3.14 "Mars, Bars"

Aired Feb 20, 2007

Speculation

grim squeaker: So, onto this week... first of all, let me congratulate you on more or less solving the coach's murder! At the very least you had all the right ingredients.
Inigo: Thank you! Not quite right but on the right lines. It's enough. It makes up for the total mess in my head at the moment about O'Dell.
grim squeaker: Why is there a total mess?
Inigo: I'm having real problems with times. I was trying to get away from any theory about any particular suspect and just look at what we know. I started getting some thoughts but at every turn I got stymied by one of the times events occurred. Let me illustrate...
grim squeaker: *passes pencil*
Inigo: It occurred to me that O'Dell may well have not left Mindy in the hotel room with Landry, that he took her with him back to campus (avoiding the scene at home where the boys were). They talk, fight, whatever. Cyrus gets his Xanax and finally they come to terms, maybe decide to separate. Mindy then calls Landry at 1:30 to come and get her, and it's Landry who takes the Volvo at 1:51 to collect her. But that doesn't work because there is the pay-per-view at 2:02. And there's the fact that Jeff says that when he delivered the crème brûlée, a woman opened the door.
grim squeaker: But why shouldn't Mindy admit to that? Also, wouldn't have someone noticed if she checked out of the hotel?
Inigo: She wouldn't check out, she never checked in.
grim squeaker: No. My point is this: This show usually doesn't overtly gamble with stuff like this, and in the current case we are often way ahead of the Marses. So, if Cyrus and Mindy had really left the hotel together and reconciled, someone would have witnessed that in some form, and we would have some kind of hints towards that scenario. I don't think it makes sense that Mindy would lie about this since it would make her stand out in a far better light than the current situation. Even if she hadn't admitted to it initially, she would have informed Keith of this scenario by now.
Inigo: Yeah, fair point.
grim squeaker: I think the Xanax is either a red herring entirely - or Mindy lied when she said she took it herself. Maybe she gave it to Gram, or even to Jason. Maybe she gave it to Steve because he threatened her (although, a junkie and Xanax? Would be kind of weird, I think). I still stand by the idea of her protecting someone because it would explain her suspicious behaviour. And in the beginning she had been painted so much as a femme fatale, it would be great if she was just a woman who happened to cheat.
Inigo: I'd gone a bit further. Hank calls his go-to guy Tim and it's Tim who orders the movie, or it's Tim who goes to get Mindy in the Volvo and Hank watches the movie, because someone has to be in the room to start it. Then Tim goes back and kills O'Dell, knowing that he can blackmail Landry. Or something. In fact, that's all shit. We need to start from scratch.
grim squeaker: Wait, where should Tim pick up Mindy from? What, wait! It's not all shit. You just have end-of-arc anxiety.
Inigo: Yeah, I do.

