39,327
edits
Veronica Mars: Difference between revisions
m
cleanup categories
m (revise quote template spacing) |
m (cleanup categories) |
||
Line 1:
{{
[[File:vm-Veronica-Mars-splash_5942.jpg|frame|[[Ear Worm|A long time ago, we used to be friends...]]]]
Line 8:
''Veronica Mars'' was an hour-long teen drama that ran for three seasons on UPN (later CW). The brainchild of novelist Rob Thomas, the series combined the [[Amateur Sleuth]]/[[Kid Detective]] with a healthy dose of [[Film Noir]] and class warfare.
The main character is, appropriately, Veronica Mars, high school junior and possessor of an elaborate [[Backstory]]. Here comes the [[Info Dump]]:
The unincorporated town of Neptune, California, is "a town without a middle class": the "09ers," from the prestigious 90909 zip code, are insanely spoiled children of insanely wealthy parents, while everyone else... works for the 09ers, mostly as domestics at minimum wage ([[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|if that]]). Veronica, daughter of county sheriff Keith Mars, wasn't actually rich enough to be an 09er, but had enough connections to them to be sort of an honorary one: her best friend was [[Lovable Alpha Bitch]] Lilly Kane, her boyfriend was Lilly's equally popular brother Duncan, and she was also friendly Lilly's boyfriend and Duncan's best friend, Logan Echolls, son of movie star Aaron Echolls. The Kanes are practically royalty in Neptune; Lilly and Duncan's father, Jake Kane, is a software billionaire, and the largest employer in town; when his company went public, their ''secretaries'' became millionaires. It may just be a reflection of her friends' popularity, but Veronica's life is enviable.
Line 22:
{{tropelist}}
* [[Aborted Arc]]: The final third of season three was supposed to have been a mystery that heavily featured popular supporting cast member Mac.
* [[Abusive Parents]] - Too many to count:
** Most notably Logan {{spoiler|who has a father who emotionally and physically abused him... and also slept with and then killed his girlfriend.}}
Line 40:
* [[Alliterative Name]] - Meg Manning, Cassidy Casablancas, Gia Goodman. {{spoiler|Cindy Sinclair and Madison Mackenzie, if they weren't switched at birth and kept the same name.}}
* [[All of the Other Reindeer]] - Veronica and {{spoiler|Cassidy}}, with vastly different outcomes.
* [[Alone with the Psycho]] - Veronica with {{spoiler|Aaron Echolls}} in the season one finale. {{spoiler|Mac}} in the season two finale. Veronica with {{spoiler|Mercer and Moe}} in the conclusion of the first season 3 storyline.
* [[Alpha Bitch]] - Madison Sinclair. Lilly too, though she was shown largely as a more benevolent [[Alpha Bitch]].
* [[Anger Born of Worry]] - Both Veronica and Logan really dislike it when the other puts him- or herself in danger.
Line 58:
* [[Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults]] - "Carrie Bishop and Susan Knight. Go figure."
* [[Batman Gambit]] - It's never explicitly confirmed, but it's pretty clear that in {{spoiler|"My Mother, the Fiend", Vice Principal Clemmons}} manipulated Veronica into investigating a mystery for his own ends without her realizing it until it was all over. It's rather a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for the character.
* [[Betty and Veronica]]
** Inversion. In season 2, Veronica is torn between Duncan (Betty, sort of) and Logan (Veronica).
** In season 3, Veronica is torn between Piz (Betty) and Logan (Veronica).
Line 121:
* [[Determinator]] - Veronica
** Heck, nearly the entire cast fits this trope.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]] / [[Rule of Symbolism]]-Veronica stabbing a rapist with a porcelain unicorn.
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: {{spoiler|Tim Foyle's}} [[Xanatos Gambit]], in a nutshell.
* [[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)]] - Partially averted, partially played straight. Veronica bluntly points out that what {{spoiler|the members of Lilith House}} did to Chip Diller was rape and ''he'' is clearly traumatised by it. On the other hand he is such an [[Asshole Victim]] that it is very difficult for the character to invoke sympathy. However, the female rapists are still portrayed more sympathetically than he is.
