognized him. Well, not him exactly, but his cologne. The scent has been forever burned into her brain because it was the same cologne the rapist was wearing the night she was attacked. Add to that the bad vibe she got when she shook his hand, and you've got all the ingredients for a proper freak-out. Veronica totally sympathizes and assures Parker that while Mercer's busy pumping out club jams, she'll do some surreptitious investigating.
Using Weevil's keys (and boy have those come in handy this week!) Veronica takes a quick tour of Mercer's room. She finds his cologne and makes note of the name. The only other suspicious item she comes across is a pair of hair clippers, seemingly hidden away in a dresser drawer. Not exactly solid proof, but definitely suspicious. The next day, Veronica pays a visit to the Sheriffs office to trade barbed insults with Lamb and share a sarcastic chuckle over his totally inappropriate "rape humor." And then we apparently take a side trip into an alternate universe where Veronica takes her suspicions and her somewhat shaky evidence to Lamb. For further investigation. Of a crime she knows he's innately skeptical of and jackassish about. To quote Simon Tam of the late, great Firefly, "This must be what going crazy feels like."
Craziness aside, Veronica tells Lamb about Parker's run-in with Mercer, the smell of his cologne, and the things she found when she just happened to be in his room that night. And Lamb listens. And takes her seriously. And shares with her the information he has on Mercer. "No ... this must be what going crazy feels like." Lamb tells Veronica that when they recovered the cash box from the casino robbery, in addition to wads of cash they also discovered two vials of GHB, the very same drug used on two of the rape victims. Duhn, duhn, duhn, DUHN! Red herring, thy name is Mercer Hayes.
Later that day, after confronting T.A. Tim about setting her up with the whole plagiarism scam, she notices that he has a bulletin board dedicated to the Hearst rapes. You know, the kind of crazy news clipping board that every movie serial killer keeps -- which, Im hoping will make Veronica recognize that Tim is SO clearly another red herring in this complex mystery. Tim comments that the police have recovered no physical evidence from any of the attacks: No hair, no semen, no trace of any kind. Oooh! New information! And I agree, it is pretty interesting. Veronica studies the board intently and utters a brief "huh" in an attempt to screw with Tim's head and make him think she sees something he doesn't. But is she really faking? Only time will tell.
The next day Veronica gets roped into sharing part of her lunch with the Dean in the Student Union as she seems to be one of the few college students he actually likes. Moments later, Logan approaches looking really anxious and tells her he needs to talk to her. He pulls Veronica aside and tells her that he needs her help. Apparently red-herring Mercer has just been arrested for the rapes, but Logan knows that Mercer's innocent and he needs Veronica's help to prove it. Based on her own recent investigation into Mercer's life, Veronica is clearly less than certain that Logan's got the right of it. But Logan is emphatic that he knows that Mercer didnt do it because they were together the night of the rape that occurred over the summer. The catch? He can't tell Veronica where they were or what they were doing. He just begs her to trust him. A statement immediately followed by the groan heard round the world.
Why, you might ask? Mainly due to the ominous sound that immediately followed Logan's plea for trust. Do you know what that sound is folks? It is the bell of relationship DOOM tolling in the distance. Because despite her comments about trying to act "unnaturally" I have little hope that Veronica will actually, in fact, trust Logan on this vital issue. Eeeeeeeeeek.
"Prince of Wands" (Douglas Armour)
Scene: Unpleasant sixth-grade flashbacks? Bad. Having to look at Piz's haircut for longer than two seconds? Horrific.
"I'm Not In Love" (10cc)
Scene: Hmm, thinks Keith. Crash!, goes Keith car. Hmm, thinks Keith again with a laugh. 'Ooh, baby' goes Keith and the cheating wife.
LoVe Lines
Mercer: That is classic.
Logan: It was a proctor. The professor wasn't even there.
Mercer: That is so awesome. (Sees Veronica approaching.) But I do not condone it in any way and had nothing to do with your decision to do it.
Veronica: Do what?
Mercer: Cheating. I told him it was wrong and he was going to burn in Hell. (To Logan.) You're going to burn in Hell, man.
Logan: I'll see you there.
Veronica: (Taking a seat next to Logan.) You cheated?
Logan: I took ten extra seconds on a test. I thought you loved bad boys.
Veronica: I do, but if that's your idea of bad, you need to turn in your badge. (Rests her arm on Logan's shoulder.) Hey, do you want to go bowling tomorrow night? (Leans forward to grab Logan's drink.)
Logan: Sure. Unless it's some critical analysis of bowling seminar, then --
Veronica: No, it's just Wallace and his roommate and some other guys. Could be fun. (Shrugs, then notices Parker sitting alone at a table.)
Logan: What?
Veronica: Just Mac's had this project all week and Parker's all alone. (Taps Logan's shoulder.) I think we should invite her along.
Logan: Mm, how very Emma of you.
Veronica: Did you just make a Jane Austen reference? It's official, (Mockingly.) the end of days are upon us.
Veronica: (Entering Logan's suite.) Hi honey, I'm home.
Logan: (Sitting at the end of his bed, tying his shoe.) Hey, moosetastic, huh? What's that -- (Veronica interrupts him with a kiss.) Mmmm.
Veronica: So tired of explaining. Hey, you've lived here awhile, do you have any inside connections?
Logan: (Switches to the other shoe.) Inside connections like what?
Veronica: Like, someone on staff you're pals with who might sneak you info they're not supposed to?
Veronica: (At hotel desk, waiting for Tina to be free.) Your pal? (Off Logan's nod.) Of course.
Logan: (As Tina approaches them.) Hi, Tina, uh, this is Veronica, Veronica ... (Making introductions, gestures at Tina.)
Tina: Hi. What's going on, Logan?
Logan: Listen, I've got a little favor.
Tina: (Whispering.) Anything.
Logan: I'm trying to find out if a person, who was registered here, someone named -- (Looks to Veronica.)
Veronica: Rory Finch.
Tina: This isn't illegal, is it? (Laughs after Logan and Veronica stare back blankly.) No, I'm just kidding. Hold on. (Logan blows a kiss at Veronica as Tina looks it up.) Yeah, Rory Finch. She stayed with us for a night a week ago and a few other times over the last couple of months. Always one-night stays.
Veronica: Is there an address, credit-card number?
Tina: Mmm, post-office box and paid in cash. All I've got's a name.
Veronica: If I left my cell number, could you call me if they checked back in?
Tina: Sure. (Grinning at Logan.) Any friend of Logan's.
Veronica: Girlfriend of Logan's. (Taking Logan's arm and leading him away.) Come on Boyfriend, let's bowl.
Piz: (To Veronica as she approaches him at the bowling alley.) Hey Veronica. Cool shirt. (Pointing out his own shirt.) I went the, uh, post-ironic route.
Veronica: Hey, Piz. (Looking around.) Where's ...
Piz: (To Logan when he comes up behind Veronica.) Oh, hey, uh
Logan: (Smiling, amused.) Logan. Her boyfriend. We met.
Piz: Right.
Veronica: So, where's Wallace? And the rest of this gang?
Piz: (Lamely.) Right, uh, the gang. Well, Wallace had a crisis, so he can't make it, and um
Veronica: (Uncomfortably.) So, it's just --
Parker: (Approaching the group.) Veronica. Hi.
Veronica: Hey, Parker. How's it going?
Parker: Hey.
Veronica: (Pointing to Logan.) Uh, you met Logan, right?
Parker: (To Logan.) Yeah, hi, sure.
Logan: Hi.
Veronica: (Pointing to Piz.) And you remember Piz.
Parker: (Shakes Piz's hand.) Yeah, hi. (Looking around at the group.) So, um. Where is everyone?
Piz: (Laughs, breaking the silence.) Hey, shoes. We need shoes.
Logan: Yeah, let's get shoes. (Turning to Veronica.) Uh, Darling, what size are those dainty feet that I love so much?
Veronica: Six.
Logan: (Putting a hand on Piz's shoulder, leading him away.) So bowling, huh? Is this something you do a lot? You and the gang?
Parker: (Bowls a strike.) Yay hooooo! That's two-thirds of a Turkey, bitches. (High fives Logan.) Ah, you're in a deep hole, Piznarski. We're gonna totally humiliate you, but, you know, no pressure.
Logan: Refreshments?
Piz: Ten Martinis.
Logan: Anyone else? (Looking at Veronica.) Dearest, darling?
Veronica: (Throws herself down on Logan's couch.) Oh, no more fun. Too exhausting.
Logan: Yeah. Next time we'll get in some weight training before we bowl. (Takes off his shirt. Yay!)
Veronica: Just the soap opera. Parker wants me to find out if Piz likes her. What do I do? Pass a note? Scribble it on his Trapper Keeper? (Looks down at the coffee table.) Hey, did you get an A? (Picks up his Sociology test.)
Logan: Yeah. But, the cheating kinda cheapens the whole thing. (Puts a shirt on. Boo!)
Veronica: You're only cheating yourself.
Logan: (Jumps onto the couch beside Veronica.) Yeah, well, I got off easy. You know that kid Horshack, from the Prison Experiment? He got caught doing two tests. They busted him. And guess who else? That psycho guard that was tormenting him so bad, Rafe, yeah, he was taking his test for him. Can you believe that? People are crazy, huh? (Hears a knock at the door.) Oh, thank god. Real food.
Logan: Oh, you guys know each other?
Veronica: You want to tell him, Ratner?
Ratner: What's to tell?
Veronica: This is the guy who's trying to get me tossed out of Landry's class.
Ratner: You should be. You cheated.
Veronica: Now it turns out you work at the Neptune Grand, which happens to be where the fake paper was posted from. Strange, huh, Rory Finch?
Ratner: What are you talking about? I don't "happen to work here." I've worked here two years. You've seen me a hundred times, but you don't notice the little people 'cause you're too busy lounging with Captain Moneybags here.
Logan: That's Admiral Moneybags.
Ratner: I trust our steak's to your liking?
Logan: Always.
Ratner: Good night, then. (Leaves.)
Logan: Well, that's my girl. Spreading sunshine wherever she goes.
Veronica: That boy doesn't know it yet, but he's the living dead. (Logan kisses the back of her head.)
Quotable Quotes
Nish: So, is this what you wanted?
Veronica: (Sadly and incredulously.) You think this is what I wanted?
Dean O'Dell: Yes. We have photos, we have witnesses, we have the boyfriend who helped. There's no question Claire lied about the rape and the Hearst Charter is quite clear about this. You want to challenge the charter, that's fine. We have lawyers too, and they're a lot scarier than you, Mr. Davis. Miss Nordhouse. You're expelled from Hearst College as of this moment, and so is your lawyer. (Pauses.) That's all.
Dean O'Dell: I found the facts fairly simple to corroborate.
Nish: I felt I had a responsibility to exercise some caution with a story implying the rapes might have been faked. In case you haven't noticed, it's a powder keg out there.
Dean O'Dell: I noticed, but I didn't see much caution when you implicated the Pi Sigma house. You're supposed to at least pretend to be objective. I'm afraid I'm gonna need you to step down as editor of the Free Press.
Nish: Its a student paper! You cant
Dean O'Dell: I'm a devious old man, Nish. You'd be surprised what I can do. You're done there, as of this moment. (Rises to his feet.)
Nish: (Threateningly.) You'll regret this. (Slowly walks around Veronica, adds venomously.). And so will you.
Dean O'Dell: (Semi-sarcastically.) Pardon us. My important lunch. (Mindy smiles.) Better be a cookie in there.
Mindy: Oh, of course there isn't.
Dean ODell: (Pulls sandwich and apple out of bag.) Why do you punish me like this?
Mindy: Because I'm your wife, that's what I'm for. Remember? (Glances at nervously smiling Wallace. Whispers to her husband.) Be merciful. (Kisses him and walks out.)
Dean ODell: She probably ate the damn cookie herself. So, what do you have to say?
Wallace: I'm with her on the mercy thing.
Landry: The whole of human knowledge, right there online, and these papers are thin. Am I crazy to expect better? And if you're confused as to what better is, let me direct you to the front. (Points to one paper pinned to the top of the board.) Where I've posted our only example of A-caliber work. Nice job, Miss Mars. (General grumble from other students, directed at Veronica.)
Veronica Mars Voiceover: (Sarcastically.) Well, this should make me popular.
Keith: He's smart, huh? Is he smarter than your old man?
Veronica: (Points at her dad) You know, actually, you two have a lot in common. You'd like him.
Keith: Can I take him in a fight? Be honest.
Veronica: Ah. How did you get this number? I don't give it out to anyone.
Tim: You're not the only one at this school who has certain gifts.
Veronica: Gifts. That was my grandmother's term for, um, female (Whistles and outlines a curvy female form with her hands.) Just so you know.
Veronica: There's no way. Someone is trying to screw with me.
Tim: You think it's me? You think I'm trying to get you out of Landry's class because I don't like you?
Veronica: (With mock surprise.) Wait. You don't like me?
Veronica Mars Voiceover: Apparently, if you look hard enough, everyone looks like they're hiding dark secrets. So, if you're looking for something specific, you gotta try the direct approach. (Stands in front of the class and addresses the students.)
Veronica: Hi. Uh, some of you might know who I am. Veronica Mars. (No reaction from the class.) Okay. So, I wrote that paper And now someone in this class has accused me of plagiarizing it, which I absolutely did not. So, I was kind of wondering who it was. (No one volunteers.) So, is this silence, like, it wasn't any of you or, like, no one wants to face me?
Veronica Mars Voiceover: Or like no one actually did it and our weasely T. A. is trying to --
Jeff: I did it. Jeff Ratner.
Veronica: Ratner. Um, have we met before?
Jeff: We have, but you probably don't remember, so whatever.
Veronica: So, you reported me. Why did you --
Jeff: Why? Maybe 'cause I'm a common man kind of guy, and I like it when some teacher's pet who's destroying the curve for everyone, gets exposed as a cheat. Yeah, you cheated. I caught you. Deal with it. (Many students cheer.)
Veronica: (Opening the door to Wallace's room.) Wallace!
Wallace: (Clearly sitting on his bed.) Not here.
Veronica: And you would be?
Wallace: Evil Wallace. And I know Veronica Mars doesn't hang with the evil and morally bankrupt.
Veronica: Evil Wallace wouldn't have confessed and faced punishment. Nope. You're Regular Wallace.
Max: (To Veronica.) This must be a real Kafkaesque experience for you.
Proctor: I'm sorry. (Hands Logan his exam back.)
Logan: What about it?
Proctor: I called time and you kept writing. I can't accept your test.
Logan: Yeah, I was just finishing my --
Proctor: Time was called. I'm sorry.
Logan: So you keep saying, dude, but come on.
Proctor: (Shaking his head.) Mm-mm.
Logan: (Purposefully indignant.) Do you have any idea who I am?
Proctor: I don't and I don't care. Rules are rules, for everyone, no matter who they think (Turns around to see Logan mixing in his exam with all the others. Logan starts walking out of the classroom, turning around to offer the proctor a smug grin. He slips his pencil in his ear and leaves.)
Veronica: Hey, Parker. What's up?
Parker: Nothing. (Making a disgusted face.) I think I just ate something's beak.
Veronica: Hey, do you want to come bowling with us tomorrow night?
Parker: Bowling? (Skeptical.) Why?
Veronica: You know. Hatchet-burying, etcetera. Plus, Nixon found it soothing. Look, if you don't want to go because you'd rather see me fed to bears, fine. (Parker grins.)
Harmony: So, would you call that an accurate depiction of life as a private eye?
Keith: Pretty close. I personally have never been hired to locate a Maltese falcon, per se, but there was the case of the Maltese dog.
Keith: (To Harmony.) It's great talking to someone for whom Bogart isn't a verb.
Dean O'Dell: (Calling to Veronica from his office.) Do you follow boxing?
Veronica: (Entering the office.) I only follow sports that are done to music.
Veronica: (To Wallace who's studying at the library.) You're gonna ruin your eyes with all that book learnin'.
Veronica: Ah, my innocent and naive Wallace. When I find out who did this and I make them sing like the proverbial fat lady, that's when it's over. (Getting ready to leave Wallace to his studying.) Okay. You're Rocky, mechanical engineering is Mr. T, "Eye of the Tiger" is playing.
Veronica: (Holding up bowling shirt.) So, for bowling. Earnest, I'm really bowling, or (Holding up t-shirt.) I'm too cool for bowling and I'm only here ironically.
Keith: When did crappy old shirts with stupid stuff on them become cool?
Veronica: I don't know why I ask you these things.
Keith: I don't either, frankly.
Piz: (Rolls a gutter ball.) Damn it straight to hell.
Veronica: Parker, are you ok?
Parker: Oh, that guy Mercer, I just -- His cologne. I smelled it before.
Veronica: Yeah?
Parker: It's like burned into my brain. From the night I was raped. I mean I can't be sure, but (Breathes out.) Oh, I just, I just got the worst --
Veronica: Vibe? (Parker nods.) Yeah. He'll be in there for the next two hours. I'll look into it.
Veronica Mars Voiceover: Because I've still got twenty-four hours with Weevil's keys.
Lamb: (To himself, as he walks to his office.) You wanna know why? Because I'll stick my foot so far up your -- (Sees Veronica sitting in his office. She smiles. Calls out to staff.) Hey. Could someone let me know when some girl is in my office?
Veronica: This is sketchy, but --
Lamb: If it's Bigfoot, we checked. He's got an alibi.
Veronica: (Not amused.) Ohhh, rape humor. It never gets old.
Veronica: What are you doing?
Keith: (Smiling.) Honey, I told you it's completely innocent. We're just friends.
Veronica: You think the other person's great and you have a great time doing stuff together friends?
Keith: And there's nothing wrong with it.
Veronica: Unless your 'friend' is a very attractive unhappily married woman.
Keith: Veronica, I know a little more about this than you. Don't worry.
Veronica: I worry.
Tim Foyle: A person in my position might have thought he was doing you a favor. Since the professor thinks so highly of you, it might be helpful to demonstrate who he really is before you go to far under his spell.
Veronica: Do me a favor will ya? Don't do me any more favors.
Veronica: (Looking at Tim's bulletin board.) What's this? You have the same kind of crazy, press clipping board every movie serial killer keeps.
Dean O'Dell: Ahhh, Ms. Mars, join me would you?
Veronica: (Looking around uncomfortably.) Uh, sure, Dean.
Dean O'Dell: I just don't want more kids coming and giving me their ideas about how to run the school. My biggest problem as Dean. (Lowers voice to a whisper.) I don't like college students.
Hi, Infidelity (REO Speedwagon) ... (Referenced by the episode title.)
This is Logan, brought to you by "Keep On Loving You:"
There's a reason to believe that the show runners were attracted by the more direct implication of the title rather than the actual songs on the album. After all, the episode was all about infidelity, or cheating, academic and marital.
High Fidelity ... (Referenced by the episode title.)
A novel by Nick Hornby, which was adapted into a film by the same name (2000), starring John Cusack. The film follows the life of a record store owner, Rob Gordon (Fleming in the novel), who examines his past "Top Five Break-ups of All Time" after his girlfriend Laura ends their relationship.
He calls up his ex-girlfriends, asking them for an explanation of where things went wrong. He finds out that Girl #1 married the guy she dumped him for (in high school), so it wasn't his fault -- it was true love. Girl #2 reminds him that he had in fact dumped her for not putting out, and informs him that she was so heartbroken, that she let some random guy take her virginity, because she was convinced sex was the only way to get a guy to stay with her. So, basically he ruined her life, but Rob considers this a good thing, since it meant their break-up wasn't about her not wanting him. Girl #3 was a safety-net girlfriend; they hooked up after mutual bad break-ups, and it worked until she found a better guy. Having just been recently dumped herself, she is more interested in starting things up again with Rob than hashing out what it was that made the other guy better, so he wishes her well and lets it go. Girl #4 is Rob's nightmare, the goddess he was never good enough for, who dumped him for another guy (the break-up before Girl #3). Older and a little wiser, Rob meets up again with Charlie (Girl #4) and is surprised to find that the spell is broken -- she's admittedly gorgeous (played by Catherine Zeta Jones in the film), but he now only sees her as a vapid, pretentious, boring person, and he's glad she dumped him when she did.
At this point in the film (different from the book), Rob admits that there was no #5 Worst Break-up, that he had just put another name in there to keep Laura off the list. He fills the audience in on where things may have gone astray in their relationship:
In a deleted scene from the movie, a bitter soon-to-be divorce invites Rob over to her house to purchase her philandering husband's priceless record collection for $50. Rob insists on paying the proper price for the records, stating that he 'couldn't do that to another collector.' In the end, he begs her to sell him one Otis Redding album, and she agrees to sell it for ten cents. He insists on giving her at least $10, saying it's worth twenty times that amount. It looks like Piz didn't get the memo about the ethical code between record collectors, since he seemed to have no problem paying the bitter soon-to-be divorce at the garage sale 99 cents for her husband's Clash album. Kind of odd since Piz's MySpace page lists High Fidelity as one of his favorite movies. Poseur. (Nice shout-out, writers.)
Columbia (University) studies (Referenced by T.A. Lucky -- I mean Tim!, when speaking to Dr. Landry)
Columbia University, legally known as Columbia University in the City of New York, is a private university whose main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is one of the eight Ivy League universities and among the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the world.
Columbia University was established in 1754 as King's College. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States. Today, Columbia is one of the top academic and research institutions in the world, conducting pathbreaking research in medicine, science, the arts, and the humanities. It includes three undergraduate schools, thirteen graduate and professional schools, and a school of continuing education. The university is also affiliated with: Barnard College (BC), an undergraduate liberal arts college for women, and one of the Seven Sisters; the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS); and the Union Theological Seminary (UTS); all located nearby in Morningside Heights. A joint undergraduate program is available through the Juilliard School.
