TV Bender

“Weevils Wobble But They Don’t Fall Down”
Old-school Veronica Mars was back just in time to get absolutely no sendoff from the CW of any kind. Weevil’s back (yay!) and he’s accused of making fake student IDs for Hearst students. Turns out everyone knows about Weevil’s ex-con status, making him an easy target, because he spoke to Veronica’s criminology class. Veronica’s on the case and flashing her P.I. badge at anyone who will look. The group of kids actually responsible hold a meeting in the library and invite Veronica. They invite her into their circle of criminals and she catches their confession on her phone. Using this as leverage, she has them go to the campus police and drop the charges against Weevil.

Meanwhile, Wallace gets tapped for a secret organization and Dick takes a moment for Show and Tell. His item? A video of Veronica and Piz fooling around in the nude he got in an email. Logan heads down to the radio station, beats the crap out of Pi, than shows up at Mars Investigations to tell Veronica there’s something she needs to know.

“The Bitch is Back”
In the second episode, Veronica’s on the hunt for the person who released the video. She quickly establishes that Piz had no idea there was even a camera in the room. She traces the email back to a member of The Castle, the secret organization on campus. When she finds out that Wallace has been tapped, she sends him in with a hidden camera. He’s caught and kicked out, but he knows one of the other pledges. Veronica trails him to a mansion. She breaks in through the doggy door and comes face-to-face with a ginormous portrait of Lily Kane. The Castle’s current leader is none other than Jake Kane. Veronica steals Jake’s hard-drive.

Keith gets a call about a break-in at the Kane’s. He heads over and not only spies a sweater fiber on the doggy door, but spots Veronica on the neighbor’s security camera. He trashes her room to find the offending sweater and accuses her of breaking into the Kane’s. She spends the night at Mac’s, unable to tell her father about her sex tape woes. Jake Kane has figured out it’s Veronica too, and demands the DVR of the security footage for the prosecutor. Keith demands a court order and under the cover of darkness, unscrews the woofer from a speaker and places it on top of the DVR. I guess this is destroying the evidence or something.

Veronica and Mac use the university’s super computer to crack Jake’s password, revealing not only all the members of The Castle, but their secrets as well. Using this information, Veronica blackmails Jake into dropping the charges against her and leaveing her dad alone. Jake cryptically says that it’s a little too late for the last one. Veronica figures it out when the next morning, the paper reports that charges have been filed against Keith for destroying evidence. In the last moments of the series, Veronica goes to the polls and votes for her dad while it rains.

I have nothing to say to the CW. We’re no longer on speaking terms.

This episode starts out with Piz and Veronica studying; Veronica for her PI exam and Piz for his interview with a Hearst student who was a child soldier in Uganda and wrote a book. The book is a hit and Apollo (the author) is set to appear on Oprah and have a movie made.

A newly-licensed Veronica gets a call from a man who thinks he’s Apollo’s father. In the process of getting a sample of Apollo’s mother’s handwriting to compare with the letter the man provided, Veronica learns the startling truth that the book isn’t true. Apollo was never a child soldier. It’s A Million Little Child Soldiers! Veronica relays this information to her client, who shows up to meet Apollo anyway. And surprise! Apollo actually did write the book! He just had the guy think that there wasn’t any money in order to weed out the cash-seeking people from people who actually cared about him. Smooth move, Apollo. Smooth move.

The rest of this episode has all the Hearst students worrying about their summers. Piz has gotten an internship with a music critic’s website in New York, but is obviously reluctant to leave his newfound relationship with Veronica. His fears are quelled at the end of the episode when Veronica gets her internship at the FBI and will therefore only be a couple-hour train ride away. Dick and Logan’s surfing plans are cancelled when Daddy Casablancas shows up and wants to spend more time with Dick before he goes to jail, but only after Dick gives him a piece of his mind and proves he’s actually a human being. Wallace is moved by Apollo’s story and signs up to go to Uganda to help out.

