"Monkey?" "As in...'Touch my'"Veronica Mars returned this week, and the show was in superb form. The episode put more of a focus on Mac, who is such a great characters, and was underused in the first part of the season. A new guy, Bronson, has his eye on Mac, and while she's a little slow on the uptake, she finaly sees what's in front of her.
There was a moment in this episode that made me think of Buffy, and I wonder if anyone else did at the same time: Veronica and Mac are walking across the campus toward the announcement board, joking about how Veronica's going to try to save a little monkey with a banana, and all I could think of was they are totally Buffy and Willow. Same jokiness, same nervousness in Willow/Mac, same hairstyle with V/B... And then I found this online today, where Michael Muhney (who plays the cocky sheriff) was posting about how much he loves Firefly, and it was like a total merge of Joss/Rob Thomas worlds.
The mystery of the week involved a missing monkey from the school's science lab, and the suspicion of a college animal rights group called PHAT (People for Human Animal Treatment), which Veronica mishears as FAT and wonders aloud if the "fat" people stole the monkey because it was delicious. It was just one of the many moments in the episode that had me laughing out loud. Others:
"Where did you get the rats?"
"They just showed up at my door."
"Oh, like in a tiny van with a sob story about needing a place to crash?"
Veronica, Parker, and Mac pretending to be sorority sisters in love with the redneck huntin' rock singer, and Mac being a really bad actress: "Uh... the second amendment is TOTALLY my favourite." Then dressing him up in a "Meat is Murder" t-shirt without him knowing it.
Dick photographing his namesake and throwing the polaroids off the balcony, and Logan's response, "I think I told you that management asked that you stop doing that." And then talking about the Zach Braff movie Garden State as if it were a book.
OK, so they went for the obvious jokes when making fun of Canada -- the photo of a moose, Mac saying "eh," Veronica saying "aboot" (we do NOT say aboot... Americans say abowt), and playing The Barenaked Ladies -- but hey, I still found it hilarious. And then, I'm sure, the joke about the Hoff seriously offended a friend of mine (don't worry, K, I was laughing... um.... AT the joke, not with it?)
The overarching mystery is off to a bit of a slow start, and I thought Keith was a little thick walking into a bar in a town where he used to be sheriff, then became a bestselling author with his mug on the television every single night because of his role in the highest-profile case in Neptune EVER, and he tries to put one over on a guy who's lived in Neptune for several years and teaches criminal profiling. Duh.
Of course, the ending had me yelling at Veronica to wake up and stop making the same mistake again. Which is really weird, because a year ago I was yelling at Veronica to kiss Logan, kiss Logan, KISS LOGAN! And now I'm just watching her in the same pattern she always follows. See, a year ago, there was no Piz. And I love Piz. He's cute, funny, and has the best way with words, and is perfect for Veronica. Maybe too perfect? They say opposites attract and all that, but Piz is just so supersweet. And, in the end, he gets the final, perfect zinger.
Logan, canoodling Veronica: Hey Piz, what's new?
Piz: Nothing, apparently.
Agreed, that was such a burn of a line. Piz does rule. There were some funny moments and reading your post on it made me come around a little bit, but I didn't think the episode was that great.
ReplyDeleteThe overall mystery I don't care about cause Veronica doesn't care about it. In the first season, it was so incredibly personal and now it's all a bit flip. Sigh.
Yes, I would have to go with Calhoun on this one... the monkey mystery didn't do it for me either. L-A-M-E finding green tea leaves on a hard drive. Come on -- HOW can they get in there? And there's no "aftermath" discussion about the rapists. And Melody... I mean, Harmony... I mean... well, you know, Mac's roommate (is she Harmony? Why are all Harmony's on TV supposed to be dumb?), get THE worst line of the whole show when she says "Hello" and then something about how it's saying something that the person in the room who most wants to get with boys was recently sexually assaulted. I was like, whaaaaaaat, as I sat on the sofa eating pretzels. Okay, not pretzels. They were M&Ms. I totally see the Willow/Buffy parallel going on here. Also, where's Wallace? And HOW much foundation was Weevil wearing? And even a child could have guessed that Landry (a Quebecois name!) would have called him. On the other hand, fo' shizzle my Pizzle, and Dick quite possibly gave the best single delivery of the episode with his movie/book report line, and aaaaahaha hahhahahaaha on the Hoff joke. And last, but not least, to my untrained foreign ear, it does sound like "a boot." Don't get mad, eh?
ReplyDelete"Landry (a Quebecois name!) would have called him" -- by "him" I mean Keith, not Weevil. And when I reflect now, I believe I was eating celery.
ReplyDeleteCalhouner: Hmm... I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. This is the sharpest dialogue and most Buffy-like dialogue on TV. I said in my post that two mysteries were just OK, but it was the interactions among characters that was so much fun, and the great lines. I can give them the occasional bad mystery storyline because I know the following week it'll be better. Most shows aren't *on* any of the time, so I can forgive the shows that aren't on some of the time. I thought it was fun, and for me and my husband, it was great to have V back. Chapatikid: The green tea leaves got there because the guy poured them there. He said that. He was trying to steer the blame toward the other scientist who always drank green tea.
ReplyDeleteAs for the aftermath discussion on the rapists, it's been 6 weeks; I think we're to assume the discussion's been had and re-had, but yes, it would have been nice to address it and not conveniently let the time pass.
And no, we say "about" like it's spelled, not abowt. Just like we saw process, not prawcess. Teehee... (I'm kidding about this, by the way, before I get any angry American responses here... you could go across the country and you'll hear everyone say about differently... but honestly, I've never heard anyone but an American making fun of a Canadian say aboot). I would have liked some new, better Canadian digs. There are SO many you could take, and they went for the obvious.
Don't get me wrong -- it's totally still better than 99.9% of television. It's just that it used to be SO good and now, for me, it's just good.
ReplyDeleteI meant the overall Dean O'Dell murder mystery is weak, not the monkey one. I don't mind the weekly mystery being less than mind-boggling. But the overall arc -- I don't feel invested in it. If the Fitzpatricks came back or Cordelia/Charisma/Kendall! Or something to do with Veronica's mum. There are so many untapped areas the writers could explore that would affect Veronica more and, in turn, our experience watching the show.