The Columbia University Shield displaying the school motto
"In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen," which means
"In Thy light shall we see the light," a paraphrase of Psalms 35:10.
Orlando ... (Referenced by Harmony as she tells Keith her husband and daughter are currently there.)
Orlando is the county seat of Orange County, Florida. A 2005 U.S. Census Estimates population count gave the city population as 213,233, with the population in the metropolitan area exceeding 1.8 million. It is the sixth-largest city in Florida, and its largest inland city. It is also at the head of the Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Orlando-Kissimmee MSA is Florida's third-largest metropolitan area, behind Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Additionally, Orlando is home to the second largest university in Florida, the University of Central Florida.
One can assume that Harmonys hubby and progeny were in Orlando for the same reason most people visit: the insane number of tourist attractions. Number one on that list, of course, is the Magic Kingdom -- The Walt Disney World Resort. Other area attractions include SeaWorld and Universal Orlando Resort. Orlando sees an estimated 52 million tourists a year, and accordingly is the second largest city in the country for number of hotel rooms.
But Orlando is good for more than just mindless fun. Honest! It is a leader in medical care and research with two major health systems, Florida Hospital and Orlando Regional Healthcare System. Florida Hospital, a faith-based not-for-profit hospital system, is the largest healthcare system in Central Florida and one of the largest hospitals in the United States. Florida Hospital has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of America's top hospitals for eight consecutive years. Orlando Regional Healthcare Systems main campus, Orlando Regional Medical Center, is one of the busiest Level I Trauma Centers in the country, and also is home to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando. ORMC is the only statutory teaching hospital in Central Florida.
The city's nickname is "The City Beautiful," though plans are underway to change this title through a local contest. It has also been referred to as "O-Town," though that nickname has been forever tarnished by the craptastic 90s boyband that bogarted the name.
O-Town: The City Beautiful.
Noir ... (Referenced by Harmony when she invites Keith to the film festival.)
The phrase film noir was coined by French film critics not long after the end of Word War II. A French word, "noir" literally means "black" and gave the populace the concept of "dark film." In the early 1940's when France was occupied by the Nazis they were considered enemy territory and were forbidden to receive anything produced by Hollywood. By the time the war ended, there was more than five years of backlogged American movies that began to hit French theaters in a rush, as opposed to gradually as they had over the years before. The French were surprised to note that the formerly sunny optimism of can-do U.S.A. had been replaced by a gloomy, pessimistic worldview.
It was true. American movies did grow darker in the 1940's -- not only visually, but also in terms of theme and content. Americans felt powerless to avoid unknowable conflicts on foreign soil and this was mirrored in movies with doomed heroes whose fate seemed pre-ordained, the characters immune to free will. With the popularity of Freudianism at the time, psychological concerns became part of public conversation and this introspection was reflected in film through the use of voice-over to describe the mindset of the characters. Many films during this period took on the unearthly feeling of a waking dream, and this along with other elements came together to articulate the mood of film noir.
One defining characteristic of film noir is fatalism, which is notably absent from most pseudo-noirs of today. A small lapse in judgment, a petty crime, a little white lie -- blaming a powerful man of murdering his daughter -- sucks the doomed protagonist (who is typically a "Joe Blow" American male) into utter annihilation, which is made only more difficult to deal with by his futile attempts to escape. It is often described as a "spiderweb of deceit." That such minor wrongs could lead to such harsh punishments suggests an air of hysteria, of moral panic, and tells us something of ordinary people's attitudes and expectations.
Apart from its thematic elements which often include alienation and transgression -- as well as fatalism -- the other half of the noir equation was its look. Long, sharply defined shadows, tilted camera angles, frames immersed in inky blackness, and a feeling of claustrophobia, created a look that was aesthetically a nocturnal, bottomless unreality that is easily recognizable and often imitated. Linking this look to its dark plotlines helped film noir to express themes of shadowy motivations and bleak prospects.
London Calling (The Clash) ... (Referenced by Piz as he shows Veronica the record he got at a garage sale.)
"Forget it, brother, you can go it alone."
Are you listening, Piz? That's the Clash speaking directly to you, through the lyrics of the titular song from their milestone of an album, London Calling, released in December 1979. So, stop chasing Veronica! Take your un-ironic hipster self and your ninety-nine cent find and let the punk rock console you!
The Clash, an English rock band (1976 to 1986), achieved an iconic status on the music scene as part of the original wave of punk rock in the late 1970s. Their stage presence and performances were legendary, as well as their music, command of the instruments, and their passionate, political lyrics. At the time of this recording, the band consisted of Joe Strummer (vocals, rhythm guitar, piano), Mick Jones (guitar, vocals, piano), Paul Simonon (bass, vocals), and Topper Headon (drums, percussion).
The album is an eclectic blend of their trademark punk rock, sophisticated pop, hard rock, jazz, reggae, ska, and rockabilly. Considered to be the best work of the band's career, the tracks from London Calling are still played regularly by radio stations everywhere. Rolling Stone Magazine's latest "Top 500 albums of all time" lists this one at #8, and Entertainment Weekly went so far as to put it as #1 of their "Top 25 Albums of the last 25 Years." And if you are a technological and musical snob (or simply easily amused like Piz), you can apparently get it in vinyl, unscratched, and for only 99 cents. The album cover photo is that of Paul Simonon breaking his guitar (taken by Pennie Smith).
The cover itself has also made a few lists, namely it was considered the best rock-and-roll photograph of all time by the British music and entertainment Q Magazine (and somewhere, all the Beatles photographers are weeping).
Piz, I want to leave you with the song "Brand New Cadillac:"
Richard Nixon ... (Referenced by Piz as he tells Veronica that bowling is a good distraction for people who think everyone is out to get them.)
Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States (1969-74), received the moniker "Tricky Dick" for his early reputation of deviousness in the political arena. Before becoming president he served as Vice President under Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-61), and lost his first bid for the Oval Office in 1960 to John F. Kennedy.
Born in Yorba Linda, CA, Nixon was raised as an evangelical Quaker. He graduated first in his class at Whittier High School and turned down a full-tuition scholarship to Harvard, choosing instead to attend Whittier College. A local Quaker school, it was there that he founded the fraternity, the Orthogonian Society. A fearsome debater, he was soon elected student body president. Graduating second in his class in 1934, he went on to receive a full scholarship from Duke University School of Law and graduated third in his class.
Nixon served as a reserve officer in the Navy during World War II. During this time he was known as "Nick" and for his skill at poker. It was here that he banked a large enough sum to help finance his first campaign for Congress. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1946, his first major breakthrough came in his two terms in Congress, where his unrelenting investigation on the House Un-American Activities Committee broke the impasse of the Alger Hiss spy case in 1948.
During his presidency, Nixon visited China and established dtente with the USSR. Although he increased U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia during this time, he was also credited with the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops. When the Watergate scandal broke in 1974, faced with Congress' recommended three articles of impeachment because of his involvement, Nixon became the first president to ever resign from office (August 9, 1974). He was later pardoned by President Gerald Ford and re-emerged some years later as a commentator on foreign policy. Richard Nixon died at the age of 81 on April 22, 1994.
Kafka(esque) ... (Referenced by Max as he describes Veronica's situation.)
Franz Kafka was one of the most prolific German-language novelists and short story writers of the 20th Century. "Kafkaesque" is an adjective that is used when relating to Kafka or his writings. The term has also been described as "marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of impending danger" and marked by as senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity. The word has become part of social discourse to mean ordinary yet absurd and surreal circumstances which are commonly found in works by Kafka.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" ... (Referenced by Logan's reaction to the proctor's unwillingness to accept his test.)
The ploy Logan used to turn in his exam after the proctor refused to accept it has been passed around college campuses for decades. A student from the University of Maryland even presented the story as fact on NPR's "All Things Considered" on May 19, 1987. The key element is the student's anonymity to the professor (or proctor, as in Logan's case). There are a number of variations to the tale. Sometimes the student has been caught cheating and needs to hide his identity, in others a student is actually a ringer hired to take a test on behalf of someone else, and in still others a student has forgotten her ID. Variations on the anonymity theme are also used in jokes set in situations with an authority figure and large numbers of faceless subordinates. One example, from a 1950 joke book, follows:
Emma (Referenced by Logan when Veronica suggests inviting Parker to go bowling)
A novel by Jane Austen. The title character and heroine of this story is Emma Woodhouse, a young woman described in the opening paragraphs as 'handsome, clever, and rich.' Emma lives with her father, and her best friend is Mr. Knightley, her neighbor and her sister's husband's brother. The novel opens with Emma taking credit for the marriage of her former governess and her new husband. Emma introduced the pair and decides that she is an excellent matchmaker.
Emma takes her new friend, Harriet Smith, under her wing as her protg, and is determined to match her with a suitable husband. She convinces Harriet to reject the proposal of Mr. Martin, who Emma deemed unworthy, and set about to persuade the social-climbing Mr. Elton to ask for Harriet's hand in marriage. Emma is loathe to discover that Elton never took an interest to Harriet, but instead has his sights set on Emma herself.
Sometime later, Harriet confides in Emma that she has fallen in love with Mr. Knightley, a pairing which Emma is immediately opposed to. After consideration, Emma finds that she herself is in love with Knightley, and that Knightley holds similar affections for her. The two are engaged, and Harriet happily reconciles with Mr. Martin.
Several movie versions of this story have been made; Emma (1996) stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma and Toni Collete as Harriet. A British televised version aired the same year starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma. Clueless (1995), which stars Alicia Silverstone as Cher (Emma), Paul Rudd (Knightley), and Brittany Murphy (Harriet) is a modern spin on the classic novel.
Jane Austen ... (Referenced by Veronica, noting Logan's Emma reference.)
Born in December 16, 1775, Jane Austen is one of the most beloved authors of all time, with her works still held in wide regard today. Reprinted several times, her novels have also been made into film and television several times over including the 2005 Oscar-nominated Pride and Prejudice (which still doesn't hold a candle to the BBC version starring Colin Firth as Darcy). Along with her quick-witted heroines and sprightly plotting, Austen also deftly explored the inner working of a woman's mind. Sadly, Austen only enjoyed moderate success in her lifetime.
The Maltese Falcon ... (Referenced by Keith and Harmony as they discuss the film festival.)
It was first published as a serial in Black Mask Magazine in 1929, written by Dashiell Hammett. It is considered the beginning of the 'hard-boiled' detective and was the most famous of the Sam Spade novels.
The story was filmed twice. The second movie, released in 1941, went on to be an enduring classic of film noir realized by first time director John Huston. It stars Humphrey Bogart as private eye Spade, who is approached by a mysterious femme fatale (played by Mary Astor) to follow a man. During the pursuit, Spade's partner is murdered and he becomes embroiled in the quest for the lost Maltese Falcon. The falcon being a grail-like statuette of a bird, believed to be solid gold and jeweled beneath a black veneer.
The hero Sam Spade must choose between "getting the girl" and his obligation to do the right thing. Typical for the noir period film, the hero eventually makes the moral decision. The 1941 incarnation of the film, although somewhat censored from the original work, has been credited with creating a whole genre of crime mystery and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Maltese Dog ... (Referenced by Keith when he tells Harmony about a case he worked.)
Described by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus as belonging to the "Melita" breed, an archaic name for Malta, the Maltese was developed in Italy with the addition of poodle and miniature spaniel blood. The breed is believed to have been first brought to England by Crusaders returning home from the Mediterranean. They quickly became popular, particularly with women, who were able to carry them in their sleeves. Although, the Roman governor of Malta, Publius, prized his Maltese so much he commissioned a portrait of "Issa" and had poets write sonnets about her.
Fine-boned, but sturdy, the Maltese is a hardy little companion dog with a luxurious silky white coat, and a popular choice as far as show dogs go. Spirited, lively, and playful, Maltese are highly intelligent and quick to learn tricks. They get on well with other animals, but have been know to be snappish with inconsiderate children and are often difficult to housetrain. Maltese range anywhere from 8-10 inches in height and normally weigh anywhere from 6-9 pounds. The life expectancy of the breed is generally 15-18 years.
Peter Lorre ... (Referenced by Keith as he tells Harmony that if real criminals were like Lorre, his job would be more interesting.)
Peter Lorre was a stage and screen actor of Hungarian descent, whose distinctive look, voice and performance made him a truly memorable character actor and villain of the silver screen.
In 1904, Ladislav (Lszl) Lwenstein was born to Jewish parents in Rzsahegy, Austria-Hungary. At 17, he ran away from home and began an acting career on the stages of Vienna, Breslau and Zrich. It was when he moved to Berlin in the late 1920s that he adopted his stage name of "Lorre." After a few minor film parts, Lorre came to international attention in the role of a psychopathic child-killer in Fritz Lang's M (1931). As the Nazis came to power in 1933, Lorre took refuge in Paris and later London, where he played the part of Abbot in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934). (The German-speaking actor phonetically learned much of his English dialogue for the film.) Lorre moved to Hollywood in 1935, where he played Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment (1935) and the Japanese detective Mr. Moto in a series of films. He co-starred with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in You'll Find Out (1940) and with Humphrey Bogart in the memorable film roles of Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Ugarte in Casablanca (1942).
After World War II, Lorre's career was mostly concentrated on the stage and radio. Then in 1951, he co-wrote, directed and starred in the German film noir Der Verlorene (The Lost One). Returning to the U.S., Lorre continued to appear as a character actor in television and film and was, in fact, the first actor to play a James Bond villain: Monsieur Le Chiffre ("the cipher") in the 1954 one-hour Americanized adaptation of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, on the CBS television series Climax!.
Decades later, his unusual voice and mannerisms continue to be parodied, particularly in cartoons (e.g. Ren in The Ren & Stimpy Show). Lorre was once quoted as saying, "All that anyone needs to imitate me is two soft-boiled eggs and a bedroom voice."
Married three times, Lorre had one child, daughter Catharine. A stroke ended his life in 1964, after he had completed filming his final film role in the Jerry Lewis film The Patsy.
Humphrey Bogart ... (Referenced by Keith as he tells Harmony how nice it is to talk to someone who doesn't just use 'Bogart' as a verb.)
Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) was an American actor, who starred in some of the most notorious noir films of his generation and was named the Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. Some of his most significant films include Angels with Dirty Faces, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep, Key Largo, and The African Queen.
Bogart had a rocky, off-and-on relationship with his frequent co-star Lauren Bacall, and only the last of their four marriages ended happily. The two met while filming To Have and Have Not, and had 2 children together.
The phrase "to bogart" is associated with stealing or selfishly hogging something, and while the expression was usually reserved for not sharing a cigarette or joint, it is now used to describe any object.
The expression comes from this iconic image of Humphrey Bogart with a cigarette. He would often just hold the cigarette in the corner of his mouth without actually taking a drag from it, so the term 'don't bogart that ' is meant to say, 'pass that on to someone else.'
Haymaker ... (Referenced by Dean O'Dell's commentary on the boxing match he's watching.)
A haymaker is a term often used in boxing to describe a wild swing used as a last resort. It entails throwing all one's weight into the swing in an effort to knock out the opponent or at least render him unable to continue. A haymaker is also the most common punch used in street fights and can be powerful enough to break a man's jaw. The use of the term to mean a very strong blow with the fist likely originated in 1912, and probably came from the imitation of the wide swinging stroke of the scythe used to cut hay.
Rocky / Mr. T / "Eye of the Tiger" ... (Referenced by Veronica as she gives Wallace a pep talk.)
I'm going to try to be as reasonable and rational about this entry as possible, but I warn you now, it won't be easy. See, many years ago when I was a young, enthusiastic dancer, I took a wonderful jazz class three nights a week. This once-great class was ruined by the late arrival of three girls who had no business being in the advanced class but were "way too old" to be stuck in the beginner classes. Long story somewhat shorter, we started out the year working on a kick-ass routine to "Cold Hearted Snake" by Paula Abdul (hey, it was the 80's) but because the stupid non-dancing chicks couldn't do ANY of the steps, we were stuck doing a mind-blowingly, utterly humiliating, completely craptastic routine to "Eye of the Tiger" for the end of the year showcase. Needless to say those opening chords still induce traumatic stress flash-backs to the seventh grade for all of us that suffered through that humiliating ordeal.
Ahem. On to the actual info.
Released in 1982, Rocky III was the third movie in the ridiculously long Rocky movie franchise starring Sylvester Stallone as the titular character. In this third installment, Rocky has claimed the title of "Heavyweight Champion of the World" after defeating boxer Apollo Creed not once, but twice. With ten successful title defenses under his gold, spangled heavyweight championship belt, and a successful charity fight draw with World Wrestling Champion, Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan), Rocky believes he has nothing more to prove and decides he is ready to retire.
Enter boxing brawler Clubber Lang (played by the ever subtle and oh-so-talented Mr. T) -- the new number one boxing contender. Lang demands a match with Rocky for The Title and Rocky has either way too much pride or way too few brain cells to turn down the fight. Rocky trains with Manager Micky (which includes the appropriate montage of inspirational "training moments") for his bout with Lang. Unfortunately for Rocky, Micky is badly hurt before the match can take place when Rocky and Lang get into a backstage scuffle that gets out of control. With his mind on his injured mentor rather than the game, Rocky is served a smackdown by Mr. T's Lang -- and then suffers an even greater loss when Micky dies. Rocky, unsurprisingly, gets pretty freaking depressed.
But there's hope! Former Champion Apollo Creed arrives on the scene and persuades Rocky to offer Lang a rematch. Lang, not being familiar with the formula for feel-good inspirational sports films, accepts the challenge. Rocky trains with new friend Creed (which includes the appropriate montage of inspirational "training moments") for the big rematch.
I pity the fool who doesnt know Rocky. Or Mr. T. Or "Eye of the Tiger."
No wait, scratch that last one. I pity the fool who does know that track. UGH.
The song that provides the appropriate vibe of determination and spunk to Rockys struggle to prepare for his rematch is Survivor's smash 80's hit "The Eye of the Tiger." These are the lyrics that help Rocky battle his way back to glory (and I'll try not to twitch too much):
Out of the Past ... (Referenced by Keith when he tells Harmony the next movie playing at the festival.)
The 1947 film Out of the Past is considered one of the greatest, multi-layered film noirs of all time. Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas, it was based on Geoffrey Homes novel Build My Gallows High which consciously imitated Dashiell Hammetts The Maltese Falcon. Director Jacques Tourneur, with the help of cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, created a dark, gloomy, shadowy mood of terror that was perfectly blended into this tragic noir classic. Despite the fact that the film tops the list of the best in the noir genre, Out of the Past was ignored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and failed to receive a single nomination that year.
A definitive flashback film of melodramatic doom, it contains all the elements of a classic film noir masterpiece. With an irresistible but deadly femme fatale who is the object of romantic fascination for both a detective and a gangster, the themes of betrayal, passion, and a morally ambiguous atmosphere are all woven together in a confusing plot. The film mixes narrative flashback with linear narrative that includes both double and triple crosses.
The film opens in Bridgeport, California, where Jeff Bailey (Mitchum) runs the local gas station, and is in a relationship with Ann Miller. A man arrives in town and informs Jeff that Whit Sterling (Douglas), a racketeer, wants to see him. As they drive to Sterling's Lake Tahoe mansion Jeff tells his life story to Ann. Once a P.I. named Jeff Markham, he was hired by Sterling to find his mistress Kathie Moffett (Greer), who'd shot Sterling and absconded with $40,000. Jeff tracked Kathie to Mexico, where he fell in love with her and believed her claims of innocence. The couple moved to San Francisco and lived under false identities until they were eventually discovered by Jeff's former partner, Fisher. Kathie killed Fisher and Jeff discovered evidence proving she'd lied about stealing the money. Disillusioned, Jeff moved and began his new life in Bridgeport.
Upon arriving at Sterling's, Jeff assures Ann before she leaves that he is no longer in love with Kathie. However, during his meeting with Sterling, Jeff is surprised to see Kathie living at the mansion. She tells him in secret that Sterling is blackmailing her with proof that she killed Fisher to make her stay with him. During his stay, Jeff discovers Sterling's plot to have him framed for murder and when he unsuccessfully tries to prevent it from occurring, he realizes Sterling has false evidence that also implicates him of Fisher's murder. Now on the lam, Jeff returns to Bridgeport, and is relieved to find that Ann still believes in him. Eluding capture, Jeff confronts Sterling who agrees to reveal that Kathie really killed Fisher, but before he can, Kathie kills him. She asks Jeff to flee the country with her and tells him they belong together. Jeff agrees, but double crosses Kathie and turns her into the police. Both Jeff and Kathie are killed as she attempts to drive through a barricade.
Trapper Keeper ... (Referenced by Veronica as she complains to Logan about Parker's request that she ask Piz if he likes her.)
Created by Mead, the Trapper Keeper is a popular loose-leaf vinyl or plastic binder that could often be found in students' backpacks, especially in the 1980s and '90s. Coming in a variety of colors, styles and themes (e.g. sports, cartoons, television shows), the binder folds open to reveal pockets, folders ("Trappers") designed to prevent papers from falling out and a clipboard/pen holder. Unlike the standard snappy metal rings used to bind three hole-punched paper, the Trapper Keepers featured sliding plastic rings and a wrap-around flap with a Velcro closure.
