Veronica Mars Reviews: Season 2, Episode 12

Veronica Mars S01 titleEpisode 12: Wallace and Rashard Go to White Castle

Following on the heels of last episode’s visit from the Chicago reporter, Wallace has decided to do the right thing and tell the truth about Rashard Rucker running over the homeless dude a few months back while drunk. Veronica reminds Wallace that Rashard is the best high school basketball player in the country, the next LeBron James, so people aren’t going to be happy. Wallace says he has to do the right thing and Veronica promises to stand by him no matter how many people hate him. At the police station, Keith has decided to check out the bus crash interviewKeith gathers some evidence tapes himself, so he cons Inga (the receptionist) into going to the file room to get some old expense reports for him. He uses the knowledge he gleaned talking to various coops about security last episode to encode a keycard for the evidence locker. He gets in, takes all the interview tapes, and gets out before Inga returns. The next day, Wallace and Veronica are surprised that the story about Rashard hasn’t broken yet, since the reporter was the one who talked Wallace into coming forward.

Weevil confronts Molly Fitzpatrick about her and Felix being involved and Weevil talks to Mollyshe admits it, but says Felix wasn’t mixed up with her family’s dope business. In fact, if her family had known she was seeing Felix, they probably would’ve killed both of them. Weevil asks how they even met and Molly says they met at church. (Weevil: “St. Mary’s … the only place the micks and the spics can get together without punches being thrown”.) Molly says her uncle (the hilariously-named Patrick Fitzpatrick) is a priest there; she says her family is thirteen hoods and one priest, which sounds like one of those Cagney movies from the 30s.

Wallace’s father calls from Chicago to tell him that Rashard and the other two kids from the car told the reporter that Wallace was driving when theWalace and Veronica read how Rashard screwed him over homeless guy got run over, and that’s the story that’s all over the media. Wallace thinks Rashard didn’t sell him out, he figures it was Rashard’s uncle (who’s also his manager) pulling strings to get his meal ticket out of trouble. Veronica’s not so sure Rashard is such a stand-up guy, but Wallace points out that Rashard is in Los Angeles to check out colleges, so if he can just talk to him they can straighten everything out. They’re interrupted by Jackie, who’s still trying to get back in Wallace’s good graces, but neither he nor Veronica is in a forgiving mood.

Veronica and Wallace talk to Cliff (Veronica’s lawyer friend), who negotiates a self-surrender for Wallace in five days. If he doesn’t show up, he’ll be arrested and thrown in jail. Wallace hopes they can prove his innocence in Keith examines the photo of Terrencethat time and Veronica’s already been laying the groundwork. An ex-student told her that UCLA is giving a dinner to woo Rashard into choosing them and Veronica mentions that there are always girls hanging around outside trying to latch onto guys like Rashard. That might give them a chance to get close. Keith asks Veronica to shred some evidence for a client who reconciled with her husband and Veronica notices something in one of the photos. In the background at a party, Terrence Cook is canoodling with Ms. Dumas, the teacher who died in the bus crash. Veronica admits that she has a tape proving Terrence owes a ton of money to some scary gambling dudes.

At Logan’s place, he and Weevil discuss Weevil’s theory about St. Mary’s church being the contact point between the Fitzpatricks and whoever’s been dealing dope in Weevil’s gang. Weevil says Father Patrick used to be a gangster himself and points out there’s one very quiet place in the churchUncle Rucker lays down the law where drugs could be exchanged. As Weevil’s sneaking out of Logan’s place, a maintenance guy sees him and takes note. At the UCLA party, Rashard is accompanied by a couple of good-looking girls who want to have some fun. Veronica brings a limo to pick Rashard up, but his Uncle Rucker notices and jumps in before they can get too far, telling the girls to take a hike. Veronica directs the driver to a parking garage where Wallace is waiting to talk to Rashard, but Uncle Rucker won’t let him say a word and threatens to call the reporter who broke the story … and the cops.

Veronica and Wallace are forced to let them leave and Veronica mentions how hungry she is. Wallace remembers the night of the accident, they went Logan and Weevil try to be sneakythrough the drive-thru at White Castle, so the guy who served them can testify that Rashard was driving, not to mention there’ll be video footage. Back in Neptune, Veronica goes to work at the coffee shop and it’s Karaoke Night. (Britt Daniel from Spoon performs Elvis Costello’s “Veronica”, making all the other singers feel like crap.) Weevil asks Veronica if she’ll bug the confessional booth at St. Mary’s; she’s … not enthusiastic about the idea.

