3.19 "Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down"
Aired May 22, 2007
Roundtable Reviews
alliterator: Finally, a Weevil-centric episode! I loved it. Good Mystery of the Week + Witty Lines + Veronica Using Her Smarts + Over-arcing Mystery (The Castle and the Sex Tape) = VM Goodness.
Polter-Cow: The penultimate episode of Veronica Mars was damn good. It definitely felt more like the show than some of the rest of the season, not only because it was Weevil-centric but because it felt really well paced. The mystery was intriguing, and the character stuff rang true and interesting.
BethGee: P-C, I agree. I think overall, I may have even preferred it to 3.20, because there wasn't so much randomness crammed in. It was well paced, with good attention spread all around.
Chris: It was very nice to see Veronica and Weevil working together again.
starxdsparrow: I can't say I was a huge fan of the mystery here, even if it was Weevil-centric. As soon as Wears-a-Sweater-Vest-in-May said she felt bad for "that janitor guy" (Who probably has kids to feed? Why, because he's Hispanic? Or because he's a janitor?), I knew she was involved. I kind of liked the idea of Weevil returning to a life of crime, though.
Inigo: I think I knew before the credits that she was involved, as she identified Weevil in the line-up and I didn't believe he'd done it. Having said that, I had no idea how and I did like the way it played out. Jenny Budosh and her friends were actually a bunch of smart cookies to have set Weevil up in those 24 hours based solely on her recollection of Weevil's appearance months before in the Criminology class.
wyk: I love how the writers use Weevil's show-and-tell from 3.05 "President Evil" as the crux of this MotW. I wonder if the writers had always intended to work that small plot-point into the show later on in the season, or if it was one of those things they realized when they were writing this episode.
Polter-Cow: I loved it! It involved actual, honest-to-god detectiving, and I loved that it was more complicated than it seemed. I began to suspect that one of the girls who turned Weevil in was involved, but I didn't expect EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM to be part of this rich-kid conspiracy. That was pretty sweet.
tallow: I agree. They're all guilty! Surprise!
Inigo: Rob Thomas does Murder on the Orient Express! Whoops, maybe I should have spoiler-warned that?
wyk: Rob Thomas is a plagiaristic whore! But we already knew that.
Inigo: Exactly. He didn't even need to tell us, but it's kind of sweet that he did.
Polter-Cow: The mystery went back to the class conflict that's one of the show's hallmarks. Rich kids taking advantage of the system and getting away with it? Definitely one of Veronica's hot buttons.
Inigo: I agree. Their arrogance was off the chart, thinking that they could buy Veronica — very season one.
wyk: Veronica's "cash" response to "So, what is that maintenance guy paying you, anyway?" is such a great smackdown. They want to know how much Weevil is paying so that they can up the offer, but Veronica curt response doesn't even give them the chance to make an offer.
Inigo: And, sparrow, I too loved the last shot of Weevil caressing the money-making machine. He's tried the straight and narrow and for his pains he's been set up twice and lost a mentor he liked, having discovered the guy's body. Life sucks in Neptune when you're poor and Weevil's reassessing where he wants to be. It's academic, of course, with the show's cancellation, but I can see them taking Weevil back into crime, to rival the Fitzpatricks and be both a thorn and a help to the Marses. And it's not an unlikely scenario in a place like Neptune.
tallow: One of the many reasons I'm sorry to see the show go. What will happen to Weevil? I could totally see him joining Veronica in the investigation biz. I think she'd hire him back, we all know he's got what it takes to toe that fuzzy line between legal and questionable.
Inigo: Toe? Or tow? I don't think I want to know about Weevil's feet.
tallow: Toe. And I'm just going to leave it at that.
Inigo: You sure? It's not just your foot fetish sneaking in? Huh.
tallow: It's called "English," you're from "England," and yet your grasp on the language so inferior to this American.
Inigo: Oi! Just cuz I ain't got that right don't mean that I don't know nuffink! I'm a good gerl, I yam!
tallow: Where does the rain in Spain fall again?
wyk: Francis told us during the set visit that the writers intended the Weevil-works-at-Mars-Investigations story from 3.03 "Wichita Linebacker" to be a long-term story arc. Unfortunately they had to drop that storyline because of Francis's illness. I would have loved to see that storyline played out. It was really fun to watch the clashing styles of gangsta Weevil and P.I. Veronica working together. Weevil wanted to get to the point and ask the girls where the stuff under the sink went; Veronica wanted to be all sneaky-like and take a photo of the photo on the wall. It would have been a fun good taser-carrying cop/ bad jack-your-car cop relationship.
tallow: Also, it makes me wonder what kind of upbringing the writers had. Do they all hate rich people?
wyk: I don't think the writers hate all rich people. The writers have shown other people of various classes in a bad light. When the writers attack the rich, the audience cheers. When the writers attack other groups such as frats-are-guilty-before-proven-innocent feminists, the audience jeers.