It may seem odd that a binder, of all things, has become a part of pop culture, but even South Park's Eric Cartman recognized its value. In the season four episode Trapper Keeper, Cartman's technologically advanced Dawson's Creek Trapper Keeper sets about to destroy all of humanity, as it integrates itself with his computer and eventually with Cartman, himself. Cartman's Trapper Keeper came equipped with a finger-print encoded security system that sprang metal spikes into the hand of any unauthorized users. I sure don't remember that feature in the ones I had.
iPod ... (Referenced by Piz as he jokes that he could have taken Wallace's while he slept.)
The iPod is a brand of handy-dandy portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Computer. The full-sized model stores media on an internal hard drive, while the smaller iPod nano and iPod shuffle use flash memory. Like many digital audio players, iPods can also serve as external data storage devices. Apple chose to focus its development on the iPod's simple user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability.
As of 2006, the hip lineup consists of the fifth generation iPod that plays videos; the smaller, second generation iPod nano; and the display-less iPod shuffle. These models were updated in 2006.
Sleeping Beauty ... (Referenced by Mason as he greets Wallace when he's late for practice.)
This classic fairy tale was published in 1697 by Charles Perrault as "La Belle au Bois dormant," a story in Contes de ma Mre l'Oye (Mother Goose Tales).
The basic plot of the fairy tale begins with a princess' christening. The event is attended by her godmothers, fairies who offer her the gifts of beauty, wit, grace and musical talent. A wicked fairy, who was not invited, places a curse upon the princess: when she reaches adulthood, she'll prick her finger on a spindle and die. The good fairies are unable to reverse the curse, but they are able to alter it. Instead of dying, the princess will fall asleep for a hundred years, at which time a prince's kiss will awaken her. When the princess turns 15, the curse is fulfilled and the princess falls asleep after pricking her finger. The fairies place a spell upon the entire castle so that everyone else sleeps, too. Eventually, a prince arrives, finds the princess, kisses her and everyone wakes up and lives happily ever after. (Or at least in the modern versions.)
In 1890, composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, along with choreographer Marius Petipa, adapted the tale into what is still one of the world's most famous classical ballets. It premiered in the Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre.
Today, the most famous adaptation of Perrault's fairy tale is the Disney animated film Sleeping Beauty (1959). The film's musical score and songs were adapted from Tchaikovsky's ballet. Taking nearly a decade to produce on a budget of six million dollars, the film was the most expensive animated film of its time. Earning a revenue of only three million, the film nearly bankrupted the Disney studios.
Despite its poor performance at the time of its release, the film has lived on to become one of the most beloved animated films of all time.
Bigfoot ... (Referenced by Lamb's "rape humor.")
Also known as the Sasquatch, Bigfoot is a bipedal ape-like creature, whose existence has yet to be proven. The myth of Bigfoot spreads only through rumors and imagination ("sightings"), but the creature is believed to live in the wilderness areas of the U.S. and Canada. While most scientists reject the existence of Bigfoot, several regions throughout the world do have similar stories about a creature matching the description of Bigfoot, under a different name -- the Yeti of the Himalayans for one -- and sightings have been noted in Malaysia, China, Russia, Australia, and South America.
Bigfoot is described as 7-9 feet tall, walking on hind legs like a human, and having the build and hair of an ape. The most common "sighting" reported are enormous human-like footprints (thus "Big-Foot"), commonly measured at 15-20 inches longer than human prints. They reportedly emit a strong, foul odor, like sewage or a dead animal smell, and communicate with high pitched shrieks, whistles, or low guttural grunting.
Still from a short film by Patterson-Gimlin, 1977
GHB ... (Referenced by Lamb when he tells Veronica that two vials were found in Mercer's stolen cashbox.)
Acronym for Gamma hydroxy butyrate or Gamma hydroxybutyric acid, Sodium Oxybate. Trace amounts are found naturally in the human body. However, the main ingredients in synthetic GHB are basically degreasing solvent or floor stripper mixed with drain cleaner. The common nicknames are Gamma-OH, Liquid Ecstasy, Fantasy, Easy Lay and Cherry Meth. It is usually found in a clear liquid, which looks just like water and is packaged in a 30ml clear plastic bottle. It is also found infrequently as a white powder.
The common effects from use are intoxication, increased energy, happiness, desire to socialize, feeling affectionate and playful, mild disinhibition, enhanced sexual experience and loss of gag reflex. Many people have bad reactions including nausea, headaches, drowsiness and amnesia. The effects of large doses include sedation, desire to sleep, rambling incoherent speech, difficulty thinking, passing out and, in extreme cases, death.
Diaper Dandy ... (Referenced by the coach when he greets Wallace.)
"Diaper Dandy" is a term coined by iconic ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale to describe a sensational freshman player. Vitale also sometimes uses the term in reference to a current high school senior who has been heavily recruited to play at the college level.
Dick Vitale, often known as "Dickie V" or "Mr. College Basketball," has been with ESPN since the first college game in the network's history in 1979. Since then he has called more than 1,000 games and is on contract with the network through the 2012-2013 season. Vitale covers games with his trademark high energy and catchphrases and accent. Along with "Diaper Dandy" are "PTPer" (prime-time performer), "dipsy-doo dunkeroo slam-jam-bam, baby!" (an exciting slam dunk), and "It's awesome, baby!" Typical Vitale speech also includes ending various sentences with "baby!" Although Vitale is a popular personality, he does have his detractors. A common criticism contends that he is a "homer" for Duke University, mentioning Duke frequently during broadcasts, even when they are not playing. This criticism has let to the nicknames "Duke Vitale" or "Dookie V."
Visit Vitale's official website and listen to a minute-long podcast to hear his distinctive voice and enthusiasm.
Hooke's Law ... (Referenced by Professor Winkler during his class lecture.)
Hooke's law, named so after 17th-century physicist Robert Hooke, is the law of elasticity. It's an approximation stating that the amount by which a material body is deformed (the strain) is linearly related to the force causing the deformation (the stress).
Robert Hooke, in 1676, stated that "The power (sic.) of any springy body is in the same proportion with the extension." It was considered an announcement of the birth of elasticity. (Or, at least, its mathematical definition).
For systems that obey Hooke's law, the extension produced is proportional to the load:
F= - kx
This is known as the spring equation.
x is the distance the spring is elongated by (the deformation of the elastic body), F is the restoring force exerted by the spring (not the "power" as Hooke suggested), and k is the spring constant or force constant of the spring.
When this holds, it means that the spring is a linear spring. (Sing it, professor Winkler: Length L and cross-sectional area A, we treat as a linear spring. Yeah, I feel for ya, Wallace!)
Materials for which Hooke's law is a useful approximation are known as linear-elastic or "Hookean" materials. Hooke's law only works for some of the materials under specific conditions. It's valid for steel, which exhibits linear-elastic behavior in most engineering applications, throughout its elastic range for stresses below its yield strength. But for, something like aluminum, the law is only valid for a portion of its elastic range. For materials such as these a proportional limit stress is defined, below which the errors associate with the linear approximation are negligible. And then there are materials such as rubber, for which Hooke's law is never valid. They are known as "non-hookean."
The law is applied to spring operated weighing machines, stress analysis, and modeling of materials.
- Wallace, Veronica and a toy airplane. Misty, water-colored memories of the Pilot, anyone?
- Hee! Logan's love of his lead pencil prop continues, placing it smoothly behind his ear as he smugly outwits the guy who tried to give him a zero on his exam
I think the last time we saw him play with his pencil was The Rapes of Graff, but the behind the ear move is all about Mars vs. Mars. I love playing Spot the Loganism.
- At the cafeteria, Veronica nonchalantly reaches over and drinks from Logan's cup (with a straw!), and he doesn't blink. So cute.
- What's with all the food scenes this year? Not that we've never seen Logan eating before, but he was really chowing down in this episode.
- According to Wallace's schedule, as displayed on his wipe-off board, his goal for Monday was "learn to read." Guess that explains those low test scores.
- Logan's lusty 'mmmm' after Veronica kisses him at the Neptune Grand. So. Sexy.
- The shocked, open-mouthed expression mirrored on both Logan's and Veronica's faces when Tina, the hotel clerk, says: "This isn't illegal is it?" Classic. Great timing on all counts.
- Logan's brief airkiss to Veronica when Tina reveals that Rory Finch was once indeed registered at the Neptune Grand.
- A sign hanging above the lanes in the bowling alley reads "Wednesday Nite: The Big Lebowlski." Gee, the writers really love that movie.
- After Parker slaps Logan the high-five at the bowling alley, he shakes his hand and mouths "owwwww."
- Chris Lowell's delivery of "Ten martinis." and "Damn it straight to Hell." before and after he bowls a gutter ball. So deadpan. Hilarious.
- Logan's shirtless "look" when Veronica mentions the 'soap opera' of Parker asking to find out if Piz likes her. Darkest he'd been all episode. What did that look mean? Is he on our side of the 'how could you possibly be this oblivious' fence? I wish he'd said something.
- When Parker and Veronica go to visit Piz at the radio station late at night, you can see the custodian way in the background, cleaning the floors of the cafeteria.
- In the scene with Lamb and Veronica, if you look behind and to the right of Lamb, you can see a Balboa County Sheriff's wall clock. This item is part of the Veronica Mars fan community Cloud Watchers' Cafe Press store.
- It just seems incredibly ironic or perhaps prophetic that in the beginning of the episode Veronica comments that Professor Landry and Keith have a lot in common and by the end of the episode we discover that they are both sleeping with married women.
- This is the first time we've seen Keith's pretty large and fancy-dandy looking bedroom.
- When Veronica sits down in the cafeteria to eat with the dean, she looks to be eating a sandwich of some sort (a burger or chicken) with a side of vegetables. And I ask: Who does that? I'm sorry, you just do not eat broccoli and cauliflower with your burger. That's just not acceptable. Have a fry, Veronica!
- Jane Austen is wonderful as is her novel Emma, but having a nineteen-year-old guy casually reference this classic regarding a similar situation? Well, you know, things that make you go hmm ...
- Yes, Parker is not a dainty little thing, but neither is she an Amazonian giant of amazing strength, so, my goodness, Logan was really and I mean *really* effected by her high-five. What exactly IS he doing in weight-lifting class?
- Ah the return of the fey Logan we all love so -- note his simpering bounce and skip as he headed off to get refreshments. Ah, ambiguously gay (or not!) Logan moment ... how I've missed you.
- Why did Veronica choose to compose an article about Claire faking her rape instead of simply bringing the evidence to Dean O'Dell or some other official?
- What's the true purpose behind Claire faking her rape?
- Can Dean O'Dell rightfully expel Claire without convening some kind of disciplinary committee or at least initiating a more formal process?
- Was Nish grandstanding, or is she intending to make good on her threats to the Dean and Veronica?
- Why does Veronica ask where Landry's T.A. got her cell phone number from like it's suddenly an amazing accomplishment? Wasn't she called by the dean's office on her cell in Wichita Linebacker? Obviously someone at the college has that number.
- So, is Piz broke, just cheap, or are we supposed to see this as yet another juxtaposition with Logan (that creator Rob Thomashas oh-so-insistently promised, and that so far has been laughable)? Piz is very excited about finding a vinyl album at 99 cents, and then, in the same scene, when he asks Veronica to go bowling, he finds it necessary to add that "Thursday Nights are dollar nights" at Fun Bowl. So, what's the intention here? To stress that he is not a trust fund baby? We already know that. And I know just how broke college students can be. But Piz's positive giddiness at random cheapness of things doesn't come off as all that endearing to me. And it certainly isn't something a guy would happily stress when asking a girl out ooops, sorry, proposing a fun outing with the gang.
- Has Logan's Intro to Sociology class shrunk? It looked like it had a lot of people in My Big Fat Greek Rush Week, but it looked like only half of them were taking this week's test. Have so many people dropped out? Did the prison experiment scare them off?
- Did Wallace sit the sociology exam that Logan took? Because he seemed a little preoccupied with his other class and it wasn't mentioned how he did in comparison. Did he drop the class?
- What's up with Parker's hair? Isn't she supposed to wear a wig? It looks like normal hair. And, while at it, what's up with Tim Foyle's hair? That one looks like a crappy wig! Is it supposed to (hint*rapist*hint), or is it just a bad makeup job?
- When did Weevil forgive Veronica for accusing him of ripping Lilly's necklace off her? When did he give her his keys?
- Considering Dean O'Dell is fully aware of Veronica's investigative background, shouldn't he be a bit more suspicious about her presence in his office?
- How creepy was it seeing Piz say 'fun, fun, fun?' Let's never hear him say a line uttered most famously by Logan Echolls (in the Pilot) ever again.
- Was there a deeper reason behind Logan mentioning Horshack and Rafe besides an effort toward continuity? Do the writers want us to remember who these characters are for some reason?
- How come Piz gets to be annoyed that someone is sending him unreciprocated romantic vibes and we have to put up with Veronica being oblivious? Why can't Veronica be annoyed and awkward too? *pouts*
- Does Piz serve any legitimate purpose on the show besides pining over Veronica?
- How did Mercer know Parker's name if she was never introduced to him?
- Why was Sheriff Lamb so downright cooperative with Veronica this week? Why so generously share the information? Total and utter change of tone for the guy. To quote, well, him: "Does not compute!"
- So, Mercer had GHB in his cash box. And cologne. And some clippers. Can you say "circumstantial?" There's no DNA, any guy can own clippers, and smell is hardly concrete evidence. The best they can charge him with is possession of an illegal substance. Not that the lack of evidence ever stopped Lamb before, but still.
- Lamb says that GHB was used on two of the rape victims. What was used on the others? Rohypnol? Why the change?
- Why are the professors suddenly so nice? Landry positively salivates over Veronica and gives her time to prove her innocence without dragging her to the Dean's office. Wallace's guy offers him an out on his cheating, and then takes him back into the class.
- Would a college really allow a student to keep their athletic scholarship if they took a semester off from that sport?
- Is Mindy O'Dell's attendance of charity functions her cover story for conducting illicit affairs in the Neptune Grand?
- If Keith had just crashed his car, how did he manage to return to the Neptune Grand?
- What is it with the Mars family and having inappropriate sexual relations after a near-death experience?
- Considering Keith was the wronged party in the Jake/Lianne affair, wouldn't he be more reluctant to sleep with a married woman?
- If Tim Foyle wanted to open Veronica's eyes to what kind of a person professor Landry is, why such an elaborate and potentially damaging way to do it? The fake cheating, the posted paper ... Why not just sit her down and tell her? Show her a few pieces of evidence in order to convince her. Or, at least, get her to follow her own evidence. In other words, why involve the paper, the cheating, and I.P. addresses at all?
- Is Tim Foyle really trying to play the tough love card with Veronica, or is he just jealous that he's no longer Professor Landry's golden boy? Was he simply trying to get Veronica kicked out of the class, and punishing the professor who abandoned him into the bargain?
- So, the T.A. has a board with newspaper clippings. A lot of clippings, actually, which means the media in Neptune isn't entirely unaware of the ongoing problem. So, why isn't Lamb out there, working it, trying to quiet the outcry with a lot of fake activity?
- Is Tim really engaging in his own investigation of the Hearst Campus rapes or could the bulletin board be a shrine to his crimes?
- What did Veronica specifically notice was missing from Tim's bulletin board?
- Isn't Mercer a new friend? How come Logan has an alibi for him for the summer? Didn't they just meet in the fall, when college started? And, on the same topic, what the hell did they do together that he couldn't possibly tell Veronica?
- Mercer's radio show, Club Flush, was playing while Parker was being raped at the end of Welcome Wagon.
duchessjms (Jayne): Literature; Social Science
genova (Cara): Literature
holly96 (Holly): Yearbook; Literature; Social Science; Homeroom
Iloveyoubearymuch (Kathryn): Literature; Homeroom; Philosophy; Principles of Democracy
JaneDtwo (Alla): Literature; Social Science; Philosophy
JenniferH: Report Card; Chemistry; Band Class; Homeroom; Pep Squad Practice
Pixigal (Gerrie): Drama Club
PolarTruckin (Belinda): Journalism; Homeroom; Philosophy
samwg (Shannon): Social Science
SeluciaV (Alli): Extra Credit; Social Science
Tar Frimmer (Joanne): Study Hall; Literature; Social Science; Homeroom; Philosophy
Original Air Date: November 07, 2006
Written by: John Enbom
Directed by: Michael Fields
Staff Grade: A
Membership Grade: A (57.5%% - 80 votes)
This episode -- like the last three -- retains the spirit of season one Veronica Mars much closer than did most of season two. Veronica is the girl we love, being a somewhat-better BFF to Wallace; speaking of ... Wallace is (once again) the guy who does the right thing even when it is a difficult decision. There is a lighthearted bounce to Logan once again (see Pep Squad Practice). The dialogue and direction are mostly strong and for the first time this season, the mystery is starting to heat up and stirring interest. The only negative -- and not the story, because noir is certainly welcome! -- is Keith's story. The problem is that Keith has ALWAYS been presented as the moral center of the show and to see that thrown away for a story that -- for many -- is out of character, well, it's a shame. Other than that though, Hi, Infidelity is most definitely a keeper.
Credited Cast Non-Appearance
Ryan Hansen - Dick Casablancas
Tina Majorino - Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie
Francis Capra - Eli "Weevil" Navarro
Recurring Guest Stars (Previous Episode Appearances)
Ed Begley Jr. - Cyrus O'Dell
Ryan Devlin - Mercer Hayes
Chastity Dotson - Nish
Patrick Fabian - Professor Hank Landry
James Jordan - Tim Foyle
Krista Kalmus - Claire Nordhouse
Jaime Ray Newman - Mindy O'Dell
Robert Ri'chard - Mason
Adam Rose - Max
Laura San Giacomo - Harmony Chase
Michael B. Silver - Professor Winkler
Guest Stars
Anna Campbell - Tina Callas
David Magidoff - Jeff Ratner
Matt McKenzie - Basketball Coach
Who's Who in Neptune
Tina Callas - Neptune Grand employee, who is friendly with Logan.
Jeff Ratner - Hearst student. In Veronica's criminology class, works at the Neptune Grand.
Basketball Coach - Wallace's basketball coach at Hearst.
With several good performances all weaving together, Hi, Infidelity once again featured the Veronica Mars cast delivering strong, nuanced portrayals that flowed seamlessly into a snappy, engaging episode.
Highlights
Julie Gonzalo (Parker Lee) - Gonzalo has more than justified her addition to the talented cast of Veronica Mars. In addition to serving as the personal hook for Veronica in the first mystery arc, Gonzalo has shined in her portrayal of all the various aspects of Parker. From perky and overenthusiastic pre-rape, agonized and traumatized post-rape, to angry and vengeful in the subsequent weeks, she has skillfully portrayed a wide range of emotion. In this episode, Gonzalo once again rides a delightful merry-go-round of emotions culminating in the chilling horror that she shares with the viewing audience when she meets Mercer. Although we lost one perky blonde when the coma baby storyline entered the picture, we now have a new perky blonde with a compelling personality all her own.
Ed Begley, Jr. (Dean Cyrus O'Dell) - Begley faced an even more difficult task than Julie Gonzalo. Van Clemmons was dearly loved by the fans of Veronica Mars and his role as Dean O'Dell was clearly analogous to that of a high school principal. But Begley has delivered several solid performances in a row and with Hi, Infidelity, he has earned the praise and affection of the Veronica Mars viewing audience. Begley has drawn an endearing portrait of a layered character that has fans everywhere jumping on the "I love the Dean" train.
Scene One: The Little Moments
There were a few bites to this scene, but mostly I just loved the lovey-dovey, touchy-feely and overall couple-y aspect here. Veronica holding onto his manly forearm for several seconds before lifting it up to slide into the seat next to him, resting her bent arm upon his shoulder/chest through the rest of the scene and casually taking his drink and sipping from the straw. It was fun to, you know, just watch and smile and squee at the pretty and the pretty of the couple and the ultra-pretty of the pretty couple acting so like a couple. I liked plenty.
As for the bite, well, you had the reference to Logan as a bad boy again, although, to be fair, this wasn't much more than a little nibble. It was commented upon rather casually in a throwaway, quipping manner. Still, the fact that the "bad boy" moniker is still being used -- even in the above sense -- is one that I'm not entirely comfortable with considering Rob Thomas' defining of Logan as the bad boy and how that appeared to justify the non-stop crap that was handed to the character, including Veronica's less-than-pleasant treatment. The other bit that rankled slightly was in regards to Veronica's commentary on Logan referencing the Jane Austen novel, Emma. We could take it as merely a riff on a guy referencing Jane Austen (see Pep Squad Practice), but taking into account the fact that Veronica has made more than one reference to Logan's lack of intellectual prowess, I must admit that my mind went there. And I didn't like the journey. Logan is NOT stupid and I'm growing weary of possible inferences on Veronica's part that he is. Of course, it could have been the whole guy referencing Jane Austen thing, but still ... I'm leery.
We also had Logan questioning whether Veronica was dragging him off to an intellectual treatise of which he had no interest. Good? Bad? I dunno, but it was a sure sign of continuity and that I like. Therefore, I'm going to just accept that it was simply writer John Enbom (who co-wrote the deliciously divine LoVe storyline of Wichita Linebacker which began with Logan's lack of interest in taking part in merely academic pursuits) being consistent -- even during the little moments -- with their interaction. So ... good.
Overall, I really enjoyed this scene despite the fact that there was nothing overt about their relationship. What I found so lovely was how they were acting so very much like a couple. Veronica's casual tactile attitude towards him, and his complete lack of reaction to it as if it was completely natural. Veronica leaning on him, sipping from his straw, the two talking about random events in their day, her asking him to go bowling and then the brief discussion about Mac and Parker. All of their interaction played out as two people who are intimately and actively involved in the other's life. And I liked plenty ... lots.