This week was a huge improvement over the last couple of episodes. The mystery was engaging and promoted a good cause without being preachy. And I did not see the twist of Apollo actually writing the book coming. Next week is the two-hour season finale! I’m excited; I heard that the CW executives really like this episode and it might very well be what saved Veronica from the chopping block.

P.S. For more information about child soldiers in Uganda and what you can do to help, visit www.invisiblechildren.com.

This week, Hearst’s radio station is in danger of being taken off the air due to lack of funding. They organize a fundraiser concert featuring one of the members of the band My Little Pony. Piz earns the “honor” of showing the rock star around and learns the hard lesson that you should never meet your idols.

How does Veronica come into the picture? Well, the backup tapes that the guy uses to perform solo have gone missing. Veronica is sent on a wild goose chase for the tapes and figures out that the bags were accidentally switched just in time for the concert. Only she and Piz decide that they’re going to hold on to the tapes and force him to play his new stuff, so he can realize that he’s not a has-been.

I know I said last week that I enjoy the one-shot mysteries, but I’m getting really sick of the after-school special stories really fast. The mystery felt like an afterthought among all the relationship drama of Piz and Veronica deciding that they should just stay friends and Mac breaking up with Bronson. The writers need to kick it in gear and realize that Veronica Mars is first and foremost a mystery show. Luckily, it looks like next week’s installment is much more promising.

Cancellation Watch Update: There’s a possibility that our blonde crime-solver will be getting a makeover for the fourth season. Rob Thomas is in talks with CW, discussing options such as fast-forwarding to Veronica’s career in the FBI, restarting from scratch with a new title and everything. While I have to admit that I kind of like that idea, I’m a bit worried that the only guaranteed actor would be Kristen Bell herself.

Our favorite teen detective is back! HUZZAH! This week’s mystery concern’s a Middle Eastern restaurant that has been vandalized. Veronica sets out to catch the person in the act, but not before busting some paintballing hooligans and sort-of-but-not-really helping the daughter cover-up her romance with a Jew.

The guy vandalizing the restaurant is the brother of an Iraq vet who came home paralyzed. He decided that the restaurant needed some spraypainting after he saw one of their employees (Nassir), who happens to be working with an expired student visa, handing out a cartoon of a terrorist laughing at the dead bodies of American soldiers. The couple who own the restaurant decide to talk to the guy instead of pressing charges. They also call Homeland Security on Nassir.

From what I understand, the last episodes of the season will continue to be one-shot mysteries like this. And I’m okay with that. To be honest, I could use a break from the drawn-out mystery.

Question: Are there really still people like that kid in the classroom Veronica visited, who believe that girls can’t be in the FBI? ‘Cause if I ever run into one of those people, I think I might have to smack a bitch.

Veronica Mars fans, to arms! Rumor has it that our show is in dangerous proximity to the chopping block! While Rob Thomas is currently pitching the fourth season to the CW execs, we need to do our part.

1. Vote for Veronica Mars in the Save One Show poll.

2. Bombard the following address with letters and postcards supporting our favorite teen sleuth. (And if one of you wants to yell at her for cancelling Everwood to make room for yet another “final” season of 7th Heaven, I’m not going to stop you. COME BACK TO ME, EPHRAM!)

Dawn Ostroff
President of Entertainment, The CW Television Network
4000 Warner Blvd., Bldg 168
Burbank, CA 91522-0002

Keith puts the heat on Mindy O’Dell now that he’s sheriff (Why, Lamb, WHY?! *sobs*) She reveals that the second man in the hotel room that night was the Dean himself, who waved a gun around and basically informed Landry that his career is over. She was the one who appeared at Cyrus’ office later to plead for mercy and give him some Xanax. Keith arrests Landry, who has some info to add to the story. Cyrus also informed Mindy that, according to their pre-nup, she gets nothing. His alibi? He stopped at a convenience store for cigarettes on his way back from the Neptune Grand. Mindy gets her life insurance check, buys a boat, and skips town.

