OPEN CASE:  Veronica Mars

VM 3X07

Aired: 11/17/06

Of Vice and Men: Let’s Make a Deal

Review By Fotada

Information can be a powerful currency, and can be used for either good or evil. The power of information and the way information is wielded was a strong theme in this episode. Prof. Landry is apparently well aware of the power of information. Veronica knows of his affair with the dean’s wife, and he preemptively offers Veronica a summer internship with the FBI (and a pass on a term paper) in exchange for her silence. Veronica just doesn’t feel right about being bought off. But when she tells Landry she’s going to pass on the internship because the deal feels dirty to her, she discovers that that Landry wasn’t really attempting to buy her off after all.

Vinnie Van Lowe wants to play “Let’s Make a Deal” with Keith. He asks him to give up some key info--Kendall’s whereabouts. Doing so would surely lead to Kendall’s demise (if she’s not dead already), and Keith declines. Vinnie ups the ante: he also has proof of Keith’s affair with Harmony and uses it to blackmail him for hush money. A pretty slimy thing to do, but he redeems himself by saving Veronica’s life when she’s in Liam’s literal clutches. Ironically, he does this by pretending to pass some powerful information via a photo snapped by his cell phone along to Keith.

Logan has some powerful information on Mercer in the form of an alibi that would clear him of the rape charges. But instead of using that info, he asks Veronica to have some faith in him without telling her what it is. He asks that she try to clear Mercer another way. That’s a lot to ask of Veronica—she’s just not built that way. She grills Mercer about the night of the rape, but he won’t spill the beans either. This is a piece of information that’s better kept a secret.

When Veronica discovers the information needed to clear Mercer, she uses her newfound power to blackmail Logan: she has to know what Logan and Mercer were doing. Not because it would help further clear Mercer, but because she wants to confirm her suspicions—men will always let you down. Or will they?

Veronica has serious issues with the two men in her life: Keith and Logan. She has always looked up to her father, and once told him, “The hero is the one who stays.” Keith is, or rather was, her hero. Keith is having an affair with a married woman, and Veronica is beyond disappointed. But a hero sometimes makes mistakes. Yet, the reverse is also true--a bad boy can also be a hero. Not only does Vinnie save Veronica from Liam with some quick thinking, Logan’s diligence saves her from the attacker. And when it comes down to it, where does Veronica want to go, after being attacked? Back home, to be with her father.

In sharp contract to Veronica is Meryl, the girl who sees her boyfriend Sully with rose-colored glasses. Early in the episode, Veronica asks Logan, “How do you propose to make things right? Are you going to hypnotize me?” Meryl certainly seems to have been hypnotized—hypnotized by love. Every clue in the investigation appears to point to the fact that Sully is a debauched bad boy having a fling on the sly. Yet Meryl never stops believing in her boyfriend.

When Veronica begins grilling Sully’s study buddy, Scarlett, Meryl chides her, “You don't have to be mean.” Veronica disagrees. Neptune is a harsh town, and she has to be harsh to survive in it. She simply can’t let her guard down, especially when it comes to those she allows into her tight circle. She’s been burned too many times--by her class mates, her friends, her first love, and even her mother. As a result, she’s built an incredibly strong wall of defense around her. But until this episode she’d been able to hold on to one small shred of faith in humanity—her father.

KEITH: I know you, Veronica. You're not that jaded.
VERONICA: I didn't used to be. I had this one shining example that gave me some faith.

When she discovers that Keith is capable of poor judgment, she loses all faith. Her defense turns into offense, and boy, can Veronica be offensive when she wants to be. Her claws are out, ready for attack. She sarcastically tells her father to “go crazy” with his married girlfriend. She rakes Scarlett over the coals about her relationship with Sully. Worst of all, she blackmails Logan into giving up his alibi for Mercer. When Logan finally tells her she doesn’t like what she hears, and doesn’t hesitate to let him know. Logan is hurt. “I am your boyfriend, Veronica, and you're treating me like a criminal.”

Veronica’s lost all faith in humanity, and she didn’t have a lot of faith to begin with. Now, everyone is guilty until proven innocent, and that includes Logan as well as Sully. But to Veronica’s great surprise, Sully’s reputation is not sullied. And ultimately, she finds that the two men who had recently let her down are there for her when she really needs them. That’s the essential thing.

Meryl, the girl who had absolute faith in her boyfriend even when all the circumstantial evidence indicated otherwise, was right all along. OK, Meryl was wrong about a couple things—apparently that was Sully’s circle around Scarlett’s picture, and he actually does surf. Also, it’s highly doubtful that he invented a space laser! But those aren’t the essential things. Meryl loves Sully, and she has rock solid faith that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.

Even more telling, Meryl’s willing to do just about anything to help him when he’s in need. She waits for hours in his dorm room, calls his friends and professors, and checks the hospital. Even when she finds out that Sully’s credit card has recent charges on it from Circus of Liquors, Crazy Girls and World of Cigarettes, she doesn’t lose faith. She risks her life by going into the River Stix, alone and unarmed. Her faith never waivers. That’s love.

Logan displays similar qualities. He’s waiting outside Veronica’s class in an effort to make things right between them. He asks her, nay begs her, to trust him, to have a little faith. He brags her up to Mercer. He leaves her numerous voice mails and calls her father to try to track her down. Even after Piz makes it appear that he and Veronica were alone together all weekend, Logan continues to search for Veronica. Which is lucky for her, because it is his presence that thwarts the attack. At Veronica’s request, he takes her home to her father, and together they care for her. That’s love.

Just when all hope in humanity is gone, people surprise you. As Veronica says, the people who really deserve your faith are the ones who come through even when you don't love them enough.

Veronica spends the entire episode avoiding the men in her life. She thinks by doing so she can avoid getting her hands dirty just as when Landry offers to
“share a rib” and she declines. But as the story of Adam and Eve illustrates, men and women are forever connected, forever dependent upon each other. The story goes that God created woman from the rib of man, and for that reason they forever seek each other out to feel complete. This is illustrated in the usual ways, like the relationship between father and daughter, or between boyfriend and girlfriend. But that connection is also evident in far darker ways, such as rapist and victim. And this frightening scene: Liam hugs Veronica to him so tightly she can’t breathe. They practically share a rib! But, if you want to be an active participant in your own life, you risk the bad as well as the good. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty.

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