OPEN CASE:  Veronica Mars

 

Season 3

Episode 2

 

MY BIG FAT GREEK RUSH WEEK: Family Ties

By Spring Summers – 15-OCT-2006

 

Listen carefully to this week’s episode and you’ll hear nearly constant reference to family – particularly to brothers and sisters.  It would take too long to list all the times the words sister and brother are mentioned, much less to add all the other references to friends and family and personal allegiances – but if you rewatch, listen for it.  It’s nearly continuous – “my girls,” references to stereotypes, romantic connections, whose “side” someone is on, and more.

 

There are fraternities, and there are sororities.  Dick looks like the “lost Wilson brother.”  Maybe Parker should go with her family – maybe not.  Veronica is told she is “one of them,” at the school paper.  Later, she is told that she was voted into the sorority - they wanted her to be “one of them.” 

 

Neither one of these connections is lasting, for Veronica.  Connections are rational and well-founded (like those based on similar interests), or they are irrational and completely arbitrary (like those based on whether your SS# ends in an even number).  In the space of one hour, we watch families and personal connections form, tear apart, and for some (like our guard/prisoner couple), re-form.  We watch new sisters being taken into the fold at Zeta-Theta-Beta, and on the other end of the spectrum, we watch one brother kill another.

 

Throughout the episode, we look at both ends of the spectrum.  We look at the worst sort of cruelty that one human being is capable of inflicting upon another, and we also look at human capacity for selfless love and kindness.  Look at those real-life pictures from Abu Ghraib.  Look at what our characters are doing to each other in this episode – Parker has been raped.  Horshack is systematically humiliated.  Liam sets a painful trap for his brother.  The guards set a less painful trap for the prisoners.  People hurt each other accidentally.  They hurt each other on purpose.  They help each other the same way.

 

The human tendency toward clannishness, our need to belong, and our attendant vulnerability to each other, is explored in the episode.   For awhile, Parker thinks she is too immature for college because her mom keeps telling her so.  Horshack feels humiliated in part because his tormentor is relentlessly taunting him - but also, in part, because he allows his tormentor’s words to get to him.  He eats the awful food.  He drinks the panty-dropper, so to speak.  He internalizes the message – and he can’t manage to expel it very easily. 

 

Horshack can’t pee in front of others (they aren’t his family, not really), but look at Logan:  He can cheerfully streak in front of a large class of students.  What could have been a humiliating experience for Logan is, instead, a fun time for him.  It’s not just about what others do to you; it’s also about what you allow them to do to you, and what you do to yourself.

 

People have power over you; you have power over them.  You keep some power.  You have some power taken from you, against your will.  You take power from others.  When you love and trust, you give some power away – and you’re vulnerable to being trapped or tricked or hurt.  You’re also open to being helped by people who will take care of you when you’re curled up on the bathroom floor after chemo.  So you share with others, and you let them share with you.  You get hurt; you hurt others.  You’re strong in some ways, and you’re weak in other ways.  If you have a conscience, you feel guilt when you hurt others.  You awkwardly hug your roomie, trying to set things right.  You give millions to a food bank.  It’s the way of the world.

 

Our characters are learning and growing up in college, and they are finding their place in the world.  Our identities are defined in part by our associations and allegiances, and this episode is all about the trials and tribulations of finding those lasting and positive connections that we all need to live successful and happy lives.  It is named after a movie that is all about Family and Fitting In.

 

“You’re breaking out, I’m breaking in,” says Veronica, to Logan.  “Star-crossed” is the word she uses to describe their association, suggesting that they may form, and end, and reform this relationship throughout their time together.  But however long that association lasts, or is meant to last, I think Veronica’s statement is about what outlasts any relationship:  The gifts we give one another.  The analytical and cautious (and overdressed for the party!) Veronica is going to learn much from the boy who knows how to break-out; and the rash and often impulsive (and way undressed for class!) Logan will learn much from the girl who knows how to take the time to look inside.

 

Let’s talk a bit about our mysteries now:

 

KENDALL & COMPANY:  All I can say about the Kendall, Keith, Liam, Cormac thing is:  HUH?  I don’t understand what happened.  Here’s what I think I know:

 

-Kendall was keeping some money for Cormac.  She bought that picture with it, as a way to keep it, I guess.  She showed it to Keith to convince him to help her meet up with Cormac so they could take their $$ and run away together.

 

-Keith promises to help.  He gets Cormac to the secret rendezvous place.  He notices that Vinnie has planted a fake pen with (I guess) some kind of homing device in his car, and he realizes that something is up.  He rushes in to warn Kendall.

 

-He sees what he believes is Cormac shooting Kendall, and runs off.

 

-Liam sets a trap for Cormac.  He says Cormac betrayed him, and demands to know where the money is.  Cormac doesn’t know, so Liam shots him.

 

I don’t understand.  I don’t understand why, if Liam and Cormac were in cahoots, Vinnie was needed, for anything.  I don’t understand why Cormac would shoot Kendall before finding out where the money was.  The whole thing makes no sense to me, and I assume I am missing something here.  If anyone thinks they have this figured out, please post over in the comment thread (see bottom of this review for link).   I suspect I am being boneheaded somehow, but I can’t figure it out.

 

THE CAMPUS RAPES:  Well – we have no really obvious suspects right now for this.  Could our jerky torturer actually be as nasty as he was “pretending” to be?  Could Mo be involved?  Or Chip?  Or maybe our new kid, Piz?  We just haven’t seen enough for much speculating here, yet.

 

AND I MUST ADD: 

 

--Loved the Don Lamb part and the stuff about the buzzing appliance. 

 

--The Logan-Wallace relationship continues to grow and there is a possibility for real friendship there.  I like it.

 

--I wanna see Weevil.

 

--Loved the Dick/Veronica meet-up at the party, followed by Chip showing up.

 

Seems that no matter how you try to hide, something or someone is always around to give away who really are.

 

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