"A long time ago, we used to be friends." So went the first line of the theme tune of Veronica Mars. It was the truth. I loved that show. When it was cancelled in 2007 it was both a pain and to be quite honest a relief. A pain because we were saying goodbye to brilliant characters we'd grown to love over 3 years and a relief because the 3rd series was a shadow of it's former self. The show finished on a semi cliffhanger, one we assumed we'd never see resolved. It was annoying but what could you do?
12 years later Veronica Mars season 4, episode 8 is over. I want more now. I need more. If it doesn't come back for a new series I'm going to get quare grouchy. It was an almost perfect return to Neptune, California and a lovely chance to revisit some old buddies. Kristin Bell as Veronica, Enrico Colantoni as Keith Mars and Jason Dohring as Logan Echolls all slot back into their roles with ease.
Veronica is in her 30's now and a fully fledged private eye and she's still working with her father Keith in Mars Investigations. Her and Logan are a permanent thing and the strife of the past seems to have been forgotten. Keith is suffering from the after effects of a car crash (that happened during the not very good Veronica Mars film of 2014) and it's taking a toll on him physically and psychologically. Veronica's buddy Wallace is now a teacher and Eli Navarro is eeking out a living and trying & failing to stay on the straight and narrow.
As always Neptune is a city divided. The haves and the have nots. A city made up of movie stars and tech billionaires on one side and normal blue collar folk on the other. The summer influx of spring breakers has the place on edge. Rich privileged idiots who treat the place like a litter box and it's inhabitants like slaves. One place where they gather and party is the Sea Spray motel by the beach and a fatal incident there springs Veronica into action and into contact with some faces from her past.
This rocked. It's both a love letter to fans who stayed devoted and a substantial return to form in its own right. It feels organic. It feels like we never left. The complexities of female friendships and father daughter relations are to the forefront as always. The sunbleached Californian noir feel is back. So is the long form storytelling of Season 1 and 2. Everything is tied into the main story, everything happens for a reason and all subplots tie in. I watched all 8 hrs of this with the goofiest grin plastered across my mush. One by one the characters we all rooted for over a decade again appear and each one felt like a little hug. Tina Majorino who played Mac couldn't return for work reasons sadly but her aside all your faves show up, some very briefly mind but each one adds to the mix. It's a big ol' blast of nostalgia but crucially it isn't just nostalgia.
These aren't characters in a rose tinted stasis. Big things happen to them that will affect them all in the future. Some things you'll see coming from a mile away and others that will take you totally by surprise. It's good though. Life swings at you hard sometimes and this show is brave enough to acknowledge that. You laugh during this, you'll probably cry, you'll definitely chew on your knuckles because the stakes are bigger. People die. Violently. Decapitations! Who expected to see that in Veronica Mars? Away from the constraints of Network TV this show is darker, more profane, grittier, more mature, more sexual (fan fic writers will cream themselves during a couple of scenes) but it's done in a way that doesn't feel excessive and it's all the better for it.
Only being 8 episodes long meant some corners had to be cut. We don't get to spend enough time with the ones we want to. Dick Casablancas is basically a cameo role and Wallace & Eli don't get half enough to do but at the end of the day that show is all about Veronica and her Da Keith. The chemistry between them is still fantastic, all loving and caring and just perfect. Their relationship was always the core of the show and thankfully it gets as much time as always. They're people you want to spend time with and when they suffer so do you. Keith's storyline takes a nicely topical turn in this and it's a turn that helps drag this show into the present. Into *shudder* Donald Trump's America. An America where only the 1% do well. Other moments that try to "2019ise" the show don't work as well but they're mostly dialogue based and easily forgotten after a cringe or two. At it's heart though it's still the hard boiled drama it was when it started 15 years ago and it's such a pleasure to have it back.
Not everything is wrapped up by the end and instead of getting annoyed by that I'm choosing to believe that it's because we'll be getting a 5th season. We deserve a 5th season. We want to know what will happen our characters after the events depicted here. We want to know what will happen the intriguing new characters we've been introduced to. The ex Chino inmate/bagman Clyde Pickett (JK Simmons), Alonzo Lozano (Clifton Collins Jr, excellent) the cartel hitman who falls for the charms of Southern California and Matty Ross (Izabela Vidovic), a teenager who might just have what it takes to be the next member of Mars Investigations.
We just want more Veronica Mars. Because it's excellent TV.
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