OPEN CASE:  Veronica Mars

 

Season 2

Episode 16

 

The Rapes of Graff: Enough with the lies

By Spring Summers – 05-APR-2006

 

1)    I have to say right off the bat that the scenes with Keith and Cliff just stole this show for me.  The motel room rescue, the encounter with “Daphne,” the visit to Don Lamb – so fun!  Keith’s amusement at Cliff’s predicament, Cliff’s ability to be both sheepish and shameless at the same time, Daphne’s cool sarcasm, and the way Don’s trademark arrogance quickly shifted to compliance – I loved it.

2)    I didn’t love those scenes because Cliff has really sexy voice and looked attractive handcuffed to that bed, or because Keith has a great sweet smile, or because Don (and his tight t-shirt) and Madison had a really steamy time together.  I loved those scenes solely for the artistry involved.

3)    My dad used to work in a steel mill.

 

What’s that, you say?  You don’t believe my dad worked in a steel mill?  You got me.  He worked in an iron foundry.    Three statements:  2 truths and 1 lie.  Three day tours.  Lots of shots of threesomes.  Three Cs for a score of 300.  Triangles here, there, everywhere.  What’s with the threes?  Are we getting three bad guys this season?  One for Felix’s death, one for the ice machine death, one for the bus crash?  Have we been told two truths, and a lie?  Felix died, the crash-people died, Abel’s daughter didn’t die?  Or is the answer going to involve a triangle or trio of some sort? 

 

You got me again – I have no idea.  Just throwing this out there because I think there are some clues here.  The game that tour-guide Dean set up seems important to me – like maybe we viewers are being told we should be playing it with Rob T.  Notice that the game has everyone trying to identify the lie – and it’s not always obvious to those listening.  That circumstance is repeated throughout the episode, some examples:

 

·        Hannah tries to discern Logan’s lie - did he pretend to care about her, or is he now pretending not to care?

·        At first, Cliff thought Daphne was very convincing – but her interest in him was all a lie.

·        The Pi Sig brothers believed that Bird-dog had sex with Veronica – but he was lying to them

·        Veronica is uncertain about Troy – is he lying about his reformation?  Is he lying about Stacy?

 

Dean tries to use a seemingly outrageous lie (about Reno) to distract Veronica from the real lie, a much more difficult lie to spot, about his dad selling Fords.  I don’t know what to make of all this, except to say that I think we’re going to find that there’s a significant mislead, involved in the solution to this year’s mystery.

 

Let’s talk about the title:  The Rapes of Graff.   First, it is, of course, based on the phrase – or book title – The Grapes of Wrath.   The phrase refers to consequences of built-up rage.  And we see people seething with anger in this episode:

 

  • Despite her claims to the contrary, we can see that Veronica continues to harbor resentment toward Troy.
  • Stacy is so filled with anger about her rape that she wants to see Troy drawn and quartered, so she can kick the pieces.  
  • Chip is absolutely furious with Veronica for invading the sanctum.
  • Hannah’s father, Tom, is so angry with Logan, he feels close to killing him.
  • Dick’s claims to be happy Madison has dumped him, but we find him playing a violent video game, and making very unconvincing arguments about the advantages of his new-found freedom.
  • Stacy releases some of her anger by targeting Gordon for his nasty gift-giving, and sending the hair flying around him.

 

We learn that Stacy vomited all over Troy.  Gordon has his stomach pumped.  18 shots of vodka – who knew?  Yep.  You take in to much of the fiery stuff, the pressure builds up, internally.  You explode. 

 

On the other hand, if you are too empty inside, and pressure builds up externally, you might very well implode. 

 

VERONICA:  So the contest winner gets to push that thing.  You know, that thing like Bugs Bunny always pushes, and the stadium explodes?

HARD HAT:  Plunger, right.  But if we did our work right, the stadium implodes.

 

The results of explosion and implosion look very similar – and in both cases, it’s the imbalance between external and internal pressure that causes the violent reaction.  Logan is our boy on the verge of implosion, and as the pressure builds up externally, he’s tries to keep his balance by filling the emptiness inside up with beer and bravado.  But that combination doesn’t work too well, not nearly as well as Hannah’s love was working to fill the void.  He finds himself so compelled to avoid implosion, so desperate to try to re-achieve that blissful state of balance, that he goes after Hannah even though it could cost him his freedom.

