Veronica Mars – Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang We Love You
October 16th 2006 02:29
Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang, the third episode of Season 2 of Veronica Mars, aired late on Friday night on Network Ten. I’ve heard bad things about this season, but CCBB was very solid and enjoyable episode, very reminiscent of last year.
The mystery of the week was very entertaining, mostly because it involved characters that we know. My heart aches for Beaver/Cassidy. He’s the other child – the one his father doesn’t care for, the one that screws up. All he wanted to do was help his father out, because deep down his loves his dad and wants to be loved back, but it all went wrong. I’d also like to give props to Charisma Carpenter. She’s doing a great job at playing a self-centred bitch without just replaying the role of Cordelia from Buffy. Allison Hannigan fell into this trap when she let Willow shine through a bit too much in Trina Echolls.
Now I have to admit that I’m a huge LoVe fan. I don’t remember boarding the good ship LoVe, but I’m enjoying the ride. Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring have such great chemistry – their scenes together last season lit the screen on fire. I desperately want Veronica and Logan to get back together – I hate to see them hurting so much, and in turn hurting each other.
I think this yearning for LoVe may be clouding my judgement of Veronica and Duncan’s relationship. To me, they just don’t work together. I don’t like who Veronica becomes when she’s with him. She seems to be more submissive, taking a step back from where she has come since Lilly’s death. This is the core of why she is with Duncan really – she wants to regain her old life. Part of her thought that if she could just catch Lilly’s killer, things would return to the way they were.
Duncan is the symbol of this old life. He’s her first love, her image of what her boyfriend should be. But Duncan just doesn’t get her. He can’t seem to read her emotions – for example, he didn’t pick up any signal that Veronica didn’t like Jackie. Duncan still seems to be distant and self-involved. I don’t know if it is that he is up to something; whether he is on behaviour-altering medication again; or he is just a plain old sociopath.
Logan doesn’t fit Veronica’s mould of what her life and love should be. He isn’t safe – sharp, edgy and often mean, he really is damaged and broken. As Veronica says, normal is the watchword, and he doesn’t fit with the normal life she wants to have. What she doesn’t seem to see is that Duncan doesn’t either – she’s looking at him through rose-coloured glasses. Veronica is going to have to choose a normal life without either of them, or a not-so-normal life with the one that actually understands her.
I loved the fight between Logan and Duncan, where Logan admitted that this feud was not just over Veronica. I’m so glad this was acknowledged, because the true cause of the rift in their friendship had been bugging me. It did seem like towards the end of last season there was a total disconnect between them. I don’t really know what the reason was though – it is something that happens to a lot of teens that have been friends since they were young. One day you wake up and you realise that you’ve grown in very different directions. The person that you once liked, perhaps even idolised to an extent, is not someone you want to spend time with anymore. And it’s hard, because all of a sudden this huge part of your life is gone; and you mourn, because part of you and your childhood is gone forever.
I think it’s interesting to contemplate whether this would have happened to Veronica and Lilly as well. Watching the flashbacks during season 1, I could hardly tell why Veronica and Lilly were even friends. They just seem so different – I think they too would have grown apart. It’s just the sad fact of life that you can’t always be BFF.
Speaking of Veronica friends, I love Veronica’s jealousy of Jackie. It shows an almost sisterly protectiveness of Wallace. It’s sweet and adds a really lovely element to the show – most teen dramas tend to focus on romantic relationships far too much. The O.C. is particularly guilty of this, where the characters appear to be incapable of having a platonic relationship. It’s so refreshing to see this sort of connection between Veronica and Wallace, and I hope it continues throughout the season.
The overall mystery is heating up too. I’m kind of hoping that Harry Hamlin may reprise his role as Aaron Echolls. He does creepy so well – I’d love to see Veronica come face-to-face with him again. It was also interesting to see that Alicia may be hiding secrets of her own. Poor Keith just can’t win when it comes to the ladies.
Unfortunately, there is another two-week hiatus for Veronica Mars. Ten is screening a two hour block of Smallville next week followed by a movie, and goodness knows what is happening the week after that. I’m eagerly anticipating sailing on the LoVe ship again in a fortnight’s time.
