Veronica
Mars: Open Case
===========================================================
Season
2
Episode
19
Aired
April 19, 2006
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never
Mind The Buttocks: The Art of
Misdirection
By
Sue
===========================================================
Misdirection. It's what makes prestidigitation work.
The magician knows the audience is skeptical, he knows they're trying to catch
him, to "figure it out," so he gives them something interesting to
watch while he plays his tricks.
---David Wollman on
linuxtoday.com 8-13-01
Rob Thomas is not a master magician. He is a master mystery writer, and, as such
has much in common with premier magicians.
The audience is best entertained and amused if you can convince them
that they are seeing everything while subtly (mis)directing their attention in
a dozen different directions.
"Oh
my gosh, did you see that?" (point
out the window)
"Ha,
ha, made ya look."
"Oh,
oh, don't look over there...."
"I
said don't look!"
Both
tactics will achieve the same end: your
audience will immediately look in the direction that you indicate. In the first case because they think you have
seen something interesting and they want to see it too. In the second instance it's reverse
psychology---telling someone not to look pretty much guarantees that he
will automatically swing his gaze in the prohibited direction.
So,
are we actually supposed to ignore the buttocks or by Emily LaTell-ing us to nevermind
are we actually supposed to pay close attention to the buttocks? Not that it matters, since I'm not sure
whether we are even discussing literal or metaphorical buttocks, and, if
metaphor, what exactly the buttocks are representing. Yep, my head is spinning faster than Linda
Blair's in the Exorcist.
Motive,
motive, who's got the motive?
When
Veronica first assumed that Aaron arranged the bus crash to kill her she
assumed he did it for revenge. (With the
videotapes still available as evidence his murder trial was considered a
slam-dunk.) The Fitzpatricks kill
Harry's dog--part warning maybe, part revenge for poor performance, part
warning of future vengeance. Weevil set
Thumper up to avenge Felix's death.
Harry wants revenge on the driver who killed his dog. Weevil frees his "boys" from being
used and abused by the Fitzpatricks but he revels in wrecking some vengeance in
that corner as well. Plus he produces
the blackmail list to prevent the vengeance from rebounding back on him. Billy asks Veronica not to tell his brother
about Liam Fitzpatrick because Billy knows Harry will kill Liam for
revenge. Veronica decides not to use
Harry as an instrument to avenge herself on Liam for threatening Keith. One wonders if Keith would be as forbearing,
given Liam's implied threats toward Veronica.
"Follow the money" may be sound detecting advice, but
D'Hoffryn could open a franchise in
Top
of the Food Chain
Of
course, revenge is not the only motive for crime. If indeed
Veronica
tells the lawyer that she has a clear understanding of sex because she
"watches Animal Planet."
The episode contains a number of recurring animal images. Weevil identifies closely with Buddy the
Python: both of them consume rats and
represent the "top of the food chain." (Well, at least until a really large bird
swoops down and....) It's interesting
that when the Irish go head to head with the snake this time it's the snake
that drives the Irish out. Obviously
rats, deer, and apparently pet dogs are merely prey, far down the food
chain. I wonder where the barracuda fits
in? The car may belong to Liam's
maternal grandmother but I'd say it perfectly symbolizes
Supply
and Demand: Respect the Business Model
Mac
makes a flippant remark about "respecting the business model," but
Liam spells it out: business is all
about supply and demand. The value of an
object goes up under two conditions:
limited supply or increased demand.
Liam tells the PCHers to sell more drugs by increasing demand--or at
least finding new venues, new customers, and new uses for their
"product." The possible
incorporation of part of
One principle that underlies
virtually all magic tricks is misdirection, which is the act of drawing the
audience's attention to one location while, in another location, the magician
performs a crucial manipulation undetected. For example, by drawing attention
to one hand by snapping the fingers, tossing and catching a prop, or saying
"watch this hand", the performer can force the audience to look,
however briefly, in a certain direction, and use this as cover for what the
other hand is doing. Misdirection can
also mean to re-direct or re-structure the spectator's perception of the action
taking place. For example, telling a person to "look into the empty
box" when really a secret compartment hides something. The word 'empty' is
used to restructure their perception of the box.