Scene Two: Every Moment Counts
Like all of their interaction in this episode, there was just a very couply feel. Veronica using her key, the over the top, but still sweet "Honey, I'm home," the quick kiss, sitting next to one another and again, the simple discussion of their day. All together it just created an aura of a young, happy couple at peace with one another and in love. And as each episode passes, the time bomb of their relationship ticks louder and louder so every moment we get that shows how very well they do function as a couple is much appreciated.
Scene Three: Hee!
Hee! Really, that's my immediate and final response to this scene: Hee! As in funny, and in hah! hee! Veronica is jealous. And I love. I don't think we've ever truly witnessed direct jealousy from Veronica over Logan. Sure, it's been hinted at (and then denied), but here, there was no question. She was jealous. And not in a bad way, but in a possessive, 'he's mine, don't touch! you nice, pretty person even if you're helping me' way.
And I didn't remotely have a problem with Logan not introducing Veronica as his girlfriend. While he clearly was not (and had not) led Tina on -- judging from her reaction to Veronica's claiming of Logan -- he still may have figured there was a touch of a little crush there. So, then why would he rub it in her face especially since he was asking her to do a favor for Veronica? Doesn't make sense and was a people-smart strategy. Go Logan. On the other hand, while he may not have announced her as his girlfriend, neither did he hide their relationship. He did, after all, blow her a little kiss (squee!) in the middle of the conversation. So good for Logan all around.
As for his girlfriend's possessive streak coming out, let me say it again ... Hee! I loved. Her "girlfriend of Logan. My boyfriend." was just so hee! Completely unnecessary, but absolutely hilarious and squee-worthy for LoVe fans who have longed for verbal acknowledgment of their relationship from Veronica. Yes, we've got it from episode three and on, but it's never not nice to hear and particularly so in an amusing fashion as delivered here.
So ... hee!
Scene Four:: The "Gang's" All Here!
Not so hee! was the opening of this scene before Logan showed up with his verbal acknowledgement that drew forth another round of the "hee's!" First of all, we had Veronica's reaction to Logan's arrival. It was an unfortunate reminder to her reaction to Logan in Normal is the Watchword in The Java Hut flashback. And equally unfortunate, it reminded me of the difference with a negative slant to Welcome Wagon as I wrote in that case file:
Quote:Sadly, we got a return to the second season premiere reaction. When Logan walked up and Piz's face fell in such an overwhelmingly obvious fashion that he might as well have been wearing a sign that read "I wuv you, Veronica!" (nice subtlety there from Chris Lowell ... not), Veronica looked uncomfortable. Why? If Veronica is supposedly
[Veronica] ... appeared self-conscious when her boyfriend kissed her in front of [Duncan]. Here, Piz was barely a blip on her radar even when he was talking to her and once Logan showed up, all of her attention was upon him.
Secondly, let's get this out there. Piz? Is a sleaze. He barely knows Veronica. He's based this neverending crush of his on a few hours of acquaintance and the fact that she's hot? Ridiculous ... especially at this point, almost two months down the road while in college, surrounded by scores of attractive California girls, with no encouragement from Veronica whatsoever. She has a boyfriend; he knows this and yet he's still acting like a lovesick puppy to her face, to her boyfriend's face and it's just pathetic and here's where we get to the sleazy part. Hello!?! His intention earlier was TOTALLY to ask her out on a "date" of sorts. It wasn't until she asked if he meant the two of them, that he drew Wallace's name out of a hat and then the lame "gang." Because you see, obviously, there was no gang. And Wallace was an afterthought when Veronica made it clear that just going bowling with him was not an option (although, I do feel strongly that Bell could have delivered that line with a bit more of that acknowledgement). Of course, even bringing Wallace into the equation, the fact that he asked no one else -- again! -- made it crystal clear that he was thinking of attempting to strike (no pun intended) some sparks with her. He has to know that Wallace has a completely-non-romantic relationship with Veronica, so Piz would have no romantic competition in such a setting.
When Wallace couldn't show up, there was no one else, leaving just Piz and Veronica, which left him claiming that he was "worried" about how it looked. Obviously he really wasn't ... since -- again! -- he asked NO ONE ELSE! When she questioned him about the gang (as did Parker) his hopes were crystal clear for all -- or in the case of Veronica and Parker's sudden stupidity, just Logan -- to see. There was never a "gang," there was just supposed to be Piz and Veronica, with the last-minute add-on of Wallace to cover that the sleaze-ball was asking out a girl who is in a serious, committed relationship. And of course, he had no explanation other than the obvious and so he badly, baldly side-stepped it. So, Piz = sleaze. Ahh, once again, Rob Thomas shows a singular talent for making the worst "good" guys ever on a television series!
Of course, on the other hand, his bad boy is just wonderful and easily as capable of providing the "hee" as is his heroine ... and here, in the perfectly reversed situation of the previous scene we had that hee! Logan introducing himself to Piz with the reminder, "her boyfriend" was just delicious. The smirk and knowing gleam in Jason Dohring's eyes as he staked his claim and then asked Piz, with faux innocent tongue-in-cheek cheer, "do you always go bowling? With the 'gang?'" was awesome. Just hysterical. HEE!
Scene Five: Trash-talking, Refreshments and Bad Bowling
There were some moments relationship-wise that I found very cute here and some not. At all. And I blame both Enbom and Bell for my distaste. Why in heaven's name when Parker asked about Piz did Veronica immediately jump in way too hastily with the comment that she had a boyfriend? The lone purpose for such a line of dialogue is to make viewers think that the only reason Veronica isn't with Piz/doesn't think of him that way is because she has a boyfriend. And I'm sorry, but EXCUSE ME!? Past the first episode -- which was mostly set-up -- Veronica has had barely any interaction with the guy beyond his annoying radio-push from episode three where he seemed to barely exist on her radar. And now all of a sudden we have a hint that she would be interested in him did she not have a boyfriend? Putting aside the whole LoVe aspect, nothing, absolutely nothing thus far has indicated in any way, shape or form that Veronica Mars would be interested in a guy like this. Absolutely nothing. Oh, and when you factor in the LoVe aspect, there's the fact that this season has FINALLY! managed to convince viewers that Veronica truly does love Logan, she truly does want to be with him. So the line really, REALLY bugged.
Then there was not only the delivery, but how Bell played the entire scene from that point on. As they weren't LoVe scenes, I didn't analyze the Piz/Veronica scene, but I will say here that I was not particularly impressed with the eyes all aglow look she was giving him in their first scene. As well, I was none too pleased with how she said "the two of us?" when he asked her bowling without any trace of 'dude, I have a boyfriend!' And of course, I did mention above how I liked even less the moment of discomfort she displayed when Piz looked upset by Logan's arrival. Bell has done a very good job this season of showing that Veronica loves Logan and pretty much in the first and definitely in the third, she showed that Veronica was not interested at all in Piz -- because you know she has a boyfriend who she loves! Well, her personal bias against Logan and Veronica and for the great Piz-meister showed up way too loud and clear for me (and many other viewers) in this episode. The entire subtext of the final moments of this scene revolved around a Veronica who was uncomfortable with Parker liking Piz and the look of -- God help me! -- almost yearning that she sent while Piz badly bowled made me want to hurl something at my TV.
Yes, the whole 'I hate asking someone if they like someone else' scenario voiceover we heard later supposedly made sense of her look of dismay at the end of this scene, but it was too little too late. First of all, again, Bell overplayed it. Veronica, in that conversation with Parker, came across as someone who was interested in Piz for many viewers. It's as simple and infuriating as that. Secondly, it was yet another little ploy by the writer to misdirect viewers -- we didn't know that Veronica had issues with Parker's request at that point, so all viewers could take from her reaction was that she was upset that Parker liked Piz. And finally, for that scene that showed up later (which again, I won't be analyzing ... not LoVe), it was laid on just a tad too thick. She was THAT uncomfortable asking if he liked Parker? Really? Nuh uh, too much. Way too much. Laid on way too thick. Not happy, folks. Sincerely not happy. Make it make sense and I'll put up with all the angst you want, but don't throw stuff at me just to justify a triangle out of the blue that makes no sense for character or story.
Ahem.
On a happier note ... what I found quite entertaining was the same thing I referenced before: Logan's amused possessiveness with Veronica which was clearly all for Piz's sake. As mentioned above, Logan clearly saw right through him and was just as clearly -- albeit subtly and with humor -- staking his claim. We once again had an over-the-top endearment ("Dearest darling ... ") offered with a smirk and laughter bubbling behind the words. And, while Veronica may have annoyed once he left, I also found the responding look she sent his way (clearly seeing right through him) rather cute.
Scene Six: Casual Comfort in the Coupling
Like the first two scenes, this one again doesn't offer much for analysis; it is simply Logan and Veronica in a very couple-like state. Their entire interaction was casual and comfortable. The two talked about different aspects of their life -- like the first scene, offering insight into the fact that the two share experiences about their lives with one another.
Some have wondered at Logan referencing Horshack and Rafe (from the prison experiment in My Big Fat Greek Rush Week) and it may have some deeper meaning for the overall arc (I doubt it, but who knows with this show), it may have just been dialogue in line with the cheating aspect of this episode. Or simply, it might have been Enbom's way of establishing that Logan and Veronica ARE in a serious relationship, they share what happens when the other isn't there because they are sharing their lives with one another. They don't live in separate bubbles and since I do believe (absolutely at last) that Logan and Veronica are the endgame, such small moments are necessary in showing this aspect of their relationship.
It's not all just contention, snark and passion (we're led to believe they're passionate, whether or not we've only sorta seen two instances of it this season). There is also love, there is commitment, there is sharing and genuine friendship and comfort. I like.
Scene Seven: The Sunshine of His Life
And what do we have here? A lovely acknowledgement (and a much lighter one than the one we received in Wichita Linebacker) that Logan is most amused by Veronica's sleuthing techniques. Seriously. Veronica accused this guy with not much proof at all, just a'jumping away to conclusion as is the Veronica Mars way and Logan's response is to smirk and quip about his rank in wealth and then (hah!) show a rather perverted sense of pride in Veronica's ability to annoy ... annoy like the wind! It was -- as most of their scenes this episode -- just so hee! Really. Just so very hee! Kissing her forehead while he comments that his girl (squee!) brings sunshine to all she knows (an obvious 'the opposite of' statement) was just so, guh! I loved it. We really did get some wonderfully sweet, charming, funny, awesome couple moments in this episode and this scene just offered one of those many fabulous moments.
Scene Eight: 'Trust Me' -- Gulp!
Oh, Logan. Logan, Logan, Logan ... I don't know what to say. Sigh. The last time Logan asked Veronica to trust him, she upped and ran out on him once his back was turned when she discovered something bad that there was no proof he had anything to do with. Veronica and trust has not gone merrily hand in hand for Logan Echolls like, oh, ever. Ever, ever, ever. Oh, Logan.
Is there any doubt for any viewer that Veronica won't trust him? Any whatsoever? Even a smidgen? Of course not. Because Veronica DOESN'T trust Logan. Wichita Linebacker showed that clearly. Sure, she showed a slight degree of trust by taking out the bug, but that was brought on more by guilt and the fear of losing Logan, rather than actual trust in him. And yes, she offered to try and act unnaturally, but the fact of the matter is her instinctual reaction is to not trust him still. And so him asking her that ... oy vey.
I commented last week that Logan is walking on eggshells with her and that, in part, explains his somewhat overall subdued attitude.
Quote:Well, we've seen a bit more light-heartedness from him since Wichita Linebacker through Charlie Don't Surf and in the last episode, President Evil, Veronica had opened up enough that she was doing things FOR him and involving him in her cases, thus an important part of her life. That -- and his obvious desire to help his friend -- may be what had Logan coming to Veronica, eyes in full-on puppy-dog mode of earnestness, wearing his heart fully on his sleeve, opening himself up to her by simply asking her to trust him was a Logan we haven't seen with Veronica since the night of the Alterna-prom.
He doesn't trust that if he messes up again, she won't walk away, breaking his heart yet one more time. And because he doesn't trust her, he's walking on eggshells, doing his damndest to not only NOT screw up so badly that he sends her running, but also walking on the eggshells of his heart. He's holding himself back because he knows now, he gets it. If he screws up, the consequences are that he'll get hurt ... again. Those are the consequences. And he feels, perhaps thinks that he knows, that if he puts his heart all out on the line again for her, knowing her, she'll leave him again no matter what he does. And the consequences of that are that this time he may be broken beyond repair. Those are the potential consequences and Logan Echolls finally understands their power.
And {{sigh}} of course she won't. As much as we'd love to see her give the complete trust to Logan that she has given wholeheartedly (and inexplicably) only to Duncan), it ain't gonna happen. Not now. She's not ready yet. Who knows? Maybe she never will be. And that right there leads us to what is likely coming up: A break-up. To be honest, as much as I love seeing them together as a couple, I do think a break-up is necessary ... from Logan's end. Veronica needs to know that she needs to give 100% back to him. She needs to learn to trust him, to believe in him. Until she does, he can never trust her with his heart completely and they can never truly make it work. It really is sad because it has been made clear this season that Veronica DOES love Logan and that he IS right for her ... but she has got to learn to trust him. Unless she realizes that trust is part of the equation and one that he won't tolerate not having, she'll never truly make the effort to do so.
I guess the question then to ask is should she trust him? I think so. Yes, he treated her horribly after Lilly's death, but it didn't take her long to give as good as she got and then some. And even worse, once they had supposedly gotten over that, she accused him of rape and murder. And then she broke up with him when he had no one and went back to her old boyfriend in a matter of days. The balance is pretty damn equal now, if not tipped slightly in his favor. Logan has done more than enough to prove he is worthy of her trust. She just needs to take that step and DO IT! Will she before it's too late? Unfortunately, I think not.
Sigh.
Hearst Has A Strict Policy When it Comes to Plagiarism
Veronica Mars is sitting in her Introduction to Criminology lecture as their first assessable essay is handed back. Professor 'Puurrrr' Landry is winding down his You're-A-Bunch-of-Morons pep talk, by pointing out the only essay that was worthy of an 'A' grade. Simultaneously, his T.A., Tim Foyle, hands back Veronica's essay; the camera zooms in on: "A excellent work!" written in a red felt tip pen. "Nice job, Ms. Mars." Veronica's eyes widen in comic horror as about a hundred glares pin her to her chair. And she was trying so hard not to be the most hated girl on campus this year
As the class ends, Tim walks up to Landry with copies of the Columbia study his Professor had clearly requested. Landry brushes him off so he can catch up with Veronica who had been making a desperate bid to escape the lion's den. Too late. Now that he's announced to the class that she's his new pet, he wants to make it official by taking her out to lunch, buffing up her ego and asking if he can adopt her full time: As her faculty sponsor. Veronica looks like she's willing to start batting at a ball of string in his office whenever he likes.
Excited by the news that her favorite Professor has singled her out for his criminology program, she rushes home to gush about Landry to her father who, we all know, has been her criminal investigation idol up until this point. Keith starts to pout about being replaced -- wants to take on her professor in a wrestle -- but Veronica decides her two favorite idols would actually get along; they have a lot in common. Privately, I think Landry has more muscle, but Keith knows how to fight dirty.
The hitch in her academic wet dream appears when Landry's T.A. sends her a text message that he wants to see her. "Needed, not wanted," he corrects when she arrives. He needed to see her because one of the other students has lodged an official complaint, claiming she plagiarized. Like every university, Hearst has a program that scans online for similar phrases. In Tim's words, Veronica's paper, "lit up like a Christmas tree." Sure enough, when Tim shows Veronica her essay in the program almost every word is lit up in red. But this is Veronica Mars and when she says everyone is out to get her, she's not just being paranoid; they really do want to get her. She tells Tim that obviously "someone" is trying to screw with her. Acting as inconspicuous as Robert Downey Jr. at a drug free event, Tim jumps in horrified at the thought Veronica would accuse him just because he doesn't like her. Landry will obviously have to be informed that the apple of his eye, the twinkle in his teeth, the buff in his shoe (please don't make me go on, it only gets worse) is a no-good, dirty plagiarizer. Tim offers Veronica a choice: Either he tells Landry, or she does. Right at that moment, Landry appears in Tim's doorway. Damn him and his brilliant timing
We come back from the credits to find Veronica being confronted by another horrifying situation. Not only has Landry informed her that she only has three days to prove she didn't plagiarize her paper, but now she has to deal with Piz gushing about The Clash too? The world really is out to get her, or at least get in her pants. But apparently Veronica is so frazzled by the plagiarism charge that her lust radar is faulty and she agrees to go out with Piz and "the gang" without picking up on his date-vibes.
Veronica believes that if you look close enough everyone appears to be hiding dark secrets (and she should know since she's accused everyone she knows of hiding dark secrets), so she decides to confront her accuser head on and see what happens. She stands in front of the lecture hall and tells the whole class that someone has accused her of plagiarism and she would like to know who it was. Ballsy, but now everyone probably hates her even more. Nice one, Veronica. She doesn't really expect anyone to confess because she has her money on Tim Foyle being the culprit since he's such a bad-wigged bastard (and you can't say that about many people). To her surprise, someone does put his hand up: Jeff Ratner. She doesn't know him but he seems to know her because he -- naturally -- hates her.
Now on this show we've had plenty of smug rich kids who like to keep their obnoxious arrogance at an equivalent weight to their annual income in gold. Paradoxically, Jeff Ratner is a "common man" that likes to think he's worth his weight in gold. He has all the charm of Dick Casablancas without the money to pay people to ignore it. And that's just tacky. He tells Veronica he made the complaint because he likes when snotty, teacher's pets (that are humiliating the rest of the class) get exposed as cheats. "Yeah. You cheated. I caught you. Deal with it." All he needed was a head wobble and a click of his fingers and he could have officially become a bi-atch, sister. The class applauds and Veronica stands there a little angry, a little embarrassed and if you listen hard enough I'm pretty sure that the theme from The Terminator is starting to play. Oh, Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey why don't you just paint a giant bullseye on your ass next time?
When you've been unfairly accused of cheating, the best thing to do is rub shoulders with the most accomplished cheater you know. Or at least, an amateur who decided going pro was too much for his conscience. Veronica goes to see her BFF "Evil Wallace" to get the skinny on his inside source, the tutor that helped him cheat in President Evil. As soon as she gets his name -- Max -- she rushes over to his dorm for assistance. Max struggles to understand the concept of helping Veronica find a cheat rather than become one but she somehow gets him to find what she's looking for anyway. She gets him to search through free sites for an exact copy of her essay on modern forensics. He finds it in two seconds, apparently posted a year ago by a Hearst student named Rory Finch.
Veronica was going to break into the Dean's office using Weevil's keys -- yes, Weevil forgives Veronica just as quickly as Logan does; she must put something 'magic' in her snickerdoodles -- but the door is open so she walks right in. She starts going through the files looking for a student named Rory Finch without thinking about the fact that the door could be open because the Dean is still using his office. So she's shocked when he walks in two seconds later. Yeah, she's a wily one.
Luckily, the Dean did not fall from the same tree as Veronica's old protg Van Clemmons (how we miss him), though it might be fair to compare his brain to something else wooden. The Dean is more interested in drinking scotch, eating popcorn and watching televised violence while his forbidding wife is at one of her functions. He tells her that if Veronica sees his wife, she doesn't need to know he's been doing naughty, forbidden things. While he's distracted, Veronica collects what she came for and makes a clean get away with the Dean none-the-wiser.
Later, she tells Wallace that she has discovered that no student named Rory Finch ever attended Hearst college. The hearst.org e-mail address was a fake set up three days ago to post her paper from none other than the Neptune Grand. As far as the plagiarism charge is concerned, she's in the clear and Wallace is pleased that it's over. But this is Veronica Mars, it's not over until her foot is up some proverbial fat lady's ass and she's singing soprano. Too graphic? Yeah. I'll never mix vengeful Veronica Mars lines again.
Veronica heads on over to the Neptune Grand to pick up Logan for the bowling date Piz doesn't know she invited her boyfriend on. (Sidebar: Is Logan ever going to be the man in this relationship?) After smacking a kiss on his very receptive lips, she asks him for a favor. (Code for intimacy in Veronica Mars land, yay!) She wants to know if Logan has any inside connections in the seedy Neptune Grand that could slip him information he's not supposed to know. Logan thinks for a moment as he ties his shoes and then slides Veronica a conspiratorial look. Of course he has 'connections;' he's Logan Echolls, never far from the queue of gorgeous blondes panting after him. Enter Tina, Neptune Grand clerk, all too willing to do 'anything' for her pal, Logan. As amusing as her jealousy is, Veronica remembers to retract her claws (mostly); it's not clever to scratch out the eyes of the person you're asking for a favor. Maybe later
Logan asks Tina if she could find someone registered in the hotel; Veronica jumps in with the name 'Rory Finch.' After pretending to be concerned about the legalities, Tina looks up the name in their database to find Rory Finch's registered stays. He checked in a week ago and stayed a few other times going back a couple of months. Always for one night. Veronica, in full spy-mode, asks for any information Tina has but unfortunately Rory Finch only has a post-office box as an address and he paid in cash. Veronica asks Tina to call her on her cell phone if Rory Finch checks in again. "Sure. Any friend of Logan's," she flirts with a smile. Okay, so, that comment about the claws? A couple of them slip out as Veronica curls her arm around Logan's elbow, "Girlfriend of Logan's. Come on boyfriend, let's bowl." Okay, Veronica -- as amusing as it is -- there's no need to mark your territory. Much.