Logan is there too, sitting one tale away from Weevil, which is very inconspicuous. Veronica says if this is the best sneaking they can do, maybe they need a disguise. (“I have a pantomime horse disguise you could use … do either of you have any experience being a horse’s ass?”) Veronica finally agrees to set up a video camera in the confessional, but no sound. At home,flashback to Dick's interrogation Keith is listening to the interview tapes he took from the police station. Dick and Beaver both told Sheriff Lamb about the gross smell in the back of the bus and how they decided to hire a limo to take them back. Both of them knew Curly Moran (the dead guy who washed up on the beach with Veronica’s name on his hand); he was a mechanic who worked on their father’s cars. When Veronica gets home, Keith suggests that the rat might not have been meant as a message to her; it might just have been a way of getting all the kids who could afford an alternate form of transportation off the bus.

At school, Wallace tells Veronica that the drive-thru guy (whose name is Guy) has disappeared, along with the surveillance tape. They figure Uncle Veronica plants the cameraRucker must’ve gotten to Guy and paid him off to get lost. Veronica goes to St. Mary’s and sets up a camera in the confessional booth. She tells Father Fitzpatrick that she sometimes tries to take bad people down herself instead of letting God do it. Father Fitzpatrick quotes the old “vengeance is mine” passage to her. Veronica and Wallace head to a frat party where they know Rashard will be, but it’s for Alpha Rho Nu, a black fraternity, so Wallace has to go in alone.

Wallace finds Rashard and tries to convince him to tell the truth about what happened. Rashard isn’t in the mood to lose his big deals, so he tells WallaceJackie tells Wallace to get lost to fuck off. Wallace finds Jackie hanging out with Rashard and gives her shit, but she says he has no claim on her. Rashard gets some of his boys to throw Wallace out and Jackie invites Rashard to come to a club in Hollywood called Thin. Veronica’s outside and sees Jackie and Rashard leave. Wallace runs into uncle Rucker, who gives him shit again and asks where Rashard went. Wallace tells him he left with his ex, but he knows where she likes to hang out.

At Thin, the doorman (who’s a cop who moonlights as a bouncer there and invited Veronica to stop in last episode) switches Uncle Rucker’s phone for a bouncer gives Veronica the phonedifferent one when he comes in. Veronica takes Uncle Rucker’s phone so she can figure out where the White Castle dude is stashed. She retrieves the video from St. Mary’s on the way home and checks it out, but it looks like Father Fitzpatrick is innocent. She does find something interesting on the tape though; Liam Fitzpatrick left a bible in the confessional booth, which was later picked up by Thumper, Weevil’s gang buddy. Weevil’s not happy when she shows him the video.

At school, Veronica gives Uncle Rucker’s phone to Wallace and tells him to forward all the numbers in it to his father in Chicago, so the cops can track down Guy, the White Castle dude who got paid off. Jackie shows up to joinWeevil about to get pounded the celebration and it turns out she was in on the whole thing, luring Rashard to the club. Jackie asks Wallace out but he already has a date. Weevil calls a meeting of the bikers to let them know Thumper is working with the Fitzpatricks dealing drugs. Turns out they all know already; Weevil was the only one who wasn’t in on it. He reminds them the Fitzpatricks killed the bikers’ former leader, Felix’s brother. Thumper mentions that Hector’s cousin saw Weevil coming out of Logan’s place, so he can’t really talk about loyalty too much. The bikers tell Weevil he’s out of the gang and beat the shit out of him.

After the bikers leave, Thumper admits he killed Felix but tells Weevil he better keep his mouth shut. Thumper has video on his phone of Weevil kicking the shit out of Curly Moran, who later washed up dead on the beach, beaten to death. Thumper says if Weevil starts talking about who really Wallace's dad confronts Guykilled Felix, the video will end up with the cops and Weevil will go down for killing Curly. In Chicago, Guy, the White Castle guy, is trying to impress a couple of girls, which isn’t easy for a geek like him. But he has a duffel bag full of money, so the girls are prepared to tolerate him … until Wallace’s father shows up to interrogate Guy about who was really driving the car that night. The next day, Weevil is forced to take the bus to school, since his former friends drove his motorbike into the ocean. Wallace thanks Veronica for helping clear him and when UncleWeevil all beat up Rucker calls about his missing phone, Wallace tells him he should’ve learned to keep his mouth shut. At home, Keith hears on the interview tapes that Gia’s father (Woody Goodman) told her not to take the bus home the day it crashed. Before he can process that, a news report mentions Terrence Cook being brought in for questioning about the crash. The suspects are really piling up now, but I’m sure Veronica can sort it all out.