Inigo: Meow.
tallow: But this isn't the only rich-people attack. It's been going on since season 1. The feminists only got attacked during that one story arc. Season one was practically an entire "rich people are shallow and sucky except for these few" attack. And to be fair, personally, I did not jeer when the feminists got attacked. I did, however, when the religious right did. But that's just me.
Inigo: That's fair enough, but for me, it's never been a problem because nobody's immune and I really like that. Some targets are easier than others, like silly mysterious stalkers of secret societies.
Polter-Cow: A secret society! Probably. I loved Wallace's sneaky maneuver: it was not only to see what The Guy would do, but it was also a way to do his own snooping.
wyk: Wallace has picked up a few P.I. tricks from Veronica. Too bad he didn't have a taser. Maybe it's just me, but when they first said "The Castle," the first thing I thought of was the writers' castle-facaded office.
Inigo: Oh, stop showing off just because you went on the site visit! I thought of The Castle of Otranto, which I think indicates my need for psychiatric care, but I wanted to warn Wallace of falling helmets.
alliterator: At first, I thought that the Aspen Society of Fake IDers was going to turn out to be the Castle as well and they were going to invite Veronica to join them. I'm glad I was wrong, though.
Polter-Cow: They should have offered to turn Veronica into a vampire.
Inigo: See! I'm not the only one thinking gothic.
Polter-Cow: That would have been quite a twist. A game-changer, like they say over on Lost.
tallow: Ha!
Inigo: Humpf. I found this less convincing. There's more to play out, obviously, and I liked that Wallace deliberately evaded Veronica's follow-up to his complaint about his stalker, but secret societies are just a little too...Enid Blyton to me. We know Wallace is a good basketball player, but he admits himself that he's not the best on the team and his academic record is hardly exceptional, so I just don't see what makes him desirable to those who create these sorts of organisations.
wyk: Pimp juice?
Polter-Cow: Affirmative action?
Inigo: Ker-ching!
tallow: Not the best and not the brightest, but perhaps the potential to become such. How many even-somewhat-talented basketball players want to become mechanical engineers?
wyk: At least they didn't invite Dick to part of The Castle. That would have really stretched the credibility of this sort of organization.
starxdsparrow: Dick, as always, delighted me. He just made a bad situation funny — he quoted The Office! And the apology was one-hundred-percent him, what with the awkward failed almost-kiss. Brilliant.
Polter-Cow: It was nice to see the continued degeneration of Dick, and incredibly freaky to see him apologize to Mac. I almost thought they were suddenly giving the Mac/Dick 'shippers their due after a year, but Mac had some sense. They actually made it work for a crazy moment, though, on Dick's side, at least, which was impressive.
BethGee: And ya know? His hair almost looked good. Perhaps it was the emotion. Or the beenie.
alliterator: I love the Evolution of Dick. Season after season, he's just been...well, a dick. Even after Cassidy's death, he had one brief period of "I messed up bad" and then he was back to being a dick. But I love how with his father back in his life, he's obsessing over the many bad things he did to Cassidy and he's trying to make amends with Mac. And I also loved that he still stayed a dick as well, trying to mack on Mac. Heh. Mack on Mac. I made a funny.
Inigo: Funny is always good but I have to say that I thought the moment when he said, "Hey, Logan. The night my brother jumped off the roof, did you, like, try and stop him?" was a powerfully dramatic moment and well played by both of them. You could see Logan freeze and you could see the yearning on Dick's face for Logan to comfort him. Logan doesn't know how, and, as he often does, turns to surfing — the cure for all ills.
*pauses for the sound of crashing waves*
tallow: Maybe surfing would help now that the show is cancelled.
wyk: So the Dick scene was all about Logan, eh?
Inigo: Everything's about Logan. Has been all season.
wyk: I think the most heartbreaking line of that scene was "But I'm inviting twenty-four little buddies just in case I don't like what I see when things are clear." Logan wants to help Dick see things clearly, but Dick knows that seeing things clearly won't make things better; it will only make it worse. It's hard enough for the perpetrator's family to deal with the guilt, anger, sadness about the terrible crimes their loved one committed. It must be even harder for Dick to deal with the guilt over what Beaver did when he knows he should be feeling guilty about what he did to Beaver. And the only way Dick knows how to deal with the guilt is to drink.
