Veronica wanders into the territory of a theme dominated episode with this one, the theme being her seething distrust of anything slightly resembling ‘male’. Logan’s secret alibi that could free Mercer is still, well, secret and that has the plucky detective jumping to all sorts of lurid conclusions. Why won’t he just give the statement that will free Mercer? Surely it would reveal some naughty fooling around that would incur the wrath of Veronica. Or would it?
Meanwhile, papa Mars struggles with his relationship with Harmony (Laura San Giacomo) after Veronica admonishes him over the adulterous tryst. As if we needed one more cheating bastard in the mix, Professor Fabian – who Veronica caught frolicking with the Dean’s wife last week – suspiciously offers to grease the gears for a much sought after FBI internship; an act that Veronica immediately pegs as hush money. With all this testosterone-fueled deceit going on, it’s no wonder Veronica admonishes the heroine of her sub-plot for thinking her missing boyfriend could be doing anything other than cheating on her. The episode also offered a reconnect to the dread Fiztpatrick’s; seem Kendall Casablancas might owe the Irish mobstah’s a little cash, and their convinced Papa Mars knows where she is. When Vinnie shows up and offers to split the retainer if Keith just spills the beans, he coerces the elder Mars with some candid snapshots of his illicit rendezvous with the very married Harmony who, it turns out, he is also investigating for infidelity, at hubbies request. Vinnie being the gentlemen’s scumbag offers a little compromise involving how money has the power to make photographs disappear. They sort of left Keith’s reaction a mystery, but shortly after he drops the relationship like a hot, sultry, potato. Logan finally comes clean on why he can’t provide an alibi for Mercer. Turns out while they were partying in Tijuana, the boys burnt down a hotel; making both of them wanted men south of the border. Clear Mercer, wind up in Mexican jail. Veronica, and I , are a little more concerned with the fact that Logan didn’t make sure everybody was okay, a fact that has future plot written all over it, not to mention that cutting and running is what Logan thinks nine-out-of-ten people would do. There goes my faith in humanity; particularly of the abused-trust-fund-kid variety. She decides to confront Professor Fabian about what she sees as a buy-off in the way of the FBI internship. Fabian gives a convincing speech that restores Veronica’s faith in the offer as a symbol of her brilliance, instead of her potential to destroy marriages and careers. Could it be Fabian is just doing what we would normally do for his “brightest student”? His evil male tendencies are in danger of evaporating. Veronica finds herself in the Fitzpatrick’s den once again when she traces sub-plot heroine of the weeks missing boyfriend’s cell phone to their seedy little bar in the bad side of town. There’s a cute blooper here where Veronica says she doesn’t want to go in without a cop and begins to call Lam as her coed-in-distress dashes inside; there is a cop car sitting in the background. Who says there’s never a cop around when you need one? After being bear hugged by a Fitzpatrick who clearly is not a Veronica fan, the insidious Vinnie Vanlow surprisingly emerges from the beer-pit’s denizens to rescue Veronica. As it turns out, he won’t be for the last rat bastard to redeem himself. Outside he gives Veronica some info on the missing college boy, turns out the Fitzpatrick’s picked him up drunk and took him around town on a little booze enhanced shopping spree before dropping him off somewhere – leaving Lamb’s drunk tank his likely last stop. Turns out the lad bumped his head surfing and just kinda wandered around in his wet suit for a couple days in an amnesiac stupor buying the Fitz’s booze and cigarettes. Veronica’s faith is restored yet another man. Thanks to the fact that Mercer runs a popular live call-in radio show, Veronica is able to clear Mercer of the rapes. Turns out he was on-the-air at the time of the rapes. Another day of heroism behind her, Veronica settles down for some pasta at the campus cafeteria. While she is exchanging her plate for one with a little less hair in it, somebodydopes her drink. She stumbles out to the parking lot and finally collapses as a hooded figure approaches through the darkness. She sets off her panic alarm, getting the attention of a nearby Logan. The mysterious figure approaches and silences it. Finally, Logan arrives on the scene to find Veronica intact, except for a small patch of shaved hair. Veronica is taken home and nursed out of her drugged stupor by Papa Mars, and Logan. Forgetting everything she learned about her jaded male-hating superstitions, and instead focusing on how it all comes down to people being there when you need them. By far, this was the best new Veronica Mars episode of the series. Not only because it managed to creatively plant a theme and subsequently nurture it to a nicely poignant conclusion, but because it, for once, did not try to “sneak” the rapist sub-plot into totally unrelated story elements. At times this season, it seemed like the rape issue was a bull elephant crashing in on scenes where it didn’t seem to belong just to get a little air time. This time around, it stood on its own and made powerful contact in a way that was all its own, instead of some implausible connection via a sub-plot that itself should have stood alone. A couple more episodes like this and Veronica Mars will have proven herself worthy a full season.