Previously: Veronica helped Troy clear himself of rape charges and Logan feels bad for using Hannah.
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Plan B
Marines: Welcome dear friends. We’ve been a little less than consistent with these recaps in the last week or two, just due to crazy IRL schedules. Veronica recaps tend to take me longer than most, too, so unfortunately they suffer when things get hectic. Sincere apologies and on we go!
We open up in a classroom at Neptune High where a cheery teacher announces that Logan is the winner of Steven Guttenberg’s essay contest on freedom. The teacher hangs up the essay in case anyone wants to read it. The bell rings and Veronica makes a beeline for the essay. She reads over a sentence or two and sasses back over to Logan. She quotes a bit of Logan’s essay, but actually, she’s quoting “Easy Rider,” which Logan made her watch while they were dating. She’s on to his plagiarizing ways.
Outside, Weevil is walking through the courtyard when he spots a group of PCHers. It throws him into a flashback, all colored Lillyback like, in which he’s talking to Felix about life after graduation. (S: I hate these deceptive non-Lillybacks. STOP STEALING HER PATENTED INSTAGRAM FILTER, OTHER FLASHBACKS!) (D: Great minds think alike, because my notes here read “It’s a Lillyback! But with Felix! It’s a Felixback!”) Weevil says he has to graduate, for the sake of his grams. Felix says one of the teachers gave him information on trucking school, where he can make $40 an hour, which is enough to settle down and have shorties. Weevil ranks on him for not having a girlfriend, and Felix gives a significant look which is super plot relevant back in the present.
In the present, Jane joins Veronica and Wallace at their table and they exposit that FBLA is hosting the Sadie Hawkins dance, which apparently is a thing this episode, and not just an excuse for Logan to be sassy. Sadie Hawkins dance – there’s nothing better!
Veronica says she’ll be flying solo, but will be working the dance. Wallace puts up a high five for workin’ it, but Veronica meant like actually working; she’ll be taking pictures. Jane and Wallace flirt a bit. Weevil catches Veronica’s eye and does a little “come here” nod. Veronica excuses herself.
Veronica and Weevil walk and talk. He admits he needs her help, but Veronica in her infinite sass, demands $50 just to hear out his problem. Weevil calmly says that he’s actually banking on her curiosity getting the best of her. Veronica tries to walk away. She tries a little.
Diva: This went on for SO LONG. It’s a testament to how awesome Kristen Bell is that the length of this scene made it more hilarious instead of more uncomfortable.
Mari: Weevil knows that Thumper killed Felix, but he doesn’t have the proof. What’s more, Weevil didn’t tell Veronica the whole truth about how he handled the Curly Moran situation. Veronica says that’s a shocker and does a little hand gesture that is actually, “scout’s honor.” I don’t know what she was going for. I don’t know why this happened. I like it though because Weevil tries to correct her and she brushes him off.
Anyway, the real story is that Weevil and a few PCHers got an anonymous calls saying that Curly sent the bus off the cliff to get back at Cervando for hustling Liam Fitzpatrick out of some money. Weevilback! Weevil beats the crap out of Curly all while Thumper records it. Curly says he isn’t guilty but he does know who did it. We don’t get to hear who because a car parked across from the fight turns on, effectively scaring the PCHers away.
Back in the present, Weevil says he knew Curly wasn’t behind the bus crash, but beat him up to save his life, since the other PCHers wanted to kill him. Veronica asks if Weevil noticed her name on Curly’s hand during the beating, but Weevil did not. Thumper is going down for the murder and either Veronica helps Weevil do it “right” or he will take matters into his own hands.
COME ON NOW SUGAR.
Study Hall with the teacher we’ve seen before and whose name I still don’t know. Wallace asks Jackie how her father is doing. It’s quite awkward to hear her snark about how well he’s doing, now that he’s been taken off of suicide watch. She says he isn’t in a hurry to get better, though, because he’ll be going from a hospital room to a cell at county jail. Wallace asks how she’s doing alone in her great big house and seriously, the casual, flippant tone of this exchange is making me itchy. (S: It is very weird. “Your dynamic is supposed to be light, B plot fare, regardless of the actual tone of your current arc.”) (D: +1. I’m uncomfortable.) Jackie says she’s used to being alone thanks to negligent parents. Wallace invites her to hang out sometime and then Mr. Whatever tells them to be quiet. It’s fine, Mr. Whatever. Their conversation was done anyway.
