It’s a bit tough for me to write about TV right now. Keeping up with the news these days has a way of making virtually everything else seem trivial. Case in point: for the past several weeks I’ve been binge-watching The Americans, which is absolutely incredible - but I can’t go on social media, read the news, or watch TV without hearing about what the real Russians are up to right now (and it’s not nearly as fun as Elizabeth killing old guys in pools or Philip screaming about Jesus). I’m in the middle of working on another article about why escapism in television is so critical right now, and writing that story is what helped me decide on my latest addition to SpoilerTV’s Throwback Thursday series: it had to be Veronica Mars.
Above all else, I wanted to watch something that would take me 100% out of reality for 40 minutes. Veronica Mars often touched on important issues, but the scripts, direction, and acting are so brilliant that it’s impossible to not just let the real world fall away and become engrossed in the story. Sometimes that's exactly what I need from television.
For one thing, I never expected a total wrap-up. Even with the crowd-funded film that followed years after the series concluded, we didn’t get an ending that tied up every little lose end. Veronica Mars was, at its heart, a film noir. It was dark and messy, and that was always much of its charm. It might have looked to outsiders like a campy teen drama with a unique hook (the pretty blonde is a badass detective!), but anyone who dared to peek beneath the surface saw that the series was so much more; an impeccably plotted narrative that, while focusing primarily on teenage characters, had a decidedly sharp, dark, and intelligent worldview.
There are some fans who accuse the show of losing its way during parts of season three, which focused on Veronica and her friends moving to college, but I always felt like it was just adjusting and growing up. While I wish we had gotten a fourth season (and beyond) I always felt like the finale was sort of perfect - and looking back on it now, it feels remarkably relevant.
All of the characters, most notably Veronica, had been in turmoil all season long. She had a rude awakening with the realization that her heroes weren’t necessarily always going to be perfect; she wasn’t always going to agree with the people she loved or looked up to - and most importantly, she didn’t have to. The final two episodes of the season saw Veronica finding her groove again, in a bid to get revenge on and expose the nefarious organization that filmed her having sex and then circulated the video. (It wasn’t the Russians.)
I still get such a sense of joy and adrenaline while watching Veronica do what she does best – avenge the underdogs, defend the defenseless, and hold the rich and powerful to task for their bullshit.
I’ll say this – the world needs Veronica Mars now more than ever.
If “The Bitch is Back” ended up being the final chapter of this story, I would have been okay with it. The final moments were pretty bleak, but what was so incredible about this series was watching Veronica constantly persevere, regardless of the adversities she was faced with.
The series concluded with Veronica voting for her experienced, do-good father in the election for sheriff of Neptune, even though it was clear at that point, thanks in large part to biased local media coverage, that his incompetent, unqualified adversary was poised to win. Even as it looked like the Mars’ world might crumble, I had complete faith that they’d be OK.
