Veronica Mars Reviews: Season 2, Episode 17

Veronica Mars S01 titleEpisode 17: Plan B

This one starts with the English teacher announcing the winner of the essay contest … Logan. For his trenchant insights on freedom, Logan wins a week’s internship with Mayor Woody Goodman and the privilege of pushing the plunger when the old baseball stadium (Shark Field) is demolished. Veronica peruses Logan’s prize-winning essay and notices he ripped offVeronica leaves Wallace hanging most of it from Easy Rider. I guess the English teacher never saw that movie. At lunch, Weevil remembers Felix talking about his plans to become a truck driver after graduating so he could make some good money and settle down. At the time, Weevil made fun of him, not knowing Felix and Molly Fitzpatrick were an item. Veronica hangs out with Wallace and Jane, who’s ready to ask Wallace to the Sadie Hawkins Dance. Veronica is cynical about it (as usual), but has volunteered to take photos of all the happy couples.

Weevil asks Veronica to help him and she’s not too keen, but her insatiable Weevil asks for helpcuriosity won’t let her walk away. Weevil tells her Thumper is the one who killed Felix, but he can’t prove it. He admits Thumper has video of him pounding the shit out of Curly Moran and says he and several other bikers got texts about Curly causing the bus crash to kill Savando. The other bikers wanted to kill Curly, so Weevil gave him a shitkicking instead. Curly denied causing the crash and the bikers took off when a car showed up. Weevil says Thumper’s going to pay for killing Felix and if Veronica wants it to happen legally, she’d better help him.

In study hall, Wallace kinda reconnects with Jackie, who’s still worried about her father. Terrence is recovering from being shot, but he’s still facing jail time for supposedly blowing up the bus. Mac asks Beaver to theLogan being obnoxious Sadie Hawkins Dance (after he prods her into it) and he says if the dance blows, they can always find something better to do. She thinks he means sex (and is totally cool with that), but he’s actually talking about scarfing pizza at a bunch of different places. Veronica grills Logan about the witness who called 911 when Felix was stabbed and (after giving her a bunch of his usual bullshit) he tells her it was a Mexican dude in a seafood truck.

Logan goes to start his internship with Woody, who thinks it’ll be a good PR creepy videoopportunity … until he remembers Logan was recently accused of murder. He gives Logan some mail to sort into pro- and anti-incorporation piles. Keith comes in to see Woody, who asks him to drop everything and try to clear Terrence’s name. Keith reminds him that Terrence was shot breaking into his ex’s parents’ house … the same ex who died in the bus crash. Before Woody can refute that, Logan comes in to tell them he found something. One of the envelopes Logan opened had a video of Woody’s house, shot from the inside when he and his family were having dinner.

Logan and Veronica stake out the seafood company and talk to the guy who called 911. He’s reluctant to come forward, since he lives in a neighbourhood full of bikers and doesn’t want his family targeted. He hints that he savedwitness talks to Veronica and Logan Logan’s life by calling the cops and scaring the bikers off that night. Logan complains about being accused of murdering Felix, but the driver says Logan is rich, white, and a movie star’s son … in Neptune, that’s basically a Get Out of Jail Free card. At school the next day, Veronica tells Weevil the witness was a bust. Weevil fills her in on Felix and Molly’s romance and wonders if the Fitzpatricks had Thumper kill Felix when they found out. Veronica wonders how they found out.

Mac asks Veronica’s advice on Beaver. She wonders if four months without him going beyond kissing (he hasn’t even tried to cop a feel yet) is weird. Veronica says not to worry too much as long as Mac is enjoying spending Weevil gets mad at Mollytime with him, but concedes that it is a bit strange for a teenage bag of hormones not to want more from her. Weevil confronts Molly, giving her a toy truck he found in Felix’s locker and telling her Felix was probably killed on her family’s orders because they were seeing each other. He mentions Dr. Griffith, the supposed witness and gives Molly shit, saying if she really loved Felix she’d be trying to figure out who really killed him. In class, Wallace is flirting hard with Jackie, but she doesn’t seem interested. When some assholes try to get a mentally-challenged kid named Charlie to embarrass himself, Jackie forestalls them and asks Charlie to the dance.

