OPEN CASE:  Veronica Mars

 

Season 2

Episode 20

 

LOOK WHO’S STALKING: Stuck on you

By Spring Summers – 02-May-2006

 

It seems to me that this episode is all about relationships – who sticks with us (whether we want them to, or not) and who falls away (whether we want them to, or not).

 

The episode’s title mentions stalking, and we do look at people who are stalking.  We look at those who – unbidden, unwanted - make themselves a part of our lives:

 

VERONICA (about the incorporation defeat):  “So Neptune has to keep us.”

KEITH:  “What’s a yacht without barnacles?”

VERONICA:  “So I’m stuck on something.  And hoped you could help me.

 

Some unwanted barnacles in this episode:

  • Chlamydia has found its way into Veronica’s body.
  • Leo is following the unhappy Gia.
  • Corny and his buds are going to the prom, though they are unwanted.
  • Don Lamb tells Keith Mars that he’s not wanted at the crime scene.
  • Butters is forcing Mac to go to the prom with him.
  • Lucky has been taping Gia.
  • Veronica “lies in wait” for Gia.
  • Keith handcuffs himself to Lucky.
  • Everyone is stuck together on the “longest elevator ride ever.”

 

It’s part of the package, when you’re sailing through life.  If you’re going to get anywhere, your boat’s gonna attract some barnacles.  What’s a yacht without barnacles?

 

Many references to who-owes-whom also underline the significance of other persons in our lives, i.e., the way the actions of others impact us, both positively and negatively.  (Listen to references to “owing” and note that Leo’s license plate is IOU875.) Continuous reference to how well people know (or don’t know), and can read (or can’t read), each other, also speaks to the quality of the relationships. (Did Dick Sr even know his wife?)  Because we’re not just looking at “who’s stalking.”  We’re also looking at who’s caring, and who’s not.  A few examples:

 

  • Jackie is happy that a parent finally has time for her.
  • Jackie and Wallace appear to be in love.
  • Veronica and Logan also, in their fashion, appear to be in love.

 

There is much talk of people who come in and out of our lives, of the difference between bimbos and girls who smell of promises, between epics and episodes.

 

Now let’s take a look at what went on in this episode, and why.

 

1)  Veronica has Chlamydia!  Why?

 

Well, now – this is interesting, isn’t it?  Veronica has had only one sex partner:  Duncan.  So she got Chlamydia from Duncan.  No doubt about that. I can’t in a million years believe he got it from Meg.  She plainly was not the sleep-around type, and I believe Duncan to be her first and her only.  So - Duncan slept with someone besides Meg and Veronica.  No doubt about that, either.  Are we to believe that Duncan slept with Kendall?  I hate to believe this, because Duncan is enough of a sigh-inducing, not-fun mystery.  Was he really in love with Veronica?  Was he in love with Meg?  How did he really feel about anything?  Who knows?  It’s all even murkier now, in an area that needed no more murk.

 

2)  Woody set up Keith with that “drunken” girl!  Why?

 

Now, this is an interesting question.  What did Woody’s little set up end up accomplishing?  Let’s see:

  • It sure makes Woody look heterosexual, at least in Keith’s eyes, if no one else’s.  Could this be important to Woody, if he’s trying to hide a secret related to his sexuality from Keith?
  • It made Keith look bad.  I can only give this a big “so what?”  Keith is already defeated as Sheriff.  Is Woody worried Keith might discover something, and so he is pre-emptively discrediting him?
  • It ends up making Woody himself look shady, and leads to the defeat of incorporation.  Could Woody be secretly against incorporation, and looking for a way to get it defeated while seeming – to whoever might be pressuring or blackmailing him – to do his best to make it happen?  Surely, Woody must have known, or could have guessed, that Keith would publicly defend himself. 

 

KEITH:  “Woody’s scared of something and he’s lying and it’s serious.”

 

Yep.  I wish I could guess what he’s scared of, though.

 

3)  Aaron’s former cellmate stole Cliff’s briefcase.  Why?

 

What was in that briefcase?  According to Cliff, an address book, receipts, some keys, a copy of Elle Magazine, and Logan’s murder case files.  So – it’s between the Elle Magazine, and the murder case files.  I’m gonna go with the murder case files.  But why, oh why, does Aaron want his son’s murder case files??

 

What is the connection here?  Do you notice how I am answering my questions with more questions?

 

4)  Woody hired private security to follow Gia.  Why?

 

Obviously, Gia is in danger.  I guess from Lucky?  Because Woody has done something horrible to Lucky, and perhaps Lucky has made threats against Gia?  If it’s about Woody’s sexuality, could it be that Lucky and Woody were lovers?  Man – that one is hard to believe.  I don’t get those vibes at all.  But maybe Woody hurt someone Lucky cared about?  Did Lucky have some connection to Peter Ferrer, the gay classmate who died in the bus crash?

 

5)  Jackie says to her dad:  “I learned the birds & the bees the hard way, remember?”  Why?

 

Whoa-ho!  What does this mean, exactly?  This suggests that Jackie . . . what?  Got pregnant and had a baby or an abortion?  Or got a sexually transmitted disease like . . . CHLAMYDIA??  Surely not?  Duncan & Jackie?  Since when?  My head has started to hurt.

 

6)  Lucky videotaped Gia.  Why?

 

Because, says Lucky, “He deserved it!! He deserved it!!”  “He” sure seems to be Woody.  And Woody hurt Lucky or someone Lucky knows and cares about . . . see question 4, above.

 

7)  Mr Manning bailed out Lucky!  Why?

 

Mr Manning, Mr Manning, Mr Manning.  “Guess he’s got a soft spot for weirdos” guess Don Lamb.  We know Don is no fan of Mr Manning’s.  We also know Mr Manning is a very twisted guy, who abused his own little girl by keeping her in a closet.  Please don’t let any of this be about pedophilia.  I know it happens and everything, but it’s more than I could stomach.

 

8)  The story about Terrence throwing the championship game comes out!  Why?

 

Hmmmmm!  Someone leaked the story to the press about Terrence!  Who knew?  Ms Dumass is dead.  Don Lamb knew.  I could easily believe Woody knew.  But who gains what from leaking the story?  I suppose it makes Terrence look even shadier than before, and could be a move, by the actual perpetrator(s) of the bus crash, to make Terrence seem even more suspicious and guilty.

 

OK.  Well.  I’m done with the question & (no) answer section of our program.  And now, I just have to throw this in here:  Oh – how I loved the way Veronica razzed Madison about being on “the Lamb!”  The law comes down hard . . . cops all over you . . . yes, indeed.

 

And Logan & Veronica!  Oh my, my, my, my, my!!!  Good, good stuff.  Kristen and Jason – bravissimi!  I was totally googly-eyed watching those two, every single minute they were on screen.  They were so funny at the lockers, so gorgeous together in their formal wear, so heart wrenchingly doomed in that excruciatingly painful final scene.

 

They don’t write stories like this about the ones that come easy.  I love it.  I hear the bells.  I want more. 

 

So - consider me glued to my chair.

***

 

 

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