---Wikipedia.com
entry on Magic(Illusion)
Identity
Issues
One
of the very first facts we ever learned about
As
a show about teenagers written for teenagers (and savvy adults clever enough to
discover and appreciate something hidden away on UPN, aired opposite LOST
when not pre-empted by local sports events and billed as "Nancy Drew meets
Twin Peaks" (yes we are way beyond cool) whew I got carried away)
Veronica Mars acknowledges that searching for ones identity, and struggling
against the labels society pins on you, is a full time young adult
activity. Rob Thomas and his writers do
a credible job of fleshing out the typical teenaged stereotypes and making them
three-dimensional.
It
is interesting that so many of the characters actually have dual names,
indicating that either they, or those around the, are not entirely sure of
their identity.
Kendall Casablancas, scheming ex-professional cheerleader turned trophy
wife/money launderer with her secret identity of Priscilla Banks, scheming
ex-con cohort of violent drug dealing Fitzpatrick boys.
Beaver Casablancas, long-suffering, possibly afraid of sex, younger
brother of Dick with his secret identity of behind the figurehead CEO Cassidy
Casablancas, wheeling and dealing real estate mogul.
Bad boy Weevil Navarro, possible accessory to murder, blackmailer,
ex-gang leader and his increasingly less secret identity as a "grandma's
boy" Eli who just possibly might want more out of life than the hand he
has been dealt. Weevil is also the
clearest example of a teenager whose identity is all tied up in his
wheels. When we first met Weevil was he
a biker, impure and simple. When his
bike was taken from him, he was also stripped of his primary identity. He was reduced to a bus riding nobody. He fell so low as to use his young niece to
help him steal money to buy a car. It is
no accident that when he rides to the rescue of the PCHers we first hear the
sound of a car off-camera and then we see a large, impressive, muscle car long
before we can even see who is driving it.
Great shot! But we know who is
behind the wheel. Weevil makes a
statement even before he steps out of the car.
And, as his "ride" has evolved, so has his identity--he leaves
the bikers behind.
Butters" Clemmons, the principal's kid and his inner Vincent who
has a mega crush on Mac and is both a good dancer and an interesting
conversationalist.
Mac, who labels herself--"I do the gadgets"--and hopes the
rest of the world never finds out her real name is Cindy.
Keith, who has a pretty well established sense of his own identity, but
is still identified by Weevil (and apparently also a large portion of the
single female population) as "Sheriff."
David Moran, expert foreign car mechanic aka "Curly", expert
at special effects involving trucks plunging over cliffs.
Not
all of the characters have hidden, or even secondary, identities of
course. Jackie says of Wallace,
"I'm pretty sure there's not another Wallace Fennel." And it's true that, for the most part, what
you see with Wallace is what you get.
Even when he messes up and is temporarily two-faced with Jane it doesn't
take him long to come clean; likewise with his apology to Jackie.
Jackie
is an interesting character to consider when exploring identity. She's done a complete turnaround from the
self-absorbed rich-bitch she played at the beginning of the season. Hers is not so much an alter ego as an
altered ego. Although, to be honest it
may be a case of too much, too fast, too good to be true. I like Weevil's slower, more tempered
changes. And of course, I keep hoping
that
Veronica
and Logan remain the most multi-faceted characters in the cast. Both are too complex to simply say "this
is the face they show the public, while this is what they are
hiding." They are more complicated
than that and therefore, to my mind, the most realistic. Having raised three teenagers I'm a big believer
in understanding that most young adults have a multitude of personalities (some
human, some demon) hidden away under their skins.
And,
of course, we are still waiting to see where Dick fits in on the sliding scale
of multiple personalities. Is it true
that he's "not real complicated" or is that just one more prime
example of misdirection?
When
dealing with inhabitants of
To
my mind the episode itself had a split personality. The storyline that began and ended with
Veronica and Keith together was absolutely spectacular. What a seamless "circle of life"
story involving the parallel plotlines of Veronica's search for the hit and run
dog killer and Keith's investigation into Kendall's real identity. Where Veronica's action in removing the
bullets unknowingly saves Keith's life hours later and miles away. It was to die for. And, I'm pretty sure Liam's threats towards
Veronica will come back to haunt him.
