Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B- | 4 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Her Name Is Luka...
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 7 | Aired on 11.08.2004
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.So like, you guys? You know how sometimes, something really terrible happens, and the world looks really bleak, and then you get a little good news that make things look just a bit brighter? Well, that's what happened to me when Veronica Mars got picked up for the whole season. And good thing, too, because we find out a lot of backstory this week. But last things first: At the beginning of the episode, Veronica tells us that a crime has been committed, and the scene at the apartment complex looks grim. Cut back to one week earlier, where Veronica's pregnant neighbor is dating Parker from Buffy or Gayoda from Dawson's Creek, however you like to think of him. Neither is particularly appealing, so it probably won't surprise you to learn that he's kind of a jerk. The pregnant neighbor goes missing, and Veronica takes it upon herself to find her. Keith warns Veronica that this might not end well, and when we learn Preggers had been raped, we know he ain't kidding. I was patting myself on the back for figuring out that Preggers's father was the rapist about fifteen minutes before the end, which is way earlier than usual for me. It was pretty understated for this type of storyline, though, which is a good thing. But now for the really juicy parts: Weevil and Logan get detention together, and try to out-charisma each other. While the contest is too close to call, the audience is definitely the winner. The two of them pull a huge prank, and Weevil gets expelled, but doesn't rat out his new accomplice. Logan pays him back by pulling some strings to get him readmitted. These two's newfound BFF status may be threatened, however, by the revelation that Weevil and Lilly definitely had something going on. In other news, Duncan definitely broke up with Veronica before Lilly's murder, but Lilly wouldn't tell her why. And lastly, Veronica's mom and Duncan's dad were an item in high school. And with that revelation, if you'll excuse me, I need to go check on the forums, because I have the strange feeling that they're hopping. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
I said it before, but: full-season order! Yay!
At night, Veronica is sitting on the steps to the upper level of her apartment complex, looking on at the lights flashing from the ambulance that's pulled up next to it. VMVO says that she looks back over the past week and wonders if things could have turned out differently. There's an election joke in there, but I think it's time to move on from that. After all, I'm a uniter, not a divider. (Hey, I can't strain the credibility of that expression any more than it has already been strained.) She adds, "If I hadn't met the girl. If I hadn't initiated the case. If I hadn't interfered, would tonight be just another dull, quiet night in our apartment complex?" Oh, Veronica. Don't you know that the nights that seem quiet in apartment complexes such as yours are the best ones for wig-ripping? (Lisa Rinna opened that door. It's going to be hard to close it again.) We see someone strapped to a gurney with his face covered. Now, I don't think this was supposed to be the fake-out it might seem on first viewing -- there's an IV bag, and the way the person is strapped in is clearly meant to immobilize the shoulder, so I think we're supplied with enough evidence that the person isn't dead. But it's still a little cheap for this show. And, as someone who gleefully makes Uranus jokes at the slightest provocation, I should know from cheap. A sad-looking Veronica's shooed out of the way by the paramedics as VMVO muses, "Is it my fault a horrible crime played out its final chapter here? Or was what happened inevitable?" Veronica and Keith exchange a long look. Veronica turns away first, and Keith celebrates his staring-contest victory into the opening credits.
At the apartment complex, Veronica's carrying a basket of laundry as a graphic informs us that it's one week earlier. Veronica greets the pool boy and gives him his SAG card. How generous our heroine is. She then greets a pretty pregnant redhead with a "Hey, neighbor." Pretty Preggers looks a little upset. She says something about a CD she borrowed, and when Veronica tells her she heard it playing the night before, Preggers realizes, "You can hear us fighting!" And at the revelation that she lives on the second floor, I would have to be a mature person not to dub her "Luka." Veronica asks her what the fight was about. She is obviously too young to remember the song. Luka, I should mention, is holding what looks like a large-scale version of the Taco Bell dog, and I have to opine that it's too bad this show doesn't occasionally descend into Twin Peaks-esque randomness. Because wouldn't you just love to see the dog tell Veronica to drop the chalupa. Luka tells Veronica that her journal is missing, and that she thinks her boyfriend "Andre" took it, because he suspected her of having a thing for her boss. Taco Perro barks, lightening the mood, and Veronica picks him up, calling him "Killer." She tells Luka that if he were her dog, she'd put him in a little sailor's outfit. Well, at least we know what happened to the original Backup. He was like, "Homey don't play that shit," and with good reason, too. Anyway, the restorative effects of dog barking are apparently temporary, as Luka looks upset again. She asks Veronica for a favor: She's getting some test results back from the doctor on Tuesday, and would Veronica give her a lift? Sure, Luka. And shall we stop at the social worker's before or after?