A look back through the diary of a Veronica Mars virgin

I was a late comer to Veronica Mars. For one reason or another I never caught it while it was on the air, but I did watch through all of it last summer for our Virgin Diaries series. In honor of our Veronica Mars Week, I thought I would go back and review my experiences with the series.

Season One

It took me a little while to get into the show, I’ll admit that. I think my expectations were really, really high with so many people telling me how great the series was and how and much I would love it. Like many viewers, I was shocked by the presence of Paris Hilton in the second episode, and was glad to see she wasn’t a big part of the actual series. Even from the very beginning, I had Duncan pegged as an annoying twerp (and that opinion never really changed). As I continued on with the series, I began to realize how charming all the characters are, even if some of the episodes worked better for me than others.

It wasn’t until about halfway through the first season that I really started liking the show. The Veronica Mars universe started getting fleshed out with more minor characters (like more of the Echolls family, Mac, and Leo) and there were a bunch of standout episodes, including “An Echolls Family Christmas.” Looking through my old posts, I’m reminded of how much was going on in the first season! There was the murder mystery, the drama with Veronica and her mom, all the Echolls strife, as well as the case of the weeks.

The end of the first season really cranked things up. I think one of the things that the show did really well was setting up the season long mystery. It really was very well crafted. I loved that there was a lot of misdirection, but very few red herrings. It was clearly very well though out. I also liked how the writers slowly developed Aaron. At the beginning of the season he seemed pretty normal and was more and more revealed to be a monster. Looking back now, I have a greater appreciation for the first season than I did at the time. I am still upset that at the end of the season, the strong willed Veronica had to be rescued by her dad from the flaming refrigerator of doom. I thought it was condescending.

Season Two

So many people were hard on season two of the show, but I really enjoyed it, right from the beginning. There was something about the Casablanacas that was really enjoyable. Sure, the season long mystery was nowhere near as deep and complex as the one in season one, but I think I enjoyed the case-of-the-weeks much more in season two. There was a good amount of darkness, but it also featured the great relationship between Weevil and Logan (one of the highlights of the series) and the exit of boring, boring Duncan.

I got into a lot of the new characters and relationships in season two. I enjoyed the development of Jackie, and loved Beaver and Mac together, even if it didn’t end very well. Like so many, though, I was really annoyed with Logan and Hannah as a couple. I may not have been the biggest fan of Logan and Veronica’s relationship, but Logan was a boring sap when he was with Hannah. I noted that the season was a lot more sprawling than the first, with many more mysteries and subplots, many of which didn’t tie into the big mystery.

Season two ended with a lot of controversy. It seems like a lot of people hated the finale. It didn’t ruin the show for me, but I didn’t like the complete 180 degree change in the Beaver character. All the development of Aaron that I liked over the first season was traded away for shock value in the case of Beaver.

Season Three

Ah, the much maligned third season. I didn’t hate it. Sure, I hated that they messed with the theme song, but the episodes themselves weren’t so bad, particularly early in the season. I was slightly disappointed with Veronica’s behavior in the third season, though. It seemed like the writers wanted to create some drama between the regular characters, but it all just made Veronica appear small and petty. A big highlight for me was “Spit & Eggs,” the wrap up of the rapist storyline, and the strongest episode in the series, in my opinion.

The next second mini-arc of season three just didn’t do it for me (and there were a lot of filler episodes). I thought the killer was obvious and the whole plot just didn’t capture my interest like others had previously. It did, however, pretty much mark the end of the watchable episodes of the show. The remainder of season three lacked a cohesive thread and really suffered because of it. The finale wasn’t too disappointing, but the show really needed a big mystery to go out with a bang.

Clacked by Bob Degon
on Dec 13, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT