2.15 "The Quick and the Wed"
Aired Mar 22, 2006
Roundtable Reviews
grim squeaker: I've developed a huge soft spot for this one. Granted, it's mostly filler and some storyarcs advancing a few paces, but I really had a lot of fun watching it.
misskiwi: Not spectacular, but solid, and did a good job of moving every arc a few steps forward.
topanga: I liked it, too. Not as much as last week's episode, but it still was very, very good.
Polter-Cow: I liked it, too. Maybe more than last week's. Jane is pretty.
misskiwi: Keep in mind that the last girl you said that about ended up going over a cliff.
chris1010: Better than last week, I just wish they would include Veronica more in the main mysteries.
misskiwi: I agree, chris. This season feels far less personal than last season's mysteries. Of course, that's going to be hard to avoid since they're trying to compete with things like Veronica's rape, her mom disappearing, her best friend's murder, and her questionable paternity, but I loved the end of "Normal is the Watchword": it was big, it was traumatic, and you really felt the impact when Veronica ran to the edge of the cliff. Like, holy shit, a bus full of kids just went off a fucking cliff and Veronica was supposed to have been with them. I don't think they've managed to get back to that feeling since.
chris1010: Don't get me started on the end of "Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang."
misskiwi: ...Huh?
Inigo: I think Chris is suggesting that Veronica didn't follow through the horror she expressed at the end that she was the cause of it.
misskiwi: Oh. Right. I was thinking of Big Dick's flight from justice and I couldn't see any connection.
I really enjoyed the MotW. Anything that can take me by surprise at least a couple of times during the episode gets a thumbs-up from me, and this one definitely qualifies. I got spoiled for Harry Hamlin's appearance, but I had no idea Ken Marino was back so seeing Vinnie turn around in the ugly-ass bowling shirt had me laughing in delight.
Polter-Cow: The MotW was stronger this week (the lack of Kristin Cavallari sure helped), but I was mostly just following along for the ride. It was actually more confusing than last week's in that it was really hard to see any of the pieces until they were put together, whereas last week there were clear red herrings and clues. By the time you get to the end and realize it was all about the ring, you have to go, "DUH. They made a big fucking deal about the ring in her very first scene!"
misskiwi: See, I like that format better, myself. Too many red herrings leaves me scratching my head at the end trying to sort out what was relevant and what wasn't; this kind of MotW leaves me wanting to go back and rewatch the episode to see all the clues fall into place. My one complaint would be that the denoument at the altar was a little over the top. I think the reveal would have been better if, rather than running up at the last minute, Heidi had simply come down the aisle (or, uh, walked up to the altar) and then commented on how her fiancé seemed surprised to see her.
Do Heidi and Jane live by themselves, or does Heidi have her own apartment that Jane spends a lot of time in? I was confused — it seems unlikely that Jane wouldn't be living at home, but I got the impression several times that she lived in the apartment. I could be mistaken, though.
topanga: My guess is that she was holdin' in down at her sister's apartment in case Heidi showed up there. She seemed appalled that it was so messy.
Inigo: Jane mentions her mother calling the hospitals so Jane probably does live with her parents. In fact, I thought the older couple on Jane's left at the wedding was them, as part of the immediate family that was to attend, although the Kuhne girls pretty much ignored them, so maybe not.
grim squeaker: I loved that it was a mystery that dealt once again with a familiar face — Wallace's new lady love Jane, who is actually starting to grow on me. And the actress who played Heidi was truly awesome; she definitely elevated this plot a few notches.
topanga: I agree, grim. Virginia Williams was great. She brought energy and humor to all of her scenes. "You're 12!" Probably my favorite quote of the episode.
chris1010: That was a great line. They also got me this week; the Vinnie involvement took me by surprise. I like it when you can re-watch the episode and collect the clues and piece them together, unlike "Rashard and Wallace go to White Castle" where part of the plot was kept from the audience.
misskiwi: After those behemoth previouslies, it was obvious they were going to be touching on pretty much every arc they've set up to date, but was I the only one disappointed that after showing Woody AND Gia telling Lamb that Woody warned her not to get on the bus, there was no payoff? No mention that Woody owned the hangar? Veronica, you're a detective! DETECT! Keith, you too! Find out who else had access to the hanger, such as THE OWNER! And what was the point of all the Curly/Weevil stuff when it had no bearing on the episode?
