Veronica Mars -- Mars, Bars

Not my favorite episode of the season, but still very strong, very enjoyable. I know my sister loved it and I can totally see why. Part of the problem was that I had, like, three days in between watching the first half and watching the end, so I sort of lost the plot for awhile.

One thing at a time. The scavenger hunt. I still love the Mac/Bronson pairing, although I wish they got more screen time, and I continue wishing we'd had more chances to see the relationship develop. They're cute enough that they could really milk it for awhile. I guess they did that with Beaver, and now the viewers would be suspicious and all if she didn't get some pretty quick, but... I don't know. They remind me more of like, Willow and Oz from Buffy except that they're going so quick. I hope Bronson sticks around for awhile, I feel like we the viewers don't know him that well. I think I would be all for a Logan/Parker pairing too, actually, if I weren't still so hung up on Logan and Veronica. After the (AWESOME) elevator ride last week I can't get invested in a new relationship so quickly... if I could, though, I would think that Logan and Parker are a pretty good match. Seems like she would keep him in line to a certain extent; she's outgoing in a very different way from Veronica and she doesn't really cut Logan slack for his bullshit, but also doesn't get so emotionally invested in his behavior (which I think Veronica did from the very beginning, because of their very tangled history) so that she can let him off the hook for certain behaviors that Veronica wouldn't tolerate. So yes, I think that the relationship could work, but I'm still sort of firmly on the Veronica side of the equation.

Jail... the jail stuff was pretty good, although I have to say, my parents would have killed me if I was jailed for being some sort of accomplice and then smartmouthed about it. Like, I get that Veronica and Keith have a very different relationship, and you know, it's TV, and it's Veronica, of course she's going to snark off, and I would probably find it funnier if I had seen more of the movies that she referenced. But it seemed like such an inappropriate time to be sarcastic that it kind of annoyed me. Not that she should have felt guilty or submissive by any means, but geez, you can tone it down a little, Veronica. On the other hand, I thought Wallace's comment to Sherriff Lamb was hilarious beyond all reason. Not because Lamb acts remotely gay, but because the wordplay was clever, the turnaround was appropriate, and it was sort of nice to see someone make a joke at Lamb's expense that wasn't about how ineffective and stupid he is. Not that that ever gets old, exactly, but it was nice to see Wallace reacting in a way Lamb wasn't expecting.

On the topic of Lamb... I'm kind of refusing to believe he's actually dead. I mean, everyone's sort of treating it like he is, so probably I'm wrong, I haven't read any spoilers, I don't know. But the fact that Keith was there, and Lamb said something to him, the fact that Keith got the call and sort of immediately became acting Sherriff again... I kind of feel like he and Lamb sort of planned the whole thing so that they could somehow together catch Dean O'Dell's killer. Of course there is Lamb shooting the mirror that works against that argument; it would have been a hard situation to be in control of, and all that, and the idea of Lamb and Keith working together without being forced is seriously hard to believe. But it would be the kind of twist this show could pull off really well, theoretically, so I'll actually be pretty disappointed if Lamb is just straightforwardly dead. Although the people you know dying thing is also something this show does well, so there you go. Anyway. I thought the death was well done, but I'll be sad if it sticks, I think Lamb is an absolutely awesome addition to the show, and although his send off was good I'll totally miss him. Plus I like Keith and Veronica much better as PIs; I don't want to see Keith lose his edginess if he becomes sherriff again.

Landry and Mindy... okay, I don't know who killed the dean, but if it's either of them, or Mindy's ex, whose name I have never bothered to memorize, I will need some serious twists and turns to make that okay. Like if it's sort of straightforwardly one of them, for a reason we've already been exposed to, that would disappoint me. I can't believe that it would be Mindy; the thing that makes the most sense to me right now is it being Landry, Mindy knowing it, and her asking Keith to investigate it so that she can stop covering for him, because she doesn't love him anymore, or something like that. In fact, that's sort of my best prediction at this point, but there'd have to be at least one more twist to make it okay. Also, I can't see Dean O'Dell being like "What are you doing here?" all calm and confused if Landry showed up in his office after that particular evening. I also can't see someone as intelligent as Landry using Veronica's perfect murder setup to get away with his own; seems like he'd use his own ideas. And I'd be upset too if it were Mindy's ex, unless he was working with someone (preferably one of the kids). Okay, those are my muddled thoughts, now I get to go find out who it actually was.