Preliminary Veronica Mars Thoughts

Ha!

And I say again ha!

Ha-ha!

Which is not to say that I'm pleased with what we got. My reasons for picking Beaver as the killer were that I hoped that by making the bus bomber a teenager the writers could avoid the cliché of the mustache-twirling villain, the seeming good guy who turns out to be a cackling criminal mastermind. As you might imagine, I am not thrilled with what we got--I think I could have lived with Beaver killing the kids on the bus because he wanted to keep his 'secret', but his sadism towards Mac and Veronica (dear God, did we have to bring up the rape again? Wasn't it a bad enough idea the first time around?), and for that matter the entire grand guignol of a climax felt over the top and unearned.

I'm planning to write a longer post about the season as a whole, but that's going to take a while. For one thing, I'd like to rewatch the season and see if it hangs together a little better when viewed as a single block. Also, I'd like to know that the show has definitely been renewed for a third season before I tear into the very serious problems that plagued its second. For all that I thought this episode was a disappointment, Veronica Mars remains one of the few truly engaging, exciting, enrapturing shows on TV, and I for one am already making an appointment for next fall.

Comments

Anonymous said…
He's not really sadistic so much as completely numb. He raped Veronica to prove to himself that he wasn't gay or impotent and he stole Mac's clothes so she wouldn't follow after him and get in the way of his altercation with Veronica on the roof. It wasn't just mindless sadism, I think it all fits together. At that point, he's already killed 8 (?) people, so he's got ntohing to lose.
May 15, 2006 9:42 PM
Abigail Nussbaum said…
He's not really sadistic so much as completely numb.

But see, those two are polar opposites. Cassidy isn't numb on that roof. He takes pleasure in Veronica's pain and grief. He mocks and tortures her. That's not numbness.

Having rewatched the episode, and the season as a whole, I think my only problem is with the few minutes between "And you were mah-velous" and Logan's arrival on the roof - everything else works pretty well. I can buy messed-up Cassidy and ruthlessly efficient Cassidy (although I still think the rape revelation is an awkward retcon and a bit of a cheat, as storytelling tricks go), but those few minutes reveal a sadistic Cassidy, and both in terms of the character and of the plot's cohesion I think that's unrealistic.
May 15, 2006 11:03 PM

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