1.10 "An Echolls Family Christmas"
Aired Dec 14, 2004
Details
Mars home: Keith and Veronica are decorating a Christmas tree while A Year Without Santa Claus shows on the T.V. Keith gives Veronica a Padres ornament to hang up. Veronica asks Keith what he wants for Christmas, but he tells her to save her money. Keith hears the song "Heat Miser" and turns it up, saying it's their favorite part. Keith hugs Veronica who smiles.
Echolls pool house: Duncan is singing "Heat Miser" rather drunkenly. Logan takes away his drink. The guys are playing poker with Sean, an 09er, Connor, an actor, and Weevil. Logan and Weevil exchange insults. Weevil wins and wants his money but when Logan opens the box to give it to him, the money is gone. Weevil is very angry and asks who stole the money. No one admits to it, so he makes them all undress down to their boxers to see if they have the money hidden on them. Unable to find the money, he steals a Faberge egg from Logan and says he'll be collecting a grand from each of them.
Opening Credits
school hall: Veronica shows Wallace a brochure for a week-long Padres fantasy camp at their training site. This would be perfect for her father. However, at $3,000, it's way too expensive. Duncan pushes through them and yells at Weevil, demanding his laptop back. He grabs Weevil's jacket but is pinned to the lockers by some bikers. Duncan said he didn't steal the money, but Weevil says that someone did. Weevil tells the bikers to let Duncan go, and they all walk away. Veronica asks Duncan what happened. He tells her about the game, and she implies Logan took the money. Duncan tells her she should be concerned about his stolen laptop. He has kept a journal on it for the past three years, and Veronica was once a feature. Duncan walks away and Veronica's VO says that she must get the laptop back.
classroom: Weevil and the bikers are playing a dice game. Veronica tells him to give Duncan back his laptop and let her handle the poker game. Weevil laughs at the fact that he would need her help. She starts to leave, but he tells her that if he gets his money, the guys will stop losing their stuff. Veronica asks Weevil why he was there. He replies that poker being played by idiots interests him.
flashback: Weevil approaches Logan at his locker. He tells Logan that he wants in on the poker game. Logan refuses, but eventually, Weevil convinces him. It's a $1,000 buy-in and has to be in cash.
classroom: Weevil tells Veronica that Logan had an opportunity to take the money.
flashback: The guys are playing poker at the Echolls pool house. Connor comes back from the bathroom, surprised that Sean won again. Comments are made about how rich Sean is. Sean spots a hot chick in a bikini by the pool. It turns out that it's Lynn Echolls. All the boys get up to drool at the window, except Logan, who isn't happy about this. Weevil, after gawking, notices that Logan looks upset and seems to understand.
school hall: Weevil tells Veronica that everyone was at the window except for Logan. Weevil knows the money is in the house somewhere and would have torn the place apart if he could have without Logan calling the cops.
Mars Investigations office: Lynn Echolls comes in and asks Keith for help. Aaron often gets disturbing letters from fans, but this one is different. She shows Keith a letter that she found on the breakfast table in her house. It reads, "Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater. Had a wife and couldn't keep her." Keith asks her if she's kept all of the threatening letters. Lynn says many of them, and so Keith says he'd like to stop by later to take a look at the other letters. Lynn agrees. As she leaves, she reminds him to be discreet and comments on the fact that they don't see each other much anymore. She says that Logan has had a hard time with Lilly's death. Keith agrees, saying Veronica has as well.
school: Veronica tells Duncan that she might be able to get the laptop back. She asks Duncan if he was surprised to see Weevil at the game.
flashback: Duncan's voice says he was. Duncan enters the pool house, sees Weevil, and comments that he's not Chester. Logan whispers to Duncan not to worry, since he won't let Weevil leave with their money. Logan rolls up the money, wraps a rubber band around it, and puts it in an empty box.
school: Veronica asks Duncan if he thinks Logan invited Weevil there to steal his money. Duncan says he didn't invite him there to steal his money, emphasizing the word "invite." Veronica wants more details. Duncan hesitates, but tells her that it's nothing.
lunch: Logan tells some 09ers that Weevil stole the Faberge egg and they laugh about it. Duncan glares at him and leaves the table. Logan goes after him, asking what the problem is. Duncan asks if he took the money. Logan says Duncan was so drunk he wouldn't have noticed who took the money. Duncan says Logan's turned into a jackass and leaves. Logan looks upset.
