Veronica Mars 1x04 The Wrath of Con

[oyceter]

1x04 The Wrath of Con

I continue to enjoy the style of the show, despite not being incredibly interested in the MotW plots. Luckily, the writers are throwing in enough of the Lilly Kane plotline to keep me hooked, and I'm really enjoying seeing more of her every episode.

I'm also increasingly struck by the visual style of the show -- has anyone vidded it yet?? (yhlee! I am very excited about VMars vids now! This is all your fault!) I love the colors of the show, and I especially love the flashbacks. Yoon mentioned while we were watching that you can always tell when there's a flashback, and it's quite true. The hazy blue-ness of them matches the distance of the memories, makes Lilly dreamier and less real.

That said, I am boggled as to the Lilly friendship, but mostly that is me projecting, as Lilly seems like just the kind of girl who would a) never speak to me and b) scare me to death.

Great. I am starting to be suckered into Veronica/Logan. Wargh. Fine. He's ok when he's not being mean to Veronica, but I shall still sniff the sniff of disapproval. Personally, I still like Wallace out of all the guys, just because he is nice and snarky and wonderfully well-adjusted and normal. Of course, now that I have said this, the next episode is going to end up proving me wrong!

THe MotW wasn't particularly interesting, and it didn't have the good thematic ties to the Lilly plot that the prior two episodes did. Er, either that, or I am too dense to see it. No doubt I shall go back and read other people's reviews and say, "Doh!"

And wow, no wonder Keith is Scary!Detective!Dad with Troy after the other dance.

I particularly liked the chasm between Lilly's cute family videos and the ones that Veronica supplied, especially the comparison between Mrs. Kane berating her in the flashback and extolling her as a paragon of virtue in front of the school. My thought is that Lilly would have laughed herself silly to think of a fountain being dedicated to her.

Still have no idea what Veronica saw in Duncan. Duncan was so lying when he drank for "I am still a virgin" (or "I am not a virgin"... I forget if you drink if you never did it or if you did... hrm).

Veronica's superspy skills are starting to stretch the limits of my belief, as is Keith's willingness to play along, but I will be forgiving just because Keith as a DEA guy was awesome. Also, the part when Veronica enters the game place with a wig was totally taken from Alias. Also also, I rolled my eyes at what Veronica and Wallace were wearing to the college party.

And! The lady who runs the school newspaper is Kevin's old boss from JoA! Yay! Crossover! *ahem*

Anyhow, I continue to be amused, and am quite fond of the characters, who feel very real.

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I will try to dig up links--there's a quite good Weevil-Logan comparison by charmax. vonnielake is the one to ask. I actually haven't been tracking the far more numerous latter-part-of-season vids. I suspect many of them will be spoilery for you, however.

I really, really want to vid Veronica Mars but I'm just noodling with the opening of one and suspecting that I'd really rather wait for the DVDs, which I have duly pre-ordered. *bats eyelashes* You will beta when the time comes?

Check zimshan's memories (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=zimshan&keyword=VM&filter=all) for commentary, especially by ohimesamamama, on Veronica Mars's noir roots, and how the universe is slightly alternate from our own.

I've seen a couple VM/AtS crossovers. I keep wanting to write one myself, with satiric roots. :-p

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Also, the part when Veronica enters the game place with a wig was totally taken from Alias. Also also, I rolled my eyes at what Veronica and Wallace were wearing to the college party.
This was one of my least favorite moments of the series, probably because I've become so cynical about Alias. (Was a fan through S2, watched S3 and hated it, and then gave up on the show entirely.)

But I love, love, love the backstory here.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Thematically, I think the link between the MotW and the Lily storyline was the idea of how the creators of the video game were trying to con people out of their money, and how another video, namely the one of Lily, seemed like it was going to be equally fake--a representation of a Lily who never existed--to con people into remembering Lily as this perfect, sweet little girl. Veronica, in both cases, inspired the dissolution of the illusions. Hope that made sense. :)

P.S.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Logan just gets more and more interesting as the show goes along. I was very impressed with how he went from this one-note bully in the first episode to, even this early on in the series, being given signs of depth and pain.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I had no idea about that, not having watched any Alias.

Joe's and my reaction was to burst into hysterical laughter.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

And it's a good thing you've never watched Alias, because it would drive you into a sporky rage.

[oyceter]

Seconded. It drove me into a sporky rage. In fact, I don't so much speak about it so much as sputter about and wave my hands emphatically.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Though I will say it's still fun to read the TwoP recaps. (They really are best for shows you have become disillusioned with.)

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

I agree that S3 was the weakest, but S4, especially the second half, rocked my world.

[oyceter]

Woot! Thank you for the linkage!

I eagerly await the VM vid. Oooooo will you play with color and stuff?? I think Lum and/or Here's Luck had some really good posts on color and stuff for their Firefly vids at some point... must see if I remember where those are.

[oyceter]

Heh, I have Issues with Alias that are not really reasonable and incredibly frothy at the mouth. (aka, spork Vaughn! Wargh!)

I really like the view into not only Lilly and Veronica's friendship, but also into the dynamics of Lilly-Duncan-Veronica-Logan as well. And the really messed up Kane family. Wow, I am really liking the characters.

[oyceter]

Gotcha. Hrm. Not sure if it came through all that well, but oh well! Probably worked much better for other people!

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Part of the goal is to learn how to use color, but it's so alien--I can grok external/internal movement, especially with beatwhoring, but color? Gyah. We'll see. When I'm looking at a clip, first is narrative and then comes movement. Color rarely even rates...which is why I want to learn to use it.

[oyceter]

Oi, yes, me too! Hee, well this will be interesting for both of us ;). I feel like I should "study" by... watching more vids! Not like I needed an excuse.