grim squeaker: You are being a little too perfect here. Not all details will be explained. Some stuff will just get hammered together in the end, especially since they lost one whole episode in the conclusion.
Inigo: Okay, if nobody's lying except Mindy and Hank in failing to reveal that O'Dell turned up at midnight, what do we have? We have O'Dell and Landry arguing in the room at midnight. We have Mindy opening the door to Jeff sometime later. We have a cell call at 1:30 am between Mindy and Hank. We have the Volvo exiting the Grand at 1:51. Someone starts the movie off at 2:02. We have the egging of the dean's window, the egging of the Volvo and the arrival of the dean's visitor at about 2:20. We have the Volvo back at the Grand at 2:59. We have a shot heard at 3:20. We have Batando's fingerprints on O'Dell's keyboard.
grim squeaker: I know I usually mock Landry's intelligence, but that somehow got an insta-boost over the last two eps, so I'm guessing it wasn't him. Well, Batando could have been the "you" of "What are you doing here?". Still, I doubt that he really did O'Dell in because the whole crime is so very measured out and calculated. We are talking a man who likes to take out his problems with a baseball bat and likes barking "You bitch!" when breaking into his ex-wife's home.
Inigo: We have Tim as the one who gets sent to collect Landry's dry-cleaning, giving him access to Landry's shirts. It's all just whirling around in my head.
grim squeaker: They are trying to confuse you. Don't be confused.
Inigo: I still like my Tim theory, but I'm worried that I'm being blind-sided by it.
grim squeaker: Why are Mindy and Hank lying about the dean having been in the hotel? Why does no one come up with the idea that the dean could have left his room after Keith was gone?
Inigo: I was thinking if I could make everything fit except one fact, then we'd know that fact was a lie and be able to identify the liar. I'm wondering if Jeff should be a suspect now, because in one scenario I had, the only thing that didn't fit was Mindy opening the door to him. Also, he was there and could have been the one to turn on the movie.
grim squeaker: Why did the Volvo leave the Grand in the first place? I still have no idea why anyone would drive away.
Inigo: Arrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!
grim squeaker: Jeff as the murderer or Jeff as the accomplice?
Inigo: Either.
grim squeaker: Jeff as the murderer makes no sense. This is a character who turned up two times! He has had less character development than Landry's book!
Inigo: Jeff theory: Jeff is to Tim what Tim is to Landry. Jeff is Tim's source of information as to when Landry is playing "Rory Finch." So Tim knew Landry was there that night with Mindy. Jeff hears and recognises O'Dell's voice. He calls Tim... Anything about this sparking your interest?
grim squeaker: I don't see why it is necessary. I think you are overthinking this. What did Tim do in "Hi, Infidelity!"?
Inigo: Tim led Veronica by the nose to discover the affair between Mindy and Landry.
grim squeaker: Because, allegedly, he cared about Veronica not ending up in the same spot he did, correct? Do you believe that?
Inigo: No.
grim squeaker: Right, Tim would not care that much about V. On the contrary, he would probably enjoy seeing her crash and burn. What else did we discover? Tim has pretty much been Landry's valet for the last few years, and at least from his point of view, Landry doesn't appreciate it. We have seen Landry burn Tim for Veronica. So we have two motives right here: Getting back at Landry for being scorned, and getting back at Veronica for daring to be Tim's replacement. The rest is Tim being oh so clever. I think most of the stuff we see, all the things about times being off, etc, are mostly distractions. Last time we thought time would play a huge part it absolutely didn't. This time it might, but I don't think we - as the viewers - can solve this one by comparing all the clock stuff. Let's face it, we don't know why Mindy and Landry put on this charade. We talked Gram because he seemed a good solution, but it could be something else entirely. I see no way how we could know for sure. All this stuff about movies being watched by people and not by others. It seems nonsensical, so it probably is. Have we ever pondered if Tim could have any reason to kill the dean for personal motives?
Inigo: We touched on it but couldn't come up with anything. The only thing that I can think of specific to O'Dell is his glowing letter of recommendation for Veronica, which Tim's probably seen. One of the problem areas of the Tim theory was how lucky Tim was that Mindy and Hank did what they did, making them such handy suspects.
grim squeaker: But maybe he wasn't lucky, maybe he orchestrated part of it. Could it be that Mindy discovered the dean before Weevil?
Inigo: Yes, that's certainly possible. But also there's the making it look like a suicide, an effort that worked...unless... What about if Hank and Mindy did find O'Dell, murdered. They then made it look like suicide because they were in such a difficult position...but then, why would Mindy go to Keith? This is when my head starts exploding.
grim squeaker: Nah, no reason for it. Maybe Steve found O'Dell, thus his fingerprints on the keyboard? What I dislike about this is the idea that Steve might be able to type...besides, he is likely dead now, so he would be a sucky witness.
Inigo: I'm wondering if that's the lost plot point.
grim squeaker: Yeah, that would make a lot of sense, actually. What's going on with Steve could be the lost plot point.
Inigo: Yeah.
grim squeaker: I think the real problem is that Hank's and Mindy's behaviour does not make sense if they are innocent, i.e. they either did it, or they have to cover up something else, or someone else.
Inigo: They have to think that telling Keith about O'Dell's visit is damaging.
grim squeaker: Well, naturally, but not only that: they manufactured the whole toothpaste alibi. I mean, Landry actually bought that stuff. And he ordered the movie, but apparently, he neglected to tell Mindy she had to watch it also. The only logical explanation seems to be that either one or both of them weren't in the room.
Inigo: Or the toothpaste story is true and Mindy did fall asleep, maybe after a few Xanax, whereas as Hank was still high.
grim squeaker: Yeah, but he was smoking pot, that makes you more relaxed than anything else. And the toothpaste story just seemed so ... readily available, you know. That made me think it was fabricated.
Inigo: I know we are meant to think it is, certainly.
grim squeaker: Sigh.
Inigo: Exactly.
grim squeaker: I'm still sure it was Tim. Bad Timmy.
Inigo: Yes, I think so too, but I'd feel better about it if I could iron out the details.
grim squeaker: I think that might be next to impossible in this instant.
Inigo: Perhaps. I need to think more on it. I think Jeff might have a part in this, albeit it could be innocent.
grim squeaker: Just like in the Rory Finch mystery.
Inigo: Yes.
Inigo: I'll think more on it. If I come up with anything, I'll email you.
grim squeaker: Please do that. So, we are done I guess? Spiffy. What does "spiffy" even mean?
Inigo: It means...good-o.
grim squeaker: Yeah, but how old is it?
Inigo: Actually, it means fine looking. 1930s maybe?
grim squeaker: Well, then it's appropriate for noir at least.