Echolls mansion: Lynn is supervising the servants who are decorating a Christmas tree. Keith says that by looking at the other letters, he is believes one person has sent them all. He also tells Lynn that it's dangerous that the stalker has escalated to home delivery. He suggests Lynn cancel the party, but she refuses, saying she hired plenty of security. Keith asks Lynn if she knows the people who are wandering around her house right now. Lynn says they are the help. Aaron enters, sees Keith, and tries to get him to leave by downplaying the letter, saying it's perfectly normal because he gets letters like that all the time. He opens the some double doors and they see a pumpkin with Aaron's face carved into it. A knife is stuck deep in it and red dye is dripping down the carving. Keith questions the normality of this, and Aaron is speechless.
Mars Investigations office: Keith is calling around, trying to get information on pumpkin carving but is not having much luck. Veronica enters and Keith asks her to go over to the Echolls's to drop off some papers for Lynn to sign.
Echolls pool house: Logan is playing a video game. Veronica comes and notices the place is trashed. She tells him she has papers for Lynn to sign and that she wanted to ask him about the poker game. He makes some sarcastic comments about her detective skills and tells her to leave. She starts to go, but he stops her, suggesting that she to talk to Connor. Veronica is star-struck and asks if he means Connor Larkin, which he does. Veronica asks why Connor would need the money, and Logan implies that Connor is a drug addict. In addition, Logan is convinced Connor has something against him.
flashback: Logan makes another racist comment, directed toward Weevil. Connor asks why Logan keeps making racist remarks. Logan makes a snide remark. Connor responds by asking if it's because Rosie Perez thought Logan was a girl. Everyone laughs and wants details. Connor tells them that Logan had a crush on Rosie Perez when he was ten. Aaron got her to come to his birthday, and when Rosie came in, she said, "Happy Birthday, Lauren!" and gave him a purse. Connor gets a cell phone call and goes to the bathroom.
Echolls pool house: Logan says Connor went to the bathroom often and thinks he was up to something. Logan then calls a someone to get Veronica on the set to talk to Connor. She comments about how he's being helpful and he says he's glad to unleash her peskiness on Connor. She leaves.
movie set: A scene from a cheesy action movie is being filmed. Veronica's VO drools over Connor's abs. She approaches him, and they talk about the poker game. She says that from what she understands, no one could have left the room with the cash. He tells her that one guy left the room with money.
flashback: Duncan is trying to get his money out of his pocket to pay the pizza delivery boy. Logan grabs the wallet, asking how Duncan can play poker if he's that drunk. Connor asks how he keeps winning. Duncan says that at least he giving money, unlike someone else. He glares at Sean, saying that he didn't even chip in for beer. Sean says he enjoys his ghetto brew. Duncan calls him a tightwad. Logan gives the delivery guy a small tip. Duncan says that it was only four percent and gives more money. Weevil also contributes.
movie set: Connor, drinking tea, tells Veronica that with all of the breaks, there were plenty of opportunities for anyone to take the money. Connor tosses his tea bag, gets a cell phone call from his agent, and leaves. Veronica calls Wallace and asks for Sean Friedrich's home address.
Echolls home: Aaron is playing tennis with Brian, his coach. Keith wonders if the Aaron o'lantern could have some significance. He asks Aaron if it could be a spurned lover. Aaron claims he's faithful to Lynn and was with her last Halloween at the Casablancas's annual party.
mansion: A man answers the door; it's Mr. Friedrich. Veronica asks if she can talk to Sean, but he won't let her. He tells her that Sean isn't allowed to have visitors at home. A woman's voice calls his name, and he closes the door on Veronica.