 

The episode feature several images and mention of jailing (e.g., Get Out of Jail Free Card, Cliff’s handcuffed state) and of freedom (e.g., the essay contest from Woody, Dick claiming to be free of Madison).   But what we learn, mostly through Logan and Troy, is that freedom isn’t really, or only, about staying out of jail.  Freedom is about exactly what our founding fathers suggested it was about:  the inalienable right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  You really need to feel you have all three of these rights, before you feel free.  When you live (or in Troy’s case, have lived) a lie, it’s that Pursuit of Happiness part that gets tricky.  You find you’ve boxed yourself in – you’re trapped by your own lies.  Look at Don Lamb – Madison’s legal – so he’s not in danger of going to jail.  But that’s not enough, is it?

 

Many references to locations – even to hell and paradise – also speak to the freedom theme.  Notice how Veronica has the idea that freedom means moving out of Neptune, and maybe to Maine.  In Maine, Veronica would be away from the all the things about Neptune that make her feel oppressed and misunderstood, and away from Dad’s watchful eye. But in this same episode, Hannah moves away from Neptune and to Vermont – and for her, New England is a prison.  She surely longs to come back to Neptune.  

 

One person’s hell is another person’s heaven.  Because it’s not about Maine, or Neptune, or Vermont, or Hawaii, or Wheaton, Illinois.  It’s not about where you live your life, so much as how you live it, which defines the extent to which you live it freely. 

 

Wallace always seems the free-spirit because he’s always himself, and he always tries to makes the best of whatever situation he’s in.   Hannah, too, will be OK.  I imagine Hannah is hurting, but one way or another, she’s going to make it.  Like Wallace, Hannah is unpretentious and her sincerity will serve her well when it comes to healing and adapting and finding happiness.   Logan and Veronica need their Hannah and their Wallace, respectively – note how lonely Veronica appears after Wallace leaves her without a partner, and note too, the parallel in the “gimme five” scenes for both pairs.

 

Some other, random thoughts:

 

  • Lots of mention of jokes or sense of humor in the episode – I think it’s about the whole “viewpoint” thing.
  • Dean!  Where did they find that guy?  I loved this kinda quirky, kinda not, performance.  He couldn’t have been more white-bread and blah - in one way - but there was just something about him . . . half the time, I thought Veronica was going to find the roofies and hair clippers under his bed.  And his father being a car salesman!  Perfect.  The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, did it?  Dean is a born salesman; he never stops selling Hearst.
  • Speaking of apples near trees, notice how this image of “like father, like child” is repeated with Veronica and Keith – both get what they want by presenting a disturbing photo to an interested party, and suggesting that said party would not like the picture to get out.
  • We never did find out who raped Stacy, did we?  I guess those clippers could be under Dean’s bed after all.
  • Logan & Hannah!  Too cute!  Both performers did a wonderful job conveying the feelings involved.  Troy is trying to convince Veronica he’s changed, and maybe he has.  And the parallels drawn between Logan and Troy in this episode (among other things, both experience having charges dropped) are about just that:  Change.   The experience with Hannah has changed Logan.  Not completely, not, I’m sure, without backsliding, but nevertheless, it has changed him.  He’s changed into a more or less good boy.
  • Why was Troy so worried about the rape charge?  Wouldn’t the DNA evidence have proved him innocent?
  • Why didn’t Cliff and Keith even bother to ask “Daphne” what the guy looked like, who asked her to steal the briefcase?
  • I know it’s not exactly age-appropriate, but I kinda like Don and Madison together.  Don’s emotional age and sophistication is not so different from Madison’s, and for Madison, I’m sure Don is a considerable improvement over Dick.  They have quite a bit in common in that the outer shell doesn’t do that good a job disguising the insecure kid underneath.

 

On the mysteries front – I have no new theories for you.  I appreciate a bit of complexity, but this year, I’m beginning to wonder if we haven’t crossed the line into “too complex.”  There are so many different elements to try to reconcile, that I think it is too convoluted to care.   I may even stop watching all together.  I don’t even care if the show is renewed or not.

 

OK, OK – enough with the lies.  J.

 

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