Veronica Mars s1
Oct. 14th, 2015 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkThe Hamilton album disappeared from Youtube two days before the CD comes out. Bad timing. I also just found out that in Austria the CD is surprisingly more expensive than I thought and that the local music store most likely won't have it, bad news all around. So I now have a Spotify account, I'm slightly curious what else I can do with it. (The ads are annoying.)
I finished season 1 of Veronica Mars. I enjoyed it! The mix of season-long mystery and plot(s) of the week was well done, and Veronica Mars, P.I., was a lot of fun. The plots were not very predictable and the good guys did not always win. I liked that from the beginning they made it clear this would not be Veronica taking on the privileged students/people, but Veronica investigating and sometimes she gets those assholes and sometimes it's other people who lose, like poor Hamilton Cho. I didn't guess the murderer: I suspected Celeste Kane.
I really liked Keith Mars. I liked how they presented Lilly, and I mostly liked how they dealt with Duncan and Weevil. Logan was a very interesting character: introduced as a major jackass, then we find out more about his abusive family situation and it starts to make sense that he's fucked up. I like that he's not completely "redeemed" at the end of the season, there were steps taken in the right direction but there's no absolution.
Veronica herself is… interesting. Definitely a fascinating character, and I started out liking her very much. She's very smart and entertaining. But over the course of the season I realized how annoying I might find her as a friend. For someone with little respect for other people's secrets she keeps a lot of them herself. In general she's willing to use people when she needs it: there's Leo, for example, and before the episode with Wallace the basketball star, where she bakes him cookies and cheers for him even though it's not her thing, I got the impression that it's a very unequal friendship. I don't like how she treated Logan near the end either: she found out he faked his alibi – and I'm not even sure why, probably a panic reaction, admittedly that doesn't look good – and immediately goes to the police, without even giving him a chance to explain himself, a day or so after she told him she trusts him. Some trust. I do like that she's not perfect and screws up sometimes, but she seems to learn little from her mistakes. Maybe she will eventually. In general she means well though. I'm not sure about her, it's complicated.
One thing I found a bit annoying, when Veronica wonders if Jake is her biological father she talks as if she can only have one father and as if "accepting" Jake as her father would somehow lessen her dad's position. Just because her dad might not share the same genes doesn't mean he's not her real father. Mac's story also implies that she would fit in much better with her biological family than with her actual one. Taken together that's not a stance I'm very comfortable with.
At the end, when Veronica opens the door and says "I was hoping it would be you," my headcanon is that she was talking to Wallace, btw.
All in all I enjoyed it, but I don't want to watch more right now. I've mostly seen praise for season 1, similarly to reactions to "Heroes", so I suspect the quality goes down. I've also already developed very strong preferences for what I want to see/happen and I'd most likely only be disappointed to see things go differently. Spoilers from Wikipedia didn't change my mind either.
I finished season 1 of Veronica Mars. I enjoyed it! The mix of season-long mystery and plot(s) of the week was well done, and Veronica Mars, P.I., was a lot of fun. The plots were not very predictable and the good guys did not always win. I liked that from the beginning they made it clear this would not be Veronica taking on the privileged students/people, but Veronica investigating and sometimes she gets those assholes and sometimes it's other people who lose, like poor Hamilton Cho. I didn't guess the murderer: I suspected Celeste Kane.
I really liked Keith Mars. I liked how they presented Lilly, and I mostly liked how they dealt with Duncan and Weevil. Logan was a very interesting character: introduced as a major jackass, then we find out more about his abusive family situation and it starts to make sense that he's fucked up. I like that he's not completely "redeemed" at the end of the season, there were steps taken in the right direction but there's no absolution.
Veronica herself is… interesting. Definitely a fascinating character, and I started out liking her very much. She's very smart and entertaining. But over the course of the season I realized how annoying I might find her as a friend. For someone with little respect for other people's secrets she keeps a lot of them herself. In general she's willing to use people when she needs it: there's Leo, for example, and before the episode with Wallace the basketball star, where she bakes him cookies and cheers for him even though it's not her thing, I got the impression that it's a very unequal friendship. I don't like how she treated Logan near the end either: she found out he faked his alibi – and I'm not even sure why, probably a panic reaction, admittedly that doesn't look good – and immediately goes to the police, without even giving him a chance to explain himself, a day or so after she told him she trusts him. Some trust. I do like that she's not perfect and screws up sometimes, but she seems to learn little from her mistakes. Maybe she will eventually. In general she means well though. I'm not sure about her, it's complicated.
One thing I found a bit annoying, when Veronica wonders if Jake is her biological father she talks as if she can only have one father and as if "accepting" Jake as her father would somehow lessen her dad's position. Just because her dad might not share the same genes doesn't mean he's not her real father. Mac's story also implies that she would fit in much better with her biological family than with her actual one. Taken together that's not a stance I'm very comfortable with.
At the end, when Veronica opens the door and says "I was hoping it would be you," my headcanon is that she was talking to Wallace, btw.
All in all I enjoyed it, but I don't want to watch more right now. I've mostly seen praise for season 1, similarly to reactions to "Heroes", so I suspect the quality goes down. I've also already developed very strong preferences for what I want to see/happen and I'd most likely only be disappointed to see things go differently. Spoilers from Wikipedia didn't change my mind either.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-14 09:41 pm (UTC)(PS sent you a message!)
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Date: 2015-10-14 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-15 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-15 12:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-15 10:55 am (UTC)It's one of my favourite shows, and I think the first season is pretty much perfect - such a fabulous combination of interesting storytelling, well thought-out themes, brilliantly realised characters, witty dialogue and sharp social commentary. I think you're very perceptive in your interpretation of Veronica's character. She's a clever and interesting person, but not a nice or kind person, and not necessarily someone you'd want to be friends with.
You're right in thinking the quality takes a dive in the later seasons - much like Heroes - and since Season 1 is essentially self-contained, I think you're well justified in leaving the series at that point.
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Date: 2015-10-15 01:06 pm (UTC)