EPISODE 6: “RAT SAW GOD”
Hey, it’s season one all over again! I’m happy that last season’s storylines aren’t going away, although it’s interesting how this season’s tapestry is already more intricate than last season’s, and we’re only six episodes in. I’ll wait to see whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but one thing’s for sure right now: “Rat Saw God” is a very tightly plotted and extremely entertaining episode that deftly brings Amelia DeLongpre, Clarence Wiedman, Abel Koontz, and Aaron Echolls back into the fold.
By doing so, the episode also zeroes in on the heart and soul of the show: the Keith-Veronica relationship. Veronica helping Koontz find Amelia–though I’m surprised she didn’t put that plan on ice, amirite?–and Keith going to see Aaron Echolls in prison are fairly similar actions, similar because they both stem from the past and because they both deal with the concept of truth. Keith, for instance, gets angry at Veronica for doing things that are similar to what he ends up doing, and this situation brings up the question of why you may keep something (i.e. Curly in this episode) from someone. Like father, like daughter, as both Keith and Veronica seem to be intent on getting to the bottom of cases before they become too caught up in them. It causes conflict, but it brings them together in the process.
GRADE: A-
EPISODE 7: “NOBODY PUTS BABY IN A CORNER”
Well, it seems like we have Keith Mars on one side and the rest of the Neptune parents on the other side. This episode essentially displays various forms of bad parenting in Neptune through Veronica’s babysitter plot, and it all leads up to a very unsettling, tension-filled closing sequence. The reveal of Grace in the closet is incredibly chilling, and the subsequent scenes set to Air’s “Run” are some of the best the show has produced. For the first time, we begin to see some of Sheriff Lamb’s humanity under that cold exterior, and that entire last sequence relies on atmosphere to deliver the episode to its excellent finish.
GRADE: B+
OTHER THOUGHTS:
-That’s Joss Whedon as the Lariat Rental Car guy.
– “Wow. Where did you learn that interrogation technique?” “Harvard. Pretty convincing hysterical routine you got. Where’d you learn that?” “Watching cheerleading tryouts’ results.” I like these two together. They should get a buddy cop comedy or something.
-Keith lost the election. I was expecting that storyline to be a little more prominent, but I guess not.
-Kristen Bell is during the scene in which she lies to Koontz about his daughter. There’s another connection to the idea of truth, to the idea that it should sometimes be covered up.
-The scene between Logan and Aaron in “Rat Saw God” is very well done by Jason Dohring and Harry Hamlin. With everything going on in Logan’s life right now, to be faced with his father–Lilly’s murderer, which is a label Aaron denies–must be incredibly difficult.
Photo credit: UPN/CW, Veronica Mars
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