Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 4 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Is This Betty Ford We're Talking About?
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 16 | Aired on 03.28.2005
Wallace sinks down by his locker. Veronica appears and slides down next to him. Wallace somewhat despairingly tells her that the coach and all his teammates want him to play, but that he can't cost Polly her life. Veronica sympathizes, and then asks, "Would it cheer you up if I brought back the goat?" As if they didn't like you over at Pan enough already, Veronica -- you bring Billy back, and you and Richie will be King and Queen of the prom. Of course, the crowns over there come from Burger King, but for fifteen miles inland, that's still pretty classy.
Journalism room. Veronica unceremoniously tells Meg she needs her help, and asks how her broadcast was interrupted. Meg tells her that when there's no breaking news, they use a show they record the night before. Veronica realizes that the kidnapper must have cut the announcement into the tape before it aired that morning. Meg very nicely calls Veronica out on the fact that Veronica's treating Meg like a leper. Veronica turns to go, but Meg calls after her that she wants everything to be okay between them. Veronica somewhat bullshitedly tells Meg they run in different circles, and that she can't start hanging out with people who have ignored and mocked her for a year. Lucky thing I haven't done either, or my chances of scoring an interview with Kristen Bell would be slim to none. Meg suggests that they could have their own circle without the haters, and Veronica noncommittally says that's a possibility, as long as she can get the name "Mrs. Meg Kane" out of her head. Well, you know she was thinking it. But really, Veronica, it would take someone with infinite patience to endure Celeste Kane as a mother-in-law. And given Meg's "Saint Blonde" nickname, don't you think the whole thing fits?
Anyway, perhaps she does, as we cut to Veronica and Meg going over the tape. Meg suggests that they might be able to see a reflection in the shiny gym floor. After some zooming, they discover that the kidnapper has the number 13 on his sneaker. I guess that number was unlucky after all. Meg and Veronica share a conspiratorial smile, and Veronica says she needs a basketball program. Aw, they're friends again! At least until Duncan and Meg get to third base.
Hallway, pre-game. Clemmons is flabbergasted when Veronica enters with Polly and Billy in tow. Delighted, Clemmons asks who had Polly. Veronica sees Richie entering with his team, and asks Clemmons to give her a second. She goes over to Richie, who's happy she made it. In her normal voice, Veronica sincerely tells him that he's a great guy, and that if the popular kids at Neptune were half as nice as he is, she'd want to be popular. Aw. She goes on to wish him good luck, and says he's going to need it: "Wallace Fennel has a killer crossover. But it's really his sweetness and purity of spirit that makes him unbeatable." And I was already feeling diabetic from all the snickerdoodles. No, that's really sweet, and about time that Veronica showed some real affection for her best friend. Richie, for his part, has no idea what Veronica is talking about. Perhaps he'll figure it out on the long, long ride back to Glenoak. Veronica then goes over to the Neptune team, and tells Wallace to warm up, as Polly has been found. She confronts the guy "Jack" whom Wallace laid that sweet move on earlier, and who just happens to be Neptune's number 13. She informs everyone that with Wallace out, Jack, as point guard, could control the outcome of the game, just as he did the year before, when he blew two free throws in the final minute. If that's true, I'm guessing Wallace wasn't the person who christened that flagpole. Veronica adds that she posed as a cheerleader to Jack's mom, and told her they needed Polly for the game that night, and she produces pictures of Polly in Jack's bedroom to squelch any lingering doubts. Veronica speculates that to cover Weevil's Neptune bets, Jack must have bet thousands on Pan to win. Clemmons leads Jack away, no doubt doing him a favor before his teammates can get him into the locker room. The coach -- who I think is the same guy that broke up the fight between Logan and the biker in "Clash Of The Tritons" -- tells Wallace he's in. Veronica calls him "Air Fennel," and the team heads into the gym. VMVO says that the ritual of the big game is another "high-school high that makes me want to eat rocks," but for Wallace...she smiles and heads into the gym.