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Veronica Mars: Season 2 DVD Review

Veronica Mars: Season 2

September 14, 2006

Director: John Kretchmer, Nick Marck, Rob Thomas, Jason Bloom,
Starring: Kristen Bell, Percy Daggs III, Teddy Dunn, Ryan Hansen, Tessa Thompson, Jason Dohring, Kyle Gallner, Enrico Colantoni, Francis Capra,

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DVD Review

J.D. Lafrance

The second season of the cult fave television show Veronica Mars starts off with Veronica (Bell) about to begin her senior year in high school, she has a new boyfriend (Dunn) and she’s solved season one’s mystery. She’s even sworn off investigating any more mysteries. However, when Wallace (Daggs III) comes to her asking if she could check out why he failed his mandatory drug test that resulted in him getting kicked off the basketball team, she finds the lure of another juicy mystery too powerful to resist. Wallace claims he’s clean and is being set-up because he’s poor while the star quarterback passes even though Wallace saw him get high.

As Veronica asks around, she finds out that several other high profile school athletes have also been penalized – what is their connection? This story leads into the season’s on-going mystery: a fatal school bus crash that killed a bunch of Veronica’s classmates. Was it an accident or did the driver commit suicide? Plenty of dirty secrets from several characters’ past are uncovered as a result.

The show’s creator Rob Thomas has always acknowledged the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show as a big influence and in a nice nod has two of its regulars appear in this season. Charisma Carpenter guest stars as the sexy, rich mom of one of Logan’s friends, Dick Casablancas (Hansen). Alyson Hannigan shows up in “My Mother, The Fiend” as a flamboyant show business type who is trying to get Veronica’s story from season one made into a movie and is also directing the school’s production of Hamlet. She is also reunited with her Buffy co-star Carpenter in this episode as bitchy rivals who have a deliciously catty scene together in which they trade barbs.

Veronica Mars continues its distinctly cinematic look with a dark colour palette that separates it from any other teen shows on T.V. It also has very witty dialogue and fascinating characters while not being afraid to show the deep resentment between the haves and the have nots. In this season, Veronica rejoins the rich, in crowd known as “the 09ers” and has to deal with Weevil’s (Capra) resentment of abandoning the poor kids for the affluent clique.

Rob Thomas’ show is getting better and better and hopefully its dedicated viewership is expanding as well. Veronica Mars has been renewed for a third season and should be interesting to see were Thomas and his writers take these characters next.

Special Features:

“A Day on the Set with Veronica Mars” features Kristen Bell taking us through a typical day of shooting the show. Early mornings are often spent in rehearsal with scenes being shot over the course of the rest of the day. She shows us where the wardrobe trailer is located and points out the military training base located next door that ends up ruining a lot of their production sound with all of the noise that they make.

“Veronica Mars: Not Your Average Teen Detective.” Rob Thomas describes the character as “a postmodern Nancy Drew.” Originally, the show was a young adult novel that Thomas wanted to write but eventually mutated into a T.V. show. He cites Twin Peaks as a huge influence and how it taught him to solve a mystery in due time. Bell speaks eloquently about what drew her to the character while other cast members offer their two cents.

Finally, there is the obligatory “Gag Reel,” a pretty funny collection of blown lines and general goofing around on the set by the cast.

J.D. is a freelance writer who is currently doing research for a book on the films of Michael Mann. He likes reading anything written by Jack Kerouac, James Ellroy, J.D. Salinger, Harlan Ellison or Thomas Pynchon. J.D. is currently addicted to the T.V. series 24 and enjoys drinking a lot of Sprite. This is not a blatant plug for the beverage but if they ever decided to give him a lifetime supply he certainly wouldn’t turn them down.
view all DVD reviews by JD Lafrance

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