* [[Downer Ending]] - Oh, how to count the ways. {{spoiler|Veronica's father is under indictment because he destroyed evidence of her breaking-and-entering. His successor has a good chance of being Vinnie Van Lowe, a corrupt rival private investigator whose campaign was financed by the local crime syndicate. Veronica's dating Piz, a milquetoast whose incompatibility with Veronica becomes crystal clear when Dick Casablancas emails a video to everyone on campus of the two having sex, leading to Veronica vowing reprisals against the man responsible for creating the footage versus Piz wanting to ride out the crisis, much to Veronica's shock and horror. And when Logan ''does'' avenge Veronica's honor by publicly beating up the man who gave Dick the video to circulate, the guy vows revenge against Logan. And given that the guy's father is a hired killer for the Russian Mob, Logan's longstanding death wish just might be fulfilled.}}
** {{spoiler|So Piz not wanting to piss off the son of a Russian Mob assassin makes him a 'milquetoast'? That 'incompatibility' could just as easily end up being the balancing factor Veronica needs to grow up and stop making enemies.}}
*** Yes, because {{spoiler|Piz had no idea about the guy's identity}}.
* [[Downtime Downgrade]] - Essentially happens with Logan and Veronica after season 1, would be an [[Off-Screen Breakup]] if not for a brief flashback. Averted after season 2 - they don't break up after summer, {{spoiler|they do it on screen... a few times.}}
* [[Driven to Suicide]] - {{spoiler|Lynn Echolls}}, {{spoiler|Cassidy}}
* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]] - Not only is {{spoiler|Sheriff Lamb brutally killed off in the lamest of lame fashions, but afterwords EVERYONE forgets he exists, save for by a deputy newly re-appointed interim Sheriff Keith Mars promptly fires upon reassuming control over the department. A major moment for seasonal rotting, as far as you thinking that the violent murder of the sheriff would be a major thing that would hang over the department for quite some time.)}}
** See [[Fan Wank]] for more on this...
* [[Dude, Where's My Respect?]]
Line 145:
* [[Mr. Fanservice]] - Quite a bit; it ''is'' a CW show, after all. Examples include Logan, Duncan, Piz, and possibly Dick.
* [[Evil Counterpart]] - Arguably {{spoiler|Cassidy}}, who experienced similar things to Veronica ([[All of the Other Reindeer]] and {{spoiler|[[Rape as Backstory]]}}), but they became ''very'' different people for it.
* [[Executive Meddling]]: [[Seasonal Rot|Besides ordering season three to have smaller arcs and stand-alone episodes,]] network executives forced show writer Rob Thomas to feature Paris Hilton as a character in the show's second episode (where she played the world's oldest teenager) and rewrite the entire ending to Meg's character (see [[What Could Have Been]]).
** Also, according to the actor playing Wallace, UPN made it clear to Rob Thomas during season one that they would never allow him to pair Wallace and Veronica up romantically, due to the network thinking no one would watch a show where the main character (who was white) was dating a black man.
* [[Expository Hairstyle Change]] - Flashbacks of Veronica during season one and Logan's stubble and unkempt appearance {{spoiler|during his depression in ''Postgame Mortem'' due to his break-up with Veronica}}.
* [[Fallen-On-Hard-Times Job]]: After Lianne walks off with Veronica's $50,000 bounty, the latter temps as a barista.
Line 185:
** [[Justified Trope|Justified]] because {{spoiler|Cassidy's inability to have sex with Mac is actually a clue that he was raped as a child, which is how he is connected to the bus crash.}}
** Averted with {{spoiler|Duncan and Veronica}}, whose sex is "fine" at best.
* [[Griefer]] - Veronica once needed to find a guy in a video game club, so purposely griefed his character in order to listen for his reaction in Real Life.
* [[Guile Hero]]
* [[The Gwen Stacy]] - {{spoiler|Meg}}, also {{spoiler|Kendall}} for Keith ([[Rich Bitch|oddly enough]])
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: This includes Weevil, Logan, and Dick.
* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: Veronica and Keith become this, due to the horrific monsters they deal with over the course of the show's three seasons.
* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]] - Oh, so many. [[The Jamie Foxx Show|Christopher B. Duncan]] as Clarence Wiedman; real-life married actors Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna as Logan's parents; Veronica's own dad is played by [[Just Shoot Me|Enrico]] [[Flashpoint (TV series)|Colantoni]]; Kyle Gallner as Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas; the longest run on television of [[Amanda Seyfried]]; Percy Daggs from the Nestle Crunch with Caramel commercials featuring Shaq and a bunch of shows; [[Homicide: Life On the Street|Kyle Secor]] as Jake Kane; the list goes on. Not to mention it's how [[Kristen Bell]] became [[Forgetting Sarah Marshall|Sarah Marshall]].
