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Veronica Mars 1.12 FAQ

What’s it titled?
“Clash of the Tritons”

What does TV Guide say?
“Veronica is falsely accused of – and arrested for – selling false IDs to her classmates. While hunting the real culprit, she unearths a secret school society known as the Tritons. Aaron Echols, meanwhile, hires Keith to find out who’s doling out his dirty laundry to the press.”

Aaron Echols lives? Didn’t one of the servants he was boning slice him up at his Christmas party?
The writers are treating the movie star’s stabbing like a polo injury. Aaron seems as healthy as ever, except for the tiny grunts he lets out when he sits.

Do we learn this week who’s been doling Aaron’s dirty laundry?
We do.

Is Aaron Echols’ first instinct to whip the bad press with his thickest leather belt?
We’ll never know for certain.

Any sign of the late Lilly Kane, the hot guidance counselor or Veronica’s mom this week?
The hot guidance counselor (Paula Marshall) puts in a return appearance!

Any scenes between the counselor and Keith Mars?
Not this week.

Anything more on Clarence Widman, the photo-happy head of security for Kane Software? The guy who anonymously told the cops that Abel Koontz killed Lilly Kane? Perhaps at the behest of Lilly’s mom?
Not this week.

The big news?
Likely of more interest to longtime fans than the stuff with the Tritons and the Echolsi is the subplot in which Veronica, Duncan Kane, Logan Echols and even Weevil Navarro share with the hot guidance counselor recollections of the murdered Lilly Kane. We (and Veronica, thanks to some cleverly concealed eavesdropping equipment) learn much.

What revelations are gleaned from these counseling sessions?
Veronica learns much about Duncan and Weevil. Remember when Lilly told Veronica, “I have a secret; a big one”?

Why is the guidance counselor asking about Lilly all the sudden?
“The word is out,” Veronica narrates as the episode commences. “Our illustrious guidance counselor has received a grant to study the long-term effects of grief in adolescents. She’s demanding an audience with each of us hardest hit by Lilly’s death.”

What else is TV Guide not telling us?
Veronica sings Blondie! And we learn that Logan has a sister named Trina (but we don’t get to meet her this week).

What’s good?
The renewed emphasis on Lilly’s murder generally and the the way Veronica positions the listening device in particular. Some pre-chase taunting. “They take Diner’s Club here?” “You know the odd thing? Those were also her very first words.” “This is a $250 piece of crap. Now I’m not just falsely accused, I’m genuinely offended.” “The Great Triton really … doesn’t … know what you’re talking about.” Kristen Bell’s work generally and her reading of “Oh, you stop it!” in particular

What’s not so good?
I do wish, and not for the first time, that the mysteries Veronica solves at the end of each episode tied a little more tightly to the major mysteries in Veronica’s life.

How does it end, spoiler-boy?
With another cliffhanger. A late-model Dodge Viper is blocking the northbound lane of the Coronado Bridge.

Herc’s rating for “Veronica Mars” 1.12?

***1/2

The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins

9 p.m. Tuesday. UPN.

I am – Hercules!!





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