Veronica Mars: My Mother, The Fiend
December 19th 2006 00:10
My Mother, The Fiend was another enjoyable episode of Veronica Mars. While it had some great moments, it did lose points for occasionally lapsing into predictability.
It was nice to have a mystery of the week that was a personal mission for Veronica (Kristen Bell), and it is completely understandable that she wanted to validate her mother. I was quite aghast that Van Clemmons (Duane Daniels) would put Veronica anywhere near permanent records, considering what a snoop she is. However, it turns out that Van Clemmons is a lot smarter than I gave him credit for. I really liked that for a change he manipulated Veronica, instead of the other way around. I did think that Veronica mistaking friend for fiend was rather obvious, but it does give us an insight into how Veronica sees her mother.
Duncan (Teddy Dunn) is still irritating me, particularly when he failed to tell Veronica about his mother's visit. It did result in an amusing argument between Veronica and Celeste (Lisa Thornhill). Duncan's failure to warn Veronica of Celeste's impending arrival, especially when Veronica had launched off into a diatribe about her, makes me wonder if he in fact wanted a confrontation between them.
This episode also failed to conclusively answer whether Duncan had actually done anything with Kendall (Charisma Carpenter). She makes a reference to having been in his bed, but he rejects her advances in this episode.
Speaking of Kendall, it was great to have a Buffy reunion between her and Trina. Alyson Hannigan was very good in this episode, with not a trace of WIllow in sight. Although Trina is vapid and fame seeking, she is still a nice person, particularly in her treatment of Veronica. Also, she could have rejected Mary (Terrylene) when she found out she was her mother - instead she embraced her warmly.
Logan (Jason Dohring) had the best and snarkiest lines, as usual. The encounters between him and Weevil (Francis Capra) was quite intense, particularly the frenetic fight scene. Cassidy (Kyle Gallner) and Mac (Tina Majorino) had some cute scenes together, and I'd like to see some more interaction between them. I also enjoyed Cassidy using Kendall and finding value in her desperation. Could little Beaver be coming into his own?
As for Meg (Alona Tal) being pregnant, unfortunately I had already been spoiled on that plot point, so I can't make a firm judgement as to whether it was totally out of the blue or rather foreseeable. As someone who knew the plot point, the parallel with the sex-ed babies seemed a little heavy-handed.
The whole situation does seem a bit odd - it seems unlikely that the foetus could have survived the bus crash, but stranger things have happened. Additionally, given what we know about Meg's parents, I'm surprised they haven't pulled the plug on her given her condition. Perhaps their awful treatment of her little sister is because they don't want her being influenced by Meg's slattern ways.
So the real question is, who is the father of the child? All signs point to Duncan, although given his angelic, Madonna-like dreams of Meg, perhaps he thinks it is a virgin birth.
Veronica Mars will return next Friday at 10.55pm. This will amazingly be the fourth week in a row that it has aired. However, the increasing lateness of the timeslot is not a good sign. Perhaps Network Ten are conditioning us for the midnight timeslot it will eventually give this wonderful show.
*Screencap courtesy of Wikipedia, and used under Fair Dealing for identification and commentary.
Van Clemmons shows a sneakier side*
It was nice to have a mystery of the week that was a personal mission for Veronica (Kristen Bell), and it is completely understandable that she wanted to validate her mother. I was quite aghast that Van Clemmons (Duane Daniels) would put Veronica anywhere near permanent records, considering what a snoop she is. However, it turns out that Van Clemmons is a lot smarter than I gave him credit for. I really liked that for a change he manipulated Veronica, instead of the other way around. I did think that Veronica mistaking friend for fiend was rather obvious, but it does give us an insight into how Veronica sees her mother.
Duncan (Teddy Dunn) is still irritating me, particularly when he failed to tell Veronica about his mother's visit. It did result in an amusing argument between Veronica and Celeste (Lisa Thornhill). Duncan's failure to warn Veronica of Celeste's impending arrival, especially when Veronica had launched off into a diatribe about her, makes me wonder if he in fact wanted a confrontation between them.
This episode also failed to conclusively answer whether Duncan had actually done anything with Kendall (Charisma Carpenter). She makes a reference to having been in his bed, but he rejects her advances in this episode.
Speaking of Kendall, it was great to have a Buffy reunion between her and Trina. Alyson Hannigan was very good in this episode, with not a trace of WIllow in sight. Although Trina is vapid and fame seeking, she is still a nice person, particularly in her treatment of Veronica. Also, she could have rejected Mary (Terrylene) when she found out she was her mother - instead she embraced her warmly.
Logan (Jason Dohring) had the best and snarkiest lines, as usual. The encounters between him and Weevil (Francis Capra) was quite intense, particularly the frenetic fight scene. Cassidy (Kyle Gallner) and Mac (Tina Majorino) had some cute scenes together, and I'd like to see some more interaction between them. I also enjoyed Cassidy using Kendall and finding value in her desperation. Could little Beaver be coming into his own?
As for Meg (Alona Tal) being pregnant, unfortunately I had already been spoiled on that plot point, so I can't make a firm judgement as to whether it was totally out of the blue or rather foreseeable. As someone who knew the plot point, the parallel with the sex-ed babies seemed a little heavy-handed.
The whole situation does seem a bit odd - it seems unlikely that the foetus could have survived the bus crash, but stranger things have happened. Additionally, given what we know about Meg's parents, I'm surprised they haven't pulled the plug on her given her condition. Perhaps their awful treatment of her little sister is because they don't want her being influenced by Meg's slattern ways.
So the real question is, who is the father of the child? All signs point to Duncan, although given his angelic, Madonna-like dreams of Meg, perhaps he thinks it is a virgin birth.
Overall Rating
Veronica Mars will return next Friday at 10.55pm. This will amazingly be the fourth week in a row that it has aired. However, the increasing lateness of the timeslot is not a good sign. Perhaps Network Ten are conditioning us for the midnight timeslot it will eventually give this wonderful show.
*Screencap courtesy of Wikipedia, and used under Fair Dealing for identification and commentary.
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Comment by Platypus
Have you seen the alternate ending to the episode?
Loving this VM run... even with the very late timeslots, I'm just glad it's being aired.
Comment by Nina
TV Babble
Comment by Adrienne
Celebrity Fox