** Also notable: Kendall Casablancas is [[Angel|Cordelia Chase]].
Line 219:
{{quote|'''Veronica:''' Dad, your hooker's here.
'''Keith:''' Escort, honey. }}
* [[Interrupted Intimacy]]: An episode has an (adult) hacker's relationship with a student (minor) at the school revealed by Veronica and her camera as a blackmail scheme. She even says "There's something seedy in being the interruptus in somebody else's coitus."
* [[Invisible President]]: In the season 1 finale, the Kane family throws a party where the Governor of California is a guest. Based on the episode's air date and a few chance remarks, it's pretty clear that the governor is intended to be [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], but his name is never mentioned and he never appears onscreen.
* [[The Irish Mob]] - The Fighting Fitzpatricks.
* [[Ironic Echo]]: In Season 2 Veronica mentions Nick and Jessica's breakup. In Season 3 "What's Left of Me" Nick's song about said breakup is playing on a radio.
Line 230:
* [[Karma Houdini]] - Dick Cassablancas; manages to avoid ALL of the consequences of his various acts of douchebaggery, including purposely leaking a sex tape of Veronica and Piz, that was filmed without their knowledge to everyone in campus. Even though Veronica reminds him after the fact that she can destroy him, she never pulls the trigger. Similarly, neither does Logan disown Dick for this act of malicious evil lulz, even though a running theme for the third season was Logan growing tired of Dick's bad boy partying and Dick constantly trying to drag Logan back to his old "[[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]]" ways.
** On the other hand, he is suffering {{spoiler|emotionally in the aftermath of his brother's death and murder revelations}}, so perhaps that's punishment enough.
** Madison Sinclair also counts. Does horrible things to Veronica, including (granted unknowingly) {{spoiler|setting into motion Veronica's rape}} and subsequent pariahdom via purposely masterminding the smear campaign proclaiming Veronica a whore. But she never gets punished.
** In a second season episode, a lesbian cheerleader poses as a blackmailer preying on Neptune High's gay students with the end goal of outing her girlfriend, who wanted to stay in the closet. It goes off pretty much as planned, with no negative consequences for the cheerleader at all. It is implied that the cheerleader's girlfriend will be told, and not be happy about it.
* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: Veronica and Duncan are discussing Logan sleeping with an older woman.
{{quote|Duncan: She's the same age as us
She's 25 (about the same age that Kristen and Teddy were at the time) }}
Line 245:
* [[The Mafia]] - Gangs gangs everywhere
* [[Maybe Ever After]] - Could be argued for Veronica and Logan, considering their (and her boyfriend's) expressions in the cafeteria scene and the [[Word of God]] in the commentary that Piz won't be the winner of the [[Love Triangle]].
** If you count the Season 4 teaser as canon than neither won as Veronica would get a new love interest.
* [[Meaningful Echo]] - "Who's your daddy?"
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Dick. He usualy is one.
Line 253:
* [[Monkeys on a Typewriter]] - Veronica references this when she realizes that she knows Curly Moran after all.
* [[Monster Sob Story]] - Say you didn't feel even a ''little'' bad for {{spoiler|Cassidy}}. Go ahead, say it.
* [[Motive Rant]] - Used a lot in the show, by the bad guys to explain their actions.
* [[Ms. Fanservice]] - Kendall Casablancas. Although she may go fully into [[Hello, Nurse!]] territory, depending on your perspective.
* [[Narrator]] - Veronica, natch.
Line 263:
* [[No Fourth Wall]] - Creator Rob Thomas once put his own books prominently in the background of one scene, and in the series finale, a character quips "Rob Thomas is a whore" (see below)... although in the context of the scene he's referring to the lead singer for Matchbox 20.
** A phone call from Clarence Wiedman to confirm the completion of an off-the-radar job is answered with "CW?" followed by Wiedman's reply of "It's a done deal." Just after the show was picked up by the new CW network following the merger of its former home, UPN.
* [[Noodle Incident]] -
** In season two, when Cassidy pulled a prank on his brother Dick in revenge for Dick treating his brother like shit, Dick threatened revenge. However, Cassidy stops his vengeful evil older brother in his tracks when Cassidy reminds him of a mysterious "Sally" and what happened to her. This was ultimately clarified in an interview by Rob Thomas: {{spoiler|Sally was a childhood pet that Dick had, who Cassidy killed in retaliation after Dick did something horrible towards him.}}
** When Veronica calls Cliff for a favor in season two, both of them rattle off a few previous incidents where they helped each other out.
