Alternate Ending

Well, let's be thankful that was only the alternate ending. They need to be careful about moving things along by giving Veronica the most incredible good (or bad) fortune imaginable.

This was an odd episode where the MotW served mostly to fill in backstory on characters. I would rather see characters developed by their own on-screen actions than by what people say about them. Also, I will be interested to see if any of this stuff about Trina ends up mattering for anything else. Seems more likely this was just a way to get AH back on the show to collect ratings from her constituency.

I thought Veronica seemed even more detached from the other characters than usual. And she seems really slow to pick up that the VD relationship is messed up. One of the features of Veronica's character is that she is much better at judging the character and motives of strangers than of those close to her. Think how often she has been blindsided by close people--mom, dad (re Alicia), Wallace, etc.

Agreed. I swear if she doesn't dump Donut soon I may become very angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

Times Roman

I just posted this on TwoP under my seldom-used nom-de-Twop, Lance White. However, the post has not shown up in the forum yet, so I'm a bit confused. Anyway, here it is:

Just wanted to note that, if authentic, the redacted report in Lianne's permanent file would almost certainly not have been in a Times Roman typeface, since it must have dated from before the common use of word processors and before anyone had laser printers. It should have been in courier.

Interestingly, UPN's sister company CBS had its own incident last year when "60 Minutes" let itself be hoodwinked by forged records of George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard service. The big tip-off for the bloggers who broke the forgery story was that the alleged records included anachronistic instances of Times Roman.

So the question is, is this a continuity error or a tip-off that Lianne's permanent record has been doctored or faked?

O.K., it's there now. Annoyingly, they still list my alter-ego as "Just Tuned In." I guess it's because I've only made two posts. However, I have not "just tuned in."

I'm not sure I can add anything to this. Since you will be posting on this blog instead of TWoP I think you will forever be designated as "JTI."

"Bewitched"

From the Television Without Pity discussion forum thread about the UPN preview for "My Mother, The Fiend":

"'And I can't use magic, right?' is definately a reference to Harry Potter. Prof. Snape makes Harry organize all the old files in the school for detention, without magic.

While it's commendable that these youngsters have missed watching a lot of "Bewitched" . . . that's definitely a "Bewitched" reference. Didn't about 90% of the plot points in "Bewitched" hinge on that premise? Plus, Derwood would be another good nickname for Duncan.

Ah, "Bewitched." A show I avoided like the plague. Hated it. I'm leaning on the fence as to what it refers to.

Connections

Pretty soon it will be time for the show to start making some connections between the zillions of little mysteries and relationships they have been developing. I think by this stage in the first season there were a lot fewer things going on. This year the writers have been cooking a far richer stew of leads, liberally salted with plot points from last season. At this point I was going to list a few of the things I am thinking of, but there are so many that you can really just pick any character you want and as "When are we going to get to the bottom of [character X]?" And now it looks like Veronica's mother will be added to the mix. And what of the Secret Message Pen?

I suppose the whole Mac/Madison switched at birth situation will be allowed to languish as well. The touching hand on the glass scene must be the end of the story. And what about the not so subtle reference to the fact that Sheriff Lamb's father was abusive? Oh, what about Jackie's dad gambling problem? Is Veronica ever going back to the Java Hut? And what about Weevil's earring being at the scene of the crime with Curly Moran?

I think the little normal job has been an unstated casualty of normal no longer being the watchword. I think there was closure in the M/M story, though not a happy ending.

It occurs to me that perhaps the writers are not really introducing endless complications, but are just mining last season for interesting MotW (mystery of the week) possibilities. For example, the Koontz/Wiedman storyline in "Rat Saw God" could prove to have been a self-contained MotW story. But I prefer to think that when stuff from season one crops up, it's for primarily non-MotW reasons.

When in doubt, do a grid

Well, you know I am the absolute furthest thing from a geek or a nerd, but even I occasionally think that it could be illuminating to construct a giant grid listing all of the major and minor characters on "Vernoncia Mars" and see where all of them intersect. A really serious nerd might also color-code the cells to distinguish season-one from season-two interactions. We were discussing yesterday how there really is a huge number of connections between different characters on the show, and there are rarely coincidences on this show, or loose ends that aren't tied off (damn you, Secret Message Pen! When will you reveal your secrets?).

This would be a good source for people to put into the grid. And wouldn't it be somewhat amusing to do up all the character descriptions for this show in the style of William Shakespeare?

syp and I were once seriously coinsidering reducing 90% of our email traffic to grid coordinates. I forget exactly what the rows and columns were going to be, but it was all very brilliant and all very never-quite-executed.

The truth is the grid could have saved me from the drudgery of typing out my thoughts. It would save so much time! I think the difficulty was making sure the grid topics were current. But we aren't here to talk about how to reduce our oh so meaningful conversations into a game of 'Battleship,' nope we are talking about Veronica Mars (in my head, I always hear it as Logan said it in AEFC when he's getting Veronica a pass onto the set to see Connor Larkin). As for the VM grid, it could be interesting. Probably better than the matrix I saw somewhere...

Oh, yes, where would that have been, oh woman who knows the last names of minor characters?

Logan and Weevil

We have a theory. Said theory goes something like this: Logan and Weevil become allies as they seek the truth behind Felix's murder. This is after they have their knock down drag out fight in what appears to be the girls bathroom at Neptune High. Will they discover the truth without the assistance of Veronica? Hard to tell at this point because V seems inclined to disbelieve anything Logan or Weevil tell her. And she seems a bit indifferent to Logan's plight but things could change. I would like to see the boys solve the mystery without her help. I can't help but thing that Felix's murder has something to do with the bus crash. And how do the Fightin' Fitzpatricks fit in?

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Here is where you might find entries like this:

So, what's our theory on Meg Manning? Notice her mystery correspondent was on Fauntleroy Ave.? Not sure what to make of that, if anything . . .


Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Publisher: Puffin
Number of pages: 238

Summary:

Long ago, a young English nobleman married a beautiful American girl, causing a rift between the man and his father. Because of this rift, eight years later, in New York we come across the offspring of this union, young Cedric Errol. Ceddie is a beautiful boy both inside and out. Although he is but seven years old, he is very wise for his years. Shortly before his father's death, Ceddie had made a promise to take care of this mother. This he did with such loving kindness, that he soon regarded his mother as his best friend and she returned the sentiment. In fact, he treated all of those around him with the same kindness he had shown his mother, until he won the hearts of the local grocer, the bootblack and all of the servants of his house as well as almost anyone he met.

Soon, though, he learns that he has a grandfather in England who is an earl, and that he must go and learn to be an earl also. Though separated from his mother because of the feud, his love of her and his natural virtues win the heart of his grandfather. Although his grandfather gives him anything he wants, Cedric uses it for the good of others. Because of the example of this young boy, the old man soon learns that money and good breeding do not necessarily make one noble, but that nobility is defined by one's actions.