Case closed

All things considered, it was pretty epic.

Let's just see that one more time . . .



. . . proving that all you really need in life is a great jacket and the love of a good woman, plus the occasional crane shot.

Shamus Life?

Did that My Little Pony tattoo say "Shamus Life"?

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!

That's more like it. If this season were Star Wars, the episodes up to this one would have been all about the droids wandering around on Tatooine, jawas, Luke bitching with and about his aunt and uncle, etc. Then, in this episode, you have everything from meeting Ben Kenobi up through his death and the escape from the Death Star. It makes for a pretty good hour of television, even if it's unsustainable and the buildup is sometimes tedious.

You know, LoPa is fine with me (although it sounds more like Neptune's hot new date-rape drug than a relationship nickname). Ninety percent of the best parts of the LoVe interaction were Logan's lines and Jason Dohring's line readings. They could spin-off the character in a show called Logan Flirts with Potted Plants and it would probably be more entertaining than anything else on The CW (not that I would know, since I've never watched any other CW show, ever).

Poor Lamb. I'll miss him.

I wondered when they were going to play the Creutzfeldt-Jakob card. So predictable.

Best line: "Will I be returned in my current pristine condition?"

I Heart Dick

Ah, in its own odd way, a Valentine's Day T-shirt slogan worthy of the man himself. Dick had some really great moments in last night's episode. My favorite was at the beginning, when he described the chick he wanted to hook up with as "(sung) HO-O-O-O-O-O-O-OT!(/sung) Like, I might have to use an oven mitt to feel her up." That just made me giggle.

And MWR--you haven't heard anybody say, "Can we be done?" before? Maybe you just don't hang out with D/dick-ish enough people. How am I not encountering these phrases? I'd never heard "not so much" either before it showed up in "An Echolls Family Christmas". Later, syp let me know that it did not originate with that episode.

Sunnydale vs. Neptune

Sunnydale Drink of choice: blood Leading cause of death: disintegration Number two: exsanguination Mystery occurrence: sister appears Payback: curse; flaying Teen ailment: lycanthropy Protagonist's father: absent Authority figure: serpentine mayor Breakfast of Champions: Weetabix and blood

Neptune Drink of choice: drugged beverage Leading cause of death: murder Number two: vehicle plunge Mystery occurrence: animal disappears Payback: beating; flagpoling Teen ailment: chlamydia Protagonist's father: everpresent Authority figure: asinine sheriff Breakfast of Champions: Weetabix and GHB

There has to be morning-after quarterbacking

I'm sure I don't have to express how silly I think this little drama is. A number of the letters make the provocative point that Veronica Mars is a TV show.

The rule is pretty simple: anytime there is a popular depiction or article about something you know a lot about, it will be inaccurate in various ways.

Tisk Tisk

Oh my stars, this episode was the most frustrating ever. I completely blame the Seattle Times reporter and their unwitting free advertisement for the "we're not YouTube" proposal. I do have a heart and think the effort Matthew Broderick went to propose to pony-tail girl is sweet and they will have this memory to share for ever and ever - but so will I and I'm thinking: GROSS. It was a commercial pure and simple. Frankly the only commercials that should be "news" are award winners or the Super Bowl lists. Grrr.

The newspaper teaser made me think that something miraculous was going to occur on VM - like they were going to let Wallace or Mac (who just finished shooting a movie - go girl!) have a scene or V wasn't going to completely PISS ME OFF for like the 900th time. Admit it: you were wondering, just a little, whether Logan was going to cut the Gordian Knot, bend a knee and deliver a very Loganesque marriage proposal.

I must confess that I am a voice message skipper. So dear one's if it's important, don't ramble and get to the point.

Again, I say Dick is marvelous in his shallowness. Someday, he and V will hook up in some bizzaro world episode and it will creep us out, but it will also be a little fun. I may try to add "Can we be done?" to my repertory.

Anger is the path to the Dark Side . . .

. . . so don't get me started on missing characters. A process of elimination suggests that Percy Daggs III is filming a new Peter Jackson epic somewhere antipodal.

O.K., no more Battlestar Galactica shout-outs without also having Madison enter V's mind and interact with her, in the manner of the Baltar / Caprica Six relationship.

(Did I mention this would be stream of consciousness?)

Anyway, what a shock, the promo was just blatantly misleading. As noted, I hate that.

Earlier today, I read this in the Seattle Times:

Watch "Veronica Mars" for an early Valentine treat!

Sorry to be cryptic here, but you don't want to skip tonight's episode of The CW's "Veronica Mars." 9 p.m., KSTW/11. Trust me.

And don't take any bathroom breaks. Got it?

You'll understand what I mean by 10.

Should I be concerned that my response to the alleged "treat"^*—spoken in the direction of the TV—ran, in its entirety, like this: "Who f*cking cares?! Are you serious?!"? Or is it just a Mars/Venus thing combined with the pointless buildup?

Oh, I guess it is actually fear that is the path to the Dark Side. However, fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate, of course, leads to suffering. Not listening to your voicemail in its entirety figures in there somewhere.
_____________________
^* a video marriage proposal from the mutant hybrid of John Ritter and Jonathan Silverman (a neat CGI trick, I'll grant you). That the hybird's name is actually "Rand Fishkin" is just the icing on the cake. Her reaction is very cute. Reminded me a bit of Anna Paquin's Oscar speech.

Quit messing around!

Of course she won't be pregnant. Either the promo snip was out of context and thus deliberately misleading (hate that) or the plot will involve some kind of fraudulent pregnancy / "Plan B" mill.

A record?

Did this week's episode, "Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves," have the most MIA cast members ever? Wallace, Piz, Mac, Parker, Dick. Plus, Weevil seems to have been reduced to a narrative device.

A short imagined dialogue on the theme of "Will they ever learn?"

V: "Logan, sweetums, I was just post-coitally wondering, apropos of nothing, whether you are perfect."

L: "Um . . . Yes I am, sugarplum."

Veronica Mars and the Case of the Missing Animal

Seriously, how many have there been? Is it possible that this was only the third? It feels like there have been a lot.