The mystery of the week was very entertaining, mostly because it involved characters that we know. My heart aches for Beaver/Cassidy. He’s the other child – the one his father doesn’t care for, the one that screws up. All he wanted to do was help his father out, because deep down his loves his dad and wants to be loved back, but it all went wrong. I’d also like to give props to Charisma Carpenter. She’s doing a great job at playing a self-centred bitch without just replaying the role of Cordelia from Buffy. Allison Hannigan fell into this trap when she let Willow shine through a bit too much in Trina Echolls.
Now I have to admit that I’m a huge LoVe fan. I don’t remember boarding the good ship LoVe, but I’m enjoying the ride. Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring have such great chemistry – their scenes together last season lit the screen on fire. I desperately want Veronica and Logan to get back together – I hate to see them hurting so much, and in turn hurting each other.
I think this yearning for LoVe may be clouding my judgement of Veronica and Duncan’s relationship. To me, they just don’t work together. I don’t like who Veronica becomes when she’s with him. She seems to be more submissive, taking a step back from where she has come since Lilly’s death. This is the core of why she is with Duncan really – she wants to regain her old life. Part of her thought that if she could just catch Lilly’s killer, things would return to the way they were.
Duncan is the symbol of this old life. He’s her first love, her image of what her boyfriend should be. But Duncan just doesn’t get her. He can’t seem to read her emotions – for example, he didn’t pick up any signal that Veronica didn’t like Jackie. Duncan still seems to be distant and self-involved. I don’t know if it is that he is up to something; whether he is on behaviour-altering medication again; or he is just a plain old sociopath.
Logan doesn’t fit Veronica’s mould of what her life and love should be. He isn’t safe – sharp, edgy and often mean, he really is damaged and broken. As Veronica says, normal is the watchword, and he doesn’t fit with the normal life she wants to have. What she doesn’t seem to see is that Duncan doesn’t either – she’s looking at him through rose-coloured glasses. Veronica is going to have to choose a normal life without either of them, or a not-so-normal life with the one that actually understands her.
I loved the fight between Logan and Duncan, where Logan admitted that this feud was not just over Veronica. I’m so glad this was acknowledged, because the true cause of the rift in their friendship had been bugging me. It did seem like towards the end of last season there was a total disconnect between them. I don’t really know what the reason was though – it is something that happens to a lot of teens that have been friends since they were young. One day you wake up and you realise that you’ve grown in very different directions. The person that you once liked, perhaps even idolised to an extent, is not someone you want to spend time with anymore. And it’s hard, because all of a sudden this huge part of your life is gone; and you mourn, because part of you and your childhood is gone forever.
I think it’s interesting to contemplate whether this would have happened to Veronica and Lilly as well. Watching the flashbacks during season 1, I could hardly tell why Veronica and Lilly were even friends. They just seem so different – I think they too would have grown apart. It’s just the sad fact of life that you can’t always be BFF.
Speaking of Veronica friends, I love Veronica’s jealousy of Jackie. It shows an almost sisterly protectiveness of Wallace. It’s sweet and adds a really lovely element to the show – most teen dramas tend to focus on romantic relationships far too much. The O.C. is particularly guilty of this, where the characters appear to be incapable of having a platonic relationship. It’s so refreshing to see this sort of connection between Veronica and Wallace, and I hope it continues throughout the season.
The overall mystery is heating up too. I’m kind of hoping that Harry Hamlin may reprise his role as Aaron Echolls. He does creepy so well – I’d love to see Veronica come face-to-face with him again. It was also interesting to see that Alicia may be hiding secrets of her own. Poor Keith just can’t win when it comes to the ladies.
Overall Rating
Unfortunately, there is another two-week hiatus for Veronica Mars. Ten is screening a two hour block of Smallville next week followed by a movie, and goodness knows what is happening the week after that. I’m eagerly anticipating sailing on the LoVe ship again in a fortnight’s time.
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Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
I agree with you on the Duncan/Veronica romance. Get back with Logan.....they had great chemistry together.
Comment by Nina
TV Babble
I never actually intended to watch the show, but I'm glad I did. It definitely sucks you in. If you can get your hands on the finale of season 1 I would highly recommend it - it is an abosolutely killer episode, and brings the mysteries to a close in a clever and entertaining way.