I also thought it was a little contrived that Keith only thought "Gee, why wouldn't Terrence have destroyed the evidence?" after he'd assumed Terrence was guilty and gone to Lamb with the info. The Keith I know and love should have pieced that together immediately, and the information from the car detailer should have just supported that suspicion. I still think he would have gone to Lamb with the information about the hanger, but I got the impression that at that point, he thought Terrence was really guilty.
grim squeaker: I think emotion is the key here, misskiwi. Keith really cares a lot about Terrence and he wants to believe in him, much like I would probably believe in Neil Gaiman if he was accused of murder and I was a PI and he asked me to, er, getting really off-topic here....anyway. Keith wants his idol to be a good person, but his confidence in him was already severely crushed when the thrown games were revealed in "Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough" so now he is almost bound to believe the worst of him first. Terrence has been a thorough disappointment for Keith. That almost makes him Keith's Lianne, which is...a bit weird.
topanga: Keith has a big soft spot, or maybe a blind spot, for the people he loves. Being such a great private investigator, he sees through people's lies and can find important clues in seemingly unimportant information. But when it comes to those close to him, he ignores key information. Or maybe he truly doesn't see it. Keith wants to give them the benefit of the doubt and believe the best about them until he's forced to see the ugly truth. This happened with Veronica, Lianne, Alicia, and now Terrence.
misskiwi: But here, he "saw the ugly truth" without real cause. I just found it odd that he went from believing in Terrence despite the bad stuff, to convicting him based on what Veronica told him, to suddenly being all detective-y and investigating further.
topanga: Yes, it did seem a little bass-ackwards.
Inigo: As a former officer of the law, I think Keith was duty-bound to report the explosives as soon as he knew of them if for no other reason than that they pose a danger. I really don't have a problem with him going straight to Lamb with something that serious.
Polter-Cow: When you were an officer of the law, Inigo?
Inigo: You know I hate you, don't you? As well as grammar. Okay then. As a former officer of the law, Keith was duty-bound, I think, to report the explosives... How do I stick out my tongue here? Somebody? Anybody?
grim squeaker: Like this I guess: :P
misskiwi: Oh, I don't have a problem with him immediately coming forward with the information, but when he went to Lamb he seemed resigned to Terrence's guilt rather than saying "Look, I found these explosives, but here's why I don't think we should jump to conclusions." That's my problem.
Inigo: But at that point, he didn't have anything else, did he?
misskiwi: He didn't know about the detailer, but he could have come up with his "Why didn't he destroy the evidence?" line of questioning on his own without that information.
chris1010: It was never stated that Woody owns the hangar; he just lets Terrence use the hangar at the airfield, and as the Mayor that's not that odd.
Inigo: I don't think there is any doubt that it is Woody's hangar and I don't think anybody has ignored that fact. Everyone is careful to say that it is a hangar Terrence uses, not owns. No doubt, as Keith investigates who planted the explosives, as he now believes, then he will get into those who had access. That all takes time.
I'm actually interested to know whether Lamb is charging Terrence for Meg's death, or for Curly's. In his press conference, he said the warrant was in respect of eight charges of murder, so it must include one or the other of them. Logically it has to be Meg, for there has been absolutely nothing to connect him with Curly's death. But Meg's death is problematic. There is the intervening cause of the treatment she received at the hospital to go into and I'm surprised that a warrant would be issued in respect of her death at this stage.
Lawyers shouldn't watch TV, you know.
misskiwi: Meg died of a clot, which was the result of her being in a coma for several months, which was a result of being in the bus crash. So I don't see any problem with Terrence being charged with her death in addition to the five students, Miss Dumass, and Ed the driver. Except for the problem of he's innocent, but you get my drift.
