TV and Sympathy

My world, it is rocked. (Thoughts on the VM finale.)

Who would have dreamed that everything, everything, would come together so perfectly? I hoped, to be sure, but then earlier today I had a couple thoughts that made me worry that I couldn't possibly enjoy the season finale as much as I'd thought.

Thought #1 was me going over all the clues that we had laid on our doorstep since the first episode of this season: Curly Moran and his hand, the dead rat on the bus, the Casablancas kids' insurance policy, the chlamydia, Goodman telling Gia not to get on the bus...all of it. I couldn't think of a way that it would all make sense, that they'd pick up every thread they wove through the season. It was this enormous tangle. No way they could untangle it to make some sort of spiffy plot sweater! But they did.

Thought #2 was this might be it. Veronica Mars hasn't yet been picked up for a third season by the CW. I'll put aside the fact that this is monumentally stupid on their part, since good television comes along so rarely, you don't toss it aside when you're trying to make a name for yourself as a new network. I'll just say, it came into my head that despite all the rumors and suggestions that it's coming back next season, I realized that if VM isn't renewed, this could be the last episode. Ever. And that, my friends, is a sobering and terrible thought.

So, leadened with those thoughts, I watched the Veronica Mars season finale, and I came away happy. How is that possible? I'd attribute it all to the godlike powers of VM creator Rob Thomas and his band of amazing writers, producers, cast and crew. They rock.


I've only watched it once, so my thoughts are probably going to be a bit scattered, but there were so many things I loved about the episode. The pace was breakneck, just like last season's finale, a series of painful and perfect moments piled one after the other so you don't have time to take a breath:

- Veronica's dream of how things might have been: parents - check; epic love - check; best friend...maybe not meant to be.
- Lamb collaring Weevil right at graduation, so untimely but so slimily in character for Lamb.
- Aaron Echolls, setting a standard for slime that even Lamb couldn't hope to attain.
- Veronica rifling off her list of clues that led to Cassidy's guilt, each action more horrifying than the next, as he transforms into a monster before our eyes.
- V struggling and failing to reach Keith for a final moment, coupled with her scream to Logan that "he killed my father!"...panicked and heartbreaking.
- The mirror image of Logan holding Veronica, then his face the morning after, trying so hard to be strong for her.
- Nods and brief appearances by so many characters I'll miss: Alicia! Mr. C! Lianne! C.W.! Duncan! Lilly! F--- this summer hiatus guys, let's all go live on a commune together and play Clue, you'd all be into that, right?

And the inevitable cliffhanger? To quote Veronica, "I'm fine with it." Only, she didn't mean it, and I do. I really am fine with it. I'm concerned with what will become of the mysterious briefcase of doom, but my heart wasn't pounding at the end quite as hard as it was last season with the desperate need for it to be September, immediately. For that, I'm grateful. Not knowing the fate of the show, I'll sleep a little better knowing the fate of the characters I love.

Plus, it's not as if everything got tied up into a tidy little bow; there's still so much left to do, so much left to explore in Season Three. Mac? Alicia and Keith, round 2? Epic love: the college years? Come to think of it, did we ever find out about that dead rat? (Maybe dead rat=spy pen...)

Who cares--I'll be happy no matter what. Weeeell...if "no matter what" means "as long as they renew VM for another season. And by the way? I am so so glad I didn't watch the preview for the finale. It was better to be absolutely unspoiled.

posted by Veltman @ 11:39 PM