Inigo: Speaking of drinking, Keith is getting crushed by Vinnie and the reason for the writers having Keith go after under-age drinking is revealed. I did enjoy the exchange in the radio station, particularly the way Vinnie deftly appeals to mass, popular stupidity. Vinnie's going to investigate murders and terrorism, eh? Well, yes, so would Keith IF THOSE THINGS HAPPENED. Vinnie then highlights his MILITARY SERVICE, which in a time of war is a real crowd pleaser, and claimed responsibility for a 20% drop in crime in all military bases, despite his dishonourable discharge. Finally, and the killer because it is true, he attacks Keith's real weak spot — Veronica. I thought it was actually a beautifully subversive account of the politics of the lowest common denominator. Sort of like television...
alliterator: I sort of loved Vinnie when he said that he would maybe drop in at a bar...for a cold one. I'm glad that that storyline had some relevance rather than just as a PSA. Veronica's head push was funny, as well.
Polter-Cow: I think the funniest bit is one I only caught the second time around. When Vinnie brings up "murder and terrorism," he follows it up with "These are not only the subjects of our favorite TV shows and movies..." It's totally ridiculous and awesome and perfectly Vinnie, who is ridiculous and awesome.
wyk: I love the terrorism bit. It's a funny social commentary about how so many politicians try to use terrorism as a campaign platform.
Polter-Cow: I'll admit to not having been a huge fan of Vinnie based on his first couple appearances, but the character has grown on me. Well, he grew on me. And now he's gone.
Inigo: Everyone's gone. *sniff*
tallow: To the surfboards!
starxdsparrow: Fight, fight, fight: Logan vs. Piz! Probably my favorite scene. I know, everyone seems to think Logan was in the wrong, but I would have gone after Piz, too. I laughed when Piz ran, but then, I'm sort of evil on the inside.
Polter-Cow: You're mean.
starxdsparrow: Mostly, yes.
BethGee: I think the most disturbing thing on the "sex" tape was Veronica's outfit.
starxdsparrow: Hear, hear, BethGee! That was some choice.
alliterator: I like how realistic the fight scenes are in this show. In almost any other show, when two characters fight, there would be a tiny, tiny bruise on one of them and that's it. No, on this show, Piz is freaking bruised beyond belief, while Logan has blood all over his knuckles. Oh, and I love how Logan's fighting style is so similar to his father's. It's kind of freaky.
starxdsparrow: Yeah, they both sort of passionately flail around a lot and chase their opponent. It's a little scary.
wyk: I like the nice little detail of the students walking toward the radio station during the fight. Adds a bit of realism to the scene.
Inigo: Veronica was on form! From her making herself laugh with the "famished" joke in the queue with Mac to her indignation at the rich kids to the tricking them into confessing, she was seriously rocking in this episode.
wyk: I was cracking up over KB's delivery of the "I'm a girl" line.
Inigo: The only bum note, deliberate I thought, was the little act with Piz because it really did seem like an act to me. She was playing "good girlfriend" but it didn't seem to me that her heart was in it. She was far more uncomfortable at the beach in Logan's presence than she should have been if she was happy with Piz. Or is this just my shipper heart seeing what it wants to see?
Polter-Cow: No, Inigo, I agree. When Veronica labeled Mac's suggestion as "honest," I didn't believe her. We haven't really seen a deep devotion to Piz on her end. I'm certain she could survive a whole summer without him.
Inigo: I would add in support the interesting music choice for her scene with Mac. The lyrics of "Lazy Girls" are "Maybe they told you you got to go get 'em, but you'd rather lay low and watch the river run. Hey, lazy girls and laid-back boys. You got it right, life's to enjoy." This is exactly what Veronica is doing. She is the lazy girl, laying low and relaxing with the non-threatening laid-back boy.
Polter-Cow: I also agree that Veronica was so on form. Some of my favorite bits were her continual flashing of her badge, the "So I guess you're wondering why I've called this meeting," the vampire joke, and the sublime bit of hilarity that only Kristen Bell can give us: the way she points to the rich kids and herself as they speak on her recording. It's adorable.
wyk: I love the incredulous reaction Veronica gets when she tells people that she is a P.I. "You're a what? How old are you?" Kinda like the incredulous reaction Rob, critics, and fans get when they try to convince people to watch the show. It's fun to watch Veronica and the writers poke fun at the basic premise of the show.
alliterator: Heh. Yes, KB was really funny this episode.
wyk: KB has been funny through the entire three seasons. One of the reasons why I love the character so much. She will be missed.