Inigo: That can be the case but it can be a lot more complicated than that, particularly if there is any question of medical negligence. It's not that he can't be charged, just that the warrant could have stuck on her without additional evidence, so I'm surpised they added her at this stage.
misskiwi: Maybe Lamb has the judge in his pocket.
grim squeaker: How much did I love that scene in the elevator between Kendall and Beaver? Kendall coming on to Beaver (I guess she "upgraded" him from kid to guy in her brain now) and Beaver being all scornful and refusing to be controlled. And they still really don't like each other, which is absolutely refreshing. Other shows probably would have had him developing some trust in her by now.
misskiwi: Kudos to the writers for finding a good use for FBLA and working it into the incorporation arc and Beaver's enterprise. You could see Beaver's wheels turning during the discussion of property values.
grim squeaker: There seem to be many different interpretations of what's Beaver's deal here, from he had it all planned out and had the incorporation in mind to whether he was actually surprised by Mr. Pope's lecture. I wonder if that was truly on purpose on the writers' behalf, this storyline is mightily confusing.
My own take on it is that he actually didn't anticipate that people would be dumping their houses due to impending incorporation or he would have thought twice as to why he was making such great deals on the Southside. It might be a subtle clue that the incorporation is a far more done deal then the general public is led to believe. Iiiinteresting!
misskiwi: I agree, grim. My interpretation is that Cassidy was getting what he thought were great deals, but he hadn't taken into consideration what incorporation might do to the property values. Mr. Pope's quote was that "those who were smart dumped their unincorporated property to suckers before the bottom fell out." I think Cassidy is one of those suckers, and just realized that.
chris0110: I was also puzzled by Cassidy's expression during FBLA, but I still think he's just trying to screw Charis...Kendall over, but I'm not so sure who has the upper hand.
Inigo: Everybody talks about evil Beaver, but what about Dick! That was deliberate, making Logan sit through Tinseltown Diaries. I'm starting to get a tingly feeling about Dick's true feelings for Logan.
grim squeaker: I agree, Dick showed an even uglier side here than he normally does. Not that I'm in any way objective where Dick is concerned. Ew.
But for more charming people: Hannah: Portrait of the Logan fangirl as TPTB might imagine her. Discuss.
Inigo: Oi!
grim squeaker:*laughs evilly*
funky-donut: I'd take that as a compliment if I were you, Inigo. Hannah's pretty cute.
topanga: Hmm. I don't know. I think Logan fangirls imagine themselves exchanging snarky banter with Logan as well as Veronica does.
Inigo: That's just one of the things I think of exchanging with Logan.
topanga: Do the other things involve bodily fluids? Ewww.
Inigo: You bet your sweet bippy. In my head, I'm seventeen and not a sad old woman besotted with a teenager.
misskiwi: Get your mind out of the gutter, woman. It's a cute comparison, but I don't buy it. Hannah's defense of Logan is perfectly reasonable coming from any person who likes to believe the best in people. I buy it; Hannah definitely seems the glass-half-full type who would take people at their word until proven otherwise. She only stood up for her dad until she found evidence to support Logan's claims, though, so at the first sign of trouble I doubt she'll be so quick to rise to his defense.
Polter-Cow: I'm with grim. This is what I heard:
"Bum fights!"
"That was SO LONG AGO OMG."
"Manslaughter!"
"You don't KNOW HIM. He's a WONDERFUL AND SWEET HUMAN BEING. HE HAS A SOOOOOOOUUUUUL NOW."
misskiwi: P-C, what have we told you about feeding the VM/Buffy comparison freaks?
chris1010: Maybe Logan's chip broke…
Inigo: I don't know if Hannah's meant to be a tribute to or caricature of a Logan fan or not, but I do know my boy is in the deep shit of his own making. Did he take Hannah up on her offer of sex or not? If he did, did he do it to maintain his charade, to take comfort from someone who believes in him, or because he's a horny youth? (Xander Harris, get out of my head with your linoleum.) He got what he set out to get and I don't think I imagined the bare nod he gave Griffith's on being asked if they had a deal, but the boy is starting to realise the price.
misskiwi: I loved the expression on Jason Dohring's face when Hannah suggests they go back to his place and have sex. You can see right there the guilt gnawing at him as he realizes what he's about to do to one of the only people who believes in him.
topanga: If he's asking for Veronica's help because he did something terrible to Hannah, what can Veronica do?
