Veronica Mars

You must have heard of the tv series Veronica Mars. Maybe you’ve followed it right from the start, like me. If not, and you’re curious about the series, read on.

On a superficial level, VM is just like other American series for teens – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Roswell and many others. The difference is that VM is also a series about a PI. Veronica is not only a high school student (in the first two seasons), but also a private investigator.

At the beginning of the series. the school where Veronica is a student, and the little town where she lives, is  stunned by the brutal murder of Veronica’s friend, Lilly Kane. She was the daughter of an IT millionaire and was found dead on the family’s patio. One of the suspects in the case was Lilly’s own dad.

Veronica’s dad, who was the sheriff of their little town – Neptune, California (imaginary town) – was the one who dared to accuse one of the most prominent citizens of the town. He lost his job over that. At almost the same time his wife leaves him.

What’s left of Veronica’s family is now poor and impopular and Veronica can’t hang out with her old, rich friends.

She makes a new friend – a guy who has just moved into town – but she’s still obsessed with finding out who killed her best friend and to regain the good reputation she and her dad used to have.

Throughout season 1 she keeps getting closer to the solution of the crime, but she also solves other crimes, for instance for people from her school. She also gets to know a computer expert, called Mac (her real name is Cindy, but she hates that.)

In the last episode of season 1 Veronica finds out who killed her friend, but at the same time, she and her dad end up in mortal danger. She also falls out with her boyfriend, who is also her best friend’s ex. Unfortunately, she and her dad’s has him figured as the prime suspect for the murder.

At the beginning of season 2, Neptune High, Veronica’s school, is the victim of a major tragedy.. A bus full of students from poor families, end up in a traffic accident. Before long, it’s apparent that the accident is suspicious and Veronica decides to investigate. For instance, her ex’s new girlfriend is in the bus when it goes over the cliff. She is also the sole survivor of the crash, but ends up in a coma.

For various reasons, she hated Veronica, but ironically, it’s thanks to her that Veronica isn’t on the bus when the accident happens.

Just like in season 1, Veronica solves other cases too, but the main theme is the bus crash. After following a number of false leads, Veronica finds out who was behind the crash. This time too, she ends up in serious danger. She also finds out that she was raped, even though at first it looked as if she wasn’t – she’d had voluntary sex with her ex-boyfriend, who she thought was her half-brother.

Confusing? If you’d followed the series, you wouldn’t think so. In any case, her ex wasn’t her brother, but someone really had raped her while she was out cold. That’s where season 2 ends.

Now I’ve watched season 3 as well. Sadly, that’s the last one ever. I’m sorry about that, but on the other hand, no series can last forever. Also, I have to say that season 3 wasn’t nearly as good as the other two.

The reason I can really recommend this series is that it maintains a high quality throughout the two first seasons. The dialogue is great, the main characters are well defined, and the series writers don’t hesitate to deal with serious problems. Unlike many series I’ve seen in the past four or five years, this feels a lot more genuine.