thoughts on Veronica Mars
May. 16th, 2005 07:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rusty_haloI watched the first season of Veronica Mars this weekend.
I'm definitely in favor of watching whole seasons of television at once. It reduces frustration immensely; you don't have weeks to speculate and wonder and come up with amazing scenarios in your head that the show could never live up to. You just take the show for what it is, which is a lot more satisfying.
So, yeah, the show is okay. I don't see all the wonderfulness that you guys have been raving about, though. But I didn't hate it, and there were some aspects that I really enjoyed. I don't adore Veronica, but I like her infinitely better than I ever liked Buffy. She takes responsibility for her own actions instead of whining and blaming circumstance. And she sees the world for what it is, instead of chasing some ridiculous fantasy of "romance" and "normal." I respect her, whereas I never respected Buffy. The ending of Veronica Mars is never going to be "Yay, Veronica can go to the mall and buy shoes!" Thank god.
I like that Veronica is clever and technologically astute. She's got a lot of traditional "sidekick" qualities; she's more Willow than Buffy, more Chloe than Lana. I *really* like the idea of putting those qualities into a lead character, instead of sticking to a boring princess type.
The show actually reminded me vividly of the Christopher Pike books I used to read as a kid. They were also set in California high schools and dealt with similar class issues. And mysteries. Actually the similarity was really striking; a couple of times it was almost like seeing a Pike book acted out. (Like "Remember Me" or "Master of Murder." Weird.)
And I guess I can add Logan Echolls to my list of favorite fucked-up bad boy characters. I pretty much found myself watching only for him, almost from the beginning. How sad is it that I can predict exactly how I'll feel about a show just from glimpsing a few LJ posts on my friends' list? Well, that and anytime jennyo bitches about a character, I can almost guarantee I'll love him. :P
The animosity toward Logan kind of astounds me, actually. All he ever did was act like a rich teenager with a fucked-up family. Every time he's had to make a major moral choice, he does the right thing--he's practically a saint when it comes to the big issues. I'm not even going to bother reading TWoP; I have no patience for those judgmental unsympathetic assholes who will be ranting about him. ("Apologist"? Please. How about "compassionate human being"?) The show keeps setting you up to think that Logan has done something awful, and then it turns out that, oh, actually, he hasn't. I guess some people see only surface, though.
Actually, Logan reminded me most strongly of Jaime Lannister. Both rich, powerful, born to privilege, with unbelievably fucked-up families. It's wonderful watching Jaime break away from his corrupt family and start making his own ethical choices. And, y'know, compared to Jaime, Logan really is a saint; the first thing Jaime does in A Song of Ice and Fire is throw a seven year old kid off a tower to protect his incestuous affair with his sister. If I'm defending him, Logan is sort of a no-brainer.
I'm not sure if I'll watch next season. Well, I probably will, for Logan. But the re-emergence of Veronica's creepy boring ex-boyfriend (Duncan?) is not something I'm looking forward to. If they go with that lame old love triangle thing, I'll definitely not bother.
It weirded me out that they were playing the Garbage song "Bad Boyfriend" during a bunch of Logan scenes. I'm having bad Marti Noxon flashbacks, here. He counts as a "bad boy," I guess, 'cause of the whole fucked up family/abused kid/tendency toward violent outbursts thing, but as a boyfriend, he was pretty much a saint. A bad boyfriend wouldn't have stood up to his asshole friends for mocking Veronica... or told her the truth about giving drugs to Duncan even though she could've hated him for it... or shown pretty much constant concern for her happiness.
I don't really like the mystery of the week stuff, either. This is more of a personal preference than a complaint; I stopped watching X-Files because I got so bored of the monster of the week episodes. (Well, that and the arc, which was what I really cared about, got so stupid that I stopped caring.) I get really invested in certain stories, to the extent that I really can't focus on anything else, and find anything else distracting and irritating. So I hope that next season will have a similar season-long arc, because too much mystery of the week stuff will put me to sleep. (And I guess it also doesn't help that I figured out nearly all of the mysteries right away, and waiting for the characters to catch up is boring.)
Oh, um, those who say that the show is an ensemble... are you kidding? Every character exists in relation to Veronica. I suspect that this would drive me crazy if I cared enough about the show to bother investing in it.
One thing I did realize, which is interesting, is that I watch for characters, not plots or ships really. Well, okay, I knew that, but what I also realized is that really, I watch for one character. I'm sort of fantasy-object monogamous that way, I guess. I watched BtVS for Spike, I watched QaF for Brian Kinney, I watched Highlander for Methos, I watched Smallville for Lex, and I watched Veronica Mars for Logan. I think this is what has me drifting away from television as a medium, actually... it's not really set up for that kind of focus on one character. (Well, it is, but I've never found myself drawn to a lead character. Mainstream television doesn't make leads out of the type of character I like.)
Also... I like the actress who plays Veronica. She's really very good at capturing the complexity of the character--her strength, her damage, her cynicism, and her youth. But just a general plea to the gods of television: let's have a show about a young woman who isn't tiny and blond, okay? Please? Speaking as one of the many non-tiny, non-blond young women on the planet.
