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
Pan High. Richie is chagrined to learn that his buddy "Zeke" bet money on Neptune. Veronica is there, and I hope this doesn't count toward those excused absences she asked for, or she's a worse negotiator than it looked. Zeke exposits that he got Neptune at no line even though their record is much better, and a bunch of kids are going to go out to "Rest Stop 15" and lay money on the game. "Betty" asks what Rest Stop 15 is, and is told that it's an overlook where kids go to "park," but you can also get any manner of illicit substances there. It seems way contrived that Veronica wouldn't have known about it already, between her ex-popular girl status and her current occupation. I mean, I can see her playing dumb for the benefit of the Pan kids, but from her later conversation with Weevil, it seems like she really was unaware of it. All this exposition about Point Contrivance is interrupted by a bunch of people cheering a geeky-looking kid named "Wilson," who apparently stole Neptune's parrot. The cheering is in turn interrupted by the discovery of an oversized box with a tag reading "Dear Pan High. Bon appetit. Love, Neptune." Veronica looks wary, catching wind of an odor that's either literal, figurative, or both. Richie takes the top off the box, and the sides fall away to reveal many pounds of ground "100% goat meat," and a bell that apparently belonged to Billy. In keeping with my earlier comment, I bet Sam the butcher had his hands full with this one. Anyway, the kids are appropriately outraged, which is to say that there are murmurs, whispers, and, dare I say, a rumbling or two.
Outside, Veronica catches up with Wilson, who, in addition to having horribly flat and greasy hair and being a dork, barely is taller than Veronica. Maybe you should wear your hair like A Flock Of Seagulls, kid -- it'd solve two of your problems. Well, okay, one. Veronica gets him to show her the photo of him with "Polly" that he has stored in his phone, and gushes all over him about how stealing a parrot takes "a real man." I think she's subtexting the sarcasm underneath the ditziness here, so hee. Also, she's watching carefully as he turns the combination to his locker. Wilson claims he just walked into Neptune, and no one even asked him anything. Veronica: "That's so brave! I can't believe that worked." I have to say here that, much like with the voice-overs, a little meta goes a long way. Let's not overdo it, here. Veronica asks Wilson if he'll show her around Rest Stop 15. Wilson nods. That's quite a battle between the blood rushing to take the message "Find out what the hell Rest Stop 15 is!" to his brain, and the blood rushing...in the other direction. Veronica tells him to meet her there at 4. He dorkily scoots off, and Veronica takes the opportunity to open his locker. She grabs Wilson's phone and calls someone, saying she's sending him or her a picture, and asks if he or she has heard of Rest Stop 15. Upon presumably hearing a yes, she's like, "Why doesn't that surprise me?" Damn. Wilson must get good reception if Veronica could reach Lilly.