OPEN CASE: VERONICA MARS

Season 1 - Episode 15

RUSSKIE BUSINESS: Lookin’ for love

by Spring Summers – 23-FEB-05

OK. Well – that’s what I call an episode. I mean, I think I had some kind of episode, watching Logan fall apart, and watching Veronica try not to fall apart. They both caused me a total eclipse of the heart as, one after another, they stood bravely with heart-in-throat and said: “Mom?”

So let’s talk first about Veronica and her echo, Logan. I’m not getting the sexual sparks so much between these two, though this episode features both Duncan and Logan’s sister (Trina) wondering what is going on with the pair. It also shows us some physical contact as Logan squeezes Veronica’s shoulder in gratitude, Veronica kisses him when the twosome pretend to be engaged at The Sunset Regent Hotel, and most gut-wrenching of all, Logan collapses with grief into her arms. He has realized that his last ray of hope that Mom is still alive has just gone to black at The Sunset. And then there’s that ending, with Veronica looking like a Rebecca DeMornayesque hooker, and Logan showing up dressed as that Tom Cruise character in Risky Business – he was a temporary pimp, no? Who had wild sex with that hooker, right? (“I cannot escape Tom Cruise!”) What is that all about?

I don’t know what it’s all about, but both Veronica and Logan appear much too damaged right now for anything but the slowest of romantic involvements – with anyone, much less each other . . . and . . . I don’t know, it’s hard to believe we’re going there anytime soon. Logan is a total mess; he is in need of serious parental-type attention and affection. And despite all the confusion over who’s with whom, it’s Leo whom Veronica calls “a prince.” She does this after several mentions of “princesses” in the episode:

· Veronica mentions her “fairy tale” love with Duncan.

· “Catarina” says she was a princess looking for a prince.

· Logan and Veronica pretend to be interested in The Princess Suite for their honeymoon.

Veronica, with her more loving and supportive father, is doing better than Logan. But she needs to take it slowly with Deputy Leo as well, prince or not. We’ve seen her fragility before, and we see it again in this episode, as she leaves Leo in the dust and rushes to find her mother.

Leo, Logan, Lilly, Lamb, Lynn Lester. La, la, la, la, la. Love, love, love.

Everyone is searching for love – some examples:

· “Catarina” is supposedly searching for her soul mate.

· Meg is hopeful that her secret admirer is her soul mate.

· Duncan is courting Meg.

· Logan spends hours sitting in a hotel lobby desperate to see his mother.

· Veronica wants to reconnect with her own mother.

· We hear Logan suggest that Trina craves “attention fixes.”

· Trina mentions that Lynn paraded around in string bikinis in front of her step-daughter’s dates - suggesting Lynn craved attention and approval as well.

· Veronica mentions she “finally feels wanted” since her likeness is up in the police station.

· There are several mentions of hookers – i.e., the buying and selling of love or a love-substitute – with Logan asking his sister about being cast as a hooker in CSI, and Veronica calling herself a “Manila Whore,” and of course, the overall and repeated reference to a movie about prostitution: Risky Business.

It’s a very human thing – the need for the love. Sometimes we get so desperate for it, sometimes we crave it so badly, that we aren’t very smart or discerning – notice all the cases of mistaken identity in the episode:

· Catarina is really Elena.

· Tom Cruz is not Tom Cruise, and he’s changed his name to John.

· The people pictured on the wall are not Kaz’s parents.

· The secret admirer is not Kaz or Martin.

· Wallace is mistaken for a jock-sniffer (hee!).

· That’s not Mom.

And notice also the many, many, many references to identity and the characteristics that define us – Veronica needs a listing of Tom Cruz’s characteristics in order to find him; Catarina and Meg talk about what they are looking for in a man to love. High schoolers are identifiable by the things they do and the way they look. The dog must be freak – or a rare breed. Logan call the platinum card his mom’s “card of choice,” and wants to know what kind of car was rented; Keith tries to find out who’s following him by describing the car they drive.

Cars: They make a nice metaphors for the individual and identifiable means by which we travel through life. Keith looks into the rear view mirror and says: “I keep seeing them behind me.” And the ep is full of references to the past and to memories, and the way the past impacts the present, and recollection difficulties, and the way memories can deceive. It’s hard to let go of the past and move forward. But there is no going back, not really:

MEG: “Do you have anything in ‘sensitive and charming’?”

VERONICA: “I’ll have to look in the back.”

LEO: “Wanna go back?”
VERONICA: “No, here’s not so bad.”

There are many references to past memories – the obvious use of the 80’s backdrop and references, and more. I’ll let you look for them, but no review of this ep is complete without recognizing this little mention of the past (of history):

VERONICA: “There is a long and proud history of mutual backscratching between cops and private dicks.”

LEO: “So, when do you scratch my (I hold my breath!) back?” (I exhale in relief!)

But the past is the past, and you’ve got to drive with your eyes on the road ahead, with the ever-forward movement of time. There are quite a few references not just to the past, but also to the future and to amounts of time – and note how time seems to be moving forward too quickly around the “wishes he could stop time” Logan.

Time after time. As you move forward through time, as you attempt to move on in the search for love in particular, you have to open a lot of empty cupboards in fake houses, huh? You can’t just go on surface characteristics. You’ve got to sniff the underwear. There are two more mentions of underwear in this ep: Veronica mentions her binding underwear, and Logan shows up in his (“When did you stop wearing pants?”)

Outward characteristics can make a frog look like a prince (or a sister look like a mom, or a mobster look like a heartbroken lover.) The search for love requires kissing a lot of frogs, before you find that prince. Veronica kisses Duncan and then Logan and then Leo in this ep. Duncan and Veronica – I get the sense that their romantic relationship is truly over. They seem to have both decided that their belief that the other was a soul mate was a case of mistaken identity. They’re ready to look elsewhere. At least, that’s how it seemed to me – I didn’t think either Duncan or Veronica was playing games, trying to make the other jealous or anything of that nature. Logan – eeek. This would be a big mistake for Veronica right now. As Trina tells them both, in this ep full of car imagery, they should “drive carefully.” Wallace is all about hanging out, and BFF. So there’s only Leo for now. And Leo once again saves Keith from a murderer. Hmmmm.

There are many, many images of communication in the episode, with mentions of language (Russian, 80’s lingo), text messaging, snail-mail, email and internet communication, faxes, callerID, and phones ringing off the hook. There are also many accompanying images of people watching from the sidelines:

· Meg watches Veronica & Leo.

· Veronica watches Logan & Trina.

· Veronica watches Kaz & Meg, and then Duncan & Meg.

· Keith is being watched by the mobsters while he is watching someone else. And of course, while we are watching it all.

And there are many scenes and mentions of busy-ness and business (“Just business!”). It’s all about the need to stop cheering on the sidelines (ala Meg). It’s all about the need to get back into the game (ala Wallace).

VERONICA: “The game’s afoot!”

You have to do more than just watch. You gotta get into the game of love - whether it’s by letting yourself hope against all odds that Mom is alive, or by letting yourself have a designated BFF (note the references not just to romance, but to friends and family in the ep), or by kissing a deputy, or by picking up your ungrateful and smart ass little brother for the thousandth time, and letting him throw up in your car. Speaking of witch: Not enough Alyson in the episode, but she did a nice job. There was a touch of the evil Willow there - I kept expecting her eyes to turn black any minute. But despite the snark, I could see, in that last brother/sister scene, that Trina and Logan love each other. But it hurts, sometimes.

Love. It’s risky business.

***

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