Veronica Mars “Look Who’s Stalking”/ “Happy Go Lucky” Review (2×20/2×21)

EPISODE 20: “LOOK WHO’S STALKING”

I’m beginning to suspect that there might’ve been more to that night at Shelly Pomeroy’s than I thought. With the news that Veronica has chlamydia, I’m now wondering whether someone else raped her that night before Duncan came in; after all, this season is now beginning to tie in season one’s events–look no further than the very next episode–into the narrative.

The rest of the episode revolves around the “Alterna-prom” that the rich kids throw, and that revolves around Logan’s “epic” speech to Veronica. The show’s definitely dealing with transition now due to its characters’ graduations, and people like Veronica and Logan have to come to terms with the fact that things are changing. It’s a really wonderful moment for both Jason Dohring and Kristen Bell, and what makes the moment all the more gut-wrenching for Veronica is the fact that Logan falls back into the same old patterns later that night. They have to grow and deal with change, but sometimes, you can’t help but ruin things. It’s what makes Logan such a compelling character to watch.

GRADE: B+

EPISODE 21: “HAPPY GO LUCKY”

“I just wanted to say, it was worth getting taped to a pole. I’m going to miss you.” It’s like a series finale up in here! Anyway, this is a great episode thematically, but man, the awful trial stuff makes the jury duty episode look like “12 Angry Men”. Veronica has chlamydia, so I guess you can just use that in court now to acquit Aaron Echolls? Sure, sounds good! Ugh.

If you can look past that, though, this is a pretty great episode, and it highlights just how corrupted the town is and how powerful celebrity is. We see parallels between Woody Goodman–Steve Guttenberg turning up the creepiness factor quite a bit–and Aaron Echolls, and at the end of the episode, both men are able to get away. It hurts even more for Veronica because it’s a double whammy: she gives up her chance at the Kane Scholarship in order to see Aaron Echolls convicted, but he ends up going free. Essentially, she gives up a huge aspect of her future in order to get closure on a huge aspect of her past, and she loses both in the end. For someone who has always been able to get her way and solve the case, this is the ultimate blow.

GRADE: A-

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