OPEN CASE: VERONICA MARS

Season 1 - Episode 19

HOT DOGS: Cooking with heat

by Spring Summers – 21 APR-2005

OK, Veronica Mars fans – are we cookin’, or what? How’d you like this week’s serving? It’s not quite there yet, is it? We haven’t quite reached the climax of the season. But still, it was pretty darn tasty, no?

In Hot Dogs, the heat is turned up under all our characters, until they start to dance like drops of water on a hot grill. Notice all the references to “waking up,” as Aaron calls Lynn’s death his “wake up call,” Leo doesn’t want to “wake up a judge,” and Logan doesn’t want to “wake up” from his dreamy kiss.

And that’s our clue: No one’s going to be letting sleeping dogs lie. Nope. Everyone’s inner pit bulls, their individual stores of unconscious rage, awaken. There is metaphorical mention of the personal effects that Lynn left with Logan, and that the not-really-dead (hmmmmmm . . .) Chester left with Mandy. We also get many, many references to the past, to individual histories, and, in general to everything that’s built up inside people over the years, over the week, over the day, and over the minutes. One way or another, everything comes to a head. Our characters, each with their own unique triggers and individual ways, go off as surely and inevitably as a school bell does, once the clock hits exactly the right second. They come off the grill once they’ve reached perfection. Sure - they can try to hang on to their cool and their sanity. They can try. But for all human beings, from the hot-headed Dylans to the meek-and-mild Mandys of the world, this is true: If the mechanical bull gets going hard enough and fast enough and wildly enough – baby, you are going to be flying off:

· Veronica goes off on a boy who is cruelly teasing fellow student Mandy.

· Logan’s anger rises quickly and visibly to surface at the sight of sister Trina’s bruised face.

· Leo says, to the dog pound employee he’s arresting: “Please. Resist arrest. Please.” Upset about Veronica’s kiss-off, he would love to administer a face-beating.

· Veronica suggests that dog-nippers should be beaten to death and dumped into the nearest body of water.

· Mandy reaches her boiling point, violently releasing her rage by tazering a screaming Hans.

But mostly, mostly, mostly: Aaron Echolls beats all possible bodily fluids, both viscous and runny, out of his daughter’s smarmy boyfriend, Dylan. Oh, my God. Could Harry Hamlin and company have done this scene any better? It’s a scene of unbridled violence and it is perfect from the moment it starts - right from the instant that Aaron shows up in Trina’s doorway and casually questions her about the make-up. The man recognizes the signs immediately; he’s not fooled for a second. And neither are we. It’s absolutely delicious – oh the sublime wonder of the way that it’s all conveyed to us, through the actor’s skill, and also through the dialogue and the props and the surroundings: Aaron Echolls is very slowly coming to a boil. He’s starts off exhibiting a delightfully icy determination. And he’s got knives. We, the viewers, also begin to percolate as we wait for the pay off. And what a pay off it is! I watch, spell bound and thrilled, as Aaron mercilessly, and continuously, and with absolutely conscious intent, pounds the completely outclassed Dylan to a pulp. Talk about your audience participation. No denying my inner pit bull, there.

The episode is full of mention of what’s inside and what’s outside (TRINA: “Two days work, three at most. You’ll be in and out!”). People take it in, it builds up, and then it explodes outward. Passion – this episode is all about passion. Mostly, it’s about violent passion. But we manage to trip over the nearby line into sexual passion as well, with Veronica and Logan kissing in response to an overwhelmingly passionate urge. It doesn’t make much sense to either one of them. Neither one can seem to figure out exactly what they’re doing, or why. But they most definitely want to do it.

When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, it can only mean one thing. Right? And of course, that’s the question: Is what we see before us amore? Is Veronica motivated to stand up for Mandy out of any affection at all for Mandy? Or is it just her own history of being taunted that fuels her? Does a true love of Trina play any part in Aaron’s motivation for beating Dylan? Or is his rage only an ego-driven (MY daughter!!) manifestation of his own childhood demons? Is Mandy’s outburst really related to love of Chester, or has she simply, finally, had enough of her life as a door mat? Does Logan love Veronica? Does Veronica love Logan? Or are they simply two teenagers on a hormonally driven mission to get over Lilly - by drowning in each other?

When the world seems to shine, like you’ve had too much wine, are you in love? We’re most definitely looking at the nature of love, both familial and romantic:

· Aaron dotes on Trina, but beats on Logan.

· Lynn left Logan everything, and Trina nothing.

· Lilly believed that her parents adored Duncan, but tolerated her.

· Logan believes that he loved Lilly better than she loved him, and that she might have loved Weevil, instead of him.

Like the unfortunate dogs whose owners offered only paltry reward, you are out of luck if those who are supposed to care for you don’t put enough value on your hide. You might get sold to the highest bidder, or left by the side of the road, or left in a dog pound, to die. Like Chester. Like Lilly?

Violence. Sex. Love. What is what? It doesn’t seem right that violence should be connected to sex, much less to love, does it? But it is. It just is. What an impossible mess our lives are. What impossible messes we all are. That doesn’t absolve any of us of the responsibility to try to sort it out, or to try to be good to one another, or to look out for ourselves and for one another, like the brothers and sisters that we are.

We search, we must always search, for the answers. Sometimes we even find a few. Wallace’s mentions the 411, we have various shots of people reading, Celeste is willing to trade Weevil for info on Duncan, and we spy Keith sending in a DNA test. Time to get some answers.

In an ep full of talk of secrets – secret pens and secret mop closet encounters - we’re being told that it’s time to get down to the truth. Logan says that when Celeste called and asked what he might know about Duncan’s whereabouts, he told her the truth: “I don’t know.” This is exactly the opposite of what Veronica does, when Celeste asks her the very same question. Veronica lied to Celeste. Did Logan?

Veronica was using Celeste’s interest in finding Duncan, to free Weevil. Dylan was using Trina’s neediness, to get his movie produced. Trina makes an attempt to use her brother’s affection for her, to get $10,000. Aaron uses Dylan’s desire to produce the movie, to lure him into a trap. Hopes rise and are dashed, and people who feel used or disappointed are ticking time bombs.

What does this all tell us about our ongoing mysteries, what does it foreshadow for the future? Is Lynn, like Chester, still alive? Mandy’s “dog-missing” signs tell us that she believes that Chester is “frightened and alone.” Is the suggestion that Lynn is somewhere, frightened and alone? Or is it Duncan we should be thinking about? I can’t help but notice though, that despite everyone’s worry, Chester wasn’t doing so badly at all.

Was Lilly killed by someone that she hurt very badly, as Hans has hurt Mandy? Or was she killed by someone whose hopes she dashed? Or by a loved one of her supposed victim? Those are the motives we note in this episode, for murderous violence, but I have no idea if they translate into Lilly-murder motives. I also still find myself less than 100% convinced the Lilly-Weevil connection is a love connection.

I also couldn’t help but notice that right after Weevil suggests that a leopard can’t “change his spots, we cut to a shot of Logan coming through Veronica’s door to see her. Hmmmm. Something tells me that this relationship is not going to be an easy one. Logan can be very sensitive and loving and passionate and honest. But the boy has his issues. He’s total good girl bait.

“I’ll drive you home by the back streets,” says Logan, to Veronica. Oh, Logan. I just bet you will.

***

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