In the thirteenth episode of the second season of Veronica Mars, it’s a wacky caper in a carnival! AND SADNESS. LOTS OF SADNESS. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Veronica Mars.
Oh, I have some thoughts about this episode, y’all. Trigger Warning: I have to bring up transmisogyny near the end of this.
- This is perhaps the first episode this season that’s just…okay. There are some neat stories told through Jackie, Terrence, Keith, and Weevil, and it’s dense as most of this season has been. And I love a good slow burn story! But I’m more interested in the ramifications of this episode than what actually happened.
- “Ain’t No Magic Mountain High Enough” tackles one of my favorite noir/mystery tropes, except it encompasses the entire school instead of a single locked room. This is a whodunit with a number of suspects, all with their own motivations, and the resolution is massively complex and satisfying, especially since all of the unlikable, unsympathetic characters don’t get away with what they do here. The bigot is the thief! Weevil gets revenge on Thumper! J.B. is out of the race for the Kane scholarship! Clemmons further respects Veronica! And my favorite aspect of this? Veronica coming to Jackie’s aid and getting closer to her and YES YES YES YES YES YES.
- I do admit that it’s really cool that this episode is able to address a common thing – the ruthless nature of the citizens of Neptune – after Jackie’s father is dragged through the press by Sheriff Lamb. It’s also so wonderful to watch Keith and Terrence interact while all of this is playing out. The writers don’t ignore the issues of race and class that intersect here when it comes to the cooks; Ms. Hauser is openly racist towards students of color throughout this episode. She clearly favors Madison in the opening scenes, and she makes that horrible, derogatory comment about Jackie being trash regardless of her zip code, so yeah, my accurate “prediction” about her being the thief was more or less me wanting to see a racist punished. THE SHOW GRANTED THIS TO ME. IT WAS GLORIOUS.
- And I don’t think it’s impossible that there are complex issues at hand when it comes to Terrence Cook’s problems. Through his conversation with Keith, the writers unearth a whole lot of baggage, both political and personal, that’s going to make his charges hard to fight. Over the course of their scenes together, Keith implores Terrence to be honest about what’s at stake and what sort of history Keith is going to have to deal with. Terrence is reluctant to do so, especially since so much of what he’s done to get in this situation is clearly immoral. But it’s important that Keith, despite being heartbroken over one of his heroes disrespecting the game of baseball and being an adulterer, demonstrates that bad deeds don’t imply guilt. Just because Terrance did a bunch of really awful things doesn’t mean he blew up that bus. (I’m still confused as to what Sheriff Lamb thinks is Terrence’s possible motivation. Does he know about the affair between Terrence and Ms. Dumass? If not, then…what?)
- We’ve also got yet another twist in the Fitzpatrick family history, as Terrence’s gambling problem involves him owing a massive debt to the clan. But it’s all rooted in Terrence’s terrible decision: he threw a game of the World Series in order to wipe out his debt. And it’s so hard to watch Keith just…droop. His whole body responds to having his hero destroyed RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. Good god, WHY IS THIS SHOW SO PERPETUALLY NOT OKAY?
- That also goes for Jackie Cook, whose story in this episode is just brutal. I really think that scene in the bathroom exemplifies the similarity between Jackie and Veronica: While her father is being vilified by the people of Neptune, she’s not going to sit there and do money. So she becomes the metaphorical punching bag for the people at the carnival, raising money for the senior trip in the process, and it’s just the most RELENTLESSLY SAD THING. And it’s unfortunately not surprising at all, given what we’ve seen of the people of Neptune in the past. This is what they do; this community is cutthroat and vicious, and they take it all out on a teenage girl. Ugh, that image of her sitting there while she shivers in the cold is too much for me. It’s too much. Which is why I love that Veronica takes it upon herself to prove that Ms. Hauser and Madison’s false accusations are fucked up.
- There’s only a brief scene with Wallace, and he adoringly throws the balls out of the carnival itself, and I bet if he hadn’t been stopped, he would have gotten rid of all of them so that no one else would be able to dunk Jackie again.
- THESE CHARACTERS, I SWEAR.
- Logan’s story is fascinating, too, as this episode slowly shows us his more charming side as he tries to court Hannah. I didn’t really see where this was going, but it was nice to see something…nice? Like, there was no cynicism or corruption in their story at all.
- HAHAHAHA, HANNAH’S DAD IS DR. GRIFFITH. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS COULDN’T END WELL.
- So. Mac and Cassidy. I like the idea behind what happens here. This episode demonstrates what an endless jerkface Dick is, and both Mac and Cassidy get back at Dick by showing him that they’re in control and unafraid of his taunting. What I don’t like is how this show (again!) uses a trans woman as a joke, perpetuating a super ugly and violent stereotype that all trans women are just hiding and deceiving their “true” gender from cis people. Please don’t take my word for it; I’m not going to do much educating at all here because it’s not my place, but this was a super gross twist that I’m not okay with, and I urge you to read what trans women have to say about passing and about the damaging deception trope that literally leads to the murder of trans women all the time. I mean, this whole plot relies on the notion that it’s disgusting and embarrassing to be attracted to a trans woman! And that’s not even touching the additional insult to sex workers that you can easily read into this. This is super, super disappointing. 🙁
- I’m also not quite sure what the moral implications are by the final scene of this episode, since it turns out that Weevil was the thief the whole time. It’s sort of written off as acceptable because it means the seniors get to go to Magic Mountain (ONE OF MY FAVORITE PLACES IN THE UNIVERSE), Ms. Hauser is ostensibly fired, J.B. gets in trouble, and Veronica respects Weevil for pulling off a successful fraud. So she doesn’t turn him in, and I’m assuming that Weevil’s going to get off scot free here. I don’t know, it doesn’t bother me too much??? I can’t find a way to address this with out pointing out that numerous characters who are good people have broken the law multiple times. Hell, Keith committed a felony in the last episode. So yeah, I’m kind of okay with it? It’s par for the course for this fictional universe.
The video commission for “Ain’t No Magic Mountain High Enough” can be downloaded right here for just $0.99.
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