Meanwhile, Veronica and Tim the TA try to prove Landry’s innocence by tracking down the stripper who bummed some cigarettes off of him, but end up kind of proving he did it by learning that the stripper was blackmailed into saying it. They listen to the recordings of Landry’s bugged cell phone and hear a reference to Papa’s Cabin, a Hemmingway reference that leads them to some beach-side paradise and Mindy’s boat. On it, they find Landry, who cries that he just meant to confront Mindy about setting him up and he didn’t mean for her to fall overboard and die. He’s arrested.

Post arrest, the criminology class wants the dirty details of how Landry killed Dean O’Dell. Tim the Teacher begins to go over the crime and Veronica realizes something - Landry didn’t have time to call and blackmail the stripper after being arrested - and puts it all together. The true guilty party? Tim the Teacher. Me? Doing the victory dance. This is the first time I’ve ever correctly predicted who did it on this show!

Oh, I almost forgot. Logan and Parker are getting cozy. Logan asks for Veronica’s permission to date her. It is about as exciting as it sounds.

What I Liked
- Being right about Tim the TA
- Keith showing up the kids by figuring out that “Papa’s Cabin” was a Hemmingway reference

What I Didn’t Like
- The pacing. The whole episode felt a little off. And Mindy’s death was like an afterthought. This could have been stretched over two episodes and have worked much better.
- LAMB IS STILL DEAD.

It’s the middle of the regular TV season, so I thought I’d give a brief overview of my thoughts on the shows I will be covering and their current plot lines. FYI: A brief review of each episode will be posted the day after the epiode airs with the exception of Numb3rs, which will be posted on Mondays.

Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars is the only linear drama I will be covering. All the rest are your standard procedurals. I really like how the three mysteries formula is working; it keeps the show fresh and we don’t get any filler episodes. My suspect for Mystery 2: The Return to O’Dell’s Cave is Tim the TA. Also? LAMB IS DEAD. I’M GOING TO GO CRY IN A CORNER NOW, THANKS.

Bones
Bones isn’t a great procedural - in fact, one might even call it mediocre - but it’s entertaining nonetheless. I like that they’re going somewhere with the whole Booth/Brennan romance thing and adding some non-crime-related drama to spice it up a little. Although the therapist thing has got to stop. I don’t like the therapist and I think he’s crap at his job. I will elaborate on Thursday.

Criminal Minds
I. Love. This. Show. One of the things that first got me into procedurals is my personal interest in criminal psychology; I’m really more interested in the why than the how when it comes to crime and Criminal Minds is where I get my fix. My only problem with the show is that the writers have so many characters to juggle that we often get short-changed on character development with the more minor characters like J.J. and Garcia (who is my BFF). The addiction storyline with Reid bugs just a little, mostly because he’s my TV boyfriend and I can’t stand to see him hurt, but I’m waiting until this week’s episode to pass my judgement on the storyline as a whole.

CSI
Where it all started. CSI was my first crime drama. I’ve been watching it - no lie - since I was 12. Listen closely, y’all, ’cause this is the only time I’m going to say it: this is the only CSI I will be covering. Miami and New York? Crap. I will not have their sub-par excuse for crime drama taint this blog as long as I write it. That said, I like that the Vegas writers aren’t hitting us over the head with Grissom and Sara’s relationship. They’ve been very subtle and I applaud them. Greg’s civil suit makes me a bitter, angry person. He’s another one of my TV boyfriends. I would really like the writers to give Catherine, Warrick, and Nick (THANK YOU, George Eads for getting rid of that very sad pornstache and 70s hair) something interesting to do. They really feel like they’re fading into the background.

And last but most certainly not least, Numb3rs
I hate math. I really do. And yet I cannot seem to tear myself away from the adorkable math genius Charlie Eppes and his scrumptious, FBI agent brother Don. The cases are interesting mostly because you wonder what else they can solve with math. One of these days Charlie’s going to bust out an equation to find out who ate the last cookie or something. Where Numb3rs really excells is with the balance of crime and personal moments. I look forward to the Eppes family moments, which never feel gratuitous or out-of-place.

So there you have it - the line-up for the Crime Drama TV blog. I’ll see you tomorrow with some thoughts on Veronica Mars.