Veronica Mars & football
Oct. 17th, 2005 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
It's a lovely time of year. Especially when you start a season 6-0. I'm probably going to jinx it by talking about it, but I think we have a truly dangerous game coming up this Sat., so it may be the last time I can talk about my undefeated team. That's the great thing about supporting a school like UCLA though; we have teams that contend on the national level in every sport, not just one, and it fills up the year with fun games. (I only care about football and basketball, though. Still, those take care of fall/winter/spring.) I'm afraid that we are far too overrated at the moment. We're ranked no. 8 in the nation, which I can't believe, considering our last 3 games were come-from-behind victories -- two of which should have been easy wins. After Sat.'s game against WA St., I was convinced we'd drop a few ranks, deservedly, and instead we rose 4 spots. WTF? I'm concerned because the higher you're ranked, the greater the pressure, and I'm just not convinced this team can handle it.
Anyway, enough about football. Onto TV. I finished Veronica Mars this weekend. For a show on UPN, I'd give it a 10 for quality. Overall, I'd give it an 8. Also, I've now read the recaps at TWoP for both VM and House, and all I have to say is: Those recappers seriously need to get their egos in check. They're not nearly as funny as they used to be (XF recaps were great), and it's obvious they think they're so incredibly clever and special. *barf* Also, it's starting to be like fandom, where the recappers are convinced that all the boys are gay and secretly sucking each other's cocks off screen. Okay, WHATEVER. Buh-bye, TWoP, you have officially become useless to me.
So here's my VM commentary, which may not be filled with self-important blatherings on about how this actor or that actor reads my commentary, or whether some random line of dialogue on the show is actually a clear shout-out to me, but I'm sure one or two of you will make the supreme sacrifice and read it anyway. :p
Veronica Mars
The premise for this show is really strong, both in an episodic sense, and in a larger mythology sense. It's supported by strong writing and strong acting, so it's not a surprise that people should love it. There is a bit of surprise -- and relief -- that they realized it in time, but that's probably due to the fact that it was on UPN, and therefore didn't need to be an immediate success to be given a chance. (Aside: I hate you, Fox. Though to be fair, Firefly did not have a strong premise.) The kicker of it is... I wish it had been axed after its first season. I'll explain in a bit.
It seems obvious that they didn't have everything planned out from the beginning. Or perhaps they had it all planned, but changed their minds mid-season due to fan reaction and/or the way the characters grew organically. I wouldn't be surprised to learn, for instance, that the original plan had been for Logan to have killed Lilly. But then Jason Dohring brought more to the character than anticipated. Or the writers gave him more depth than they were planning to, and then the fans responded positively. I don't know, whatever. Any number of these factors for any of the characters could have happened. It seems obvious that something was either changed or that much of it was unplanned in the first place, and here are my pieces of evidence (look at me, going all VM):
1) The woman (whose last name is Poitier) in the credits who had almost no role, but was in the opening credits for much of the season. Clearly they'd had some sort of plan for her, but they never really were able to include her in a significant way.
2) The lame, lame finale when it's finally revealed who killed Lilly. I agree with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
romanticalgirl -- there weren't any clues for us to indicate that this was the case. The identity of the killer was discovered not by good sleuthing, but practically by chance, like something they came up with in the 11th hour (here I point to the 'secret notes' pen, Logan hiding something in an air vent, and Veronica finding the camera equipment in the Echolls' pool house -- all of which happened in the last 2 or 3 episodes). That's why I think it was originally going to be someone else -- someone they decided they wanted to keep, since the show was a success and they'd likely have a season 2 (in fact, they might have already known there was going to be a S2), like Logan or Duncan or even Weevil. The whole thing felt really dodgy and tacked-together, and I almost wish they'd dragged the murder mystery out to next season to make it really good with some planning instead of quickly wrapping it up with some half-assed whodunit.