* [[Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping]]: Israeli actress Alona Tal manages to hold an American accent for most scenes but in the scene where Duncan is dreaming about her, she clearly slips into an accent.
* [[Opening Monologue]] - "I'm never getting married. You want an absolute? There it is." and so forth.
* [[Outside Inside Slur]]: Hispanic students who excel in school are called Coconuts: brown outside, white inside.
Line 274:
* [[Parental Favoritism]] - All over the place:
** "Lilly always said her parents adored Duncan and tolerated her. If she couldn't please them, she'd go out of her way to piss them off."
** Aaron Echolls, who dotes on his daughter and beats his son. Made even worse by the fact that Trina refuses to believe Logan's claims of abuse and accuses him of lying in order to make their father look bad.
** Dick Casablancas Sr. is pretty blatant about favoring his eldest - which ends badly.
* [[Perpetual Poverty]] - Pretty much half of Neptune, as far as perpetuating the class warfare subplot of season two and three. Veronica and Keith also fit this trope during the first half of season one but do ultimately rise out of it later on.
Line 296:
* [[Prom Baby]] - {{spoiler|Trina}} is revealed to have been a [[Prom Baby]] in season 2.
* [[Promotion to Opening Titles]] - Many in season 3, although ironically most of them didn't get a bigger part for it. Also, Dick and Beaver in season 2
* [[Punny Name]]
** [[Foil|Tim Foyle]]
** Gil T. Pardy
Line 309:
* [[Really Gets Around]] - Lily was like this. Also, Parker (for a while).
* [[Real Song Theme Tune]] - "We Used To Be Friends" by the Dandy Warhols. A slower, [[Darker and Edgier]] version replaced it in season three.
* [[Reality Ensues]] - The series finale, where Veronica learns the hard way that her actions had very ''real'' consequences.
* [[Red Herring Twist]]
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]] - Frequently: Logan and Duncan, Lilly and Veronica (in flashbacks), Dick and Beaver...
Line 339:
** Two characters have [[Embarrassing Nickname|Embarrassing Nicknames]] that reference characters on other shows: Cassidy [[Leave It to Beaver|"Beaver"]] Casablancas, and Vincent [[South Park|"Butters"]] Clemmons.
** Episode 1x18 "Weapons of Class Destruction" is largely a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Heathers]]'', including a homocidal teenager named Ben plotting to blow up a school, and said teenager ({{spoiler|really an undercover ATF agent in this version}}) bearing a [[Expy|remarkable physical similarity]] to J.D., the identical character from ''Heathers''.
* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]] - "That's Amore" playing while Aaron Echolls beats the crap out of his daughter's abusive boyfriend. Made even darker when you consider that {{spoiler|Aaron murdered his son's girlfriend, who he had been having an affair with on the downlow and that said beating scene was Rob Thomas's way of laying the groundwork for Aaron being revealed as the murderer as far as showing him being capable of beating someone nearly to death}}.
* [[Self-Induced Allergic Reaction]] - A suspect eats peanut butter cookies in order to trigger his nut allergy and escape from jail.
* [[Strange Minds Think Alike]]: Rashard and Keith both insist on the term 'special lady friend.'
Line 345:
* [[Straw Misogynist]] - At Hearst College, every single guy in the entire crowd booed the woman's speech while she recounted her own rape, about tighter security and stricter sexual harassment regulations [[Straw Feminist|even before she called for the shut down of every fraternity]].
* [[Story Arc]] - Several storylines spanned the whole of a season, while others took up large chunks of one
* [[Strange Bedfellows]] - In season two, Veronica has to team up with [[The Dragon|Clarence Wiedman]].
* [[Stunt Casting]] - Paris Hilton in season one, Alyson Hannigan in season one (and two, along with Charisma Carpenter). Paul Rudd appeared in season three.
* [[The Summation]]
* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: Subjective; it was widely rumored that Piz was created to fill the void with the loss of Duncan (who was written out when the creator decided to shift away from the original love triangle and give Veronica more options).
Line 368:
* [[Villain with Good Publicity]] - {{spoiler|Woody Goodman.}}
** {{spoiler|To say nothing of Aaron.}}
* [[Vomit Discretion Shot]] - Two of note. The first is when {{spoiler|Veronica finds out that Keith may not be her father, and so she may have also dated her brother. The second is when she finds out that Cassidy is a murderer... [[Oh Crap|and Mac is with him.]] }}
* [[Riding Into the Sunset|Walking Away in the Rain]] - the series finale closes on this note.
