Let's Talk Veronica Mars

Okay, anyone who knows me well and knows my passion for Veronica Mars, probably could see this coming.

Now, before I go any farther, for those who haven't watched Season 4 (which was released a week ago) and intend to but don't want spoilers, stop now. If you've never watched the show at all but want to and don't want spoilers, stop now. If you haven't watched the movie or read the books and don't want spoilers... well you get the picture.

This is a no holds barred... rant. You've been warned.

I've watched Veronica Mars since it's inception, as I think a lot of true Veronica Mars fans have, and the show has already been very interesting. From the very beginning, the show had a sort of Nancy Drew meets Gilmore Girls meets Sex in the City (for those who don't get those references, in modern day context it's sort of like Pretty Little Liars meets Blue Bloods).

Now, a quick run-down on the major characters: Veronica Mars played by Kristen Bell, Keith Mars played by Enrico Colantoni, Logan Echolls played by Jason Dohring, Eli "Weevil" Navarro played by Francis Capra, Wallace Fennell played by Percy Daggs III, Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie played by Tina Majorino, Duncan Kane played by Teddy Dunn, Lilly Kane played by Amanda Seyfried, and a whole bunch of other, less important characters.

And from the very beginning of the first season you're thrown into a mystery of who killed Veronica Mars' best friend, Lilly Kane. In fact, from the first episode of the show, it is the one year anniversary of her best friend's murder.

The show is set in the fictitious town of Neptune, California. And this town has a Malibu-esque feel to it. It's a town for the rich and richer. And anyone who's not in that very privileged 1%, the town sucks.

Veronica's dad, Kieth, used to be the Chief of police until he fudged up in the investigation of Lilly Kane's murder. By pointing his finger at Lilly's father, he effectively alienated both himself and his daughter, who faithfully stood by his side through it all, from the entire town.

So, in the opening of the first season, Kieth is a Private Eye and Veronica sometimes moonlights for the job, which while not technically legal, is sort of the premise behind the whole show.

Throughout the first season you slowly work your way through the entire cast of characters as to the real who-dun-it behind Lilly's murder, and it isn't until the final episode of this first season that you finally find out who it was.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Because in that first season, you get to meet four out of five of Veronica's love interest. First and foremost, her ex, Duncan Kane, aka Lilly's older brother.  Throughout the first season you get to see flashbacks to happier days and it leaves you wanting her and Duncan to get back together, or at least it does if you're some uber romantic.

Meanwhile, in the current timeframe of the show, Veronica has a very brief relationship with Troy Vandergraff, while a very minor character in the grand scheme of things, he is interesting, mostly because it reveals the kind of boys Veronica likes, the bad ones.  Their relationship only lasts a few episodes, ending abruptly when Troy steals ten grand worth of drugs and carjacks his own car, using Veronica to try and exonerate himself. Of course, before the end of it, Veronica figures out she's being played and turns the tides on him.

Then comes the good one. And in someways, of all the characters she dated, I feel he got the shortest end of the stick. That's Leo D'Amato, Leo is a cop and for the brief time that she dates him, their relationship is sickeningly sweet. If it weren't for the fact that she kept using him to get access to things in the police station, I'd have wanted their relationship to last. But the truth is, he deserved better than her.

Finally, and most importantly is Logan Echolls, Logan used to date Lilly before she died, and from the very beginning the relationship between Veronica and Logan can be described in one word, complicated. Over and over their relationships has ups and downs. Be it as enemies, uncomfortable business associates (he hires her to find his mom), friends, or boyfriend and girlfriend. And if you are like Veronica (as I am) from very early on you are going to want Veronica and Logan to be together. They are just sort of perfect for each other. And in the first season, you get to see this come to fruition. At least briefly. But like I said, there are a lot of ups and downs between these two and when Veronica accuses Logan of killing Lilly towards the end of season 1, well things get ugly.

After it finally comes out that it is Logan's father who actually killed Lilly and the first season ends with Keith in the hospital, and Veronica at home, alone.