Later, Veronica and Logan are unwinding from the stress of participating in the bowling soap opera, The Piz and the Beautiful, when room service knocks on the door. As soon as Logan greets the waiter at the door, Veronica recognizes his voice and shoots to her feet. It's Jeff Ratner, in his spiffy Neptune Grand uniform. Veronica smiles like the proverbial cat licking her lips for her next canary. Logan recognizes the look (since it's been aimed at him in many pleasant -- and not so pleasant -- moments) and smiles as he stands back to watch his girl work. As Logan tries out his steak in the background, Veronica explains that Ratner is the guy trying to get her tossed out of Landry's class. Since he works at the Neptune Grand, it's clear that Ratner has to be Rory Finch. Ratner is just pissed off that the pretty, blonde girl-detective has been too busy snuggling up to her boyfriend in the penthouse suite to notice that he's worked there for two years. To Ratner, Veronica is another 09er-type looking down on the "little people" as she lounges around with
Just when Veronica thinks it's over, she gets a call from her new pal, Tina, telling her that Rory Finch has checked in again. She picks up Rory's room number and moves toward the elevator only to come across the disturbing scene of Keith Mars making moves in the Neptune Grand bar. He's ordering two martinis for himself and the lovely -- but very much married -- Harmony. Veronica worries that Keith is getting too attached to an unhappily married woman as she travels up to the ninth floor to confront her illusive nemesis.
She knocks on the door of room 906, snark and taser ready to go, and the door opens. It's Mrs. O'Dell, the Dean's wife. Not exactly the first person Veronica thought would have a motive to accuse her of plagiarism. Instead of opening a can of whoop-ass, Veronica is too confused to do much more than murmur "wrong room." Just as she's about to add a couple of wrinkles to her forehead with all that frowning, the elevator dings open and she looks up to see Professor Landry walking toward her with a bottle of wine. After an awkward conversation in the hallway, Veronica says, "I'll see you in class ... Rory Finch." Sure enough the Professor looks back at her guiltily and Veronica's shoulders slump as the doors to the elevator close behind her. Hmmm. Looks like her father isn't the only one a little too interested in an unhappily married woman. See, they do have a lot in common!
Veronica goes to see Tim Foyle again to hand in the proof that she didn't plagiarize her essay. That's the end of that. He asks her if she figured out who was behind it. She did, via a process of elimination, "Why did you do it?" Tim pauses the conversation with a standard 'it wasn't me' disclaimer, before 'hypothetically' claiming that someone in his position might send Veronica on a treasure hunt so that she could see that her professor wasn't the jewel she thought he was. It might be helpful to Veronica to see the professor for whom he really is, before she falls for his charm like Tim did when he was the star pupil. Before she leaves his office, her new sleuthing nemesis asks if she really believed Jeff Ratner was behind everything.
Oh crap.
The scene shifts to reveal Neptune Grand security opening up Ratner's car trunk and discovering dozens of little shampoo bottles, towels and soaps that he's 'stolen' from them. He denies that he put them there but he's busted.
Whoops.
Can we let this one moment of incorrectly targeted revenge slide because he's a tool? Why not! Yeah, karma's a bitch and her name's Veronica. He may have been innocent but at least she won't have to worry about his voice interrupting her boyfriend-time again when they're snuggling in the penthouse. Let this be a lesson to him, never try to out-sass a member of the Mars family.
- Veronica, having just been falsely accused of plagiarism, is walking through the cafeteria in a daze, shaking her head in shock. Piz notices her, from a nearby table, and runs over to her, excited about a record album he's holding. He babbles on about how he picked up an unscratched vinyl of London Calling for ninety-nine cents because some lady threw her husband out and had a garage sale to get rid of all his stuff. He's living in Awesome!Land right now, but Veronica can only take it for a moment before she blurts out that her mentor/professor has just given her three days to prove she didn't plagiarize a major paper. The universe is aligned against her (again), so nothing at all is awesome right now. So Piz suggests she go bowling. At first she's doubtful that bowling could be a solution to her problems (as am I), and then she looks nervously worried that he might be suggesting that they go bowling together alone. Quickly covering, so as to remove her worries, he throws in that Wallace and "the whole gang" should come, too. Thursday nights are dollar nights at Fun Bowl. She questions whether bowling will take her mind off of the fact that everyone is out to get her, but he assures her that it worked for Nixon. And it'll be fun.
A classroom clock hits 2:00 pm exactly. The proctor standing at the front of the class tells the students currently taking a Sociology test that it's time to put their pencils down and turn their papers in. Everyone does as they're told, getting up from their desks and setting their papers in front of the proctor. Everyone that is, except for Logan. He glances at the other students leaving as he spends just a few seconds longer finishing up his sentence. Satisfied, he takes it to the front of the class and tosses it down. The proctor picks it up and gives it back to Logan. He's sorry, but since Logan kept writing after he called time, he can't accept it. Logan protests that he was just finishing his thought, but the guy repeats that time was called. Seeing he's not getting anywhere with the jerk, Logan acts indignant and asks the guy if he has any idea who he is? The proctor gets annoyed and says that he doesn't and he really doesn't care. When he goes to get his jacket, Logan takes the opportunity to stick his paper in the middle of the pile. The proctor turns around to see Logan shuffle all the papers together and realizes he's been outsmarted. Throwing a smile back at the guy, Logan leaves. Heh.
Later, Logan and Mercer are sharing a table in the cafeteria. Mercer's impressed at Logan's tale of victorious battle against the evil proctor, and goes on about how classically awesome it was. Until he sees Veronica walk up behind Logan. Then he puts on an act of righteous condemnation. He doesn't condone what Logan did and had nothing to do with his decision to do it. Curious, Veronica asks what he's talking about. Cheating, Mercer tattles. He told Logan it was wrong and that he's going to burn in HELL. Logan's positive he'll see him there. When Mercer leaves, Veronica lifts Logan's arm off the back of a chair and sits next to him. He puts his arm around her as she asks him if he cheated. He explains that he took ten extra seconds on a test, but doesn't she love the bad boys? She does, but thinks he needs to turn in his membership if that's the baddest he can be. Leaning on his shoulder and confiscating his soda, she asks him if he'd like to go bowling tomorrow night. He's in, as long as it's actual bowling and not a seminar about bowling. Veronica tells him that it could be fun. It'll be with Wallace, his roommate and some other guys. Logan notices that Veronica's staring across the room. Parker's alone at a table, looking a little sad. Veronica mentions that Parker's been all alone this week because Mac's been working on a project. Maybe they should invite Parker along for the bowling?
So Veronica walks over to Parker's table as she's about to leave and asks her if she'd like to go bowling together. For a little hatchet-burying between them. Unless she'd rather see Veronica fed to bears. Parker smiles at that. Or possibly, the bowling invitation.
Wallace returns to his dorm room, loaded up with his books. Piz is dressed for bowling and ready to go out for some fun. Wallace sits at his desk, getting ready to study and complains that he's pretty sure he'll never have fun again. Then it dawns on him that this was the night they were supposed to go bowling with Veronica. Whoops. He can't make it because he has studying to do. Piz starts freaking out that Wallace has to go because he told Veronica the whole gang, including Wallace, would be there. Wallace is amused at his predicament, realizing that it'll look like he set her up and it'll be awkward, but it's not his problem right now.
Veronica's trying to decide what shirt to wear on bowling night, so she consults Keith for his expert opinion. Should she wear the "earnest, I'm really bowling" bowling shirt? Or the "I'm too cool for bowling and I'm only here ironically" Moose-Tastic t-shirt? Keith wonders when crappy old shirts with stupid stuff on them became cool. Veronica's wondering why she asks him these things anyway.
"Hi, honey, I'm home!" Veronica calls out as she walks into Logan's place. He's sitting in his bedroom, putting his shoes on. When he starts to ask about the Moose-Tastic shirt she's wearing, she cuts him off with a kiss. She's so tired of explaining.
And it's time to bowl at Fun Bowl! Piz sees Veronica walk in and calls her over. She looks around expectantly, wondering where everyone else is. His smile falls when he sees her boyfriend walking up. Logan reintroduces himself as Logan. Her boyfriend. Veronica asks again where Wallace and the rest of the gang are. Piz admits that Wallace had a crisis, so bailed. Seeing no one else around, Veronica realizes it might just be the three of them, which awkward. Before he has to explain that "the gang" are only imaginary friends of his, Parker joins them. Veronica's happy (and a bit relieved) to see her. Like the others, Parker's curious where everyone else is hiding themselves. Everyone turns to Piz for an answer. Laughing nervously, he points out that they all need shoes. Logan asks his "darling" for the size of her "dainty feet" that he loves so much, then walks Piz over to the shoe counter, asking him if he goes bowling with "the gang" a lot. (Heh.) When the girls are alone, Parker gets upset with Veronica because she thinks she's been set up on a double date with Piz. Veronica swears that isn't the case. Parker considers it, then relents to stay, but doesnt consider this to be a fun evening.
And strike! Parker's just bowled one and is screaming and raising her arms in victory, taunting the other team that's she's just bowled two-thirds of a turkey. She high-fives her teammate, Logan, so hard that he has to rub his dainty little hand. Parker continues heckling the other team, especially Piz who's getting ready for his turn. Logan goes to get some refreshments and the girls have a moment alone. Veronica asks Parker if this is fun and the girl apologizes for being grumpy about it earlier. She's enjoying being out in the world again. Seeing that Piz has just bowled a 7-10, the worst spare to have to make, Veronica weakly tries to encourage her teammate to make it, while Parker obnoxiously tells him, "Don't blow it, Pizzzz." He sullenly makes his way back to the lane and Parker asks Veronica for some info. Like, is he single? Veronica's confused at the sudden turn in conversation. Parker thinks he's cute. Veronica looks even more confused. And she wants Veronica to find out what Piz thinks of her. At this, Veronica looks like she's just been invited to another slumber party at Gia's. (Can't say that I blame her.) Who knew making new girlfriends came with such girly-girl drama?
Back at the hotel, Veronica plops herself down on Logan's couch, vowing no more fun because it's too exhausting. Logan's changing his shirt in the other room and suggests that they should get some weight-training in before their next bowling outing. Veronica clarifies that she wasn't talking about the physical exertion so much as the whole ridiculous soap opera plot she got pulled into. She's been tasked with finding out if Piz likes Parker and isn't sure if she's just supposed to go the whole junior high route of passing him a note or what. Suddenly noticing Logan's test paper laying out, Veronica looks at it and asks him if he got an A. Logan says he did, but sarcastically jokes that the "cheating" cheapens it. He climbs over the back of the couch and sits next to her, while he tells her that his former "cellmate" Horshack got caught taking two tests. The second test he was taking for their psycho guard, Rafe. (Hmm. I wonder if that'll make it into the professor's study results.)
The next day, Veronica unhappily walks to the radio station remembering with horror the time, eight years ago, that Suzie Doyle made her ask Brad Stark if he liked her. The potential love match never spoke again and Veronica has no illusions that she's gotten any better at it. She enters the room and uncomfortably waves at Piz, who's on the phone. When he hangs up she politely thanks him for the fun bowling night. He's glad she had fun and hopes Logan did, too. (Riiiight.) She agrees that Logan had a good time, everyone had a good time. Including Parker, she adds. Cool, he's glad since she seems nice. Seeing an opening at last, Veronica asks if he really thinks so. Because Then, she has to stop because of the temporary paralysis brought on by the traumatic stress flashback to a similar sixth grade conversation. Somehow she manages to go on and tell him that Parker thought he was cool. He stares blankly at her. And also cute, she says almost expectantly. He laughs nervously, then gets it, but starts stammering that Parker's really nice but not his type. She's disappointed and clearly dreading having to break the news to Parker.
Veronica's working in the library when Parker rushes up to her, all atwitter that she's found out about Piz's radio show. He'll be on tonight and since the station is right in the Student Union, she was thinking the two of them could just "drop by." Not wanting to risk further trauma by telling the girl that Piz isn't interested, Veronica tries to kill the idea by suggesting it'll be really late. Parker doesn't care, though. It'll be fun! Piz is finishing up his radio show, when he sees Veronica walk up to the window. He nods a greeting and tells listeners that it's time for Club Flush next. Then he sees Parker walk up beside Veronica and smile at him. He smiles and waves back, a little, totally feeling the awkward. The girls walk in to the station and Parker goes on and on about how interested she is in how all the stuff works. Maybe Piz can show her sometime. Fortunately (or unfortunately), she remains oblivious to the daggered eye look Piz just shot at Veronica, who looks just a bit embarrassed at her cowardice. Piz cuts Parker's tour short, though, because the guy who does the club in house show is supposed to be starting right now. So the clueless girl suggests they all go for pizza.
- Dean O'Dell walks out of his office to greet Professor Winkler, apologizing for keeping him waiting. Wallace is sitting there, looking like a condemned man. He gets up to face the music, just as Veronica walks out of the Dean's office and past him, surprised to see him there. Wallace throws an ashamed glance back at his BFF, then is ushered into the Dean's office. Everyone's seated and Winkler explains that even though it's hardly the first time they've caught an athlete cheating, he's accepting partial responsibility for accepting Wallace into his program in the first place. They usually don't take athletes, especially ones with standardized test scores as low as Wallace's. The program is just too demanding. Wallace is squirming by now, what with being caught cheating and now being basically told he's not smart enough for the engineering program. The shame is momentarily interrupted when Mindy brings her husband his bagged lunch. As the Dean grumbles about having no cookie, Mindy tells him to be merciful with the boy before him, then leaves. O'Dell asks Wallace what he has to say for himself. Wallace is in complete agreement with Mrs. O'Dell's thoughts on mercy.
Wallace and his friend Mason are sitting on the gym floor, stretching before basketball practice. Mason's confused as to why Wallace is bummed. He wanted to drop his class before and now, when given the chance to do so after add/drops are over, he's not happy. Wallace hasn't decided yet what he wants to do. The coach blows his whistle and calls the team to the floor. He tosses the ball to Wallace and tells him he's going to be the starter today. Wallace is surprised, but pleased. Mason not so much. He starts to protest, but the coach warns Mason that if he wants to keep his starting job, he needs to keep earning it. Wallace pats Mason on the back and takes the ball to the court. Mason is not a happy baller.
Veronica shows up at Wallace's room and pokes her head in to see if he's there. He is, but denies that "Wallace" is there, as he sits moping and staring at the airplane in his hand. Veronica's confused and Wallace explains that he in fact is Evil Wallace and he knows that Veronica Mars doesn't hang with the evil and morally bankrupt. She assures him that Evil Wallace wouldn't have confessed and faced the consequences, so nope, she smiles, he's Regular Wallace. He gives her the news that he's been given the chance to drop his class with no repercussions, but it means giving up his major. Pointing at the airplane in his hand, he explains that figuring out how stuff works was the first thing he was ever into. It's all he's ever wanted to do. She tells him that she knows that Regular Wallace will work it all out.
Professor Winkler's passing some papers out to his engineering class, advising them that these formulas need to be memorized as soon as possible. He's surprised to see Wallace enter the class. Wallace doesn't want to drop it. It may not be the smart choice, but he'll take the zero on the last test and if he averages a C or above on the remaining four tests, he'll be able to pass. Winkler smiles and gives him the latest assignment.
Later, Wallace is in the library, studying, with some tunes playing on his iPod. Veronica, who's wrapping up her shift at the help desk, goes over to him and whispers that he's going to ruin his eyes with all that book-learnin' he's doing. Loudly (way too loudly), Wallace tells her he took the zero on the test and stayed in Winkler's class. She makes a face and points at his earphones. He takes them out and explains that he needs to study. She suspected as much. When he goes back to work, she leans in and whispers some words of encouragement: he's Rocky, mechanical engineering is Mr. T and "Eye of the Tiger" is playing. Done imparting her special kind of wisdom, Veronica tells him she'll see him later on and leaves. After a second, he realizes what she just said and gets confused, so he calls after her, "What? When?"
It's 9:06 a.m. and Wallace's alarm buzzer is going off. He's dead to the world, though, books open still from a long night of studying. Piz walks into the room, hair still wet from his shower, and calls out to Wallace. No response. He starts to walk over to him and bumps into a tennis racket, which he picks up on his way. Piz tries to get some kind of reaction from Wallace by telling him that school policy will let him keep his stuff if he's dead, so he just shouldn't say anything. Still nothing. So he starts poking Wallace gently with the racket. This finally gets a conscious reaction from the poor guy, who then freaks out when he sees how late it is. Piz acts disappointed and calls out that he could have taken his iPod as Wallace grabs his bag and runs out.
Wallace shows up at the gym as his team is already on the court, practicing. He rushes over to the coach and apologizes for missing his alarm. Mason sarcastically calls Wallace "Sleeping Beauty," but the coach shoos him back into the game. Turning his attention to his new starter, the coach warns Wallace that he shouldn't blow this chance by staying up partying all night. Poor overwhelmed Wallace goes to suit up, rubbing his head in frustration along the way.
The latest engineering class practice quiz is being passed back to the students with the warning that all material will be on the next exam. Getting to Wallace, he returns the quiz. He scored a 67, which is a D+. Winkler smiles that it's some real improvement, but Wallace is still disappointed.
Wallace goes to his coach, later, and makes a difficult decision. He explains that he has a class that's killing him and he doesn't want to drop it and have to change majors, so he feels he needs to take the semester off from basketball. He could be back by mid-season. He does this, knowing that he might not get to keep his scholarship. Fortunately, the coach isn't such a hardass, though. He tells Wallace to keep the scholarship, but he should also know that he's throwing away his chance to be a starter and probably won't be able to play on the team at all this year. Is he really prepared for that? Wallace nods that he is.
And we later see Wallace taking copious notes as Winkler lectures on Hooke's Law. Aww. I think Alicia would be a little proud of her boy.
- Keith's at home, doing the dishes, when the phone rings. It's Harmony Chase. He's surprised to hear from her and asks if everything's okay. It is. She knows that their professional relationship is over, but she really enjoyed talking with Keith. Her husband and daughter are in Orlando for a couple of weeks and she has passes for the Noir Festival at the Orient, but no one to go with. She was thinking that maybe he'd like to join her and take in a movie, since he's a guy with an interest in the noir business. Keith hesitates to answer, glancing a bit nervously towards Veronica's room as he considers the offer.
Later, we see Keith and Harmony exiting a movie theater that's playing The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. She's asking him if what they just saw was an accurate depiction of life as a P.I. Keith says it's pretty close, even though he's never been hired to locate a Maltese falcon. A Maltese dog, on the other hand, did once try to elude him. They laugh as he explains that he had a client whose show dog was kidnapped by her ex-husband. As they come to the end of their "not a date," Harmony thanks him for coming. With the way things are with her husband these days, she can't remember the last time she just hung out and talked with someone. Keith agrees, then after a momentary pause, tells her goodnight and shakes her hand. Then follows it up with a nervously awkward hug.
On another day, Keith's home and talking to Harmony again on the phone. The film festival is playing Out of the Past, one of his favorites, tomorrow night. Harmony, however, has a conference at the Neptune Grand, so she doesnt think she'll be able to make it. She'd still like to do something, though. He's disappointed, but tells her to keep him posted and hangs up.
A couple of minutes later, Veronica notices the film festival pamphlet on the counter and asks him if he was just making a date with the person he was talking to on the phone. He denies it and when he mentions that it was Harmony he was talking to, Veronica gets concerned. This is the Harmony with the non-cheating husband? He's going on a date with a married woman? He tries to laugh it off, that it's not a date. They only saw a movie, had a drink and talked. Which, like Veronica points out, is often called a date. Keith insists they're just mature adults who happen to be friends. Veronica's skeptical face pretty much says it all.
The next evening, Veronica is walking across the lobby at the Neptune Grand, when she spots her father at the bar. She goes over to say hi and he tells her he's just there grabbing a drink. When the bartender places two martinis before him, Veronica catches the guilty glance Keith throws across the room. Yep, there's Harmony over there. Another round is played of "What are you doing going out with a married woman?" / "It's complete innocent." And in the end Keith's attempts to convince Veronica not to worry about the situation fail miserably, as she walks away.
While the "mature adults" enjoy their martinis, Keith comments that he'll have to settle for just one if he's going to be able to drive home. Harmony tells him that they really don't have to worry if they don't want to. Keith pretends to not catch on to her meaning, so she tries to be more explicit. After a long, nervous pause, she confesses that she's been doing a lot of thinking and she doesnt want to be counting her regrets when she's on her deathbed one day. Keith still feigns ignorance, so Harmony spits it out. She got a room at the hotel, so if there's a chance they might want to use it ... She sees the uncomfortable look on Keith's face and is aghast and totally embarrassed now. Keith gently tells her that he doesn't know if that's such a good idea for them right now. She apologizes for ruining things between them, but he assures her she didn't. She's amazing, but he can't do this. He really wants to say yes, but he doesn't know which he would regret more. Being with her or not being with her. So he apologizes and leaves, as Harmony tries not to cry.
Keith drives home from the hotel, lost in thought as he sits in the intersection waiting to make a turn. Suddenly, a truck crashes right into his car. (Gasps are heard across the fandom.) The other driver gets out and rushes to see if Keith's ok. He is. (Sighs of relief replace the gasps.) His airbag is currently smothering his face, but he's good. The truck driver swears that he didn't see the stop sign and after Keith gets out of the car, trying to gather his bearings, he goes to call for help. Keith stands there for a moment, catching his breath. Then he starts laughing a little in relief. And a look of determination comes over his face.
Harmony's standing at the door of her hotel room, looking through the peep hole. She opens it to find Keith standing there. Not saying a word, he grabs her and kisses her passionately, shutting the door as the intensity of their kiss grows.
The next morning, Veronica is cooking eggs and calling out to her father to come eat his breakfast. There's no response. She calls out again and still nothing. So she goes to his room and, after knocking, opens the door to find his bed hasn't been slept in.
- Veronica's paper, when shown to her online by Tim, shows the following information:
- Student: Veronica Mars, 33-92811
Title: Integrating Criminological Theories and Perspectives for a Truer Understanding
Info: Processed on 11-04-06 at 3:34pm. Word Count: 3347
- Wallace's player number on the Hearst basketball team is #3.
- Parker wears size seven shoes.
- Tim Foyle has been studying under Professor Landry for three years.
- Mason's player number on the basketball team is #15.
- Max lives in Clark Hall.
- Veronica and Nish are sitting in the reception area outside the Dean's office on opposite ends of the couch, the physical manifestation of their opposing perspectives on the latest development in the Hearst Serial Rapist mystery. In the background we can hear Dean ODell giving faux-rape victim Claire hell for faking her attack. I so love that you hear him quip "What universe do you live in?" and "Are you completely insane?" Excellent questions, sir!
Nish snottily asks Veronica if this is what she wanted and of course, Veronicas like "Yes, Nish. I totally wanted Claire to be faking her attack so that she could ruin the credibility of the other victims. Because honestly, nothing would make me happier than to see this rapist continue assaulting women at this University." Stupidest. Question. Ever. Grrr. But there's no more time for chit-chat because the Dean's ready to bring the girls into the fray.
Veronica and Nish enter the office in just enough time to witness the Dean putting Claire's lawyer handily in his place. He reminds this dude that they have facts, witness statements, photos and the boyfriend who helped perpetrate the faux rape -- all courtesy of Veronica -- in support of the allegations against Claire. Which means that, in light of the school charter, his options for how to deal with her are very clear. He tells the lawyer that he's welcome to fight the charter if he likes, but the University's lawyers are way scarier than he is. (Not that that would be hard.) Then he tells Claire that she's expelled from Hearst as of that moment and she and her lawyer need to beat it, pronto. Claire stalks to the door, lawyer in tow, and snaps at Veronica, "Happy?" Like Veronica, I'm not going to bother responding to this again because I'm fairly confident that I covered the appropriate response to this stupid question pretty thoroughly about one paragraph up.
The Dean barely pauses for a breath before diving right into his issues with Nish. The Dean is rather perturbed that Nish didn't deem the story Veronica put together on Claire's faked attack worthy of publication in the school newspaper. After all, the evidence was simple and clear. Nish goes right into her horrendously annoying one-note feminist rant about how she felt she had a responsibility to "exercise some judgment" because "it's a powder keg out there." I'm going to read that as "it didnt further my crazy, man-hating agenda against the fraternity houses so it wasn't worth including." The Dean clearly agrees with me because he points out that Nish seemed to be lacking in caution when she implicated the Pi Sig house in the rapes. She ought to at least be pretending to be objective.
That having been said, he thinks it's about time Nish stepped down as editor of the paper. Nish gets all anxious and panicky and tells him that he can't do that because it's a student-run paper! As the Dean reminds her, he's a cagey old man and there are no limits to what he can and cannot do at Hearst. So she's done now too, for good. Dismissed.
Can I just pause for a moment to say: Go Dean! Go Dean! Go, go, go Dean! I never imagined I would say this, but the Dean is so bad ass. He totally rules.
Nish storms out, but not before telling both the Dean and Veronica that they'll both regret this. I don't think either one of them is particularly bothered by this threat 'cause really, what can the girl do?
Several days later, Veronica is indulging Parker's newfound crush on Piz (and I give that a great big 'whatever') by accompanying her on a "drop by" of Pizs radio show. As the trio is on the way out for some pizza, Mercer is on his way in to do his radio show "Club Flush." Seeing a new hot girl he hasn't met, Mercer introduces himself to Parker and seems a bit taken with her. She seems less than thrilled. In fact, she looks downright peaked. Completely forgetting her desire to hang out with Piz and gorge on pizza, she drags Veronica out of the studio.
Veronica can clearly see that Parker is upset and wonders what has triggered her anxiety. Parker tells Veronica that meeting Mercer really wigged her out because she recognized him. Well, not him exactly, but his cologne. The scent has been forever burned into her brain because it was the same cologne the rapist was wearing the night she was attacked. Add to that the bad vibe she got when she shook his hand, and you've got all the ingredients for a proper freak-out. Veronica totally sympathizes and assures Parker that while Mercer's busy pumping out club jams, she'll do some surreptitious investigating.
Using Weevil's keys (and boy have those come in handy this week!) Veronica takes a quick tour of Mercer's room. She finds his cologne and makes note of the name. The only other suspicious item she comes across is a pair of hair clippers, seemingly hidden away in a dresser drawer. Not exactly solid proof, but definitely suspicious. The next day, Veronica pays a visit to the Sheriffs office to trade barbed insults with Lamb and share a sarcastic chuckle over his totally inappropriate "rape humor." And then we apparently take a side trip into an alternate universe where Veronica takes her suspicions and her somewhat shaky evidence to Lamb. For further investigation. Of a crime she knows he's innately skeptical of and jackassish about. To quote Simon Tam of the late, great Firefly, "This must be what going crazy feels like."
Craziness aside, Veronica tells Lamb about Parker's run-in with Mercer, the smell of his cologne, and the things she found when she just happened to be in his room that night. And Lamb listens. And takes her seriously. And shares with her the information he has on Mercer. "No ... this must be what going crazy feels like." Lamb tells Veronica that when they recovered the cash box from the casino robbery, in addition to wads of cash they also discovered two vials of GHB, the very same drug used on two of the rape victims. Duhn, duhn, duhn, DUHN! Red herring, thy name is Mercer Hayes.
Later that day, after confronting T.A. Tim about setting her up with the whole plagiarism scam, she notices that he has a bulletin board dedicated to the Hearst rapes. You know, the kind of crazy news clipping board that every movie serial killer keeps -- which, Im hoping will make Veronica recognize that Tim is SO clearly another red herring in this complex mystery. Tim comments that the police have recovered no physical evidence from any of the attacks: No hair, no semen, no trace of any kind. Oooh! New information! And I agree, it is pretty interesting. Veronica studies the board intently and utters a brief "huh" in an attempt to screw with Tim's head and make him think she sees something he doesn't. But is she really faking? Only time will tell.
The next day Veronica gets roped into sharing part of her lunch with the Dean in the Student Union as she seems to be one of the few college students he actually likes. Moments later, Logan approaches looking really anxious and tells her he needs to talk to her. He pulls Veronica aside and tells her that he needs her help. Apparently red-herring Mercer has just been arrested for the rapes, but Logan knows that Mercer's innocent and he needs Veronica's help to prove it. Based on her own recent investigation into Mercer's life, Veronica is clearly less than certain that Logan's got the right of it. But Logan is emphatic that he knows that Mercer didnt do it because they were together the night of the rape that occurred over the summer. The catch? He can't tell Veronica where they were or what they were doing. He just begs her to trust him. A statement immediately followed by the groan heard round the world.
Why, you might ask? Mainly due to the ominous sound that immediately followed Logan's plea for trust. Do you know what that sound is folks? It is the bell of relationship DOOM tolling in the distance. Because despite her comments about trying to act "unnaturally" I have little hope that Veronica will actually, in fact, trust Logan on this vital issue. Eeeeeeeeeek.
"Prince of Wands" (Douglas Armour)
Scene: Unpleasant sixth-grade flashbacks? Bad. Having to look at Piz's haircut for longer than two seconds? Horrific.
"I'm Not In Love" (10cc)
Scene: Hmm, thinks Keith. Crash!, goes Keith car. Hmm, thinks Keith again with a laugh. 'Ooh, baby' goes Keith and the cheating wife.
LoVe Lines
Mercer: That is classic.
Logan: It was a proctor. The professor wasn't even there.
Mercer: That is so awesome. (Sees Veronica approaching.) But I do not condone it in any way and had nothing to do with your decision to do it.
Veronica: Do what?
Mercer: Cheating. I told him it was wrong and he was going to burn in Hell. (To Logan.) You're going to burn in Hell, man.
Logan: I'll see you there.
Veronica: (Taking a seat next to Logan.) You cheated?
Logan: I took ten extra seconds on a test. I thought you loved bad boys.
Veronica: I do, but if that's your idea of bad, you need to turn in your badge. (Rests her arm on Logan's shoulder.) Hey, do you want to go bowling tomorrow night? (Leans forward to grab Logan's drink.)
Logan: Sure. Unless it's some critical analysis of bowling seminar, then --
Veronica: No, it's just Wallace and his roommate and some other guys. Could be fun. (Shrugs, then notices Parker sitting alone at a table.)
Logan: What?
Veronica: Just Mac's had this project all week and Parker's all alone. (Taps Logan's shoulder.) I think we should invite her along.
Logan: Mm, how very Emma of you.
Veronica: Did you just make a Jane Austen reference? It's official, (Mockingly.) the end of days are upon us.
Veronica: (Entering Logan's suite.) Hi honey, I'm home.
Logan: (Sitting at the end of his bed, tying his shoe.) Hey, moosetastic, huh? What's that -- (Veronica interrupts him with a kiss.) Mmmm.
Veronica: So tired of explaining. Hey, you've lived here awhile, do you have any inside connections?
Logan: (Switches to the other shoe.) Inside connections like what?
Veronica: Like, someone on staff you're pals with who might sneak you info they're not supposed to?
Veronica: (At hotel desk, waiting for Tina to be free.) Your pal? (Off Logan's nod.) Of course.
Logan: (As Tina approaches them.) Hi, Tina, uh, this is Veronica, Veronica ... (Making introductions, gestures at Tina.)
Tina: Hi. What's going on, Logan?
Logan: Listen, I've got a little favor.
Tina: (Whispering.) Anything.
Logan: I'm trying to find out if a person, who was registered here, someone named -- (Looks to Veronica.)
Veronica: Rory Finch.
Tina: This isn't illegal, is it? (Laughs after Logan and Veronica stare back blankly.) No, I'm just kidding. Hold on. (Logan blows a kiss at Veronica as Tina looks it up.) Yeah, Rory Finch. She stayed with us for a night a week ago and a few other times over the last couple of months. Always one-night stays.
Veronica: Is there an address, credit-card number?
Tina: Mmm, post-office box and paid in cash. All I've got's a name.
Veronica: If I left my cell number, could you call me if they checked back in?
Tina: Sure. (Grinning at Logan.) Any friend of Logan's.
Veronica: Girlfriend of Logan's. (Taking Logan's arm and leading him away.) Come on Boyfriend, let's bowl.
Piz: (To Veronica as she approaches him at the bowling alley.) Hey Veronica. Cool shirt. (Pointing out his own shirt.) I went the, uh, post-ironic route.
Veronica: Hey, Piz. (Looking around.) Where's ...
Piz: (To Logan when he comes up behind Veronica.) Oh, hey, uh
Logan: (Smiling, amused.) Logan. Her boyfriend. We met.
Piz: Right.
Veronica: So, where's Wallace? And the rest of this gang?
Piz: (Lamely.) Right, uh, the gang. Well, Wallace had a crisis, so he can't make it, and um
Veronica: (Uncomfortably.) So, it's just --
Parker: (Approaching the group.) Veronica. Hi.
Veronica: Hey, Parker. How's it going?
Parker: Hey.
Veronica: (Pointing to Logan.) Uh, you met Logan, right?
Parker: (To Logan.) Yeah, hi, sure.
Logan: Hi.
Veronica: (Pointing to Piz.) And you remember Piz.
Parker: (Shakes Piz's hand.) Yeah, hi. (Looking around at the group.) So, um. Where is everyone?
Piz: (Laughs, breaking the silence.) Hey, shoes. We need shoes.
Logan: Yeah, let's get shoes. (Turning to Veronica.) Uh, Darling, what size are those dainty feet that I love so much?
Veronica: Six.
Logan: (Putting a hand on Piz's shoulder, leading him away.) So bowling, huh? Is this something you do a lot? You and the gang?
Parker: (Bowls a strike.) Yay hooooo! That's two-thirds of a Turkey, bitches. (High fives Logan.) Ah, you're in a deep hole, Piznarski. We're gonna totally humiliate you, but, you know, no pressure.
Logan: Refreshments?
Piz: Ten Martinis.
Logan: Anyone else? (Looking at Veronica.) Dearest, darling?
Veronica: (Throws herself down on Logan's couch.) Oh, no more fun. Too exhausting.
Logan: Yeah. Next time we'll get in some weight training before we bowl. (Takes off his shirt. Yay!)
Veronica: Just the soap opera. Parker wants me to find out if Piz likes her. What do I do? Pass a note? Scribble it on his Trapper Keeper? (Looks down at the coffee table.) Hey, did you get an A? (Picks up his Sociology test.)
Logan: Yeah. But, the cheating kinda cheapens the whole thing. (Puts a shirt on. Boo!)
Veronica: You're only cheating yourself.
Logan: (Jumps onto the couch beside Veronica.) Yeah, well, I got off easy. You know that kid Horshack, from the Prison Experiment? He got caught doing two tests. They busted him. And guess who else? That psycho guard that was tormenting him so bad, Rafe, yeah, he was taking his test for him. Can you believe that? People are crazy, huh? (Hears a knock at the door.) Oh, thank god. Real food.
Logan: Oh, you guys know each other?
Veronica: You want to tell him, Ratner?
Ratner: What's to tell?
Veronica: This is the guy who's trying to get me tossed out of Landry's class.
Ratner: You should be. You cheated.
Veronica: Now it turns out you work at the Neptune Grand, which happens to be where the fake paper was posted from. Strange, huh, Rory Finch?
Ratner: What are you talking about? I don't "happen to work here." I've worked here two years. You've seen me a hundred times, but you don't notice the little people 'cause you're too busy lounging with Captain Moneybags here.
Logan: That's Admiral Moneybags.
Ratner: I trust our steak's to your liking?
Logan: Always.
Ratner: Good night, then. (Leaves.)
Logan: Well, that's my girl. Spreading sunshine wherever she goes.
Veronica: That boy doesn't know it yet, but he's the living dead. (Logan kisses the back of her head.)
Quotable Quotes
Nish: So, is this what you wanted?
Veronica: (Sadly and incredulously.) You think this is what I wanted?
Dean O'Dell: Yes. We have photos, we have witnesses, we have the boyfriend who helped. There's no question Claire lied about the rape and the Hearst Charter is quite clear about this. You want to challenge the charter, that's fine. We have lawyers too, and they're a lot scarier than you, Mr. Davis. Miss Nordhouse. You're expelled from Hearst College as of this moment, and so is your lawyer. (Pauses.) That's all.
Dean O'Dell: I found the facts fairly simple to corroborate.
Nish: I felt I had a responsibility to exercise some caution with a story implying the rapes might have been faked. In case you haven't noticed, it's a powder keg out there.
Dean O'Dell: I noticed, but I didn't see much caution when you implicated the Pi Sigma house. You're supposed to at least pretend to be objective. I'm afraid I'm gonna need you to step down as editor of the Free Press.
Nish: Its a student paper! You cant
Dean O'Dell: I'm a devious old man, Nish. You'd be surprised what I can do. You're done there, as of this moment. (Rises to his feet.)
Nish: (Threateningly.) You'll regret this. (Slowly walks around Veronica, adds venomously.). And so will you.
Dean O'Dell: (Semi-sarcastically.) Pardon us. My important lunch. (Mindy smiles.) Better be a cookie in there.
Mindy: Oh, of course there isn't.
Dean ODell: (Pulls sandwich and apple out of bag.) Why do you punish me like this?
Mindy: Because I'm your wife, that's what I'm for. Remember? (Glances at nervously smiling Wallace. Whispers to her husband.) Be merciful. (Kisses him and walks out.)
Dean ODell: She probably ate the damn cookie herself. So, what do you have to say?
Wallace: I'm with her on the mercy thing.
Landry: The whole of human knowledge, right there online, and these papers are thin. Am I crazy to expect better? And if you're confused as to what better is, let me direct you to the front. (Points to one paper pinned to the top of the board.) Where I've posted our only example of A-caliber work. Nice job, Miss Mars. (General grumble from other students, directed at Veronica.)
Veronica Mars Voiceover: (Sarcastically.) Well, this should make me popular.
Keith: He's smart, huh? Is he smarter than your old man?
Veronica: (Points at her dad) You know, actually, you two have a lot in common. You'd like him.
Keith: Can I take him in a fight? Be honest.
Veronica: Ah. How did you get this number? I don't give it out to anyone.
Tim: You're not the only one at this school who has certain gifts.
Veronica: Gifts. That was my grandmother's term for, um, female (Whistles and outlines a curvy female form with her hands.) Just so you know.
Veronica: There's no way. Someone is trying to screw with me.
Tim: You think it's me? You think I'm trying to get you out of Landry's class because I don't like you?
Veronica: (With mock surprise.) Wait. You don't like me?
Veronica Mars Voiceover: Apparently, if you look hard enough, everyone looks like they're hiding dark secrets. So, if you're looking for something specific, you gotta try the direct approach. (Stands in front of the class and addresses the students.)
Veronica: Hi. Uh, some of you might know who I am. Veronica Mars. (No reaction from the class.) Okay. So, I wrote that paper And now someone in this class has accused me of plagiarizing it, which I absolutely did not. So, I was kind of wondering who it was. (No one volunteers.) So, is this silence, like, it wasn't any of you or, like, no one wants to face me?
Veronica Mars Voiceover: Or like no one actually did it and our weasely T. A. is trying to --
Jeff: I did it. Jeff Ratner.
Veronica: Ratner. Um, have we met before?
Jeff: We have, but you probably don't remember, so whatever.
Veronica: So, you reported me. Why did you --
Jeff: Why? Maybe 'cause I'm a common man kind of guy, and I like it when some teacher's pet who's destroying the curve for everyone, gets exposed as a cheat. Yeah, you cheated. I caught you. Deal with it. (Many students cheer.)
Veronica: (Opening the door to Wallace's room.) Wallace!
Wallace: (Clearly sitting on his bed.) Not here.
Veronica: And you would be?
Wallace: Evil Wallace. And I know Veronica Mars doesn't hang with the evil and morally bankrupt.
Veronica: Evil Wallace wouldn't have confessed and faced punishment. Nope. You're Regular Wallace.
Max: (To Veronica.) This must be a real Kafkaesque experience for you.
Proctor: I'm sorry. (Hands Logan his exam back.)
Logan: What about it?
Proctor: I called time and you kept writing. I can't accept your test.
Logan: Yeah, I was just finishing my --
Proctor: Time was called. I'm sorry.
Logan: So you keep saying, dude, but come on.
Proctor: (Shaking his head.) Mm-mm.
Logan: (Purposefully indignant.) Do you have any idea who I am?
Proctor: I don't and I don't care. Rules are rules, for everyone, no matter who they think (Turns around to see Logan mixing in his exam with all the others. Logan starts walking out of the classroom, turning around to offer the proctor a smug grin. He slips his pencil in his ear and leaves.)
Veronica: Hey, Parker. What's up?
Parker: Nothing. (Making a disgusted face.) I think I just ate something's beak.
Veronica: Hey, do you want to come bowling with us tomorrow night?
Parker: Bowling? (Skeptical.) Why?
Veronica: You know. Hatchet-burying, etcetera. Plus, Nixon found it soothing. Look, if you don't want to go because you'd rather see me fed to bears, fine. (Parker grins.)
Harmony: So, would you call that an accurate depiction of life as a private eye?
Keith: Pretty close. I personally have never been hired to locate a Maltese falcon, per se, but there was the case of the Maltese dog.
Keith: (To Harmony.) It's great talking to someone for whom Bogart isn't a verb.
Dean O'Dell: (Calling to Veronica from his office.) Do you follow boxing?
Veronica: (Entering the office.) I only follow sports that are done to music.
Veronica: (To Wallace who's studying at the library.) You're gonna ruin your eyes with all that book learnin'.
Veronica: Ah, my innocent and naive Wallace. When I find out who did this and I make them sing like the proverbial fat lady, that's when it's over. (Getting ready to leave Wallace to his studying.) Okay. You're Rocky, mechanical engineering is Mr. T, "Eye of the Tiger" is playing.
Veronica: (Holding up bowling shirt.) So, for bowling. Earnest, I'm really bowling, or (Holding up t-shirt.) I'm too cool for bowling and I'm only here ironically.
Keith: When did crappy old shirts with stupid stuff on them become cool?
Veronica: I don't know why I ask you these things.
Keith: I don't either, frankly.
Piz: (Rolls a gutter ball.) Damn it straight to hell.
Veronica: Parker, are you ok?
Parker: Oh, that guy Mercer, I just -- His cologne. I smelled it before.
Veronica: Yeah?
Parker: It's like burned into my brain. From the night I was raped. I mean I can't be sure, but (Breathes out.) Oh, I just, I just got the worst --
Veronica: Vibe? (Parker nods.) Yeah. He'll be in there for the next two hours. I'll look into it.
Veronica Mars Voiceover: Because I've still got twenty-four hours with Weevil's keys.
Lamb: (To himself, as he walks to his office.) You wanna know why? Because I'll stick my foot so far up your -- (Sees Veronica sitting in his office. She smiles. Calls out to staff.) Hey. Could someone let me know when some girl is in my office?
Veronica: This is sketchy, but --
Lamb: If it's Bigfoot, we checked. He's got an alibi.
Veronica: (Not amused.) Ohhh, rape humor. It never gets old.
Veronica: What are you doing?
Keith: (Smiling.) Honey, I told you it's completely innocent. We're just friends.
Veronica: You think the other person's great and you have a great time doing stuff together friends?
Keith: And there's nothing wrong with it.
Veronica: Unless your 'friend' is a very attractive unhappily married woman.
