I waited on this episode partly because it has one of my favorite Veronica Mars scenes of all time in, and I wanted to do it justice. But also! Life has been busy. My quarantine has been more eventful than I thought it would be, meaning I’ve had less time to do my hobbies than I anticipated. But that’s okay. Life goes on, the world keeps turning, and all that. So let’s get into this one!
Highlights
- Veronica and Leo D’Amato, the young, cute Sheriff’s Deputy played by a young, cute Max Greenfield, are making out in front of her apartment door. They make some jokes about him never seeing the inside of her apartment and their age gap before she goes inside to talk to her dad.
- And, uh… during this conversation with her dad, V learns that he and Wallace’s mom are dating?? Come AGAIN for big fudge?! And this is an even bigger deal to Veronica, who put all of her college money into getting her mom sober enough to come home, so… oy vey. Wallace and Veronica are feeling WEIRD about it. But hey, at least they’ve never dated or anything…
- At school the next day, there’s another fire drill. Apparently, there have been several fire drills that week alone, which is suspicious. Veronica decides to do a hard-hitting journalism piece on the fire drills, which leads her to the scary fact that they’re just a cover up for a bunch of bomb threats. Which is very… not good. Especially in 2005, when this aired, because it was in that era post-9/11 where everything was a threat. Life was different in ’05. Oh, V has also been seeing graffiti for a website called killemall.com. Very… threatening. I guess. (A little on the nose if you ask me.)
- There’s a new kid in town! I don’t really care about what his name was, but he’s played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas, so he’s JTT from here on out. He has befriended Norris, a troubled bully with a soft spot for Veronica, and V thinks they might be behind the bomb threats. V starts tailing JTT, but he sees her. She’s on the phone with Logan (of all people!) when JTT lets himself into her car and tells her to drive. Logan hears the whole thing and meets them at the place V says aloud, beating up JTT. Which allows V to reveal… apparently, JTT is an ATF agent! The youngest to have as many arrests as he does! Very wow. They chat, JTT convinces V to basically go undercover to try to bait Norris, and Logan hates everything.
- When they leave, VERONICA AND LOGAN HAVE THEIR FIRST KISS. ALERT. ALERT. VERONICA AND LOGAN HAVE THEIR FIRST KISS. I’ve been waiting for this moment!
- So V does the thing where she heads to Norris’s house to try to bait him, but she realizes while she’s there that he definitely didn’t make the bomb threats or the website… he’s just an eccentric dude.
- However, his dad is some computer nerd, so he has, like, the best, fastest internet in all of Neptune. This was in the days when wifi was pretty new. So V goes out to her car to test it. And she sees…
- Okay, meanwhile, there’s a dude who’s been flirting with Mac. He’s a computer guy like her, so they get along, all that. Well, turns out, he lives next door to Norris! And that’s who V sees when she’s messing with his wifi signal from the street.
- JTT sets up Norris, who is arrested by a team of armed ATF agents. V is convinced that they’ve got the wrong guy, but JTT is like “nah, Norris is the guy.”
- V figures out that it was the neighbor, the guy who has been flirting with Mac, who set Norris up. Norris was a big ole bully, and he was terrible to his neighbor for years. And the neighbor decided to finally get him back for it.
- Meanwhile, Duncan disappears. V tells a story about how the best way to disappear is to get a fake passport and run to Mexico, and she can tell that Duncan is questioning whether his family may be protecting him. Actually, V might have asked him that. I’m not exactly sure at this point. But Duncan runs, and it’s his girlfriend, Meg, who fills V in on it at school.
Episode Mystery
Who is making the bomb threats? Which turns into who set Norris up to take the blame for the bomb threats? Also, how does a full-grown ATF agent pretend to be a high schooler? I guess that one is a mystery for another time.
I should also probably add – who is V going to keep making out with? Logan or Leo?? We don’t have an answer for this one yet!
Overall Mysteries
- Who killed Lilly Kane?
Here’s what we know! It wasn’t Jake Kane. It wasn’t Abel Koontz. Are the Kanes protecting Duncan? WE DON’T KNOW YET!!
- Who raped Veronica?
No progress made in this episode. I SWEAR THIS IS A THING.
ACTUALLY, in this week’s episode of the Crime Writers On podcast, they talk about noir, and Rebecca mentions Veronica Mars as contemporary noir several times. She even says that one of the mysteries of the first season is that V is trying to solve her own rape. !!! I’ve loved CWO from the beginning, and this just cemented it, because Rebecca loves Veronica Mars!
- Where is Lianne Mars? [solved in Episode 16]
Sucking up V’s college fund at rehab.
- Who is Veronica’s father?
No progress in this episode.
- Is Lynn Echolls dead? [solved in Episode 15]
Yeah, she is. 😦
What Aged Like a Dairy Product
The super primitive talk of wifi, which was kind of adorable. Duncan’s weird epilepsy, as described in last episode’s recap. An ATF agent being able to infiltrate a high school as a student?? Duncan being able to just disappear without a trace, lol.
What Aged Like a Fine Wine
Mr. Mars and Alicia Fennell’s biracial relationship that no one questions a single time on the show. ❤ ❤ ❤
Rating
A reminder of the rating system:
- Red = I couldn’t even get through this episode because it was so bad
- Orange = Pushed through, hated everything
- Yellow = Opposite of enjoyable, but had some bright spots
- Green = This was mediocre!
- Blue = A solid episode!
- Purple = Television at it’s finest, 12/10, must watch repeatedly.
The weird part about this episode is that I love it SO MUCH, even though it hardly advances the plot at all. But Logan and Veronica finally kiss! It’s the start of something beautiful, right? ❤ But in the grand scheme of the show, the episode does very little to add to the anything. So rating this is difficult. I think I’m going to give Season 1, Episode 18 a conditional GREEN rating. The plot was YELLOW, but that kiss was BLUE, BABY! So GREEN to meeting in the middle.
Hope you’re all staying healthy and safe out there, Marshmallows!
Snark & Squee 