In the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the second season of Veronica Mars, everything hurts and I won’t forgive any of you for this. Ever. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Veronica Mars.
Fuck everything.
Trigger Warning: There has to be talk about rape and child molestation in this review due to the content of the episode.
- It’s not even that I find Veronica Mars to be a particularly optimistic show. It’s fun (UNTIL IT HURTS YOU SO VERY BADLY), and it’s empowering a lot of the time. But I’ve seen the show go to very grim and dark places. I mean, that season one finale is fucked up. Death, disappointment, and a lack of closure is written into the show all the time!
- It’s just that… it’s all at once. In rapid succession, the rich and the powerful get away with what they’ve done, and there’s no justice whatsoever, and everyone’s leaving or is dead and I just can’t.
- BUT I MUST. FOR THE GOOD OF THE SITE. FOR THE LOVE OF Y’ALL. I know I say I hate y’all all the time, but I don’t. I’m just in a lot of pain.
- I just hate Aaron Echolls forever and ever, and it was just so fucking unbearable to sit through his testimony, to know how much he was lying and relying on his good looks and fame to get away with it. His machinations from inside his jail didn’t just work, they were a demonstration of his privilege in the most egregious way possible. I hate what Aaron Echolls did, and I hate what he represents.
- UGH HE HAS FANS WHO ARE CHEERING FOR HIS RELEASE. I HATE IT. IT’S SO UGLY. YOU ARE ALL AWFUL PEOPLE.
- I really do appreciate Gia in this episode because she’s genuinely thankful for what Veronica did for her, and her desire to hang out and study with her is real. There’s a lot of posturing and deception in this town, but Gia is one of the only purely good people left.
- I was going to write this big thing about how cute Jackie and Wallace were in that cupcake scene but I can’t. I can’t write about happy things because everything is ruined. THERE IS NO HAPPINESS HERE.
- I can’t even write about Weevil studying and actually passing algebra because HE’S ABOUT TO GET ARRESTED FOR THUMPER’S DISAPPEARANCE.
- UGH EVERYTHING IS TAINTED IN THIS EPISODE, except for maybe Mac and Cassidy, who actually share a few cute moments! But nothing comes of it, so WHATEVER.
- Then there’s Lucky, who is fired from Neptune after the events in “Look Who’s Stalking,” and he decides to take it out on the student body in general. So much of Lucky’s justified rage and confusing is misguided, and that’s what makes his story so heartbreaking. He has every reason to be angry at the way the world has turned against him. He’s a man without a support system, and unfortunately, that’s often the case for too many kids who are molested and too many veterans of wars. In Lucky’s case, he occupies both groups, and it’s sad. That doesn’t mean I condone or excuse his behavior, but it doesn’t negate the tragedy of this all, either.
- Of course, if he had actually shot Jackie or Wallace, I think I would have passed out from the terror. BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST THAT COLD OPEN IS SO MANY LEVELS OF NOT OKAY.
- Which is why I was immediately furious for Woody Goodman’s intentional distancing from Lucky. YOU ARE LYING AND YOU ARE A LIAR AND I HATE YOU.
- Your password is “MrGoodWood” YOU ARE SO FUCKING GROSS AND I HATE YOU.
- Casual reminder that there was a scene in this episode where Jackie told her father that her life had never been better than it was at that time.
- Casual reminder that this show has no qualms about ripping your heart out.
- CASUAL REMINDER THAT THIS SHOW GAVE US THAT SCENE IN WOODY’S HOUSE WHERE VERONICA DISCOVERED THAT HE WAS A CHILD MOLESTER AND THEN HE’S STANDING THERE AND STEVEN GUTTENBERG’S FACE IS SUDDENLY THE SCARIEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN.
- I MEAN.
- I always thought his happy-go-lucky demeanor was an act, a mask of sorts if you will, but this episode reveals what a manipulative demon he is and HE FRIGHTENS ME TO THE CORE OF MY BEING.
- Oh my god, I HAVE SAID AT LEAST TWO REALLY UNFORTUNATE THINGS ABOUT WOODY GOODMAN. Oh. OH NO.
- He’s the worst I HATE HIM SO MUCH.
- And then the show just… shit, y’all. This show repeatedly goes to a deeper and deeper level of uncomfortable or rage-inducing frustration every five minutes in “Happy Go Lucky,” and let’s just talk about Veronica’s testimony, shall we?
