When it comes to television show, not every series can enjoy
a run as long as shows like ‘The Simpsons’, ‘South Park’, or ‘CSI’ have enjoyed.
Some shows can get canceled only a few seasons in. It can be for a few reasons,
but it’s usually a case of the show not getting as big of an audience as the
networks want. It could mean that the show itself wasn’t that good, which can
certainly apply to a lot of shows that get cancelled each year. However, there
have been a few notable examples of great TV shows that were cancelled way too
early, like ‘Arrested Development’, ‘Pushing Daisies’, and ‘Firefly’. Another
show that got the unfortunate axe way too soon was ‘Veronica Mars’, created by
Rob Thomas (not to be confused with Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas). The show
originally aired on UPN for two seasons before moving to the network’s
successor, The CW. However, after just one season there, the show ended up
getting canceled, finishing after only three seasons on the air. However, like
those aforementioned shows, while ‘Veronica Mars’ didn’t fare so well in
regards to ratings, it amassed a very loyal fan base. In the end, it was this
fan base and their love of the show that allowed Thomas and his cast and crew
to make a ‘Veronica Mars’ movie, which just hit theaters last weekend. For now,
let’s look back at this now cult classic TV series.
The show follows the titular Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), a
young high school student living with her father Keith (Enrico Colantoni) in
the town of Neptune, California, home of the rich and famous. One year before
the show begins, Veronica was one of the most popular kids at her school,
Neptune High, because while she wasn’t as rich as some of her fellow students
(who are referred to as ‘09ers’), she was dating Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn), the
son of popular software entrepreneur Jake Kane, and Keith was the local sheriff
at the time. However, everything begins to change when Veronica’s best friend,
and Duncan’s sister, Lily (Amanda Seyfried) is found murdered. When Keith
frames Jake Kane, he then finds himself kicked out of office by the residents of
Neptune; at the same time, Veronica becomes an outcast amongst her old friends
for sticking by her dad. In the wake of all this, Keith opens up a private
investigator office and Veronica begins to take on some cases of her own while
at school. As she begins to get her life back on track through the help of some
new friends, including Wallace Fennel (Percy Daggs III) and Cindy ‘Mac’
Mackenzie (Tina Majorino), Veronica also begins to uncover some truths about
what really happened the night Lily died.
On the surface, one might see this as just your average
‘teen show’ and while it technically sort of is given the fact that the main
character is in high school for the first two seasons, it’s a lot more than
that. This show really benefits from some top-notch writing that can be both edgy
and witty at the same time. The cases that Veronica deals with from episode to
episode are very engaging but of course, a show can’t get by on just its
writing. It needs a great lead character to back it all up and this show has
one of the best female television leads ever in Veronica. She’s smart,
charming, and has a very sharp wit which she very much uses to her advantage
while dealing with the bad guys. But at the same time, there’s also a
vulnerability to her that was no doubt formed as a result of the things that
she has been through; losing her best friend, being dumped by her boyfriend,
becoming a social outcast (alongside her father), and much more. Because of
this, we sympathize with her full-heartedly because she’s not like any of the
stuck-up, spoiled, and sometimes corrupt people of Neptune. Sure, she might
always do the ‘right thing’ when it comes to solving her cases, but she’s
someone who firmly believes in justice being served.
At the end of the day, this show belongs to Kristen Bell,
who does a fantastic job as Veronica. She is the one who infuses the character
with her spunk, charm, and strength in the face of adversity. Also, if you want
one of the best father-daughter duos ever put on television, look no further
than Veronica and Keith Mars. Bell and Colantoni have excellent camaraderie,
making their bond as father and daughter feel very natural. Aside from them, this
show features an excellent cast of characters top to bottom; Veronica’s best
friend Wallace, computer genius ‘Mac’, bad boy/future love interest Logan
(Jason Dohring), good guy/second future love interest Piz (Chris Lowell), and
much more. This show’s even had its fair share of excellent cameos, including
Aaron Paul, Jessica Chastain, Paul Rudd, and even Joss Whedon… yes, you’ve
heard that right. The director of ‘The Avengers’ guest starred in an episode of
‘Veronica Mars’… that is just awesome.