3) Veronica's first boyfriend. (In the season; not ever.) Things were going along fine and then suddenly in one episode, he's a drug dealer. No explanation whatsoever about why he'd go out of his way to befriend Veronica and act like such a nice guy to her when he was really dastardly all along and had this other woman on the side. I think they were just like, "We have no idea where we're going with this, we already have principal actors on the show, and no one finds this really compelling, so bye bye."
4) Veronica/Logan happening almost out of the blue. (More on this later.)
I haaaated Logan. It wasn't just that he was an asshole; he was a putz. His asshole-ness I responded to with varying degrees of amusement and disgust. It started to change, the teeniest bit, after the episode where it's revealed that he's abused by his father. After watching the whole show, I think it's safe to say that I adore Logan at this point, and yes, Veronica/Logan is my ship of choice. I might even be able to go withromanticalgirl's choice of Veronica/Lamb, because Lamb is also a hot asshole, but he's also not a significant part of the show. Why should I pine for a jerk who's not there, when there's another jerk who's there every week? <g> (Only exception is Alias, because as far as I'm concerned, Sark is the only viable love interest for Sydney on that show.) Not to mention that Veronica being with Logan creates all sorts of tension that I just love to see. There's consequence to a relationship like that, and I think they realize it, too -- which is why they had to break them up. (Yes, I've read all about the first few episodes of S2, because I had to know who the hell was at Veronica's door at 3am that she was so happy to see.)
So now we've come to the point of why I wish this show had ended after its first season. As Laura pointed out to me at lunch the other day, they had a really great premise for a one-season show. Now that there's a S2, what are they going to do? Her comparison of it to Dawson's Creek is very apt; you've got basically the same triangle deal going on. And like with DC, I like Logan -- who is Pacey ... and also Draco ... and Spike ... and Lex. See, I pretty much have a "type," and I don't deviate from it. :D But that's why I was relieved to see that they broke Veronica and Logan up immediately -- because we all know that you can't have the True Pairing until the end of the series. Up until then it's all about creating angst around the True Pairing, keeping them apart, feeding us bits and pieces here and there. If Veronica and Logan were together in S2, then I'd be bummed, because no television couple stays together forever, and they'd have to break up eventually, which would mean that they aren't the True Pairing. But now I know they are. :D
The thing is, Veronica and Logan happened rather abruptly. In fact, Veronica getting back into the 09-er crowd happened kind of fast (maybe not in a complete sense, but certainly with Duncan and Logan she was pretty comfortable with in a freakishly short amount of time). All things considered, Veronica and Logan being on civil terms is a stretch. I mean, seriously. Those first few episodes where they're at each other's throats? Logan bashing in her headlights? And then to him telling her that all he wants to do is protect her? O.o Of course, I liked Logan by this time, so it wasn't like I was opposed to the pairing. It just seemed ... too fast, and his personality changed too much. It wasn't as believable as it could have/should have been. In fact, his new Veronica niceness gave me terrible flashbacks of a neutered Spike. Logan needs to be a sarcastic, quick-witted asshole. That shouldn't change just because he's in lurve with Veronica. I'd also buy it a lot more if it'd been established that he'd had a thing for Veronica for a long time (the closest we get is that flashback where he admits he thought she was hot when he first saw her), but they went out of their way to make it seem like he had truly loved Lilly -- and it was she who had the wandering eye, not him. (Did they both have wandering eyes? I'm still unclear on how/why they broke up, or whether they even did break up at any point.)
I like Duncan just fine, but I had thought that part of the progression of the season was to show Veronica moving on. Now she just seems like a fickle little bitch, considering she macked with Logan while she was dating Leo, and now that Duncan's no longer her possible half brother, it's like nothing ever happened? She was the one who kissed Logan! Not the other way around. Take all the other things she did/excused in order to be with him, and IMHO that means had very real feelings for him. Suddenly they're not there or what? *fumes* And yeah, I do believe what I said above, about the True Pairing -- but in the meanwhile they've got to throw us a bone here and there, let us relate to Veronica. I mean, a believable story could definitely be told about why she had to get back together with Duncan -- because what tore them apart wasn't of their own free wills, wasn't because they stopped loving each other. Of course it makes sense to go back to that. But I'm hoping that she'll find she's a different person from the girl she was, and that Duncan's not the right one for her. (Especially because I liked Meg, and thought it was nice and right that Duncan and Meg should hook up.)