Keith: Veronica, I know a little more about this than you. Don't worry.
Veronica: I worry.
Tim Foyle: A person in my position might have thought he was doing you a favor. Since the professor thinks so highly of you, it might be helpful to demonstrate who he really is before you go to far under his spell.
Veronica: Do me a favor will ya? Don't do me any more favors.
Veronica: (Looking at Tim's bulletin board.) What's this? You have the same kind of crazy, press clipping board every movie serial killer keeps.
Dean O'Dell: Ahhh, Ms. Mars, join me would you?
Veronica: (Looking around uncomfortably.) Uh, sure, Dean.
Dean O'Dell: I just don't want more kids coming and giving me their ideas about how to run the school. My biggest problem as Dean. (Lowers voice to a whisper.) I don't like college students.
Hi, Infidelity (REO Speedwagon) ... (Referenced by the episode title.)
- So you figure that you've got him all figured out.
He's a sweet talkin' stud,
Who can melt a girl's heart with his pout.
He's the kind of lover that the ladies dream about.
He's got plenty of cash,
He's got plenty of friends,
He drives women wild,
Then he drives off in a Mercedes Benz.
He's got a long wick with a flame at both ends.
He's hot.
But don't let him go,
Just give him a chance to grow,
Take it easy, take it slow,
And don't let him go.
This is Logan, brought to you by "Keep On Loving You:"
- Cause it was us baby, way before then
And we're still together
And I meant, every word I said
When I said that I love you I meant
That I love you forever.
- I saw you at midnight, in a dream that I had.
From nowhere, you stood there, and you seemed so sad.
And a vicious decision is drivin' me mad.
Should I follow my head, or follow my heart?
- She doesn't like the tough guys.
She says she's heard enough lies.
She's gonna call your bluff, guys.
And you better believe it's true.
She don't like you.
- You're thinking up your white lies,
You're putting on your bedroom eyes,
You say you're coming home, but you won't say when.
There's a reason to believe that the show runners were attracted by the more direct implication of the title rather than the actual songs on the album. After all, the episode was all about infidelity, or cheating, academic and marital.
High Fidelity ... (Referenced by the episode title.)
A novel by Nick Hornby, which was adapted into a film by the same name (2000), starring John Cusack. The film follows the life of a record store owner, Rob Gordon (Fleming in the novel), who examines his past "Top Five Break-ups of All Time" after his girlfriend Laura ends their relationship.
He calls up his ex-girlfriends, asking them for an explanation of where things went wrong. He finds out that Girl #1 married the guy she dumped him for (in high school), so it wasn't his fault -- it was true love. Girl #2 reminds him that he had in fact dumped her for not putting out, and informs him that she was so heartbroken, that she let some random guy take her virginity, because she was convinced sex was the only way to get a guy to stay with her. So, basically he ruined her life, but Rob considers this a good thing, since it meant their break-up wasn't about her not wanting him. Girl #3 was a safety-net girlfriend; they hooked up after mutual bad break-ups, and it worked until she found a better guy. Having just been recently dumped herself, she is more interested in starting things up again with Rob than hashing out what it was that made the other guy better, so he wishes her well and lets it go. Girl #4 is Rob's nightmare, the goddess he was never good enough for, who dumped him for another guy (the break-up before Girl #3). Older and a little wiser, Rob meets up again with Charlie (Girl #4) and is surprised to find that the spell is broken -- she's admittedly gorgeous (played by Catherine Zeta Jones in the film), but he now only sees her as a vapid, pretentious, boring person, and he's glad she dumped him when she did.
At this point in the film (different from the book), Rob admits that there was no #5 Worst Break-up, that he had just put another name in there to keep Laura off the list. He fills the audience in on where things may have gone astray in their relationship:
- 1. He slept with someone else.
2. While she was pregnant. His affair was pretty much directly responsible for her decision to terminate the pregnancy.
3. He borrowed about $4,000 from her without paying any back.
4. He told her he might want to see other people.
In a deleted scene from the movie, a bitter soon-to-be divorce invites Rob over to her house to purchase her philandering husband's priceless record collection for $50. Rob insists on paying the proper price for the records, stating that he 'couldn't do that to another collector.' In the end, he begs her to sell him one Otis Redding album, and she agrees to sell it for ten cents. He insists on giving her at least $10, saying it's worth twenty times that amount. It looks like Piz didn't get the memo about the ethical code between record collectors, since he seemed to have no problem paying the bitter soon-to-be divorce at the garage sale 99 cents for her husband's Clash album. Kind of odd since Piz's MySpace page lists High Fidelity as one of his favorite movies. Poseur. (Nice shout-out, writers.)
Columbia (University) studies (Referenced by T.A. Lucky -- I mean Tim!, when speaking to Dr. Landry)
Columbia University, legally known as Columbia University in the City of New York, is a private university whose main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is one of the eight Ivy League universities and among the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the world.
Columbia University was established in 1754 as King's College. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States. Today, Columbia is one of the top academic and research institutions in the world, conducting pathbreaking research in medicine, science, the arts, and the humanities. It includes three undergraduate schools, thirteen graduate and professional schools, and a school of continuing education. The university is also affiliated with: Barnard College (BC), an undergraduate liberal arts college for women, and one of the Seven Sisters; the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS); and the Union Theological Seminary (UTS); all located nearby in Morningside Heights. A joint undergraduate program is available through the Juilliard School.
"In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen," which means
"In Thy light shall we see the light," a paraphrase of Psalms 35:10.
Orlando ... (Referenced by Harmony as she tells Keith her husband and daughter are currently there.)
Orlando is the county seat of Orange County, Florida. A 2005 U.S. Census Estimates population count gave the city population as 213,233, with the population in the metropolitan area exceeding 1.8 million. It is the sixth-largest city in Florida, and its largest inland city. It is also at the head of the Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Orlando-Kissimmee MSA is Florida's third-largest metropolitan area, behind Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Additionally, Orlando is home to the second largest university in Florida, the University of Central Florida.
One can assume that Harmonys hubby and progeny were in Orlando for the same reason most people visit: the insane number of tourist attractions. Number one on that list, of course, is the Magic Kingdom -- The Walt Disney World Resort. Other area attractions include SeaWorld and Universal Orlando Resort. Orlando sees an estimated 52 million tourists a year, and accordingly is the second largest city in the country for number of hotel rooms.
But Orlando is good for more than just mindless fun. Honest! It is a leader in medical care and research with two major health systems, Florida Hospital and Orlando Regional Healthcare System. Florida Hospital, a faith-based not-for-profit hospital system, is the largest healthcare system in Central Florida and one of the largest hospitals in the United States. Florida Hospital has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of America's top hospitals for eight consecutive years. Orlando Regional Healthcare Systems main campus, Orlando Regional Medical Center, is one of the busiest Level I Trauma Centers in the country, and also is home to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando. ORMC is the only statutory teaching hospital in Central Florida.
The city's nickname is "The City Beautiful," though plans are underway to change this title through a local contest. It has also been referred to as "O-Town," though that nickname has been forever tarnished by the craptastic 90s boyband that bogarted the name.
Noir ... (Referenced by Harmony when she invites Keith to the film festival.)
The phrase film noir was coined by French film critics not long after the end of Word War II. A French word, "noir" literally means "black" and gave the populace the concept of "dark film." In the early 1940's when France was occupied by the Nazis they were considered enemy territory and were forbidden to receive anything produced by Hollywood. By the time the war ended, there was more than five years of backlogged American movies that began to hit French theaters in a rush, as opposed to gradually as they had over the years before. The French were surprised to note that the formerly sunny optimism of can-do U.S.A. had been replaced by a gloomy, pessimistic worldview.
It was true. American movies did grow darker in the 1940's -- not only visually, but also in terms of theme and content. Americans felt powerless to avoid unknowable conflicts on foreign soil and this was mirrored in movies with doomed heroes whose fate seemed pre-ordained, the characters immune to free will. With the popularity of Freudianism at the time, psychological concerns became part of public conversation and this introspection was reflected in film through the use of voice-over to describe the mindset of the characters. Many films during this period took on the unearthly feeling of a waking dream, and this along with other elements came together to articulate the mood of film noir.
One defining characteristic of film noir is fatalism, which is notably absent from most pseudo-noirs of today. A small lapse in judgment, a petty crime, a little white lie -- blaming a powerful man of murdering his daughter -- sucks the doomed protagonist (who is typically a "Joe Blow" American male) into utter annihilation, which is made only more difficult to deal with by his futile attempts to escape. It is often described as a "spiderweb of deceit." That such minor wrongs could lead to such harsh punishments suggests an air of hysteria, of moral panic, and tells us something of ordinary people's attitudes and expectations.
Apart from its thematic elements which often include alienation and transgression -- as well as fatalism -- the other half of the noir equation was its look. Long, sharply defined shadows, tilted camera angles, frames immersed in inky blackness, and a feeling of claustrophobia, created a look that was aesthetically a nocturnal, bottomless unreality that is easily recognizable and often imitated. Linking this look to its dark plotlines helped film noir to express themes of shadowy motivations and bleak prospects.
London Calling (The Clash) ... (Referenced by Piz as he shows Veronica the record he got at a garage sale.)
"Forget it, brother, you can go it alone."
Are you listening, Piz? That's the Clash speaking directly to you, through the lyrics of the titular song from their milestone of an album, London Calling, released in December 1979. So, stop chasing Veronica! Take your un-ironic hipster self and your ninety-nine cent find and let the punk rock console you!
The Clash, an English rock band (1976 to 1986), achieved an iconic status on the music scene as part of the original wave of punk rock in the late 1970s. Their stage presence and performances were legendary, as well as their music, command of the instruments, and their passionate, political lyrics. At the time of this recording, the band consisted of Joe Strummer (vocals, rhythm guitar, piano), Mick Jones (guitar, vocals, piano), Paul Simonon (bass, vocals), and Topper Headon (drums, percussion).
The album is an eclectic blend of their trademark punk rock, sophisticated pop, hard rock, jazz, reggae, ska, and rockabilly. Considered to be the best work of the band's career, the tracks from London Calling are still played regularly by radio stations everywhere. Rolling Stone Magazine's latest "Top 500 albums of all time" lists this one at #8, and Entertainment Weekly went so far as to put it as #1 of their "Top 25 Albums of the last 25 Years." And if you are a technological and musical snob (or simply easily amused like Piz), you can apparently get it in vinyl, unscratched, and for only 99 cents. The album cover photo is that of Paul Simonon breaking his guitar (taken by Pennie Smith).
The cover itself has also made a few lists, namely it was considered the best rock-and-roll photograph of all time by the British music and entertainment Q Magazine (and somewhere, all the Beatles photographers are weeping).
Piz, I want to leave you with the song "Brand New Cadillac:"
- Baby, baby, won't you hear my plea?
C'mon, sugar, just come on back to me
She said, "Balls to you, Big Daddy."
She ain't never coming back!
Richard Nixon ... (Referenced by Piz as he tells Veronica that bowling is a good distraction for people who think everyone is out to get them.)
Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States (1969-74), received the moniker "Tricky Dick" for his early reputation of deviousness in the political arena. Before becoming president he served as Vice President under Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-61), and lost his first bid for the Oval Office in 1960 to John F. Kennedy.
Born in Yorba Linda, CA, Nixon was raised as an evangelical Quaker. He graduated first in his class at Whittier High School and turned down a full-tuition scholarship to Harvard, choosing instead to attend Whittier College. A local Quaker school, it was there that he founded the fraternity, the Orthogonian Society. A fearsome debater, he was soon elected student body president. Graduating second in his class in 1934, he went on to receive a full scholarship from Duke University School of Law and graduated third in his class.
Nixon served as a reserve officer in the Navy during World War II. During this time he was known as "Nick" and for his skill at poker. It was here that he banked a large enough sum to help finance his first campaign for Congress. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1946, his first major breakthrough came in his two terms in Congress, where his unrelenting investigation on the House Un-American Activities Committee broke the impasse of the Alger Hiss spy case in 1948.
During his presidency, Nixon visited China and established dtente with the USSR. Although he increased U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia during this time, he was also credited with the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops. When the Watergate scandal broke in 1974, faced with Congress' recommended three articles of impeachment because of his involvement, Nixon became the first president to ever resign from office (August 9, 1974). He was later pardoned by President Gerald Ford and re-emerged some years later as a commentator on foreign policy. Richard Nixon died at the age of 81 on April 22, 1994.
Kafka(esque) ... (Referenced by Max as he describes Veronica's situation.)
Franz Kafka was one of the most prolific German-language novelists and short story writers of the 20th Century. "Kafkaesque" is an adjective that is used when relating to Kafka or his writings. The term has also been described as "marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of impending danger" and marked by as senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity. The word has become part of social discourse to mean ordinary yet absurd and surreal circumstances which are commonly found in works by Kafka.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" ... (Referenced by Logan's reaction to the proctor's unwillingness to accept his test.)
The ploy Logan used to turn in his exam after the proctor refused to accept it has been passed around college campuses for decades. A student from the University of Maryland even presented the story as fact on NPR's "All Things Considered" on May 19, 1987. The key element is the student's anonymity to the professor (or proctor, as in Logan's case). There are a number of variations to the tale. Sometimes the student has been caught cheating and needs to hide his identity, in others a student is actually a ringer hired to take a test on behalf of someone else, and in still others a student has forgotten her ID. Variations on the anonymity theme are also used in jokes set in situations with an authority figure and large numbers of faceless subordinates. One example, from a 1950 joke book, follows:
- There was a dinner for the new governor. The grizzled old county chairman, who had never seen the new boss, turned to the lady next to him. "Don't tell me that mug is the governor?"
"I think you're impudent and crude," she said icily. "Do you know who I am?"
The county leader shook his head.
"I am the governor's wife."
His recovery was instant. "Do you know who I am?"
"No," she said stiffly.
"Good," he replied. "My job is still safe."
Emma (Referenced by Logan when Veronica suggests inviting Parker to go bowling)
A novel by Jane Austen. The title character and heroine of this story is Emma Woodhouse, a young woman described in the opening paragraphs as 'handsome, clever, and rich.' Emma lives with her father, and her best friend is Mr. Knightley, her neighbor and her sister's husband's brother. The novel opens with Emma taking credit for the marriage of her former governess and her new husband. Emma introduced the pair and decides that she is an excellent matchmaker.
Emma takes her new friend, Harriet Smith, under her wing as her protg, and is determined to match her with a suitable husband. She convinces Harriet to reject the proposal of Mr. Martin, who Emma deemed unworthy, and set about to persuade the social-climbing Mr. Elton to ask for Harriet's hand in marriage. Emma is loathe to discover that Elton never took an interest to Harriet, but instead has his sights set on Emma herself.
Sometime later, Harriet confides in Emma that she has fallen in love with Mr. Knightley, a pairing which Emma is immediately opposed to. After consideration, Emma finds that she herself is in love with Knightley, and that Knightley holds similar affections for her. The two are engaged, and Harriet happily reconciles with Mr. Martin.
Several movie versions of this story have been made; Emma (1996) stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma and Toni Collete as Harriet. A British televised version aired the same year starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma. Clueless (1995), which stars Alicia Silverstone as Cher (Emma), Paul Rudd (Knightley), and Brittany Murphy (Harriet) is a modern spin on the classic novel.
Jane Austen ... (Referenced by Veronica, noting Logan's Emma reference.)
Born in December 16, 1775, Jane Austen is one of the most beloved authors of all time, with her works still held in wide regard today. Reprinted several times, her novels have also been made into film and television several times over including the 2005 Oscar-nominated Pride and Prejudice (which still doesn't hold a candle to the BBC version starring Colin Firth as Darcy). Along with her quick-witted heroines and sprightly plotting, Austen also deftly explored the inner working of a woman's mind. Sadly, Austen only enjoyed moderate success in her lifetime.
The Maltese Falcon ... (Referenced by Keith and Harmony as they discuss the film festival.)
It was first published as a serial in Black Mask Magazine in 1929, written by Dashiell Hammett. It is considered the beginning of the 'hard-boiled' detective and was the most famous of the Sam Spade novels.
The story was filmed twice. The second movie, released in 1941, went on to be an enduring classic of film noir realized by first time director John Huston. It stars Humphrey Bogart as private eye Spade, who is approached by a mysterious femme fatale (played by Mary Astor) to follow a man. During the pursuit, Spade's partner is murdered and he becomes embroiled in the quest for the lost Maltese Falcon. The falcon being a grail-like statuette of a bird, believed to be solid gold and jeweled beneath a black veneer.
The hero Sam Spade must choose between "getting the girl" and his obligation to do the right thing. Typical for the noir period film, the hero eventually makes the moral decision. The 1941 incarnation of the film, although somewhat censored from the original work, has been credited with creating a whole genre of crime mystery and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Maltese Dog ... (Referenced by Keith when he tells Harmony about a case he worked.)
Described by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus as belonging to the "Melita" breed, an archaic name for Malta, the Maltese was developed in Italy with the addition of poodle and miniature spaniel blood. The breed is believed to have been first brought to England by Crusaders returning home from the Mediterranean. They quickly became popular, particularly with women, who were able to carry them in their sleeves. Although, the Roman governor of Malta, Publius, prized his Maltese so much he commissioned a portrait of "Issa" and had poets write sonnets about her.
Fine-boned, but sturdy, the Maltese is a hardy little companion dog with a luxurious silky white coat, and a popular choice as far as show dogs go. Spirited, lively, and playful, Maltese are highly intelligent and quick to learn tricks. They get on well with other animals, but have been know to be snappish with inconsiderate children and are often difficult to housetrain. Maltese range anywhere from 8-10 inches in height and normally weigh anywhere from 6-9 pounds. The life expectancy of the breed is generally 15-18 years.
Peter Lorre ... (Referenced by Keith as he tells Harmony that if real criminals were like Lorre, his job would be more interesting.)
Peter Lorre was a stage and screen actor of Hungarian descent, whose distinctive look, voice and performance made him a truly memorable character actor and villain of the silver screen.
In 1904, Ladislav (Lszl) Lwenstein was born to Jewish parents in Rzsahegy, Austria-Hungary. At 17, he ran away from home and began an acting career on the stages of Vienna, Breslau and Zrich. It was when he moved to Berlin in the late 1920s that he adopted his stage name of "Lorre." After a few minor film parts, Lorre came to international attention in the role of a psychopathic child-killer in Fritz Lang's M (1931). As the Nazis came to power in 1933, Lorre took refuge in Paris and later London, where he played the part of Abbot in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934). (The German-speaking actor phonetically learned much of his English dialogue for the film.) Lorre moved to Hollywood in 1935, where he played Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment (1935) and the Japanese detective Mr. Moto in a series of films. He co-starred with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in You'll Find Out (1940) and with Humphrey Bogart in the memorable film roles of Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Ugarte in Casablanca (1942).
After World War II, Lorre's career was mostly concentrated on the stage and radio. Then in 1951, he co-wrote, directed and starred in the German film noir Der Verlorene (The Lost One). Returning to the U.S., Lorre continued to appear as a character actor in television and film and was, in fact, the first actor to play a James Bond villain: Monsieur Le Chiffre ("the cipher") in the 1954 one-hour Americanized adaptation of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, on the CBS television series Climax!.
Decades later, his unusual voice and mannerisms continue to be parodied, particularly in cartoons (e.g. Ren in The Ren & Stimpy Show). Lorre was once quoted as saying, "All that anyone needs to imitate me is two soft-boiled eggs and a bedroom voice."
Married three times, Lorre had one child, daughter Catharine. A stroke ended his life in 1964, after he had completed filming his final film role in the Jerry Lewis film The Patsy.
Humphrey Bogart ... (Referenced by Keith as he tells Harmony how nice it is to talk to someone who doesn't just use 'Bogart' as a verb.)
Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) was an American actor, who starred in some of the most notorious noir films of his generation and was named the Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. Some of his most significant films include Angels with Dirty Faces, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep, Key Largo, and The African Queen.
Bogart had a rocky, off-and-on relationship with his frequent co-star Lauren Bacall, and only the last of their four marriages ended happily. The two met while filming To Have and Have Not, and had 2 children together.
The phrase "to bogart" is associated with stealing or selfishly hogging something, and while the expression was usually reserved for not sharing a cigarette or joint, it is now used to describe any object.
The expression comes from this iconic image of Humphrey Bogart with a cigarette. He would often just hold the cigarette in the corner of his mouth without actually taking a drag from it, so the term 'don't bogart that ' is meant to say, 'pass that on to someone else.'
Haymaker ... (Referenced by Dean O'Dell's commentary on the boxing match he's watching.)
A haymaker is a term often used in boxing to describe a wild swing used as a last resort. It entails throwing all one's weight into the swing in an effort to knock out the opponent or at least render him unable to continue. A haymaker is also the most common punch used in street fights and can be powerful enough to break a man's jaw. The use of the term to mean a very strong blow with the fist likely originated in 1912, and probably came from the imitation of the wide swinging stroke of the scythe used to cut hay.
Rocky / Mr. T / "Eye of the Tiger" ... (Referenced by Veronica as she gives Wallace a pep talk.)
I'm going to try to be as reasonable and rational about this entry as possible, but I warn you now, it won't be easy. See, many years ago when I was a young, enthusiastic dancer, I took a wonderful jazz class three nights a week. This once-great class was ruined by the late arrival of three girls who had no business being in the advanced class but were "way too old" to be stuck in the beginner classes. Long story somewhat shorter, we started out the year working on a kick-ass routine to "Cold Hearted Snake" by Paula Abdul (hey, it was the 80's) but because the stupid non-dancing chicks couldn't do ANY of the steps, we were stuck doing a mind-blowingly, utterly humiliating, completely craptastic routine to "Eye of the Tiger" for the end of the year showcase. Needless to say those opening chords still induce traumatic stress flash-backs to the seventh grade for all of us that suffered through that humiliating ordeal.