Hey, so is anyone out there writing Logan slash? :)
I'm definitely in favor of watching whole seasons of television at once. It reduces frustration immensely; you don't have weeks to speculate and wonder and come up with amazing scenarios in your head that the show could never live up to. You just take the show for what it is, which is a lot more satisfying.
So, yeah, the show is okay. I don't see all the wonderfulness that you guys have been raving about, though. But I didn't hate it, and there were some aspects that I really enjoyed. I don't adore Veronica, but I like her infinitely better than I ever liked Buffy. She takes responsibility for her own actions instead of whining and blaming circumstance. And she sees the world for what it is, instead of chasing some ridiculous fantasy of "romance" and "normal." I respect her, whereas I never respected Buffy. The ending of Veronica Mars is never going to be "Yay, Veronica can go to the mall and buy shoes!" Thank god.
I like that Veronica is clever and technologically astute. She's got a lot of traditional "sidekick" qualities; she's more Willow than Buffy, more Chloe than Lana. I *really* like the idea of putting those qualities into a lead character, instead of sticking to a boring princess type.
The show actually reminded me vividly of the Christopher Pike books I used to read as a kid. They were also set in California high schools and dealt with similar class issues. And mysteries. Actually the similarity was really striking; a couple of times it was almost like seeing a Pike book acted out. (Like "Remember Me" or "Master of Murder." Weird.)
And I guess I can add Logan Echolls to my list of favorite fucked-up bad boy characters. I pretty much found myself watching only for him, almost from the beginning. How sad is it that I can predict exactly how I'll feel about a show just from glimpsing a few LJ posts on my friends' list? Well, that and anytime jennyo bitches about a character, I can almost guarantee I'll love him. :P
The animosity toward Logan kind of astounds me, actually. All he ever did was act like a rich teenager with a fucked-up family. Every time he's had to make a major moral choice, he does the right thing--he's practically a saint when it comes to the big issues. I'm not even going to bother reading TWoP; I have no patience for those judgmental unsympathetic assholes who will be ranting about him. ("Apologist"? Please. How about "compassionate human being"?) The show keeps setting you up to think that Logan has done something awful, and then it turns out that, oh, actually, he hasn't. I guess some people see only surface, though.
Actually, Logan reminded me most strongly of Jaime Lannister. Both rich, powerful, born to privilege, with unbelievably fucked-up families. It's wonderful watching Jaime break away from his corrupt family and start making his own ethical choices. And, y'know, compared to Jaime, Logan really is a saint; the first thing Jaime does in A Song of Ice and Fire is throw a seven year old kid off a tower to protect his incestuous affair with his sister. If I'm defending him, Logan is sort of a no-brainer.
I'm not sure if I'll watch next season. Well, I probably will, for Logan. But the re-emergence of Veronica's creepy boring ex-boyfriend (Duncan?) is not something I'm looking forward to. If they go with that lame old love triangle thing, I'll definitely not bother.
It weirded me out that they were playing the Garbage song "Bad Boyfriend" during a bunch of Logan scenes. I'm having bad Marti Noxon flashbacks, here. He counts as a "bad boy," I guess, 'cause of the whole fucked up family/abused kid/tendency toward violent outbursts thing, but as a boyfriend, he was pretty much a saint. A bad boyfriend wouldn't have stood up to his asshole friends for mocking Veronica... or told her the truth about giving drugs to Duncan even though she could've hated him for it... or shown pretty much constant concern for her happiness.
I don't really like the mystery of the week stuff, either. This is more of a personal preference than a complaint; I stopped watching X-Files because I got so bored of the monster of the week episodes. (Well, that and the arc, which was what I really cared about, got so stupid that I stopped caring.) I get really invested in certain stories, to the extent that I really can't focus on anything else, and find anything else distracting and irritating. So I hope that next season will have a similar season-long arc, because too much mystery of the week stuff will put me to sleep. (And I guess it also doesn't help that I figured out nearly all of the mysteries right away, and waiting for the characters to catch up is boring.)
Oh, um, those who say that the show is an ensemble... are you kidding? Every character exists in relation to Veronica. I suspect that this would drive me crazy if I cared enough about the show to bother investing in it.
One thing I did realize, which is interesting, is that I watch for characters, not plots or ships really. Well, okay, I knew that, but what I also realized is that really, I watch for one character. I'm sort of fantasy-object monogamous that way, I guess. I watched BtVS for Spike, I watched QaF for Brian Kinney, I watched Highlander for Methos, I watched Smallville for Lex, and I watched Veronica Mars for Logan. I think this is what has me drifting away from television as a medium, actually... it's not really set up for that kind of focus on one character. (Well, it is, but I've never found myself drawn to a lead character. Mainstream television doesn't make leads out of the type of character I like.)
Also... I like the actress who plays Veronica. She's really very good at capturing the complexity of the character--her strength, her damage, her cynicism, and her youth. But just a general plea to the gods of television: let's have a show about a young woman who isn't tiny and blond, okay? Please? Speaking as one of the many non-tiny, non-blond young women on the planet.
Hey, so is anyone out there writing Logan slash? :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-20 10:48 am (UTC)Jaime's an interesting guy. You''ll have to read Storm of Swords and find out. >:)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-23 03:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-24 08:59 am (UTC)