Elite Catering: Keith talks to Martha, the lady who catered the Casablancas party. He tells her that Sadie Casablancas said Martha had the bad taste to fire someone at that party. Martha is annoyed with that statement and tells Keith that she didn't have a choice. One server went upstairs, even though it was forbidden, to look for a bathroom. Aaron Echolls insisted she be fired. Keith is surprised at this until Martha tells him that it's because Aaron was with another woman.
school: Veronica catches up to Sean after he's dropped off by a limo. He's mad because he's missing his Rolex. Veronica says it's not Weevil's fault that someone stole his money. Sean's not so sure.
flashback: All of the guys are stripping down to their boxers so Weevil can make sure they aren't hiding the money. Sean asks Weevil why he's not stripping. He says he's the one whose money was stolen. Nasty comments are exchanged.
school: Sean says Weevil might have stolen the money before he knew he was going to win. At one point, Weevil was down to his last two chips. Veronica reminds Sean that he wasn't doing well either. Sean agrees but says he doesn't need the money.
Mars Investigations office: Keith tells Aaron he knows about the affair and asks him to circle the name of the woman he slept with. Aaron circles three names before Keith stops him and elaborates, asking who he slept with on the night of the party. Aaron looks appropriately embarrassed and says he had hard cider that night.
flashback: Little Bo Peep is on top of Aaron when a server walks in on them.
Mars Investigations office: Monica Hadwin was Little Bo Peep; she also happens to be the wife of Aaron's agent. Keith takes out some pictures of the party that Mrs. Casabalancas gave him and asks Aaron to point out the three women that he circled. Aaron finds one picture where the three women are together. Keith notices that all three women are invited to the Echolls's Christmas party. Aaron's not worried about them, claiming that they aren't stalkers.
Greenblatt house: Keith talks to Monica Hadwin who is getting fitted for a dress. She tells him Hadwin is her maiden name because she didn't want to be Monica Greenblatt. Keith asks her what she can tell him. She tells him that Aaron is psycho-bait and to talk to Deborah Dailey. Her husband, Harvey Greenblatt enters. Monica tells him that Aaron has a stalker.
lunch outside: In a VO, Veronica worries about Duncan's journal. She notes that just because the laptop has been stolen, that doesn't mean everyone will know details of their relationship. Wallace sits down next to her and asks how the case is. Veronica says she thinks she knows of a way to send her dad to the camp. At a table nearby, Logan sits down next to Duncan who immediately moves away from him. Sean is also there. Veronica approaches the table with Weevil behind her. She tells them that she knows who stole the money. She then says that Logan will host another game that night. Logan says no, that his mother's Christmas party is tonight. Veronica isn't concerned. She will tell them who did it and they'll buy her into the game, taking the place of whoever the thief is. Logan still won't agree. Veronica says she thought they wanted their things back, and Weevil chimes in, saying things could reappear if he got his money. Veronica also says that the person who thinks this is a bad idea has to be the thief. Logan asks her if she knows how to play poker. She replies that she doesn't, but it can't be too hard if they play.
Echolls house: Aaron and Lynn greet Jake and Celeste at the door.
Echolls pool house: Veronica enters. Logan mouths off to her, but Weevil helps her with her bag and asks if he can get her a soda. Veronica says she wants something with more kick and picks up Duncan's Jack Daniel's bottle. She chugs it, while everyone stares in amazement. After she's done drinking, she comments that it's iced tea. She says that Duncan can't remember the alphabet, let alone figure out a tip when he's drunk.
flashback: Several brief flashbacks are shown of Duncan: drumming on the table, watching Lynn, and playing cards. Over this, Veronica's voice says that he was playing drunk to win, not steal the money.
Echolls pool house: Connor is drinking more tea. Veronica goes on to say that he isn't a drug addict.
flashback: Several brief flashbacks are shown of Connor: playing cards, leaving to use the bathroom, and taking out the tea bag while he was on the set. Over this, Veronica's voice says that she knows the frequent trips to the bathroom made it seem so, but he wasn't going for a fix. He was going because of Sun Tea.
Echolls pool house: Veronica tells them that the Sun Tea is a diuretic he was using since he was going to pose for a magazine cover. She moves on to Logan. She says it seems like he had access and a motive, but Weevil cleared him.
flashback: Logan is in the pool house playing a video game when Veronica comes to question him. The pool house is a mess. Veronica's voice is speaking over this, saying that Weevil told her that he couldn't tear the room apart as much as he wanted. However, when she saw the room, it was a complete wreck.