Ahem. On to the actual info.
Released in 1982, Rocky III was the third movie in the ridiculously long Rocky movie franchise starring Sylvester Stallone as the titular character. In this third installment, Rocky has claimed the title of "Heavyweight Champion of the World" after defeating boxer Apollo Creed not once, but twice. With ten successful title defenses under his gold, spangled heavyweight championship belt, and a successful charity fight draw with World Wrestling Champion, Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan), Rocky believes he has nothing more to prove and decides he is ready to retire.
Enter boxing brawler Clubber Lang (played by the ever subtle and oh-so-talented Mr. T) -- the new number one boxing contender. Lang demands a match with Rocky for The Title and Rocky has either way too much pride or way too few brain cells to turn down the fight. Rocky trains with Manager Micky (which includes the appropriate montage of inspirational "training moments") for his bout with Lang. Unfortunately for Rocky, Micky is badly hurt before the match can take place when Rocky and Lang get into a backstage scuffle that gets out of control. With his mind on his injured mentor rather than the game, Rocky is served a smackdown by Mr. T's Lang -- and then suffers an even greater loss when Micky dies. Rocky, unsurprisingly, gets pretty freaking depressed.
But there's hope! Former Champion Apollo Creed arrives on the scene and persuades Rocky to offer Lang a rematch. Lang, not being familiar with the formula for feel-good inspirational sports films, accepts the challenge. Rocky trains with new friend Creed (which includes the appropriate montage of inspirational "training moments") for the big rematch.
No wait, scratch that last one. I pity the fool who does know that track. UGH.
The song that provides the appropriate vibe of determination and spunk to Rockys struggle to prepare for his rematch is Survivor's smash 80's hit "The Eye of the Tiger." These are the lyrics that help Rocky battle his way back to glory (and I'll try not to twitch too much):
- Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive
So many times, it happens too fast
You change your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger
Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street
For we kill with the skill to survive
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger
Risin' up, straight to the top
Have the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger
Out of the Past ... (Referenced by Keith when he tells Harmony the next movie playing at the festival.)
The 1947 film Out of the Past is considered one of the greatest, multi-layered film noirs of all time. Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas, it was based on Geoffrey Homes novel Build My Gallows High which consciously imitated Dashiell Hammetts The Maltese Falcon. Director Jacques Tourneur, with the help of cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, created a dark, gloomy, shadowy mood of terror that was perfectly blended into this tragic noir classic. Despite the fact that the film tops the list of the best in the noir genre, Out of the Past was ignored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and failed to receive a single nomination that year.
A definitive flashback film of melodramatic doom, it contains all the elements of a classic film noir masterpiece. With an irresistible but deadly femme fatale who is the object of romantic fascination for both a detective and a gangster, the themes of betrayal, passion, and a morally ambiguous atmosphere are all woven together in a confusing plot. The film mixes narrative flashback with linear narrative that includes both double and triple crosses.
The film opens in Bridgeport, California, where Jeff Bailey (Mitchum) runs the local gas station, and is in a relationship with Ann Miller. A man arrives in town and informs Jeff that Whit Sterling (Douglas), a racketeer, wants to see him. As they drive to Sterling's Lake Tahoe mansion Jeff tells his life story to Ann. Once a P.I. named Jeff Markham, he was hired by Sterling to find his mistress Kathie Moffett (Greer), who'd shot Sterling and absconded with $40,000. Jeff tracked Kathie to Mexico, where he fell in love with her and believed her claims of innocence. The couple moved to San Francisco and lived under false identities until they were eventually discovered by Jeff's former partner, Fisher. Kathie killed Fisher and Jeff discovered evidence proving she'd lied about stealing the money. Disillusioned, Jeff moved and began his new life in Bridgeport.
Upon arriving at Sterling's, Jeff assures Ann before she leaves that he is no longer in love with Kathie. However, during his meeting with Sterling, Jeff is surprised to see Kathie living at the mansion. She tells him in secret that Sterling is blackmailing her with proof that she killed Fisher to make her stay with him. During his stay, Jeff discovers Sterling's plot to have him framed for murder and when he unsuccessfully tries to prevent it from occurring, he realizes Sterling has false evidence that also implicates him of Fisher's murder. Now on the lam, Jeff returns to Bridgeport, and is relieved to find that Ann still believes in him. Eluding capture, Jeff confronts Sterling who agrees to reveal that Kathie really killed Fisher, but before he can, Kathie kills him. She asks Jeff to flee the country with her and tells him they belong together. Jeff agrees, but double crosses Kathie and turns her into the police. Both Jeff and Kathie are killed as she attempts to drive through a barricade.
Trapper Keeper ... (Referenced by Veronica as she complains to Logan about Parker's request that she ask Piz if he likes her.)
Created by Mead, the Trapper Keeper is a popular loose-leaf vinyl or plastic binder that could often be found in students' backpacks, especially in the 1980s and '90s. Coming in a variety of colors, styles and themes (e.g. sports, cartoons, television shows), the binder folds open to reveal pockets, folders ("Trappers") designed to prevent papers from falling out and a clipboard/pen holder. Unlike the standard snappy metal rings used to bind three hole-punched paper, the Trapper Keepers featured sliding plastic rings and a wrap-around flap with a Velcro closure.
It may seem odd that a binder, of all things, has become a part of pop culture, but even South Park's Eric Cartman recognized its value. In the season four episode Trapper Keeper, Cartman's technologically advanced Dawson's Creek Trapper Keeper sets about to destroy all of humanity, as it integrates itself with his computer and eventually with Cartman, himself. Cartman's Trapper Keeper came equipped with a finger-print encoded security system that sprang metal spikes into the hand of any unauthorized users. I sure don't remember that feature in the ones I had.
iPod ... (Referenced by Piz as he jokes that he could have taken Wallace's while he slept.)
The iPod is a brand of handy-dandy portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Computer. The full-sized model stores media on an internal hard drive, while the smaller iPod nano and iPod shuffle use flash memory. Like many digital audio players, iPods can also serve as external data storage devices. Apple chose to focus its development on the iPod's simple user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability.
As of 2006, the hip lineup consists of the fifth generation iPod that plays videos; the smaller, second generation iPod nano; and the display-less iPod shuffle. These models were updated in 2006.
Sleeping Beauty ... (Referenced by Mason as he greets Wallace when he's late for practice.)
This classic fairy tale was published in 1697 by Charles Perrault as "La Belle au Bois dormant," a story in Contes de ma Mre l'Oye (Mother Goose Tales).
The basic plot of the fairy tale begins with a princess' christening. The event is attended by her godmothers, fairies who offer her the gifts of beauty, wit, grace and musical talent. A wicked fairy, who was not invited, places a curse upon the princess: when she reaches adulthood, she'll prick her finger on a spindle and die. The good fairies are unable to reverse the curse, but they are able to alter it. Instead of dying, the princess will fall asleep for a hundred years, at which time a prince's kiss will awaken her. When the princess turns 15, the curse is fulfilled and the princess falls asleep after pricking her finger. The fairies place a spell upon the entire castle so that everyone else sleeps, too. Eventually, a prince arrives, finds the princess, kisses her and everyone wakes up and lives happily ever after. (Or at least in the modern versions.)
In 1890, composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, along with choreographer Marius Petipa, adapted the tale into what is still one of the world's most famous classical ballets. It premiered in the Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre.
Today, the most famous adaptation of Perrault's fairy tale is the Disney animated film Sleeping Beauty (1959). The film's musical score and songs were adapted from Tchaikovsky's ballet. Taking nearly a decade to produce on a budget of six million dollars, the film was the most expensive animated film of its time. Earning a revenue of only three million, the film nearly bankrupted the Disney studios.
Despite its poor performance at the time of its release, the film has lived on to become one of the most beloved animated films of all time.
Bigfoot ... (Referenced by Lamb's "rape humor.")
Also known as the Sasquatch, Bigfoot is a bipedal ape-like creature, whose existence has yet to be proven. The myth of Bigfoot spreads only through rumors and imagination ("sightings"), but the creature is believed to live in the wilderness areas of the U.S. and Canada. While most scientists reject the existence of Bigfoot, several regions throughout the world do have similar stories about a creature matching the description of Bigfoot, under a different name -- the Yeti of the Himalayans for one -- and sightings have been noted in Malaysia, China, Russia, Australia, and South America.
Bigfoot is described as 7-9 feet tall, walking on hind legs like a human, and having the build and hair of an ape. The most common "sighting" reported are enormous human-like footprints (thus "Big-Foot"), commonly measured at 15-20 inches longer than human prints. They reportedly emit a strong, foul odor, like sewage or a dead animal smell, and communicate with high pitched shrieks, whistles, or low guttural grunting.
Still from a short film by Patterson-Gimlin, 1977
GHB ... (Referenced by Lamb when he tells Veronica that two vials were found in Mercer's stolen cashbox.)
Acronym for Gamma hydroxy butyrate or Gamma hydroxybutyric acid, Sodium Oxybate. Trace amounts are found naturally in the human body. However, the main ingredients in synthetic GHB are basically degreasing solvent or floor stripper mixed with drain cleaner. The common nicknames are Gamma-OH, Liquid Ecstasy, Fantasy, Easy Lay and Cherry Meth. It is usually found in a clear liquid, which looks just like water and is packaged in a 30ml clear plastic bottle. It is also found infrequently as a white powder.
The common effects from use are intoxication, increased energy, happiness, desire to socialize, feeling affectionate and playful, mild disinhibition, enhanced sexual experience and loss of gag reflex. Many people have bad reactions including nausea, headaches, drowsiness and amnesia. The effects of large doses include sedation, desire to sleep, rambling incoherent speech, difficulty thinking, passing out and, in extreme cases, death.
Diaper Dandy ... (Referenced by the coach when he greets Wallace.)
"Diaper Dandy" is a term coined by iconic ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale to describe a sensational freshman player. Vitale also sometimes uses the term in reference to a current high school senior who has been heavily recruited to play at the college level.
Dick Vitale, often known as "Dickie V" or "Mr. College Basketball," has been with ESPN since the first college game in the network's history in 1979. Since then he has called more than 1,000 games and is on contract with the network through the 2012-2013 season. Vitale covers games with his trademark high energy and catchphrases and accent. Along with "Diaper Dandy" are "PTPer" (prime-time performer), "dipsy-doo dunkeroo slam-jam-bam, baby!" (an exciting slam dunk), and "It's awesome, baby!" Typical Vitale speech also includes ending various sentences with "baby!" Although Vitale is a popular personality, he does have his detractors. A common criticism contends that he is a "homer" for Duke University, mentioning Duke frequently during broadcasts, even when they are not playing. This criticism has let to the nicknames "Duke Vitale" or "Dookie V."
Visit Vitale's official website and listen to a minute-long podcast to hear his distinctive voice and enthusiasm.
Hooke's Law ... (Referenced by Professor Winkler during his class lecture.)
Hooke's law, named so after 17th-century physicist Robert Hooke, is the law of elasticity. It's an approximation stating that the amount by which a material body is deformed (the strain) is linearly related to the force causing the deformation (the stress).
Robert Hooke, in 1676, stated that "The power (sic.) of any springy body is in the same proportion with the extension." It was considered an announcement of the birth of elasticity. (Or, at least, its mathematical definition).
For systems that obey Hooke's law, the extension produced is proportional to the load:
F= - kx
This is known as the spring equation.
x is the distance the spring is elongated by (the deformation of the elastic body), F is the restoring force exerted by the spring (not the "power" as Hooke suggested), and k is the spring constant or force constant of the spring.
When this holds, it means that the spring is a linear spring. (Sing it, professor Winkler: Length L and cross-sectional area A, we treat as a linear spring. Yeah, I feel for ya, Wallace!)
Materials for which Hooke's law is a useful approximation are known as linear-elastic or "Hookean" materials. Hooke's law only works for some of the materials under specific conditions. It's valid for steel, which exhibits linear-elastic behavior in most engineering applications, throughout its elastic range for stresses below its yield strength. But for, something like aluminum, the law is only valid for a portion of its elastic range. For materials such as these a proportional limit stress is defined, below which the errors associate with the linear approximation are negligible. And then there are materials such as rubber, for which Hooke's law is never valid. They are known as "non-hookean."
The law is applied to spring operated weighing machines, stress analysis, and modeling of materials.
- Wallace, Veronica and a toy airplane. Misty, water-colored memories of the Pilot, anyone?
- Hee! Logan's love of his lead pencil prop continues, placing it smoothly behind his ear as he smugly outwits the guy who tried to give him a zero on his exam
I think the last time we saw him play with his pencil was The Rapes of Graff, but the behind the ear move is all about Mars vs. Mars. I love playing Spot the Loganism.- At the cafeteria, Veronica nonchalantly reaches over and drinks from Logan's cup (with a straw!), and he doesn't blink. So cute.
- What's with all the food scenes this year? Not that we've never seen Logan eating before, but he was really chowing down in this episode.
- According to Wallace's schedule, as displayed on his wipe-off board, his goal for Monday was "learn to read." Guess that explains those low test scores.
- Logan's lusty 'mmmm' after Veronica kisses him at the Neptune Grand. So. Sexy.
- The shocked, open-mouthed expression mirrored on both Logan's and Veronica's faces when Tina, the hotel clerk, says: "This isn't illegal is it?" Classic. Great timing on all counts.
- Logan's brief airkiss to Veronica when Tina reveals that Rory Finch was once indeed registered at the Neptune Grand.
- A sign hanging above the lanes in the bowling alley reads "Wednesday Nite: The Big Lebowlski." Gee, the writers really love that movie.
- After Parker slaps Logan the high-five at the bowling alley, he shakes his hand and mouths "owwwww."
- Chris Lowell's delivery of "Ten martinis." and "Damn it straight to Hell." before and after he bowls a gutter ball. So deadpan. Hilarious.
- Logan's shirtless "look" when Veronica mentions the 'soap opera' of Parker asking to find out if Piz likes her. Darkest he'd been all episode. What did that look mean? Is he on our side of the 'how could you possibly be this oblivious' fence? I wish he'd said something.
- When Parker and Veronica go to visit Piz at the radio station late at night, you can see the custodian way in the background, cleaning the floors of the cafeteria.
- In the scene with Lamb and Veronica, if you look behind and to the right of Lamb, you can see a Balboa County Sheriff's wall clock. This item is part of the Veronica Mars fan community Cloud Watchers' Cafe Press store.
- It just seems incredibly ironic or perhaps prophetic that in the beginning of the episode Veronica comments that Professor Landry and Keith have a lot in common and by the end of the episode we discover that they are both sleeping with married women.
- This is the first time we've seen Keith's pretty large and fancy-dandy looking bedroom.
- When Veronica sits down in the cafeteria to eat with the dean, she looks to be eating a sandwich of some sort (a burger or chicken) with a side of vegetables. And I ask: Who does that? I'm sorry, you just do not eat broccoli and cauliflower with your burger. That's just not acceptable. Have a fry, Veronica!
- Jane Austen is wonderful as is her novel Emma, but having a nineteen-year-old guy casually reference this classic regarding a similar situation? Well, you know, things that make you go hmm ...
- Yes, Parker is not a dainty little thing, but neither is she an Amazonian giant of amazing strength, so, my goodness, Logan was really and I mean *really* effected by her high-five. What exactly IS he doing in weight-lifting class?
- Ah the return of the fey Logan we all love so -- note his simpering bounce and skip as he headed off to get refreshments. Ah, ambiguously gay (or not!) Logan moment ... how I've missed you.
- Why did Veronica choose to compose an article about Claire faking her rape instead of simply bringing the evidence to Dean O'Dell or some other official?
- What's the true purpose behind Claire faking her rape?
- Can Dean O'Dell rightfully expel Claire without convening some kind of disciplinary committee or at least initiating a more formal process?
- Was Nish grandstanding, or is she intending to make good on her threats to the Dean and Veronica?
- Why does Veronica ask where Landry's T.A. got her cell phone number from like it's suddenly an amazing accomplishment? Wasn't she called by the dean's office on her cell in Wichita Linebacker? Obviously someone at the college has that number.
- So, is Piz broke, just cheap, or are we supposed to see this as yet another juxtaposition with Logan (that creator Rob Thomashas oh-so-insistently promised, and that so far has been laughable)? Piz is very excited about finding a vinyl album at 99 cents, and then, in the same scene, when he asks Veronica to go bowling, he finds it necessary to add that "Thursday Nights are dollar nights" at Fun Bowl. So, what's the intention here? To stress that he is not a trust fund baby? We already know that. And I know just how broke college students can be. But Piz's positive giddiness at random cheapness of things doesn't come off as all that endearing to me. And it certainly isn't something a guy would happily stress when asking a girl out ooops, sorry, proposing a fun outing with the gang.
- Has Logan's Intro to Sociology class shrunk? It looked like it had a lot of people in My Big Fat Greek Rush Week, but it looked like only half of them were taking this week's test. Have so many people dropped out? Did the prison experiment scare them off?
- Did Wallace sit the sociology exam that Logan took? Because he seemed a little preoccupied with his other class and it wasn't mentioned how he did in comparison. Did he drop the class?
- What's up with Parker's hair? Isn't she supposed to wear a wig? It looks like normal hair. And, while at it, what's up with Tim Foyle's hair? That one looks like a crappy wig! Is it supposed to (hint*rapist*hint), or is it just a bad makeup job?
- When did Weevil forgive Veronica for accusing him of ripping Lilly's necklace off her? When did he give her his keys?
- Considering Dean O'Dell is fully aware of Veronica's investigative background, shouldn't he be a bit more suspicious about her presence in his office?
- How creepy was it seeing Piz say 'fun, fun, fun?' Let's never hear him say a line uttered most famously by Logan Echolls (in the Pilot) ever again.
- Was there a deeper reason behind Logan mentioning Horshack and Rafe besides an effort toward continuity? Do the writers want us to remember who these characters are for some reason?
- How come Piz gets to be annoyed that someone is sending him unreciprocated romantic vibes and we have to put up with Veronica being oblivious? Why can't Veronica be annoyed and awkward too? *pouts*
- Does Piz serve any legitimate purpose on the show besides pining over Veronica?
- How did Mercer know Parker's name if she was never introduced to him?
- Why was Sheriff Lamb so downright cooperative with Veronica this week? Why so generously share the information? Total and utter change of tone for the guy. To quote, well, him: "Does not compute!"
- So, Mercer had GHB in his cash box. And cologne. And some clippers. Can you say "circumstantial?" There's no DNA, any guy can own clippers, and smell is hardly concrete evidence. The best they can charge him with is possession of an illegal substance. Not that the lack of evidence ever stopped Lamb before, but still.
- Lamb says that GHB was used on two of the rape victims. What was used on the others? Rohypnol? Why the change?
- Why are the professors suddenly so nice? Landry positively salivates over Veronica and gives her time to prove her innocence without dragging her to the Dean's office. Wallace's guy offers him an out on his cheating, and then takes him back into the class.
- Would a college really allow a student to keep their athletic scholarship if they took a semester off from that sport?
- Is Mindy O'Dell's attendance of charity functions her cover story for conducting illicit affairs in the Neptune Grand?
- If Keith had just crashed his car, how did he manage to return to the Neptune Grand?
- What is it with the Mars family and having inappropriate sexual relations after a near-death experience?
- Considering Keith was the wronged party in the Jake/Lianne affair, wouldn't he be more reluctant to sleep with a married woman?
- If Tim Foyle wanted to open Veronica's eyes to what kind of a person professor Landry is, why such an elaborate and potentially damaging way to do it? The fake cheating, the posted paper ... Why not just sit her down and tell her? Show her a few pieces of evidence in order to convince her. Or, at least, get her to follow her own evidence. In other words, why involve the paper, the cheating, and I.P. addresses at all?
- Is Tim Foyle really trying to play the tough love card with Veronica, or is he just jealous that he's no longer Professor Landry's golden boy? Was he simply trying to get Veronica kicked out of the class, and punishing the professor who abandoned him into the bargain?
- So, the T.A. has a board with newspaper clippings. A lot of clippings, actually, which means the media in Neptune isn't entirely unaware of the ongoing problem. So, why isn't Lamb out there, working it, trying to quiet the outcry with a lot of fake activity?
- Is Tim really engaging in his own investigation of the Hearst Campus rapes or could the bulletin board be a shrine to his crimes?
- What did Veronica specifically notice was missing from Tim's bulletin board?
- Isn't Mercer a new friend? How come Logan has an alibi for him for the summer? Didn't they just meet in the fall, when college started? And, on the same topic, what the hell did they do together that he couldn't possibly tell Veronica?
- Mercer's radio show, Club Flush, was playing while Parker was being raped at the end of Welcome Wagon.
duchessjms (Jayne): Literature; Social Science
genova (Cara): Literature
holly96 (Holly): Yearbook; Literature; Social Science; Homeroom
Iloveyoubearymuch (Kathryn): Literature; Homeroom; Philosophy; Principles of Democracy
JaneDtwo (Alla): Literature; Social Science; Philosophy
JenniferH: Report Card; Chemistry; Band Class; Homeroom; Pep Squad Practice
Pixigal (Gerrie): Drama Club
PolarTruckin (Belinda): Journalism; Homeroom; Philosophy
samwg (Shannon): Social Science
SeluciaV (Alli): Extra Credit; Social Science
Tar Frimmer (Joanne): Study Hall; Literature; Social Science; Homeroom; Philosophy