Season two opens with a summer having passed and now, Veronica is back to dating Duncan. Like I said, if you're some uber romantic, this is the pair you're shipping anyways. To the rest of us though, this sort of sucks. But it adds to the melodrama. Which reaches a crescendo rather rapidly when a Neptune High School Bus plummets off a cliff and into the ocean, killing all on board except for one person.

This one person, spends the next several episodes in a coma. And we don't know it right way but this person is pregnant with Duncan's baby. I can't for the life of me remember the character's name, but she is for the most part, relatively minor. She wakes up briefly, just long enough to give everyone hope, before dying. Afterwards, Duncan flees the country with his kid with Veronica's help. And that successfully end the Duncan/Veronica love fest.

The who-dun-it with the school bus is a question that lasts the entire season, and when it finally comes out who it is, your probably going to smack yourself in the head because it was so obvious.

But in the mean time, watching friendships between Veronica and Mac, Veronica and Wallace, and Veronica and Weevil all flourish and suffer in equal measures. For the record, throughout the entire first three seasons, these three are the only people who really qualify as Veronica's friends. Veronica however, being this paranoid, semi-egotistical private dick continues to make these relationships hard. At times you'll probably think that her friends deserve better, at others, you may think they don't try hard enough. But no matter what, you'll want to see them in the show. They just add to it.

Veronica and Logan don't get back together until essentially the end of the second season, and their relationship flourishes in the first part of season 3 only to crash and burn before the end of it.

Season three introduces college,  and with it, Stosh 'Piz' Piznarski. Piz is Veronica's fifth and final love interest. He's a sweet chaaracter and throughout season three you'll either really like him, or, if you're like me, wish someone would brain him with a sledge hammer. Some people really like him, while others really hate him.

And at the end of the third season, which dealt with a campus serial rapist, and a secret club that has illuminati like evilness, you're left wanting more.

But more never came.

Because CW cancelled the show.

Several years later, a kickstarter project occurred and a movie was the result of it. This movie, all 107 minutes of it, pulls you back in. It takes place several years after the end of the show and Veronica is now in New York, getting ready to join her first big law firm as lawyer. The past is firmly in the past.

Until Logan calls, Logan's request for help from her, sends her back to Neptune, leaving behind Piz in New York. And throughout this entire movie, you get to watch Logan and Veronica's flame rekindle and she works to help him discover who killed his wife.

During this movie you get to find out where everyone is except Duncan. Weevil is now married and has a kid, Mac is working for the Kanes, Wallace is now a teacher and basketball coach, and Logan... Well Logan is in the Navy. And may I just say, in his Navy whites, he is hawt.

At the end of the movie, Logan is off for a six month tour and Veronica is moving permanently back to Neptune, returning to her roots as a private eye. I wish this is where the series had ended.

It isn't.

It went on to have two books written by Rob Thomas. Those books were The Thousand Dollar Tan Line and Mr Kiss and Tell. These two books are canonical and actually aren't too bad. You find out what happened to Veronica's mom, get to read a couple of great mysteries, and just get to see character development with the characters now that they're all adults.

But now, this year, we're introduced to season four. And I'll say this, the first few episodes reel you in. In truth, it was relatively well made. It's a slightly darker, slightly more mature, show than what it used to be, but it isn't bad.

Neptune has a serial bomber, and you're once again thrown into the who-dun-it. Amidst this, Logan comes back from his most recent tour and proposes to Veronica. She rejects. Which isn't that big of a surprise. But you get to once again see those beautiful ups and downs that their relationship has always had.

By the end of the season. They get married. And if they'd ended it on that note, I wouldn't be writing this.

Now, before I continue, let me step away from this train. People who know me, know I like dark. It's one of my favorite things. And I don't mind tragedy. I think good stories can have tragedy. But I also believe that character/people who have worked (and I mean truly worked) on finding their happiness deserve it. They deserve the actual chance at it.

So, to watch Logan and Veronica get married only for Logan to die in the final bombing... This is not okay. I am not okay with it. They've successfully ruined a good show. And that saddens me. Because if they continue Veronica Mars - and I can see them doing it, because let's face it, that's what Hollywood does - then there's nothing truly worthwhile to hold onto in the future. For this show, there will never be another Logan.