Not important to the main plot, but another recurring character is Mac. VM is pretty good with computers but she relies on Mac for the heavy hacking. Mac is short for Mackensie, no Macintosh. Altho Mac has an OK family life she has nothing in common with the rest of her family. And she wanted to know where they got a bunch of money. Turns out she was switched at birth, the money was the settelement from the Hospital. (IIRc the other family is rich, her current family isn’t). Anyhow VM did the investigation of this as a professional courtesy. There may have a been another instance of VM doing something for Mac but I don’t know what it is.
Geez. Having the read summaries, VM comes off like a really, really bad soap. Seeing how very, very good the first season was and how excellent the second season is turning out to be, it’s interesting to see how execution, characterization and acting make the difference between trash and art.
Clearly, the plot in itself is really dumb and if we weren’t made to care for the carachters, no one would buy into this.
I think you can say that about virtually any story, though I don’t think the plot is necessarily “dumb”. I suppose it could be if it was handled badly. But you’re right, the show is almost magical in sidestepping the awfulness and landing square in the awesomeness.
This is one of my favorite episodes of the new season. References to RHPS, Pump Up the Volume, and Elfquest all within sixty seconds? Great stuff.
The most interesting reveal of the evening, for me, is that Logan doesn’t actually want to die. He’s tough, even fey (not like that) in situations where he can fight back (with the Irish mafia, or on the bridge), but when he can’t he freaks out just as severely as anyone else would.
I was kinda thinking that even as I was typing my post up. It reminded me of the Buffy/Giles scene at the end of BtVS’s season six where Buffy starts to list all the things that have gone wrong in Giles’ absense, and it sounds so ridiculious that they both start laughing. Obviously there’s a bit of soapyness to VM, and when you stop to consider what all has happened to several characters (particulary Veronica, Logan and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Duncan) over the course of about 2 and a half years, it can seem a bit silly and over the top. A lot of kids may be outsiders in high school and have that status reinforced by things that happen to them, but I’d imagine very few go through a series of events that are as extreme as what has happened to Veronica.
And yet, in execution, it just works. I think that’s partially because the soapyness is balanced by the mystery/crime solving aspect. Between the cases of the week, and tracking down clues or what not for the over-arching plots, the teen soap/drama aspect of the show is often a small part of each episode. The mysteries keep it from overwhelming the show, or from it being The OC, where everything focuses on the drama/soap plots.
Not to mention, the whole premise of the show (“girl detective”) can seem kinda dumb/silly. But it works really well in practice.
Thank you to everyone who has supplied “primer” material in this thread, particularly cbawlmer and Amok, who seem to have covered everything as thoroughly as possible. No wonder I’ve been confused. As mentioned above, it is all very soapy, and I usually don’t watch those shows, so all the back story stuff has been very hazy to me. These posts have cleared a lot up. I think I can go into the ensuing episodes with a good idea of what’s going on. Thanks.