A Long Time Ago, We Used To Be Friends...

A fair warning: I will probably turn into such a fanboy and start gushing about this show as I put to web my thoughts.


"Veronica Mars" had its second season finale last night and, since I was home, I made a dedicated effort and watched it "live" on a TiVo-delay (started watching the recording 15 minutes in, allows one to finish the show at the scheduled time the show ends).

W O W. I was blown away that, in 45 minutes of screen-time, we got answers for some lingering questions from last season’s major storyline and almost (this is television, folks) everything tied up with this year’s mysteries – SPOILERS AHEAD- who planted the bomb on the bus and Woody’s backstory- and some really good suspense and resolution among Veronica and her dad as well as the hwole romance with Logan.

And I do concede with my dear friends who turned me onto this show (I blame them for this diatribe), SmurfMJS & Les, that I now agree that Veronica and Logan are meant to be togerther.

What gets me to hot and bothered (in a good way) about this show is its writing. Rob Thomas, VMs creator, and his writing staff have created such a lived-in world with very real people who are so easy to become emotionally invested with and the tangles that they get embroiled in, while possibly a little too stretched out, are consistent with the rules of that world. Veronica isn’t so virtuous that you would put her on a pedestal- she’s a very real teenager who’s had some tough experiences in her past and sometimes she does make the wrong choices, but you still want her to emerge victorious.

Antoher thing I love is that each story-arc is so detailed, that even the one-off episodes contain things that are related to the macro-story. Granted, this doesn’t help people who start watching the series in the middle of the season and, honestly, I feel that this show really plays much better when watched in a more consistent fashion (God bless DVD). From what I’ve read, next season should prove easier to start watching during the middle, as there will be “3 long-arc mysteries, delivered in batches.”

I know many of my friends will call me a blasphemer, but I really think that "Veronica Mars" is better written and more compelling than "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" (which I totally loved). And, while we can credit BtVS for the bourgeoning of literate, kick-ass female role models, VM has surpassed it in its first two seasons.

If you haven’t watched the show, rent the Season One DVDs and make some time to watch it. It really is worth your time.