Shhh, no spoilers -- I'm only half-way through the first season; image courtesy of wikimedia.org
Earlier this week, I started watching Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas’s beloved cult dramedy which ran for three seasons on UPN and The CW. For those unfamiliar, Mars centers around a titular girl supersleuth who risks her former popularity to solve the murder of her friend Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried). In doing so, she digs up the dirt her idyllic So-Cal hometown Neptune wants permanently under foot.
I’d heard high praise for the series from friends, colleagues, and several critics, many of whom were looking for something to fill a Buffy-sized deficit of girl badassery on prime time television. I saw star Kristen Bell in Heroes and understood her appeal. But it wasn’t really until I plowed through Party Down, Thomas’s recently-cancelled series about downtrodden Hollywood caterers, that I felt I best get on the stick.
I’ll admit that I’m nervous to continue past the first season (though I will anyway). I’ve heard the show crutches on rape as criminals’ go-to illegal activity and the series generally suffers in quality. I haven’t fallen in love with the show yet, but I do like Bell as the tough, savvy Mars and am engrossed in her efforts to undo Neptune’s seedy dealings. I think I know who killed her best friend, though I’ll keep it to myself in case I’m proven wrong. And the show’s use of the Dandy Warhols’ “We Used to Be Friends” in the opening credits make me want to watch DiG! again, though nothing will make me want to recover my discarded copy of 13 Tales of Urban Bohemia or pick up a Brian Jonestown Massacre album.
Speaking of pop music, that sneaky way to sell teen television to its target demographic, last night I watched “Clash of the Tritons.” I bring up this episode, which focuses on Mars trying to tap into the nefarious dealings of a secret society at her high school, because she is forced to participate in karaoke at a bar by unseen members of the organization. She chooses “One Way or Another” by Blondie.
I have some bones to pick. The lyrics make it far too obvious a selection (“I’m gonna find you I’m gonna gitcha gitcha gitcha gitcha” — duh). Also, the editing in this scene is distracting and flashy. But I do like aligning Mars and Bell with front woman Debbie Harry, a blonde who employed her charm in interesting ways while never turning off her brain. It also seems to draw an interesting set of parallels between a once-popular outsider who can still ingratiate herself into Neptune’s inner circle, a promising actress headlining a critically acclaimed show on two fringe networks, and a punk princess with a disco heart. I’ll stay tuned.