[Okay, the guy's name is Liam, he's Irish, he sings horribly, wears a
claddagh ring and has no apparent soul.
Anybody know if Veronica owns a sword?
J ]
Unfortunately
the priceless Keith and Veronica show alternated with the dual subplots of
"Wallace and Jackie Get Together" and "Weevil Vanquishes the
Fitzpatricks (At Least for Now)."
The Wallace and Jackie interactions were, for some unknown reason,
especially ho-hum. It put me very much
in mind of Saturday morning television.
I wonder whether the Sorbonne is a convenient plot device to write out
Tessa Thompson and leave Wallace free to be BMOC next year? Weevil rescuing the PCHers was more
interesting, as well as scarily dark. Of
course the denouement was the best part:
Weevil frees his boys from Fitzpatrick control, but refuses to resume
leadership of the gang. With the loss of
Felix, Thumper and Weevil I don't see the gang staying together for very
long. Hector just doesn't cut it as a
charismatic, intelligent or strong leader.
Weevil's
parting remark, "you're on your own boys," implies more than just the
fact that he refuses to return to leading the gang. Rather it encompasses an entire philosophy of
life: each of the PCHers, like Weevil
himself, has to live his life for himself, not primarily for the benefit of others. As mentioned above, Weevil is making a
personal declaration of independence. It
will be interesting to see where it leads him.
In the past several episodes he has made a number of remarks about
needing to graduate for the sake of his grandmother. But he can't really live his life according
to her expectations either. I like to
think that Weevil has some higher aspirations for himself and has only been
using his grandmother as an excuse to save face. Will his past actions come back to haunt
him? Why else were we clearly shown the
faces of the two children in the back of the van--witnesses to his attack on
Thumper?
And that's what Misdirection is all about -
directing. I don't want to discuss if you're directing attention away from the secret moves, or towards something else. That's
merely quibbling and will not get us anywhere. In fact we're doing both at the
same time, and the end result is that the spectators don't see the secret move.
Just the fact that they don't see it is not enough, but you already know that.
Throughout your whole routine you must define a
point of interest. A place where you want your spectators to have their
attention at any given moment in the routine. If they don't look where you want
them to, they'll miss important details and/or see something they shouldn't
see, and the effect will not have maximum impact. The way to decide upon a
point of interest is to find out where you want their attention to be focused
to get the right illusion.
--Jarle Leirpoll at
www.leirpoll.com
So,
Rob has much in common with master magicians.
He also has much in common with Priscilla Banks. After wall, an elaborate con is nothing more
than creating a spectacular illusion. As
long as you can control the direction of your mark's attention you can play him
in whatever game you undertake. And,
yes, I do feel like I am being conned, played, and misdirected by a master
storyteller. I'm enjoying every moment
of it.
Last
season we knew early on that Lilly was promiscuous, that
So
we've been flashed by a large number of buttocks so far this season:
Conspiracies
Incorporations
Politics
Gay Agendas
Outings
Gay crash victims
Abused children
Strange Woody behavior
An odd videotape of Woody's home
Woody's warning to Gia not to ride the bus
Dick's "uncomplicatedness"
Cassidy's somewhat odd behavior with Mac
The who is playing whom? nature of Kendall and Cassidy's relationship
The life insurance policy on Dick and Beaver
What is Dick Sr. up to "off-shore?"
The Fitzpatricks and their possible connection to the bus crash via
Cervando and the explosives
The continuing metamorphoses of Terrance Cook: he's a great guy, he's a gambler, he had a
relationship with the journalism teacher, she was a nutcase, he's caught
breaking and entering (oh, dear, the head spinning is starting up again), maybe
he's a murderer
Where does Curly Moran fit in?
And what's up with Aaron Echolls?
Which
ones are we supposed to nevermind?
Your guess is as good as mine probably better.
______________________________________________
Please
join in the discussion of this review at the Soulful Spike Society Message
Board. Go there NOW!
If you enjoyed this
review and are reading it from outside the Soulful Spike Society website
(www.soulfulspike.com), then click the logo below to access the S3 in a new
window. There you will find more great reviews, analyses, fanfiction and a link
to our marvelous message board.