* [[Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World]]
* [[We Used to Be Friends]]
* [[Wham! Episode]] - "A Trip To The Dentist", "Not Pictured", "Mars, Bars"
* [[What Could Have Been]] - {{spoiler|Meg Manning's death}}: She was supposed to have died in the bus crash, but UPN demanded at least one survivor due to them not wanting to open the show's second season with a bunch of dead teenagers. So {{spoiler|Meg}} (who was supposed to die) lingered in a coma with the plan being that {{spoiler|Meg's mother would euthanise her possibly braindead daughter and Veronica (hiding in the room) would witness this and be busted by hospital staff members, after Meg was smothered to death when she comes out of hiding and removes the pillow from Meg's face}}. This got shot down too (though Thomas was allowed to film it as part of a stunt "alternate ending" that was posted on the show's UPN website). So instead, the episode that aired ended instead with the reveal that {{spoiler|Meg was pregnant with Duncan's baby and her waking up just in time to give birth and die from a brain hemorage.}}
** Similarly, Dick was supposed to be a suspect for the Hearst Rapist storyline and Rob Thomas even admitted that they had a retcon in mind to establish Dick secretly being on campus during the season two episode that started the arc, this was abandoned.
** Season Four was supposed to have been a complete reformatting, complete with time skip and firing all cast members save for Kristen Bell. The relaunch would make Veronica a FBI agent, going on undercover assignments with a new milquetoast boyfriend agent and [[The Shield|actor Walt Goggins]] as her supervisor/mentor.
* [[Window Love]]: Mac and her biological mother in "Silence of the Lamb".
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Veronica gets this a lot. Most notably in season two: Veronica Mars '''finally''' gets the goods to destroy her mortal enemy Donald Lamb and help get her father elected sheriff once again, after obtaining an audio recording that has him extorting a bribe from a retired baseball player, who threw a playoff game to pay off his gambling debts. One problem: Wallace is dating the baseball player's daughter and the revelation would destroy her reputation at school. On top of this, Wallace has just discovered that his mother has been lying to him ''all of his life'' about his father being dead, when his father finally shows back up in Neptune to visit the son his ex kept him from seeing. But Veronica is too busy to lend a sympathetic ear to Wallace, as she's too concerned with finding the proper venue to play the audio recording for maximum damage. This causes Wallace to lose his trademark cool and verbally ream Veronica out over how distracted by revenge she has become and worse, how she doesn't care that her scheme will ruin the life of Wallace's girlfriend.
** Considering Jackie "hired" Veronica to help track down who used her credit card and Veronica did, as well as tricking Veronica into revealing something personal, then humiliating Veronica on TV with said personal information ''and'' from Veronica's POV, bringing up her dead best friend in the same public humiliation--wouldn't anyone want revenge in that situation?
* [[Witness Protection]] - In one episode, Keith gets hired to find someone who turns out to be a protected witness.
Line 384:
* [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl]] - Subverted, in that most of the bad guys on the show are not afraid to raise a hand to a woman. (That's how you know they're ''bad guys''.) On the other hand, there are relatively few female antagonists, and almost none who get unreasonably violent, so there's no way to know if male protagonists would go easy on a female antagonist in an actual fight.
* [[You Fail Law Forever]] - Many, many occasions - Veronica's cross-examination at the Lily Kane murder trial being the most [[Egregious]]. Most episodes have at least one.
** On at least three occasions {{spoiler|when the Dean died, when the bus driver died, and when the Coach died}} someone asks Veronica or Keith to prove a death ruled a suicide was in fact murder because their life insurance policy won't pay in the case of suicide. In California, life insurance policies are required by law to pay in full in the case of suicide if the policy has been in place for 2 or more years. Less than two years refunds all premiums.
* [[You Look Familiar]] - the same person played Lucky in season 2, and [[Punny Name|Tim Foyle]] in season 3.
* [[Your Cheating Heart]] - A lot of examples. {{spoiler|Aaron Echolls, Lianne Mars, Jake Kane, Kendall Casablancas}} plus many clients' spouses. Notably averted with Logan while he's dating Veronica, even if she's constantly jealous of him.
Line 391:
[[Category:Teen Drama]]
[[Category:Turn of the Millennium/Live Action TV]]
[[Category:American Series]]
[[Category:Dramedy]]
[[Category:Veronica Mars]]
[[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
[[Category:Detective TV Series]]
| |||