Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B | 7 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Art Imitating Life
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 8 | Aired on 11.20.2006
In the food court, Veronica is telling Wallace that the plan is in motion, and that they found the perfect "eyewitness" to the kidnapping. Wallace then sees Chip, now wearing a head cap under his baseball cap, tentatively enter the room. He heads for a table, and some guy, as he passes, plays conductor to a rousing rendition of "Here Comes Peter Cottontail." Well, I'm not condoning the sentiment, but I certainly think this is well cleverer than you'd expect from your average meathead. It's better than anything Veronica came up with in regard to Chip's predicament, and I suddenly feel like I just accidentally proved that Veronica has actually turned into Dick Casablancas, which would explain an awful lot about this season. Anyway, Chip gives the ringleader a pretty impressive flying tackle, taking down a passing blonde girl in the process. Wallace quickly gets involved, getting the girl out of harm's way, but soon he's gotten clocked for his trouble. This spurs Veronica into action, and it's awfully plot-driven that she doesn't grab her stun gun, given that she's done so for a lot, lot less. But she doesn't, so the only thing that saves her from ending up on the floor as well is a big guy tossing one of the impromptu singers off of Veronica and carrying her to safety. In the next room, the guy calls Veronica by name as he explains that "Mr. Echolls" has been concerned about her safety, and hired Beefy Guy to keep an eye on her. Veronica seethes with about eighteen different emotions.
Sheriff's station. Lamb enters, and Sacks informs him that someone is there who claims to have seen Selma having a fight with a girl from the college the night she disappeared. Said guy, Morty from earlier, pipes up, "Found her!," pointing at a picture in the college directory, presumably Hallie's. Morty doesn't look like he's showered recently, so it's a good thing Lamb's been a lot nicer this season, or I'm betting Veronica would have slipped Morty an extra twenty to shake his hand.
Lamb has pulled Hallie over and, displaying a search warrant, orders her out of her car.
Veronica, loaded for bear, marches into Logan's suite and cuts to the chase, saying that she's been terrified for the last few days that someone was following her, and that Logan had no right to do what he did. Logan concedes that that's probably true, but he doesn't care, since he has to make sure she's safe. As usual, there are points on both sides of this argument: Veronica, as we've seen, has been reckless on enough occasions with her own safety, and Keith, as noted here and everywhere, has been disturbingly unaware and unconcerned. However, Veronica is a legal adult, and it's not Logan's place to take responsibility for her safety upon himself, not least because such assumptions of responsibility are doomed from the start. But I do like the way Logan expresses himself here: he's saying, basically, that he knows he can't produce a two-column proof that he's morally justified in what he did, but still, he's choosing the only course of action he can live with. It doesn't make it right, but it's the both the most effective and the most honest strategy available to him, I think. Veronica, for her part, half-yells that this is who she is, that it shouldn't be news to Logan, and that if he expects her to change, their relationship won't work. Logan turns that right around, saying that she constantly expects him to change. And this is an interesting point, because I don't see so much that Veronica expects Logan to change, but that he actually has changed, for the better, as I've said on more than one occasion. Whether this entitles him to demand anything from Veronica now is another point entirely. Logan assertively tells Veronica that he loves her, and asks if she loves him. Veronica, looking as lost as she has in a long time, answers, "Yeah." That probably doesn't look all that convincing on the page, and there's a reason why. Logan asks if they can go a little easier on each other, and Veronica -- a subtle mask already coming up -- agrees that that's a good idea. Logan embraces her and asks if they're okay, and Veronica, another layer of mask coming up, says that they are.