Hallway. Mac and Beaver walk hand in hand and he stops pointedly in front of a banner announcing the Sadie Hawkins dance. He takes a big dramatic sigh and asks if maybe Mac is ashamed of him. Mac points out that they are currently holding hands in the hallway. She asks him to the dance and he accepts, saying that if it blows, they can go straight to the good stuff. Mac fans herself, but Beaver was actually talking about pizza and tells Mac to get her mind out of the gutter. Whatever, Beavs. Maybe she was fanning herself because she was thinking about pizza too. Pizza is delicious.
Sweeney: And pizza doesn’t question me like that, Beaver. Pizza is true love.
Mari: Veronica finds Logan in the parking lot. She wants to talk about the night Felix was murdered, but first, we have to get by 2-3 minutes of Logan quips. Even though Logan has been cleared of all charges, the murderer is still out there. Thumper has presumably gotten away with killing Felix, framing Logan, taking over the PCHers and cornering the high school drug trade. Logan says it isn’t his problem. Veronica presses, asking if he remembers anything about the guy who called 9-1-1 that night. Logan isn’t very helpful at all until he’s walking away and admits that he thinks it was a San Diego seafood truck. He’d recognize the man again if he saw him. No word on why he didn’t follow-up on this lead before.
Cut to Woody’s office. He’s on a phone call and says that Father Fitzpatrick has blown something out of proportion. It’s clear that he’s talking about the incorporation as he says that it’ll result in more law enforcement and property values will bounce back. His secretary interrupts and it is another American’s Next Top Model alum. I didn’t really recognize her face, but the wooden acting was enough to send me on a Google search. Her name is Furonda and here’s a gif to jog your memory:
Sweeney: And she won an acting challenge to get that part, meaning she beat out a dozen even less capable contestants.
Diva: I knew she was an ANTM alum as soon as I saw her, because she was unreasonably beautiful and a truly atrocious actress. But I can’t believe I forgot that her name is Furonda. That’s beyond excellent. Also, FOR REAL, HOW MANY MORE AMATEUR MODELS DO WE HAVE TO WATCH ATTEMPT TO ACT?
Mari: Sadly, I think this is the last one.
Woody tells Furonda to get some reporters over there since meeting with a high school intern is good press. He stops short when he sees that intern is actually Logan. He greets him still enthusiastically, but tells Furonda to ix-nay on the press. Furonda furrows her brow. Good job, girl! Shine in your guest staring role.
The first order of business is to swear Logan in.
Woody tells Keith that he would like him to drop his other cases and focus on clearing Terrance. Keith tells him about Terrance breaking into ANTM Journalism Teacher’s house, but Woody isn’t worried about that. He knows the strength of Terrance’s character. Logan interrupts because he’s found something in the mail they should see. They all watch a stalker video taken inside of Woody’s house as his family eats dinner. Keith says he’ll investigate.
That night, Veronica and Logan are on a stake-out outside of the San Diego seafood place. (D: Wise. I will only participate in stake-outs that end in me eating lobster.) Veronica asks after Hannah, but Logan hasn’t heard anything from her. Veronica half-jokes that when they start shipping your girlfriends off, you are officially a bad boy. She puts up her hand for a high five, which Logan gamely returns. Sudden-Logan-Veronica-bonding is interrupted when Logan spots the guy from the bridge.
Logan and Veronica confront him but Bridge Dude denies being the bridge dude. He speaks in hypotheticals as he says that he lives in a PCH-full neighborhood so if he were the bridge dude, it would be smarter for him to protect his family by keeping his mouth shut. Logan mentions that whole, “I almost went to prison,” thing, but Bridge Dude says that hypothetically, he saved Logan’s life when he stopped on the bridge.
The next day at school, Veronica tells Weevil that Bridge Dude was as good as no witness. From where she stands, they have nothing. Weevil proposes a new angle: Molly Fitzpatrick. As they walk into school, he explains that Dr. Griffith was tied to the Fitzpartricks, so he assumes that killing Felix was part of Thumper’s deal with them. Felix and Molly were in love and Weevil thinks maybe someone told her family.
Mac next finds Veronica and starts her conversation with a preemptive apology.
I laughed so much and it dissolved into a single tear. I made out once too, girl. Back in the day.
