OPEN CASE:  Veronica Mars

 

Season 2

Episode 14

 

Versatile Toppings: Personal Pan Pizza

By Spring Summers – 20-Mar-2006

 

So – what toppings do you like best on a pizza?  It’s a very individual thing, isn’t it?  But ultimately, a pizza is a pizza.  And whether we prefer the pepperoni or the anchovy, we all love a pizza pie, and we all, as human beings, share the need for food.  

 

This episode is in part about needs, and it uses images of pizza ordering, blackmail, and references to versatile sexual preferences in the forefront.  But it isn’t so much about our needs for food, money or sex, as it is about our common need for love and acceptance:

 

  • Hannah wants Logan and his friends to accept her.
  • Various people are being successfully blackmailed because they don’t want to be ostracized by their peers or loved ones.
  • Arturo wants to be accepted into the PCHers.
  • Jackie talks about the way she’s being shunned.
  • Terrence worries about his reputation.
  • Veronica is told by Dick that she’s Kryptonite; Logan describes himself much the same way to Hannah.
  • Carmen talks about the isolating consequences of being a “coconut.”

 

People’s needs make them vulnerable – whether they’re open like Hannah, or hidden, like Kelly.  Hannah is vulnerable to being used because she’s so open and trusting; Kelly is vulnerable to blackmail because he’s so closed and suspicious.  There’s just no way around it, really – a thick upper crust protects you from one kind of hurt, but it opens you up to another.

 

The casino backdrop and constant reference to games/sports drives it home:  Life is risky game; it’s a gamble.  You win some; you lose some.  Secrets can make you just as vulnerable as sincerity.  In fact, though it may feel as if you are protecting yourself with lies and coconut shells, we note in this episode that it is ultimately truth (the ability to both tell it, and see it), and confidence in oneself, that offers the best protection of all.

 

But that doesn’t stop people from trying to protect themselves by lying and hiding.  The reference to “toppings” isn’t just about individual choices (hot-blooded Italian or cool Teutonic?), but also about surfaces.  People are undercover.  They’re desperate because, illusion or no, it feels to them as if they are fighting for their lives:

 

  • KYLIE:  I don’t have that kind of money.  I’m dead.
  • KELLY:  Veronica, you realize, people here find out I’m queer, and I’m dead.

 

Compared to Terrence, Don Lamb can afford to be cavalier about the possible exposure of that tape.  He’s got the upper hand because it doesn’t feel to him as if his life depends on keeping this particular secret - but he suspects (correctly it seems) that it feels that way to Terrence.  There are many references to protection, and value. Ryan is protecting his site-members, Logan claims he’s protecting Hannah, Jackie is willing to protect Veronica’s reputation, and Dick wants to protect his surfboard.  People try to protect what is valuable to them. 

 

And the more value you put on external items, external validation, and external acceptance, the more vulnerable you are to external attack.  Being possessed of an independent inner confidence is the only real protection from the damage others and the outside world can inflict.

 

Note that Logan is actually fighting for his life – which no doubt allows him to feel justified in playing games with Hannah’s heart.  But, ironically, it’s the hiding that begins to clue Hannah off to precisely the truth that Logan’s trying to obscure.  If your partner wants to hide his or her relationship with you, run - don’t walk - away.  Unless your honey is in the witness protection program, something is very wrong there. Use your nose.  Trust your nose. Something doesn’t smell right, to Hannah, when Logan pretends that he doesn’t know her.

 

Later, notice that it’s the fact that the little baggie of white powder is so deliberately hidden, that convinces Hannah that Logan is right about her father’s secret vice.  Kelly’s overblown attempt at seeming heterosexual is exactly what makes us suspect that he’s gay.  And it’s only when Logan takes Hannah’s hand in front of everyone that we begin to believe that there is a possibility of a real, loving relationship developing:


KYLIE:  I wanted to be out, but I wanted Marlena out with me.  I wanted to walk down the halls with her, like a real couple.

 

The more you try to hide a particular truth, the more obvious your truth becomes - and the more vulnerable you become to those who would exploit the weakness that you are so plainly, yet so involuntarily, broadcasting.  A respect for the truth, and a willingness to bring it to light, is the only real protection against the darkness and misery of hiding.  Order what you like on your pizza, and for goodness sake – place that order in your own name.

 

So what does this all mean about our characters and our mysteries?  One bit of dialogue really stood out for me:

 

VERONICA:  I was looking through some old chats – here – back in July, this guy who calls himself “Mizz-P,” went off about the “outing of all outings” in Neptune, and then he vanished.  A tad ominous don’t you think?

RYAN:  Mizz-P ain’t the bad guy, Veronica.  His name was Peter Ferrer.  He died in the bus crash.

 

Peter was talking about the “outing of all outings,” and now, he’s dead?  Hmmmm!  Whose possible outing might fit Peter’s description as being the “outing of all outings?”  The Sheriff?  He is a bachelor, and we’ve never seen him with a girl, or heard him refer to any particular sexual interest.  He had that abusive father; we’ve seen that he’s into body-building, and we’ve watched him admire himself in the mirror.  So, though it’s true that Don Lamb has some questionable ethics (as we saw when he put the squeeze on Terrence), I still say no way he’d murder a busload of kids.  Nope – not to protect a secret about his sexuality, not for any reason.  He’s just not that evil.

