Veronica Mars Seasons 1-3 Review

Veronica Mars (2004-2019)

Season 1 - 22 episodes (2004-05)
Season 2 - 22 episodes (2005-06)
Season 3 - 20 episodes (2006-07)
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Created by: Rob Thomas
Starring: Kristen Bell, Percy Daggs III, Teddy Dunn, Jason Dohring, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Francis Capra, Enrico Colantoni, Ryan Hansen, Kyle Gallner, Tessa Thompson, Amanda Seyfried, Teddy Dunn
Rated: TV-14
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Plot
After her best friend is murdered and her father is removed as county sheriff, high school student Veronica Mars dedicates her life to cracking the toughest mysteries in the affluent town of Neptune.

Verdict
I watched this not long after it released, though I don't like it as much now as I remember. I suppose that's nostalgia. The character of Veronica carries the show. She and her father work as private investigators. Veronica is the witty, sardonic teen that solves crimes when she's not in school. That's layered with a heavy dose of teenage drama. The first season is dark and the best season. From the contemporary perspective, this doesn't handle sexual assault as well as it should have, and that story line is pivotal to the first season. It's a stylized show due to the nature of the mysteries and the assortment of characters and socioeconomic classes. The second season also has an arc lasting the duration with the third season moving to Veronica in college composed of several mini-arcs.
It depends.

Review
The show originally ran for three seasons before a movie revival in 2014 and an additional season in 2019.

Season 1
High school student Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) attends a rich high school though she's not. She used to be in the popular clique due to her boyfriend Duncan (Teddy Dunn). He ended things, her best friend Lily (Amanda Seyfried) was murdered, and now she's on the outside.

This almost seems like a satire with a motorcycle gang that attends the high school led by Weevil (Francis Capra), and a corrupt and inept police department that ousted her father Keith (Enrico Colantoni) after he went after a suspect in Lily's murder. That's why he's a private investigator. This is film noir that meets teenage drama. Veronica is the outsider sleuth, a modern day Nancy Drew. She has a dark past with the murder of her friend, her absent mother, and of course her assault.

S1E10: Kristen Bell plays Veronica Mars

The first episode is heavy. It doesn't just layout the plot, but it reveals that Veronica was drugged and attacked at a party. The corrupt sheriff wouldn't even look into it.

Veronica and her father don't think Lily's case is solved, suspicious of the anonymous tip that solved the crime. We see flashbacks with a high level of bloom which makes them difficult to even watch. While she continues to work the murder, Veronica has cases of the week helping students. She finds solace in solving minor crimes and grievances. She thwarts scams, finds stolen cars, and tracks missing people.

In episode six Veronica gets a break in Lily's case when she realizes the shoes were planted at the convicted killer's house. In episode seven she discovers her mom and Duncan's father dated in high school. This begins the hints that she and Duncan may be siblings. This dances around that issue right up until the end of the season.

I was surprised she doesn't begin investigating her own assault until half way into the season. While she could be dealing with that trauma, the show never addresses the why. She's also wondering if Duncan is her half brother. Towards the end of the season, Lily's killer could be either of her parents or brother.

I remember really liking this when I watched years ago. I had forgotten about the mystery of the week episodes. I thought her own assault was also a bigger focus. While this is funny, it's not as clever as I recall. Despite that, Kristen Bell is the standout of the series.

S1E21: Jason Dohring, Kristen Bell play Logan Echells, Veronica Mars

Logan (Jason Dohring) has been the resident bully for the season, keeping the divide between rich and poor ever present. Veronica even helps him out when his mom could be dead or on the run. It seems his bully shtick was part of the grieving. Lily was his girlfriend. He and Veronica become involved, though he's hesitant to make it public. Their romance stumbles when Veronica discovers she was drugged at the party where she was assaulted and Logan was involved. Now it's a crime that must be solved. Before Veronica thought she was just inebriated, not that that excuses what happened. Old shows seem to be less empathetic to assaults like that. Watching this now, so many people were complicit.

The last two episodes of the season are a roller coaster. Are Veronica and Duncan related? Are they not? Did she spend that fateful night with Duncan? Who killed Lily remains a question until the very end, and the answer and resulting fallout has to carry into next season. Then there's the start of the on again, off again Veronica and Logan relationship.

While this season deals with serious subjects, and not always well, the character of Veronica and her relationship with her father form the core of the show as they chase down a wide ranging mystery. 

Season 2
Veronica starts the season back with Duncan. He broke up with Meg for her, and Meg isn't happy. Veronica is trying to get back to normal after the events at the conclusion of last season, but a school bus crash and a class trip begins the season's new mystery. Veronica was nearly on that bus. She thinks it might be Logan's father Aaron who orchestrated the crash to kill her.

S2E1: Kristen Bell, Percy Daggs III play Veronica Mars, Wallace Fennel

Logan reels after Veronica ends their relationship. He's hanging out with Dick's (Ryan Hansen) step mom. He's also arrested for a murder in which he was implicated last season. Logan and Weevil team up to figure out whether Logan really did kill a member of Weevil's gang as Weevil has since been ousted. Veronica's best friend Wallace (Percy Daggs III) is also implicated in a different crime. He didn't do it, but he's facing witnesses that want him arrested.

Then there's Duncan and a baby, which ends up with him on the run and Veronica providing him cover.

Towards the end, each episode provides a possible suspect of who orchestrated the bus crash. I don't care for Veronica dreaming about victims providing her hints. Aaron faces trial for last season, but he lies about everything in an attempt to get out of a conviction.

Veronica finally discovers who sabotaged the bus. This season plays the long game with the villain, and that makes for a very satisfying reveal.

Season 3 Title Card

Season 3
Veronica begins college. This season eschews the overarching mystery for several small ones. This was done to make it easier on new viewers. I don't mind the small mysteries, but it does stretch credibility that so many crimes and murders happen just in Veronica's first year.

This season dives into shady fraternity's, Veronica being the best student in her criminology class, the dean's murder, a secret society, and even a sex tape. Of course Veronica and Logan's relationship faces several hurdles.

This season ends on a cliffhanger after Veronica gets information on a secret society and her father is detained.

The first season is the best, but even that season is clumsy with the darker parts of Veronica's past. The third season simplifies the format to a detriment. While it makes the season more digestible as intended, it's not as engrossing. The series frequently falls into soap opera level drama, but that also mirrors the mysteries with ever changing partners and suspects. Veronica is easily the best character, and her relationship with her dad is often very sweet. While this isn't as good as I remember,  it almost does enough.