Inigo: Absolve him?
misskiwi: Kick his ass? It might help, but probably not what he had in mind.
I'm still not sure what prompted Kendall to go see Aaron. Surely there are other sources for cash in Neptune that would respond to Kendall's wiles that aren't, you know, incarcerated? Presumably the hair she went to retrieve is in Duncan's shower since Aaron has been adamant in pointing the finger at the conveniently-absent-and-unable-to-defend-himself Duncan, but what they plan to do with it is unclear. Fabricate "new evidence" that suddenly implicates Duncan? Somehow plant the hair on existing evidence that they would have no access to and that would have been analyzed at the time of the murder? Beats the hell out of me. I probably shouldn't think about it too hard: it'll make my breasts smaller.
funky-donut: Hee. *thinks about it really hard, waits for boobs to shrink*
Yeah, I've still got nothing on their motivations. And my boobs are still too big.
Inigo: Can boobs ever be too big? I thought it was like being rich and thin.
grim squeaker: Yeah, I didn't get either of their plans here. You would also think that as it's been several months since Duncan disappeared they would have cleaned the drain by now.
misskiwi: Ew.
funky-donut: Word, they're in a hotel. Which is why I assumed she was going after Logan's hair, since I didn't realize it was Duncan's bathroom.
misskiwi: If housekeeping hasn't cleaned the shower in that long, how is the Neptune Grand still in business?
grim squeaker: The scene between Aaron and Kendall was fun, though. And skeevy. Aaron is really brave, too, getting intimate with the phone like that. I'd probably develop germ phobia only by touching it.
misskiwi: His Anthony Hopkins impression could certainly use some work, but I admit that I laughed quite heartily at the "Quid pro quo" line.
grim squeaker: Standards and Practices have really given up now, haven't they? There is no way the whole discussion about Big Dick and pie and his long reach would have gotten on air otherwise.
misskiwi: I totally didn't get that "tossed salads" was a dirty reference. I wasn't totally paying attention and assumed they were actually talking about...you know, salads. I don't want to know the real meaning, do I?
You know what was missing from that prison scene? NO TOUCHING!
grim squeaker: Serious plot elements aside, how great was it to see Mr. Pope again? He's so cute. And he praised Beaver, awww. Guess Cliff needs to share his Positive Substitute Father Figure Statue this week.
Polter-Cow: I love Mr. Pope! Sure, he was playing the Exposition Fairy this week, but as misskiwi pointed out earlier, this is important stuff, and the FBLA meetings are a clever way of providing the audience with the necessary information.
topanga: I didn't love Vinnie Van Lowe in his first appearance, as many people did. But now, he's joined the growing list of Veronica's adversaries (Lamb, Madison, Ms. Hauser, and Logan[?]) whose back-and-forth banter create some of the most memorable moments of the show.
Polter-Cow: I didn't love Vinnie at first either, topanga. But, like you, I'm really enjoying him and his interactions with Veronica. The "You didn't get it from me."/"Exactly how many times have you had to say that in your life?" exchange was awesome. He's turned into more of a character than a caricature, and he's proving his mettle.
misskiwi: My personal favorite was the Pavlov exchange.
topanga: Jane is a sweet girl, and Wallace seems to like her. He drank iced coffee from her cup. But I don't see any of the fiery passion he had (has?) for Jackie. I lost my bet that Jackie would get back together within two episodes, but I still think they'll be back together.
Polter-Cow: I am inexplicably loving Dr. Griffith, mostly due to his mere existence. Way back when, he was just this random informant, and then he was this random doctor, and he's grown into a central character, and that's one of the things I love about this show. You never know who or what will rise in importance.
chris1010: I love the secondary character gallery on the show, and how they seamlessly grow into fleshed out characters. It just makes me sad that several of them get better storylines and more screen time than the regulars.