The other thing I'm curious about for S2 is whether they plan to introduce another season-long mystery to go with the weekly mini-mysteries. They really ought to, or it will just be another DC.
So. Any good Veronica/Logan fic to rec? :D
Anyway, enough about football. Onto TV. I finished Veronica Mars this weekend. For a show on UPN, I'd give it a 10 for quality. Overall, I'd give it an 8. Also, I've now read the recaps at TWoP for both VM and House, and all I have to say is: Those recappers seriously need to get their egos in check. They're not nearly as funny as they used to be (XF recaps were great), and it's obvious they think they're so incredibly clever and special. *barf* Also, it's starting to be like fandom, where the recappers are convinced that all the boys are gay and secretly sucking each other's cocks off screen. Okay, WHATEVER. Buh-bye, TWoP, you have officially become useless to me.
So here's my VM commentary, which may not be filled with self-important blatherings on about how this actor or that actor reads my commentary, or whether some random line of dialogue on the show is actually a clear shout-out to me, but I'm sure one or two of you will make the supreme sacrifice and read it anyway. :p
Veronica Mars
The premise for this show is really strong, both in an episodic sense, and in a larger mythology sense. It's supported by strong writing and strong acting, so it's not a surprise that people should love it. There is a bit of surprise -- and relief -- that they realized it in time, but that's probably due to the fact that it was on UPN, and therefore didn't need to be an immediate success to be given a chance. (Aside: I hate you, Fox. Though to be fair, Firefly did not have a strong premise.) The kicker of it is... I wish it had been axed after its first season. I'll explain in a bit.
It seems obvious that they didn't have everything planned out from the beginning. Or perhaps they had it all planned, but changed their minds mid-season due to fan reaction and/or the way the characters grew organically. I wouldn't be surprised to learn, for instance, that the original plan had been for Logan to have killed Lilly. But then Jason Dohring brought more to the character than anticipated. Or the writers gave him more depth than they were planning to, and then the fans responded positively. I don't know, whatever. Any number of these factors for any of the characters could have happened. It seems obvious that something was either changed or that much of it was unplanned in the first place, and here are my pieces of evidence (look at me, going all VM):
1) The woman (whose last name is Poitier) in the credits who had almost no role, but was in the opening credits for much of the season. Clearly they'd had some sort of plan for her, but they never really were able to include her in a significant way.
2) The lame, lame finale when it's finally revealed who killed Lilly. I agree with
romanticalgirl -- there weren't any clues for us to indicate that this was the case. The identity of the killer was discovered not by good sleuthing, but practically by chance, like something they came up with in the 11th hour (here I point to the 'secret notes' pen, Logan hiding something in an air vent, and Veronica finding the camera equipment in the Echolls' pool house -- all of which happened in the last 2 or 3 episodes). That's why I think it was originally going to be someone else -- someone they decided they wanted to keep, since the show was a success and they'd likely have a season 2 (in fact, they might have already known there was going to be a S2), like Logan or Duncan or even Weevil. The whole thing felt really dodgy and tacked-together, and I almost wish they'd dragged the murder mystery out to next season to make it really good with some planning instead of quickly wrapping it up with some half-assed whodunit.3) Veronica's first boyfriend. (In the season; not ever.) Things were going along fine and then suddenly in one episode, he's a drug dealer. No explanation whatsoever about why he'd go out of his way to befriend Veronica and act like such a nice guy to her when he was really dastardly all along and had this other woman on the side. I think they were just like, "We have no idea where we're going with this, we already have principal actors on the show, and no one finds this really compelling, so bye bye."
4) Veronica/Logan happening almost out of the blue. (More on this later.)
