Veronica Mars: Difference between revisions

* [[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.

* [[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.

** {{spoiler|Trina}} calls out her BioDad in season 2, for, y'know, abandoning her at the prom of the school he taught at.

** Dick gets a big one in season three, when he gives his dad hell for the way they treated Cassidy, {{spoiler|and asks if it's their fault he's evil and dead.}}

* [[Chekhov's Gun]] - All the time but rarely ever in the same episode. If there's some brief mention of something out of the main line in an episode then it will be used one or two episodes later e.g. A deputy mentions he's a bouncer at a club, three episodes later he is used as an explanation as to how Veronica was able to quickly get into the club.

** [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: "A Trip to the Dentist" features Veronica asking a bunch of previously one-off characters questions leading her to find out what happened the night she was raped.

* [[Danger Takes a Backseat]] - Well played, {{spoiler|Aaron Echolls}}.

* [[Dawson Casting]] - Veronica is implied to be 17 years old at the beginning of the show. Kristen Bell was 24 when they shot the pilot. Also Teddy Dunn (Duncan) and Jason Dohring (Logan) are a couple of years older than their respective characters.

* [[Dead Little Sister]] - Duncan, of course, and later in the series {{spoiler|Dick}}, a [[Gender Flip|gender-flipped]] version.

** And age-flipped in Duncan's case, since Lilly was older.

* [[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.

* [[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.}}

* [[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}}

** See [[Fan Wank]] for more on this...

* [[Dude, Where's My Respect?]]

* [[Engineered Public Confession]] - Veronica records a confession with a camera hidden in her locker during "Like a Virgin".

* [[Mr. Fanservice]] - Quite a bit; it ''is'' a CW show, after all. Examples include Logan, Duncan, Piz, and possibly Dick.

* [[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.

* [[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.

** And Trina Echolls is [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Willow Rosenberg]].

** Oh, and that [[Jerkass]] boss is [[Series/Joss Whedon|Joss-freakin-Whedon]].

** Remember Dean Rudolph, Veronica's tour guide at Hearst College in "The Rapes of Graff"? [[Michael Cera]].

** Maeby was also in "The Rapes of Graff".

** And the FBI agent in 2x11 is [[Xena: Warrior Princess|Lucy]] [[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Lawless]].

** Who would have thought that [[The Vampire Diaries|Vicki Donovan]] would beat out Veronica for valedictorian

** When did [[Home Improvement|Randy Taylor]] become a government agent?

* [[High School Hustler]] - Veronica Mars

* [[Hollywood Law]] - The Lily Kane trial was wallbangingly full of this.

* [[Hollywood Nerd]] - It could be argued Mac falls into this category, and even Veronica to a certain extent.

* [[Humiliation Conga]] / [[Laser-Guided Karma]] - {{spoiler|After Aaron Echolls is revealed as Lilly's killer in the first season finale. Keith and Aaron are slugging it out, but Aaron points out Veronica is locked in a fridge surrounded by flames, and as Keith goes to rescue her, Aaron uses this as a getaway. Having stolen Veronica's car keys, he hops in the car and has a look of relief, [[Oh Crap|but that changes when he hears growling from the backseat]]. Veronica's pitbull, Backup, bites Aaron's arm and after a struggle, Aaron just manages to escape, stumbling into the street only to get mowed down by a flower delivery truck with a lily pictured on the side. Veronica, having escaped the burning fridge, tells the truck driver to call 911 and moments later, Aaron is arrested for Lilly's murder.}}

* [[I Am What I Am]] - Invoked word for word by Veronica when people call her out for her nosiness and vindictive nature.

** 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.

{{quote| Duncan: She's the same age as us<br />

She's 25 (about the same age that Kristen and Teddy were at the time) }}

* [[Mistaken for Cheating]] - Happens a few time, both with clients' spouses and main characters. Notably, Veronica has trust/jealousy issues, especially in season 3.

* [[Mock Millionaire]] - One episode introduces the richest kid in Neptune, who arrives to school in a limousine and lives in the biggest house in town. The twist ending is that he's the son of the butler, and thus is actually not rich.

* [[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.

* [[Pac-Man Fever]] - Season 1 episode 4 constitutes one of the most painful examples ever seen. Also includes [[Totally Radical]].

* [[Papa Wolf]] - Keith. Also, hitting Aaron's daughter? ''Bad idea.''

* [[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."

*** And, as she notes in season 3, drives a SATURN and shaves with a VENUS razor. But don't make too big a deal out of it, or she'll shove something up [[Uranus Is Showing|URANUS]].

* [[Rape and Switch]] - Arguably the victims of {{spoiler|Woody Goodman}}: one was gay, one was "on the fence", and one, well, [[Alternative Character Interpretation|no-one quite agrees about him.]]

* [[Rape Is Love]] - Not quite the rape trifecta, as it only half-uses it: {{spoiler|At first she thinks she's been raped and is pissed, then it turns out that she just had inebriated but voluntary sex with her ex-boyfriend who didn't know she'd been accidentally dosed with a date rape drug, like he'd been, which made it okay. Later it turns out the big bad of season 2 actually did rape her earlier, which ends up giving her a clue to his nefarious plot.}}

* [[The Rashomon]] - Used in "A Trip to the Dentist" to explain the story of how Veronica was raped.

** Lamb constantly references Wizard of Oz by telling people to go 'see the wizard'

** Lamb says 'I smell bread' when he {{spoiler|is toast}}

** The references to Jane Austen (Jackie hates it, Veronica claims to have thrown beer at someone who insulted Pride and Prejudice, the world will end when Logan makes an "Emma" reference) become almost a running joke if you pay attention.

** There is a nice shoutout to executive producer Joel Silver in season 3. {{spoiler|The film Mindy O'Dell and Professor Landry watch at the Neptune Grand on the night of Cyrus O'Dell's death is Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which Silver also produced.}}

* [[Those Two Guys]]: Dick and Beaver but only in Season 1

* [[Techno Wizard]] - Mac; also uses a [[Magical Computer]]

* [[Traumatic Haircut]]

* [[Truth-Telling Session]] - A flashback makes it clear: ''never'' play "I Never" with friends, unless you want it to turn into one of these. With ''booze''.

* [[Very Special Episode]] - The Season 3 episode that centered around a former child soldier from Africa meeting his long-lost father. The episode was intended to raise awareness of the existence of child soldiers and Invisible Children, an activist organization whose cause is to free and help them.

* [[Vigilante Execution]] - Clarence Wiedman murders {{spoiler|Aaron}} after his acquittal.

** {{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.

* [[We Used to Be Friends]]

* [[Wham! Episode]] - "A Trip To The Dentist", "Not Pictured", "Mars, Bars"

** 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.

* [[Worst Whatever Ever]]: "Worst. Easter Egg Hunt. Ever."

* [[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.