Echolls pool house: Veronica says that if Logan has stolen the money, he wouldn't have had to tear apart the room to look for it. Sean and Weevil are the only two left. Veronica asks them if they want to know how Sean did it.
flashback: During the game, when the guys are paying the delivery boy, Sean grabs the roll of money and stuffs it into his empty wide-mouthed beer bottle. Veronica's voice says that Sean knew he couldn't leave with the money, so he didn't. She says that the bottles were recycled, and Sean just did some garbage picking the next day. During this narration, Sean is shown taking the bottle and riding away on his bike.
Echolls pool house: Logan asks why Sean would steal the money because he's so wealthy. Veronica says she went to Sean's and wondered...
flashback: ...what Sean's dad was doing at home in the afternoon, dressed in a suit. Mr. Friedrich is shown answering the door. The woman calls for Mr. Friedrich. Veronica's voice says that is, unless he was at work.
Echolls pool house: Veronica says she wanted to be able to say that the butler did it, but it was the butler's son. Sean says that it doesn't prove anything. Veronica tells him that it proves he's a liar. Also, the background check she ran on him proves he has a shoplifting problem, namely that he's bad at it. Weevil takes Sean for a walk. Veronica takes Sean's place and deals first, Vegas style. The guys look surprised.
Echolls' party: Celeste and Jake are talking with Aaron and Lynn about going to a winery. Monica leers at Aaron from across the room. He looks nervous and avoids eye contact.
Mars Investigations office: Keith looks at the photos of the three women in question. He stops at one picture, taking a closer look. There are carved pumpkins in the background.
Echolls house: Lynn says she has a big surprise for everyone at nine o'clock. Another woman leers at Aaron, who is still nervous.
Mars Investigations office: Keith puts on his coat while calling Martha at Elite Catering. He asks her what the position was of the woman who was fired. Martha replies that she was a le trancheur. When asked what a le trancheur does, she replies that they are carvers. He asks what the fired girl looks like.
Echolls house: One of the waitresses is the one who came in on Aaron and Monica.
Echolls pool house: Veronica is winning. Logan suggests taking a break, and Weevil says he could use some food.
Echolls house: Weevil and Veronica get food. Veronica sees Jake walk out of the room and follows him. At the bar, Duncan mumbles an apology to Logan for thinking he took the money. Logan says he's done plenty of other things. They smile, then Duncan turns and asks for the bartender.
outside the Echolls home: Keith is having trouble getting past the security guard at the front entrance because he's not on the list. Keith tells him it's an emergency, to no avail.
Echolls study: Veronica asks Jake why Clarence Wiedman took surveillance photos of her. Jake says he doesn't know what she's talking about. Veronica asks why he would want her mother out of town. Jake says he didn't. He tries to leave, but Veronica blocks the door. Veronica asks why she would have hidden the pictures in a safety deposit box. Jake yells that he doesn't know. Veronica tells him she doesn't believe him and after a minute, moves away from the door. Keith sees Jake and Veronica talking. Jake leaves the room; Veronica follows. Keith enters the house through the study.
Echolls house: Jake grabs Celeste's arm and asks repeatedly, "What did you do?" She says she doesn't know what he's talking about. He tells her not to lie to him. He is clearly very upset with her and tells her they're leaving. Veronica and Duncan watch them, and Duncan follows his parents when they leave. Lynn and Aaron are stunned. Lynn rings a bell and tells everyone to follow the Santas outside. Aaron is going to get his coat and starts talking to Monica. Carolers in old-fashioned garb are outside. Lynn grabs Aaron's arm and tells him he'll miss the surprise. He turns to go outside when the fired waitress approaches him. She asks him if he cares. She says he slept with her and said he loved her. Aaron denies it to Lynn, claiming he doesn't even know who this woman is. The waitress stabs him. Scenes flash back and forth between the carolers singing and the next scene. Aaron reels from the stabbing. Keith tackles the waitress. Lynn shouts for an ambulance and Logan uses his cell phone to call for one. Veronica is shocked. Her VO states that Christmas in Neptune is always about the trappings that are used to cover the sordidness and corruption; there is no Santa Claus.
Closing Credits