ANYWAY, BACK TO HOURS OF RECAPPING: Mac says that after four months of dating, she hasn’t gotten any further than making out with Beaver. Veronica asks if she’s the sluttiest person Mac knows. “Slutty” is Veronica’s word. Mac goes with, “worldly.” (D: I love this exchange.) Veronica can’t hide the fact that the just-kissing is a little weird, but tries to tell Mac not to sweat it if she really likes Beaver. Mac is not comforted.
Sweeney: I just want to give Mac a hug. This is a conversation she should be having with him, but that stuff’s extra hard and awkward when you’re in high school and it’s your first relationship. It’s rough.
Mari: Lunch time. Weevil places a little toy truck on the table in front of Molly and says that was supposed to be her future. He found the toy in Felix’s shop locker. Molly says her family had nothing to do with Felix’s death. It was either Logan or a PCHer. Weevil says it’s super weird that the key witness worked for the Fitzpatricks. He thinks loving Molly cost Felix his life, and he isn’t sure she ever gave a damn.
Mari: IT’S CAUSE OF ALL THE EMOTIONS, SWEENEY. Capra’s barely controlled rage there was A+. And feelsy. Weevil’s kind of had a passive air while investigating all of this so the outburst and show of emotions was a good reminder that Weevil has lost a lot.
Sweeney: Yes. This. It’s also a bit of an echo of the S1 scene where Logan asks Veronica about investigating all the people who loved Lilly. “I loved Lilly,” says Veronica, explaining that it’s the reason she’s so obsessed with the case. (And subsequently kind of fucked up and emotionally stunted, but that’s beside the current point.)
Diva: Yeah, I almost burst into tears at “NO, I LOVED HIM!” I have a lot of Weevil feels right now.
Mari: In class, a bunch of dudes are roughhousing and check out a girl in a tight sweater as she walks by. Wallace does the same and Jackie calls him on it. They joke about whether or not the sweater would look good on her, and Wallace says all colors look good on Jackie. She smiles, but is soon distracted by the bunch of dudes behind her, pushing a boy forward telling him to ask “her.” Jackie stands and asks Charlie if he would like to go to the dance with her. When he replies, you can tell now that Charlie has some sort of intellectual or developmental disability. Those bunch of dudes were actually a bunch of douches. My bad.
Mari: Logan is waiting around Woody’s office, bored. He starts going through his stuff and sees a stamp of Woody’s signature. He stamps it on a pieces of paper and pockets it just as Woody comes to collect him. We cut to Woody asking Logan for a spot as he bench presses. When Woody is done there, he says that Logan reminds him of his younger days. He starts feeling up Logan’s muscles and making awkward comments about Logan having fun with the ladies.
Diva: I am so uncomfortable right now. I feel like I’m watching a Fish Mooney scene; that’s how uncomfortable this is. I always felt like Woody was that “way too friendly to not be a psycho” character, but still. THIS IS NOT OKAY.
Mari: River Stix. Liam yells at Molly for not bringing him a beer fast enough. She says she had a crap day, mostly on account of Logan Echolls not being in jail for murder. She tries to casually ask what happened to Dr. Griffith. Liam sees through it and asks why she’s suddenly interested in Dr. Griffith or Felix. He yells at her that she was just a piece of tail for him, since he went bragging about it to all his friends. We pan to the side and see the toy truck on the bar. From there we cut to Veronica’s room, because of course, the truck is a bug. They listen as Liam says angry but not particularly incriminating things. Veronica doesn’t seem to agree with me because after a not!break, she’s telling Weevil that if they go to the sheriff, Thumper may come forward with the video of Weevil beating up Curly. Weevil is willing to risk it. Veronica says that Felix got himself killed by bragging about his sex life, but Weevil doesn’t believe it. He thinks Thumper made it all up.
Sweeney: If he had been bragging about it, Weevil of all people would have heard, established by the Significant Looks in the Felixback.
Mari: Keith walks in and things are a bit awkward as he greets “Eli.” He guesses they are working on a lab report but Veronica one ups the lie: history report. “Man, that Caligula.” (S: An awesomely smart reference to remind us that in spite of all the time lost to her teen sleuthing, the girl’s still holding that valedictorian spot.)
Cut to Deputy Sacks leading Veronica and Weevil into the Sheriff’s office. In a throwaway line, Sacks tells Lamb that the new Deputy Commissioner (Logan) needs his parking spot because he’s “handicapped or something.”
Mari: They included that line in the gifset even though Weevil’s mouth isn’t moving. Amazing.