Now let’s talk about the ‘epic’ romance between Logan and
Veronica, which has sort of become the defining element of the show. I’m just
going to put this out there… I was very mixed on their relationship. Bell and
Dohring do have excellent chemistry, and I can see how these two characters could
be a match for each other given the fact that both have been through a lot. In the
case of Logan, that includes not only Lily’s death (he was her boyfriend at the
time) but also dealing with an abusive father as well. But for the first few
episodes of the show, I was not the biggest fan of Logan as a character. To
quote Veronica from the first episode, he was the show’s ‘obligatory psychotic
jackass’ and I was left wondering just how the hell these two would ever get
together considering how he treated her in those first few episodes. Somehow,
someway, as the show progressed, Logan began to grow on me. He went from being an
‘obligatory psychotic jackass’ to a ‘somewhat charming jackass’. However, as
for how he was written in the third season… well, we’ll get to that in a bit.
The first season of the show is easily its best. It has the
best overarching mystery of the entire series in Veronica finding out who really
killed Lily, resulting in the mystery that’s she’s perhaps connected to the
most on a personal level being that Lily was her best friend and it was that
event that drastically changed her whole life as a result of it. The season
finale, ‘Leave it to Beaver’, is the episode that I would have to label as my
favorite episode of the whole series. It’s well paced and I really like how it
was during this episode when they finally revealed who Lily’s killer was,
effectively keeping us at the edge of our seat for the entire season. The second
season is also great as well; it has another solid mystery for Veronica to deal
with; a bus crash that resulted in the death of some of her classmates. Like
with Lily’s murder, Veronica was also connected to this case on a personal
level as well because she almost was one of the victims of the accident.
However, sometimes things got a little bit complicated in regards to all of the
characters and storylines that were being juggled that season.
So then we come to the third season; the one that most fans
are not the biggest fans of. And yeah, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t
understand why that was. Season 3 is definitely the weakest of the three
seasons. For the record, I don’t think it’s that bad of a season. The witty
dialogue and great performances were still there. It’s just that there are a
few changes made to the show from a creative perspective that sort of didn’t
work out as well as one might think. Instead of a single case that would span
across the whole season, this one had two and two rather weak ones at that; the
first was solved barely halfway through the season and the second one just a
few episodes later. Also Logan became a bit too whiny this season, meaning that
the on-again, off-again relationship between him and Veronica became a bit too
tiresome. They literally break up in one episode, get back together the next,
and break up again two episodes later. In other words, I was relieved when they
brought Piz in as Veronica’s second love interest, which was a breath of fresh
air for the series.
And you know what... I actually think the season 3 finale is
a pretty good one, mainly because I admire them taking a bold route with it and
not ending the season on the most happiest of notes. This could have had a huge
impact on the rest of the series… unfortunately, it’s now the ‘series finale’
and that is what holds this season finale back because as is, it leaves a lot
of things open that were left unanswered when the show got cancelled.
Thankfully, in March 2013, 91,585 fans decided that this wouldn’t be the end
for ‘Veronica Mars’ and so we now have the ‘Veronica Mars’ movie. But of course,
we cannot forget how great of a show ‘Veronica Mars’ was; a show that could
have just ended up being your average ‘teen show’ but turned out to be much
more than that thanks to engaging mysteries, compelling characters, witty
dialogue, and of course, one of the best female TV leads ever in Veronica Mars
in both character and performance. It’s truly sad, though, that ‘Veronica Mars’
ended up getting cancelled so early because it truly was a fantastic show.
Ratings:
Season 1: 5/5!
Season 2: 4/5
Season 3: 3/5
(My review of the
Veronica Mars movie: http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2014/03/veronica-mars-2014-review.html)
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