Polter-Cow: Relatedly, as much as I don't like the Duncan-kidnapping thing (in that it's a result of the comababy and Meg's dying), I love how it's continually being used. Last week, it was a sign of Veronica's Kryptonite-like effect, and this week, it's both an effective ploy to cast suspicion on Duncan by Aaron and a cute inside joke from Vinnie. I like that the show doesn't forget things. Except the fact that Keith can never trust Veronica ever again.
misskiwi: He didn't tell her that he was helping Terrence until she found out by answering that phone call. I don't really think they've been in a situation yet where their trust has been an issue, so I wouldn't rule out that continuity yet. And I agree about liking the continuity from the babynapping; Vinnie's "I believe that's your racket" line was my other favorite from him.
grim squeaker: Tinseltown Diaries was truly inspired. I loved the callback to Trina's fake leukemia and to Logan's season one antics. It was nice to see Lynn again, too. Some of the headlines characterizing Aaron were lovely, especially "cradle robber" accompanied by video footage of Lilly. Being portrayed as an innocent child is yet another image of her she probably would have hated.
The "documentary" (seriously, what do you call these kinds of scandalous stories?) had the added effect of showing Dick cheerfully crossing the line between blundering and ignorant and purposefully cruel — and this is not even a Diane Ruggiero script.
misskiwi: I found it a little hammy, and thus not realistic, but I don't ever watch those kinds of shows. Maybe it was spot-on.
funky-donut: Actually, it was pretty dead on. They really are that hammy. Uh, not that I watch those shows or anything. Ahem.
topanga: I must say, one of my only disappointments this season has been Wallace's presence. Or lack thereof, especially in the last few episodes. I understand that Percy Daggs III's number of episodes had to be cut for budgetary reasons, but even in the episodes Wallace has been part of, his presence has been very marginal. I understand that Veronica's life has changed. She's no longer isolated from everyone, and Wallace isn't her only friend anymore, but still. It seems he's stopped being important to her. With the exception of "Normal Is the Watchword" and "Rashard and Wallace Go to White Castle, both with Wallace-centered storylines, it's easy to forget they're supposed to be BFF. When Wallace was away in Chicago, Veronica did notice his absence and refer to it, but since he's been back, I haven't seen any of the "I missed you, buddy" sentiment, either directly or indirectly.
Jackie, Veronica's former enemy, provides some of the best reminders of how close they really are. I love the "show-don't-tell" moments when Jackie gets upset that Wallace leaves her to talk to Veronica about a problem or interrupts their make-out session to help Veronica with a case. And Veronica had plenty to say, in her voice-overs at least, about Jackie being the wrong kind of girl for Wallace. But Veronica has no opinion about Jane, good or bad? And did Wallace ever express his opinions about Duncan? or Logan? Their friendship is full of holes, holes I thought were beginning to fill after last season's "A Trip to the Dentist." It's fine that they never had a tearjerker reconciliation. The "Happy New Year" moment was awesome. But show me how their friendship has changed and evolved since he's been back. Show me how Wallace has changed and evolved. I think his character development has stalled. Big time.
Inigo: If the show was called Wallace Fennel, I'd agree, but I think that Veronica's life doesn't revolve around Wallace anymore and, more importantly, Wallace's doesn't revolve around Veronica's. Wallace is out getting a life, and that's good development. The show has to focus on Veronica, so that's why we see less of him.
misskiwi: I agree, topanga. I loved that scene in "A Trip to the Dentist" when Veronica finally let him in to all the shit that has been going down in her life. That being said, I think one of the reasons we're not seeing that sort of closeness continue is that Veronica doesn't have any big secrets on the scale of the rape or Lilly's murder. It's a side effect of this whole season being far less personal than the first. Think about it: best friend's murder, date rape, maternal abandonment, and questionable paternity. Versus...bus crash and an accusation of manslaughter? There was Wallace's hit-and-run and Veronica's involvement in the babynapping, but since both of those had legal ramifications I think keeping secrets there was understandable.
Inigo: I agree with that. It's the nature of the beast this season. That plus the fact that Veronica really doesn't want to hear about what Wallace and Jane get up to at the beach, does she?
Anyway fifteen down, seven to go and no effing breaks. Yay!