Veronica plays the little clip of Liam saying angry-but-not-incriminating things and Lamb says that would be super helpful if it were obtained legally or contained an actual confession. Veronica says the point was to steer him in the right direction, not do his actual job for him. The least he can do is find admissible evidence. Lamb says there is in fact less he can do and for some reason, Veronica looks shocked by this, despite 2.75 seasons worth of evidence that going to Don Lamb never truly works out.
Weevil is upset as they leave and says it’s time for plan B.
Veronica tries to get him to give her a couple of hours, but patience isn’t one of his virtues.
Keith goes to see Woody and wants to get his input on something. He plays the stalker video again and notes that it’s dark outside. Then, when the stalker pans past the clock, we see that it’s 5:30 in the evening. This leads Keith to believe this was filmed during the short days of November or December, long before the incorporation plans were announced. Keith says they might be barking up the wrong tree and asks if Woody has another tree. Woody says he’ll think about it.
Sadie Hawkins Dance. Charlie and his mom meet-up with Jackie. Veronica takes their picture. Logan and Gia are working the ticket table as she prattles on and Logan stares in Veronica’s direction.
Fitzpatrick’s Church. Thumper pulls up outside of it. Weevil is waiting and chloroforms him. But, like, there are two little boys in a van watching this happen? I remember nothing about this. (D: Yeah, that really threw me too.) Weevil takes the brown bag Thumper had on him and tells him to enjoy confession.
Sadie Hawkins. Mac and Beaver are dancing. Wallace and Jane are dancing, but he’s distracted and mostly watching Jackie be adorable with Charlie. Gia is still prattling and it’s making Logan angry. Veronica is taking pictures. Charlie’s mom tells Jackie it’s time to get Charlie home. She gives him a kiss on the cheek and Mama Charlie pulls him away. Wallace sees her go and heads off, pretending to go grab something to drink. He heads outside and asks Jackie if she’s okay. She says she is and Wallace grabs her and kisses her. Jackie pulls away and reminds him that he has a date. Jackie says Wallace is trying to make her the girl she’s trying really hard not to be anymore. She walks off.
Inside again, Jane blows past Wallace. Her friend saw him kissing Jackie. He apologizes for his “weak moment,” and Jane’s all, “OKAY!”
Sweeney: Terrible moment for Wallace and not an A+ look for Jane either. Another amazing Jackie moment, save for the tragic part where she’s the one of the three who will ultimately look bad because high school and sexism and stuff being unfair.
Diva: Cosign. Wallace, entitled jock doucheface is not a good look for you. Stop it.
Mari: Mac and Beaver are leaving the dance. Mac tries to get an invite over to Beaver’s parentless house, but Beaver says Dick’s there. Mac says they can stay in his room; Beaver says nothing. She kisses him gently and hugs him, letting him off the hook and saying they can go for pizza instead. She looks so sad. Someone please make-out with Mac.
Back inside, Veronica saves Gia from Logan.
Mari: V and Logan start slow dancing as The Perishers croon, “I don’t wanna hurt yooou.” If you are super interested in what that looks like, Tumblr.
Thumper is trying to explain to Liam that someone knocked him out and stole his money. Liam notes a lack of injury and then Danny comes in with the bag of money, all in tact. It was on Thumper’s bike. Thumper panics.
Neptune High. Jane stops Jackie and says she used to think people were wrong about her. Poor Jackie. (S: FEELS.)
Danny and Liam have handcuffed Thumper to a urinal. They stuff napkins in his mouth and duct tape it down. They leave him there that way as a horn blows in the background.
Mars Investigations. Woody tells Keith to take the stalker video off his plate. Turns out his gardener confessed to the whole thing. The gardener is not a bad guy and Woody promised to get the DVD back and destroy it. Keith says Woody is being real understanding about all of this. Woody’s all, “yep. SO ABOUT THAT DVD.” After a pause, Keith hands it over. On his way out, Woody calls Veronica such a good kid for coming in on her lunch hour and helping out her dad. I swear the cameraman pans to the left just a little bit so we can see that it’s actually 3:25pm, and not lunchtime at all.
Sweeney: I did not notice this, but that’s amazing.
Mari: When he’s gone, Keith tells Veronica to hold his calls. He goes back into his office and watches the video he’s obviously made a copy of.
Bridge Dude walks in and tells Veronica it was a smart move talking to his wife.