- I hate Aaron Echolls’s lawyer, and I don’t care if that is his “job” to defend his client. WHAT THE FUCK DOES VERONICA’S PRIVATE MEDICAL RECORD HAVE TO DO WITH THIS FUCKING CASE? YOU ARE A PIECE OF SHIT. I HOPE YOU NEVER FIND HAPPINESS EVER AGAIN, YOU…. you fictional character who will probably never appear again. Anyway, I don’t believe that lawyers are exempt from criticism for their behavior in court just because it’s their job, so you better believe that I am judging that man now and forever.
- Note how much this is about slut-shaming Veronica as a way to distract the jury from suspecting Aaron. His
- Wow, I was once happy that Mr. Lobo vouched for Terrence because it meant that Terrence was finally off the hook.
- Ha ha ha! I am laughing to keep from sobbing until I am dehydrated.
- PRESENTS
- OH.
- OH MY GOD THERE ARE BOMBS IN WOODY’S HOUSE
- IF GIA DIES BECAUSE OF THAT SCUMBAG WOODY, I AM GOING TO BE SO UPSET.
- If you needed any more proof that Woody is the physical manifestation of white rich dude privilege, look no further than the scene where he promises to crush Keith Mars. There it is, y’all. It’s one of the best demonstrations of what it means to be on the right side of society. Woody is popular, white, rich, and respectable to the people of Neptune. He will find a way to get away with molesting three boys because he can.
- (The unbelievable parallel between him and Aaron Echolls is so undeniable at this point that I’m going to pass out. Christ. It doesn’t help that a real-life version of this plays out all the time, and even recently, Woody Allen’s rape of Dylan Farrow is eerily similar to this. This is what we get when we support a rape culture in our society and in our communities. We allow these scumbags to get away with it.)
- Hey, remember when Jackie and Terrence were happy for a whole sixty seconds? Seriously, I almost want to go back and time how long they were happy because GOD THIS SHOW HURTS. Part of me doesn’t necessarily feel super terrible for Terrence because… dude, the guy made so many mistakes along the way that got him in debt to Mr. Lobo in the first place. He owes that guy a ton of money, and Mr. Lobo did Terrence a favor in order to get some of that money back.
- Still, his relationship with his daughter is the main collateral damage, and it’s devastating.
- I’m sure that Keith’s treatment of Aaron’s lawyer didn’t end up going over well with the jury, but I still love him for it. Fuck that guy.
- Hey, remember when this episode was already stressful and upsetting enough? Two of Woody Goodman’s victims were Marcos and Peter, who died on the bus crash.
- SERIOUSLY DID WOODY CRASH THAT BUS TO KILL THE PEOPLE HE MOLESTED????
- Except how was it possible that the same bomb was used on Woody’s car and the bus? The same type of bomb??? That would imply Lucky was the one who put the bomb on the bus, but why?
- EXCEPT IT CAN’T BE LUCKY BECAUSE HE WAS IN A HOSPITAL AT THE TIME OF THE CRASH. Oh my god, y’all, I don’t get it. I DON’T GET IT. Who the hell did this???
- I love that Logan chose to implicate himself in a felony rather than let his father lie. Of course, he got immunity from prosecution, but I honestly don’t think that changed what he would have said regardless.
- So, there’s a lot happening on this show right now. A lot. And amidst this, I’ve enjoyed how much we’ve seen of Wallace’s life since he got back from Chicago, and I just sort of assumed that he was always going to be around. And yet, this episode harshly and unfairly reminds me that this might be it. I nearly started bawling when Wallace was saying goodbye to Veronica because it felt so final, and I don’t want him to go. He’s one of my favorite fictional characters ever, and I can’t bear the thought of him leaving the show.
- There’s one tiny bit of hope that Veronica might stay in Neptune, though, and that’s due to the fact that she chose to skip her exam in order to hear Aaron Echolls’s verdict. She gave up her chance at the Kane Scholarship so that she could see Aaron’s face at the precise moment that he was declared guilty.
- But I should have known. Woody skipped town; Jackie left for Paris. Everyone is leaving. There’s no closure. And there’s no closure for Lilly Kane’s murder because Aaron Echolls is not guilty.
- I am still numb from this, y’all. It hurts more than I can stand because he fucking got away with it. He used his money and his power to destroy the evidence against him, and HE GOT AWAY WITH IT.
- I am so broken by this goddamn show.
The video commission for “Happy Go Lucky” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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