Veronica Mars said good bye the right way.
There was no way they’d ever be able to make us all happy. Some people wanted everything wrapped up in a pretty bow, knowing where our heroes are going, what they’re doing. Something like, oh, the OC, which ended as it came in: a good man helping a troubled kid.
Except people who think Veronica Mars didn’t go out that way weren’t paying attention.
Veronica became an outcast again, which she needs to be in order to be herself. She needs to get down and dirty, and be the anti-hero. She lost track, somewhere, and forgot that she was the only girl balsy enough to cut Wallace down from that flagpole in season one. To have the series end with the hat back, with the taser out, and with everyone showing their true colors was enough for me.
I’m not going to cry over a TV show anymore. I’m not the kid who sobbed when Tasha Yar died. I’m an adult. I’m almost 30. And I understand that TV is a business.
Rob Thomas did a great job for three years. Oh, sure, Veronica Mars had its problems. Season two was uneven and hard to get into. Season three started good, but the middle hung like a dead albatross, and there was too much romantic crap going on. But damn if the last two episodes weren’t the best I’ve seen in a while! That was exactly the show I loved and why I kept on watching. Because I knew they could pull this out of their ass!
So what did we get? Vinnie Van Lowe as sheriff. Stop and fear that for a while, I’ll come back to it. Keith’s back on the PI market, and the only one in town. Veronica is off to the FBI. That means no more wacky law breaking, kid! Even a TV newb can see this. She and Piz don’t last out the summer. Wallace drifts away after being in Africa all summer. Mac ‘finds herself’ or just drifts off as some of your friends do. Dick and Logan go surfing and end up being slackard Californian rich assholes.
And Vinnie as sheriff!
Sorry, but that’s cool and evil. As much as I hated Don Lamb, he was the sort of ass I could get to like, and the kind you didn’t mind seeing every week. Vinnie, like Cliff, was best used once in a while. Too much of them and their gandure would be lost.
The only thing I could ask for would be for the show to come back. And that won’t happen.
So I’m going to take what I can, buy the last DVDs, and mourn the loss of the smart, sassy, petite Veronica Mars. It was great.