We cut to the sheriff’s department where admissible evidence has just walked right into Lamb’s office. Bridge Dude says he saw one PCHer stab another PCHer and then put the knife in Logan’s hand. He couldn’t make out faces but the murderer rode off on a red bike with a black spider. Lamb recognizes the bike and tells Sacks to issue a warrant for Thumper’s arrest.
Neptune High. Jane catches Wallace staring sadly at Jackie, who sits alone. Jane says she brings it on herself, so Wallace confesses that he was the one who kissed her. He still has feelings for her. After he breaks up with Jane, he goes over to Jackie. She tells him to leave so she won’t look like the man-eater who snatched Wallace away from one of the sweetest girls in school.
Sweeney: Watching the two radically different high school experiences of my younger brother and younger sister – both super social kids – was a painful study in the horribly gendered inequity of high school. Wallace, a sweet guy, but a guy all the same and an oblivious one on this front, doesn’t even consider the radically different social consequences this scenario will have for them. This scene was wonderfully done. A+, show.
Mari: Mac finally snaps and asks Beaver if it’s her. Is he not attracted to her? Why doesn’t he want to do stuff? She tries to relate and say that she gets nervous too. Beaver says he knows what he’s doing, even though it sounds like Mac is insinuating he doesn’t. Mac rambles that Veronica says that all guys move at different speeds. Beaver gets upset about that, though Mac says that she only talked to Veronica about herself, to make sure she wasn’t doing anything wrong. Beaver says she wasn’t, but she is now. He stands and leaves with a, “good luck getting laid.”
Now I just want someone to hug Mac. Quickly, Internet! HUGS ARE NEEDED.
Sweeney: GATHER ROUND, INTERNET. GATHER ROUND FOR HUGS.
Diva: I LOVE YOU, MAC. You totally shouldn’t have mentioned Veronica, but I love you and I’m sorry and also Sweeney, A+ gif choice.
Mari: At the old Sharks Stadium, a construction guy is doing a walk-through and comes across Thumper’s motorcycle. Outside, Woody is shaking hands and posing for pictures. The construction guy tells Woody about the motorcycle. They’ve blown the horn and didn’t find anyone inside. It would take 20-30 minutes to get the motorcycle out, but Woody won’t have that. Veronica watches on TV as Logan presses the detonator and we cut inside to where Thumper is still handcuffed to a toilet. The Marses watch the stadium implode.
Thumper was the one who killed Felix and framed Logan, and in essence, Logan pulled the trigger that killed Thumper. Craziness.
We end with Weevil in confessional, ’cause you know. He sinned.
I feel like this episode set a lot of things in motion toward the end. I actually didn’t realize we were this close to finishing season 2, but it felt like it here. I’m curious to know if the Snow felt the same way, or if knowledge of the future helped me see all the ways things started to take a turn.
Diva: Yeah, future knowledge definitely helps. I liked this episode – particularly getting to spend some more time on Weevil feels – but since I don’t know what’s coming, I didn’t see it as setting a lot of stuff in motion. (Not that it was boring, it just didn’t have the “ramping up to the finale” feel for me, because I know nothing.)
Mari: I figured that might be the case.
Some of it felt a little shoehorned in for me, namely Wallace’s suddenly returning feelings for Jackie. The attempt made Jackie look oddly saint-like and Wallace oddly douche-like. Plus, there was Veronica and Logan all of sudden being able to hold each other, when for so long, they couldn’t even look at each other without the sea of snark.
Sweeney: The Wallace/Jackie stuff played fairly naturally to me, but the Veronica/Logan stuff felt more shoehorned – very, “QUICK, LET’S SHUFFLE THEM BACK TOGETHER BEFORE THE SEASON ENDS!” Except, in a less explicit, tease-the-shippers kind of way. Which is about what you’d expect for episode 17/22.
Next time on Veronica Mars: The bus crash victims haunt Veronica’s dreams in S02 E18 – I Am God.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
Nicole is the co-captain of Snark Squad and these days she spends most of her time editing podcasts. She spends too much time on Twitter and very occasionally vlogs and blogs. In her day job she's a producer, editor, director, and sometimes host of educational YouTube channels. She loves travel, maps, panda gifs, and semicolons. Writing biographies stresses her out; she crowd sourced this one years ago and has been using a version of it ever since. She would like to thank Twitter for their help.
I'm a J.D. by day/blogger by night who directs her snark and judgment primarily towards celebrities and their many red carpet mishaps. Blogging from the style capital of the world (just kidding - I live in DC), I rant and rave over the best and worst in fashion and pop culture.
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