I haaaated Logan. It wasn't just that he was an asshole; he was a putz. His asshole-ness I responded to with varying degrees of amusement and disgust. It started to change, the teeniest bit, after the episode where it's revealed that he's abused by his father. After watching the whole show, I think it's safe to say that I adore Logan at this point, and yes, Veronica/Logan is my ship of choice. I might even be able to go with
romanticalgirl's choice of Veronica/Lamb, because Lamb is also a hot asshole, but he's also not a significant part of the show. Why should I pine for a jerk who's not there, when there's another jerk who's there every week? <g> (Only exception is Alias, because as far as I'm concerned, Sark is the only viable love interest for Sydney on that show.) Not to mention that Veronica being with Logan creates all sorts of tension that I just love to see. There's consequence to a relationship like that, and I think they realize it, too -- which is why they had to break them up. (Yes, I've read all about the first few episodes of S2, because I had to know who the hell was at Veronica's door at 3am that she was so happy to see.)So now we've come to the point of why I wish this show had ended after its first season. As Laura pointed out to me at lunch the other day, they had a really great premise for a one-season show. Now that there's a S2, what are they going to do? Her comparison of it to Dawson's Creek is very apt; you've got basically the same triangle deal going on. And like with DC, I like Logan -- who is Pacey ... and also Draco ... and Spike ... and Lex. See, I pretty much have a "type," and I don't deviate from it. :D But that's why I was relieved to see that they broke Veronica and Logan up immediately -- because we all know that you can't have the True Pairing until the end of the series. Up until then it's all about creating angst around the True Pairing, keeping them apart, feeding us bits and pieces here and there. If Veronica and Logan were together in S2, then I'd be bummed, because no television couple stays together forever, and they'd have to break up eventually, which would mean that they aren't the True Pairing. But now I know they are. :D
The thing is, Veronica and Logan happened rather abruptly. In fact, Veronica getting back into the 09-er crowd happened kind of fast (maybe not in a complete sense, but certainly with Duncan and Logan she was pretty comfortable with in a freakishly short amount of time). All things considered, Veronica and Logan being on civil terms is a stretch. I mean, seriously. Those first few episodes where they're at each other's throats? Logan bashing in her headlights? And then to him telling her that all he wants to do is protect her? O.o Of course, I liked Logan by this time, so it wasn't like I was opposed to the pairing. It just seemed ... too fast, and his personality changed too much. It wasn't as believable as it could have/should have been. In fact, his new Veronica niceness gave me terrible flashbacks of a neutered Spike. Logan needs to be a sarcastic, quick-witted asshole. That shouldn't change just because he's in lurve with Veronica. I'd also buy it a lot more if it'd been established that he'd had a thing for Veronica for a long time (the closest we get is that flashback where he admits he thought she was hot when he first saw her), but they went out of their way to make it seem like he had truly loved Lilly -- and it was she who had the wandering eye, not him. (Did they both have wandering eyes? I'm still unclear on how/why they broke up, or whether they even did break up at any point.)
I like Duncan just fine, but I had thought that part of the progression of the season was to show Veronica moving on. Now she just seems like a fickle little bitch, considering she macked with Logan while she was dating Leo, and now that Duncan's no longer her possible half brother, it's like nothing ever happened? She was the one who kissed Logan! Not the other way around. Take all the other things she did/excused in order to be with him, and IMHO that means had very real feelings for him. Suddenly they're not there or what? *fumes* And yeah, I do believe what I said above, about the True Pairing -- but in the meanwhile they've got to throw us a bone here and there, let us relate to Veronica. I mean, a believable story could definitely be told about why she had to get back together with Duncan -- because what tore them apart wasn't of their own free wills, wasn't because they stopped loving each other. Of course it makes sense to go back to that. But I'm hoping that she'll find she's a different person from the girl she was, and that Duncan's not the right one for her. (Especially because I liked Meg, and thought it was nice and right that Duncan and Meg should hook up.)
The other thing I'm curious about for S2 is whether they plan to introduce another season-long mystery to go with the weekly mini-mysteries. They really ought to, or it will just be another DC.
So. Any good Veronica/Logan fic to rec? :D
