Veronica Mars 10/10 - "My Big Fat Greek Rush Week" (spoilers)

Veronica goes undercover at a sorority in pursuit of the shaving rapist. Keith wanders through the desert like bald Moses. And Homer Simpson runs ethically questionable experiments. We’re a little over halfway through as I post.

You’re all so smart y’all already probably know but just in case, from whence tonight’s sociology experiment.

I’m cautiously excited about this season. So far it seems to be between season 1 and 2. I enjoyed this ep more then last weeks and I’m hopeful that trend will continue!

I’m lost. So the woman who sent Veronica to the sorority house to investigate drinking and girls going wild was wrong about what was going on there? The only thing they were hiding was the pot? Then why all the security cameras?

Isn’t medical marijuana legal in California?

Was there another room that Veronica didn’t find?

I don’t get it.

The paper was investigating reports of a “secret room” and drunken naked girl parties at the house and the editor (who seems to have an axe to grind with the Greek system) decided based on whatever these sources of hers said that the house might have something to do with the rapes. Veronica goes in and discovers that there are drunken parties and a secret room. She finds the grow room and that changes the story from “sorority holds drunk naked girl parties” to “sorority grows pot.”

As for the cameras, when one is engaged in ilicit gardening in a less than totally secure space, security is a concern.

Medical marijuana is legal in California but not under federal law.

Moreover, even when medicinal marijuana is legal, that still doesn’t mean that you can grow it at home… especially when there are minors around. At the very least, I’m sure that the school would take a dim view of such shenanigans.

Weellll … no. The State of California may have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, but the feds sure as hell haven’t. So it’s still a crime; it just won’t be the local police who arrest ya.

Sua

Wasn’t that an awful lot of pot for one woman? Is it really that hard to buy pot on a college campus? I don’t know if this is a case of the set dressers going overboard or an indication that Nicegirl was totally lying and this plot thread isn’t yet done.

Also, I liked the Prison Experiment subplot, but I thought it was kind of weak that only the one guard got too into it - wasn’t the professor’s stated purpose to show that only a couple of the guards would not go overboard? (But I loved that Logan didn’t raise his hand when asked who would not commit torture - telling, that.)

Oh, and was anyone else pretty much completely disappointed with the resolution of the “what’s in the briefcase” mystery?

The pot room looked like Redwoods National Park. The lady must have cancer real bad.

I also thought it odd that the paper sent Ronnie to do that huge story without seeing one writing sample of hers. I doubt they would send any student undercover into such a seemingly dangerous situation for that matter.

It was great to see Neil Schweiber again though.

Our college paper was so boring compared to theirs!

At the very end, after the sociology professor announced the result of the experiment, someone exclaimed, “D’oh!” It’s so common that it took me a second to realize it was a fairly awesome in-joke.

There’s still a possible connection between some aspects of the sorority and the rapes, just not exactly what Veronica initially suspected. I’m sure some of the clues she was reviewing toward the end will turn out to be important later.

That was an awful lot of pot for one woman with cancer. Heavens to Betsy.

Sheriff Lamb should be drawn and quartered in the public square for the way he treats rape victims. Seriously, the young women of the town should get together and openly protest his behavior.

I’m glad Mac reached out to Parker. The last thing Parker needed was for her bitch mom to have her full time right after she’s already been traumatized, and I think it might be good for Mac too.

They handled the whole thing in a way you don’t normally see on TV, where our hero accidentally ignored a rape in progress because she had heard Parker was promiscuous. That claim apparently was exaggerated due to circumstantial evidence as well as Mac’s own issues, but regardless Parker’s prior sexual history was irrelevant to the rape and that’s an important point to make.

Maybe she’s Snoop Dogg’s wife or something.

I too was impressed with the “D’oh!” in joke. As soon as I saw Castellaneta’s name in the credits, I was pretty much waiting for it. (It didn’t occur at the end, though; the joke came the first time the professor was called in, when they got the misinformation from the weak kid.)

Favorite line: “Apparently, ‘dress to impress’ means dressing like your favorite Pussycat Doll.”

Liam’s a dick.

Yeah, the “what’s in the briefcase” resolution did seem a bit lame. Keith just donating a big Van Gogh payday, while in character, is unsatisfying. And I was sure it was Marcellus Wallace’s soul…

The prison “experiment” didn’t seem to have anything to do with anything, so I suspect it was sowing seeds that will become extremely important in future weeks.

Logan not raising his hand makes perfect sense. He’s lived through a lot more than most of those kids; he knows better than most what people are capable of. He’s just a little bit smarter than that.

This makes two Weevil-less weeks in a row. Disappointing.

Overall, a strong episode. I’m revved up for more.

Oh man, so true. I’d forgotten about that. Does he just not believe that date rape exists or something? I’m kind of disappointed that they seem to be going back to the one-note Lamb. He started developing a little depth of character last season with the molestation episode; it seemed like they were setting it up that he had been the victim of some childhood abuse himself. Which if true makes it even stranger that he would be so hostile toward victims. He needs to modulate his responses, and he needs to get into a hot oil wrestling match with…

Sorry, went to my happy place for a sec.

I understand why Parker would lash out at VM but VM should feel absolutely no guilt about what happened. Regardless of Parker’s reputation, is it reasonable for anyone to jump to the conclusion that she’s being raped because there’s a buzzing sound? Which, I don’t remember if we heard a buzzing sound on the soundtrack last week. Did we? Anyways, given the choice between “she’s having sex” and “she’s being raped and shaved” which is the conclusion that pretty much 100% of the population is going to come to? And I don’t think VM ignored the rape because she thought Parker was promiscuous. She ignored it because it’s kinda rude to interrupt people when they’re having sex.

Hee. I was already a step ahead of you.

I realize it’s not Veronica’s fault, but I understand why she felt guilty anyway especially given her own experiences. She knows what it’s like to be roofied and raped, and to have the whole town assume she’s a giant ho, and to have a defense attorney publicly announce that she had chlamydia. Of all people, she would hate to think she let something bad happen because she assumed that’s just how Parker was.

On the other hand, how has the rapist never been caught by a roommate of one of his victims before? Mac was right outside the door too, and knew Parker had a guy in there. Maybe she opened the door, saw what was going on (well, more or less), and closed it quickly. The dorm obviously needs a new rule: if you walk in on your roommate with a guy, flip on the lights and ascertain the guy’s identity and whether your roommate is conscious or not.

Not a Tame Lion: a minor spoiler about Weevil

He’s supposed to be in next week’s episode.

I mean c’mon.

That’s good news about my boy Weevil, cbawlmer. It’s about time someone got menaced around the 09.

And you raise a good point about Mac. Presumably, there was no proverbial necktie on the door handle; so did Mac not just walk in and flick on the light? Makes little sense in context, but I guess that’s TV for ya.

I suspect the Sorority Mother as being the rapist.

I just want to get this in print in case it’s right.

I’m still not ready to forget about her either; I’m not ready to call the massive amounts of “medical” marijuana a mere blooper. She’s still in the running for Big Bag, fyask me.

Did anyone else find it creepy that the R.A. with the shaky alibi found the Prison Experiment “life-changing”? I’m wondering if a side effect of the experiment was awakening the latent cruelty in sociopaths.

I was particularly impressed with Logan’s attitude during the experiment. I guess it’s expected that he’d be immune to emotional abuse, but he also has such a deep understanding of how abuse works that he was practically a spirit guide for Horshatz (sp?) during the ordeal. Writing empathy into his character is one of the best moves they ever made.