“Lost” was all the rage in the 2004-05 TV season (so was “Desperate Housewives” — remember that one?), but even at the time, I was all about the first season of “Veronica Mars” (2004-05, UPN). Even knowing the identity of Lilly Kane’s killer, it held up very well on my repeat viewing. After all, it is more than just a mystery show (but it’s also more than a teen show, which is why the premise should work well as a movie next year, too).
Thomas’ knack for noir
Little-known executive producer Rob Thomas was the engine behind this little show that could. It wasn’t a surprise that he did teen drama well — he wrote two episodes of the excellent first season of “Dawson’s Creek” — but his knack for film noir is what makes “Veronica Mars” stand out from its peers.
Everything about “Veronica Mars” turned out to be just plain cool, but why was that? I can’t discount the fact that Thomas plucked a perfect leading lady, Kristen Bell, from obscurity. But — aside from a few notable roles (Harry Hamlin as Aaron Echols and Alyson Hannigan as Trina Echols, for instance) — everyone was a largely unknown actor.
“Veronica Mars” Season 1 (2004-05)
UPN, 22 episodes
Creator: Rob Thomas
Stars: Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni, as Veronica’s dad Keith, embraces the noir style the most in Season 1. Keith knows the tradition he comes from, even chewing out hard-boiled lines about making suspects “sing like a canary” and that sort of thing. But there are no weak links. Either they were all very talented to begin with or the writing and set designs (such as Veronica’s receptionist room, lit mostly by a desk lamp) brought the cool noir style out of everybody, including:
- Jason Dohring’s Logan Echolls, who goes from smashing Veronica’s car’s headlights in the pilot episode to caring deeply about her by season’s end (thus creating a legion of “LoVe” ‘shippers).
- Max Greenfield’s always-grinning Deputy Leo, in his most memorable role pre-“New Girl.”
- Ken Marino’s deliciously sleazy detective Vinnie Van Lowe. He only makes one appearance this season, but it made enough of an impression that he’d return many times.
- Percy Daggs III as Veronica’s best bud (and assistant) Wallace. With him being new in Neptune and Veronica being an outcast, they naturally come together as friends in a no-big-deal way reflective of real high schoolers. And here’s quite an achievement: Unlike every other mystery show with co-ed partners, there’s never any sense that they’re anything more than friends.
Characters, relationships pop
In a genre that has a tendency to downplay personality and emotion, the characters and their relationships pop. The father-daughter relationship is sweet, even as it works in the noir element of “Is he really her father?” In fact, “Chinatown”-style weird relationships abound in Season 1.
We wonder if Veronica’s ex-boyfriend, Duncan, is actually her brother. And we learn that Veronica’s go-to tech gal Mac (the adorable Tina Majorino, fresh off “Napoleon Dynamite”) was switched at birth at the hospital.
Even though she’s dead well before the events of the pilot episode, Amanda Seyfried makes an impression as Lilly, as all her flashback scenes (or “Clue”-style what-ifs or dream sequence appearances) have a hazy, ephemeral cast that gives them extra emphasis.
The consistently good acting is mirrored by the consistently good episodes. Each hour doles out a meaningful twist in the Lilly Kane case, and we also get the “Who raped Veronica at the party?” case and the “Where’s Veronica’s mom?” mystery.
And, of course, each episode features a stand-alone case, usually set at Neptune High. This is the element that requires the most suspension of disbelief, but it works. As Keith himself says, “Veronica’s no ordinary 17-year-old,” yet it’s believable that she solves all these cases — she learned from the best. She’s also a rare TV lead because — while she certainly has TV-star good looks — her superpower is her mind, and that’s darn appealing to more intellectually inclined male viewers.
Here are my top 10 episodes of Season 1:
1. “A Trip to the Dentist” (episode 21, written by Diane Ruggiero)
The “Who raped Veronica?” yarn concludes here, and I found it more intriguing, twisted and emotional than the murder case. And (guilty admission time) I had forgotten whodunit, so it held up more on my re-watching.
2. “Leave It to Beaver” (22, Rob Thomas and Ruggiero)
We find out who killed Lilly in a suspenseful finale. It has closure with a sweet scene of the best friends floating in a pool on a sunny day, it confirms the father-daughter bond, and it leaves us on a juicy cliffhanger: Who’s at Veronica’s door?
3. “Silence of the Lamb” (11, Jed Seidel and Dayna Lynne North)
It’s the most Mac-centric episode, as she (rather calmly) deals with the knowledge that she was switched at birth. It also features the first appearance of the instantly lovable Deputy Leo.
4. “The Wrath of Con” (4, Ruggiero)
For the first time, Veronica dons a disguise, “Alias”-style, posing as a hot-in-a-nerdy-way San Diego State student. Also, Wallace has a girlfriend (surprisingly, only for this one episode; I had remembered her being around more). And we get nice flashbacks to the Veronica-Duncan-Logan-Lilly friendship.
5. “Lord of the Bling” (13, John Enbom)
The teaser ends with Veronica admitting “We used to be friends, a long time ago” (echoing the theme song), and we get a nice story about Veronica reconnecting with a friend, Yolanda, she had snubbed back in her snobbier days of hanging with the Oh-Niners.
6. “Mars vs. Mars” (14, Seidel and Ruggerio)
Father and daughter represent competing clients in a sexual harassment case featuring guest turns by Leighton Meester (later of “Gossip Girl,” another show with Kristen Bell voiceovers) and Adam Scott (later of “Parks and Recreation”). (Not cool of Keith to use the exploding ink bomb on Veronica, though.)
7. “Ruskie Business” (15, Phil Klemmer and Enbom)
The lovesick mail-order-bride plot is kind of sweet, and in the bigger picture, this episode introduces Trina and features Veronica playing dress-up again, but this time for an ’80s-themed school dance.
8. “The Girl Next Door” (7, Seidel and Ruggerio)
Notable guest-star alert again: Veronica searches for a missing neighbor, played by Jessica Chastain, and suspects her boyfriend, played by the guy who played Parker on “Buffy” (perhaps coloring her negative view of him). Also, you gotta love Logan and Weevil’s prank of (inexplicably) sticking a teacher’s car on a flagpole.
9. “Hot Dogs” (19, North)
Humans hurting humans is one thing, but it doesn’t get much lower than a dognapping ring.
10. “Pilot” (1, Thomas)
The pilot episode lays the groundwork. We’ve seen these elements before, but never put together quite like this.
What are your favorite episodes, characters and moments of the first season of “Veronica Mars?”
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