At Woody’s office, Logan finds a stamp with Woody’s signature on it and pockets a copy. They go to the gym for a workout and Woody gets a little familiar, feeling Logan’s muscles like he’s into him or something. At theLiam mouthing off River Styx, Molly tries to get some info about Dr. Griffith from Liam, but he gets pissed off, telling her Felix was just using her and bragging to all his friends about what an easy lay she was. Veronica and Weevil are listening in, via the bug Veronica planted in the toy truck Weevil gave Molly. Liam doesn’t quite say he had Felix killed, but he comes pretty close. Veronica warns Weevil that if he takes the recording to the Sheriff, Thumper might release the video of him pounding Curly. Weevil says it’s worth it to get Felix;s killers. He also says Thumper must’ve made all that stuff up about Felix bragging, just to piss Liam off.

Veronica and Weevil go to see Sheriff Lamb with the recording, but as usual, Lamb doesn't care about doing the right thinghe’s not really interested in justice. He’s too lazy to put any effort into digging up more evidence, so he blows them off and Weevil figures it’s time for Plan B. Veronica asks him to wait, saying she might have another way, but Weevil reminds her he isn’t a patient man. Keith goes to see Woody and tells him, based on clues in the intimidating video, it must’ve been shot in November or December of last year, long before any talk of incorporation for Neptune. So whoever’s trying to freak Woody out has another motive. Woody says he’ll try to think of who else might have a grudge.

At the big dance, Veronica is taking photos of everyone (including Jackie and Charlie), while Logan and Gia Goodman take tickets at the door. Gia’s driving Logan nuts with her incessant chatter … maybe that’s why she couldn’t find a date to the dance. Meanwhile, Thumper turns up at St.Wallace kisses Jackie Mary’s to drop off some drug money when Weevil jumps him. Molly is watching from the van, so whatever Weevil’s doing, she’s decided to help. At the dance, Charlie goes home early and Wallace follows Jackie out to the parking lot and ends up kissing her. Jackie tells him to back off and that she’s trying really hard not to be the asshole who steals other girls’ boyfriends. One of Jane’s friends saw the kiss, so Jane is pissed off. She assumes Jackie initiated it and Wallace lets her believe that, apologizing and saying he had a weak moment. She forgives him and they head back inside.

Mac and Beaver cut out early and she suggests they go back to his place, but he’s still not taking the hint. Logan is about to let loose on Gia when Veronica and Logan dancingVeronica asks him to dance. I gotta say, they both seem pretty into each other. At the River Styx, Thumper tells Liam he got jumped and the money was stolen, but Danny comes in with the money, saying he found it hidden behind Thumper’s gas tank. At school the next day, Jane gives Jackie shit for being a man-stealing ho and Jackie doesn’t bother to correct her. At the old Shark Stadium, Liam and Danny tie and gag Thumper in one of the bathrooms, leaving him to get blown up in a few minutes.

Woody shows up at Keith’s office and says the stalker video was sent by a gardener his wife fired. Woody asks for the DVD back and Keith hands itwitness tells Lamb what he saw over, promising to do what he can for Terrence. After Woody leaves, we see Keith watching a copy of the video. Veronica gets the truck driver down to the Sheriff’s office (she talked to the guy’s wife, who convinced him to do the right thing) and he tells Lamb that he saw a biker stab Felix and put the knife in Logan’s hand. He didn’t see the killer’s face but describes his bike, which Lamb recognizes as Thumper’s. He puts out an APB on Thumper.

At school, Wallace admits to Jane that he kissed Jackie, not the other way around. Jane dumps him and he tries to get back with Jackie, but she’s not Thumper about to dieinterested. She doesn’t want to be the terrible person everyone thinks she is, so she doesn’t want to go out with him again. Mac asks Beaver why he doesn’t want to bang her. She’s pretty diplomatic about it, but he freaks out and dumps her when he finds out she asked Veronica for advice. At Shark Field, the demolition guys find Thumper’s motorbike chained up inside, but they don’t find him tied up in the bathroom. Woody doesn’t want to delay the ceremony, so he has Logan push the plunger and blow the stadium, with Thumper still inside. The episode ends with Weevil in church, confessing his sins.