 

What about Woody?  I mean, he’s a politician (county superintendent), he coaches a baseball team full of little boys, and he’s married with children. He’d definitely feel the need to hide it, if he were homosexual. Also he and Lamb appear to . . . have a connection, of some kind. (One’s Big, one’s Rich!) And that hanger with the explosives and detonators belongs to Woody, after all.  We also get a mention of politician Rick Santorum – the Republican Junior Senator from Pennsylvania, whose biggest claim to fame is his staunch stand against homosexuality, and his thoughts about related privacy issues.

 

So, Woody maybe wanted Peter dead to hide his own homosexuality, because Peter was ready to out him, for some reason?  Here’s the thing about Woody though – it’s almost too much.  It feels like this, when it comes to who we’re meant to suspect for the bus crash:

 

->->->WOODY<-<-<-

 

It may be too obvious.  And how about that reference to OJ Simpson and his white Bronco?  Yes, true, the reference fits in perfectly (like a glove!) with the other references to sports, and sports figures like Pete Rose and Michael Jordan.  It also cleverly manages to fit in with the references to interracial pairings (lots of “forbidden love” references, to go with all the hiding – taboo couples – interracial, same sex, even a hint of incest with the KissinKuzzin mention).  And look:  Terrence even has a white Bronco. (Reverse Oreo!) 

 

But you know what else the mention of OJ Simpson makes me think of:  Aaron Echolls.  Aaron Echolls and his upcoming celebrity murder trial.  But despite his connection to Curly, I can’t figure out how or why he should be involved with either the bus crash or Felix’s death.  I noticed that Ryan was blaming himself for Marlena’s “outing,” in this episode, while Veronica mentions blaming herself for the bus crash.  Ryan turned out to be wrong, which suggests to me that Veronica is wrong too. 

 

So – the only thing we seem to know conclusively now is that the Fitzpatricks had something to do with Felix’s murder – either one of them did it, or they’re helping a PCHer cover up his guilt .  Could the “interracial pairing/forbidden love” of Molly and Felix really have bothered the Fitzpatricks or the PCHers enough for a murder motive?  Arturo seems to think obliquely targeting “coconuts” will impress Thumper . . . nah.  I can’t buy that.  Interracial dating is just way too common these days for anyone to seriously undertake vigilantism – and we don’t see Carmen dead, after all.

 

No – no, no.  Cho’s Pizza, Coconuts, Oreos, Versatile Toppings, that song that plays at the beginning “Shake it up now!”  - it’s all screaming “assimilation” to me.  The message that I’m getting is that trying to stop the blending of cultures and peoples is a fool’s errand.  And I don’t think we’re going to be watching that kind of major foolishness this season - not as a motive for murder, anyhow.

 

And some miscellaneous comments, in closing:

 

  • I loved Corny.  That actor was great in the role.  The Ryan character is well done also.
  • Kelly Kuzzio?  Kuzzio, spelled with a “K?”  So wrong – so very wrong for such an Italian sounding name to start with a “K.”  Italians don’t use the letter “K.”  Doesn’t Rob T have any “Michelinas” on the writing staff? (Italian on the outside, American on the inside?)
  • I don’t think Terrence is guilty of anything besides the gambling.  My best guess is that the explosives are not his.
  • Logan – Whether he knew who Hannah was at the carnival or not, he makes his motives for romancing her very clear when he offers to dump her in exchange for Tom Griffith dumping his testimony.  But he seems to actually begin to have a change of heart by the end of the episode.  And Veronica – when she hears Mac mention the plastic surgeon, she puts two and two together immediately.  I wouldn’t be surprised if she calls Logan on this very soon.
  • Hannah – She’s adorable and the actress is doing a good job, but I have to keep reminding myself “Logan & Hannah are approximately the same age.”  It’s hard not to notice that Logan looks about 22, and Hannah looks about 12.  Kinda squicky.
  • Keith – As always, I adore Keith, and the Keith and Veronica exchanges.  I especially loved the dialogue between them about Jackie.  I also liked Keith’s behavior in the casino.  I thought the casino represented the world – life and risk taking in general.  Notice how our down-to-earth, realistic Mr Mars doesn’t want any line- of-credit, and he’s not comfortable using Lobo’s money.  Keith takes his chances, but I think he prefers to pay, with his own cash, as he goes along.
  • Jackie says, to Veronica, about the team bus:  “You can ride with me if you want.  I realize it’s no bus filled with rowdy, towel snapping jocks, but it’ll smell better.”  Hmmm.  A smelly bus?  Jackie keeps Veronica from riding on a smelly bus.  Just like Lilly did?  What is that about?  Just some foreshadowing about Jackie being on her way to becoming the “Lilly” in Veronica’s life?  In Logan’s life?  In some older guy’s life?
  • Deputy Sachs – I tried, but though I replayed the scene several times on the VCR, I couldn’t make out what was written on the outside of that envelope Deputy Sachs opened up by the duct-taped Arturo.  Neither could I figure out what it was he pulled out of the envelope (a piece of the taser?).

 

Well – I found no answers in this episode, but I continue to be intrigued by the season’s mysteries, and I’m still looking forward to learning more about them.  It’s building up nicely, and I expect a really dynamite finale (figuratively speaking – I think).

 

***

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