You are on page 1of 167

Veronica Mars

The Complete Guide

PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 17:32:17 UTC

Contents
Articles
Overview
Veronica Mars Locations 1 1 14 19 19 37 39 41 43 55 58 75 93 95 100 102 105 108 114 117 135 137 137 143 149 155

Characters
List of characters Cassidy Casablancas Dick Casablancas Jackie Cook Logan Echolls Wallace Fennel Woody Goodman Mercer Hayes Duncan Kane Don Lamb Parker Lee Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie Keith Mars Veronica Mars Eli "Weevil" Navarro Cyrus O'Dell Stosh "Piz" Piznarski

Season and Episodes


Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 List of episodes

References
Article Sources and Contributors Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 161 163

Article Licenses

License

164

Overview
Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars
Third season intertitle Genre Drama Mystery Neo-noir Rob Thomas Kristen Bell Percy Daggs III Teddy Dunn Jason Dohring Sydney Tamiia Poitier Francis Capra Ryan Hansen Kyle Gallner Tessa Thompson Julie Gonzalo Chris Lowell Tina Majorino Michael Muhney Enrico Colantoni Kristen Bell (as Veronica Mars) "We Used to Be Friends" by The Dandy Warhols United States English 3 64 (List of episodes) Production Executive producer(s) Joel Silver Rob Thomas Diane Ruggiero Jennifer Gwartz Danielle Stokdyk San Diego, California Oceanside, California San Marcos, California 42 minutes

Created by Starring

Narrated by Opening theme Country of origin Original language(s) No. of seasons No. of episodes

Location(s)

Running time

Production company(s) Stu Segall Productions Silver Pictures Television Rob Thomas Productions Warner Bros. Television Distributor Warner Bros. Television Distribution

Veronica Mars

2
Broadcast Original channel UPN (20042006) The CW (20062007) 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) Stereo Dolby Digital 5.1 September22,2004 May22,2007 Chronology Followed by Veronica Mars (film)

Picture format

Audio format

Original run

Veronica Mars is an American television series created by screenwriter Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004 during television network UPN's final two years, and ended on May 22, 2007 after a season on UPN's successor, The CW. Veronica Mars was produced by Warner Bros. Television, Silver Pictures Television, Stu Segall Productions, Inc and Rob Thomas Productions. Joel Silver and Rob Thomas were executive producers for the entire run of the series, while Diane Ruggiero was promoted in the third season. The series is set in the fictional town of Neptune, California, and stars Kristen Bell as the title character, a student who progresses from high school to college while moonlighting as a private investigator under the tutelage of her detective father. In each episode, Veronica solves a different stand-alone case while working to solve a more complex mystery. The first two seasons of the series each had a season-long mystery arc, introduced in the first episode of the season and solved in the season finale. The third season took a different format, focusing on smaller mystery arcs that would last the course of several episodes. Thomas initially wrote Veronica Mars as a young adult novel, which featured a male protagonist; he changed the gender because he thought a noir piece told from a female point of view would be more interesting and original. Filming began in March 2004, and the series premiered in September to 2.49 million American viewers. The critically acclaimed first season's run of 22 episodes garnered an average of 2.5 million viewers per episode in the United States. Veronica Mars appeared on a number of fall television best lists, and garnered several awards and nominations. During the series' run, it was nominated for two Satellite Awards, four Saturn Awards, five Teen Choice Awards and was featured on AFI's TV Programs of the Year for 2005. Following the cancellation of the series, Thomas wrote a feature film script continuing the series. Warner Bros. opted not to fund the project at the time. On March 13, 2013, Bell and Thomas launched a fundraising campaign to produce the film through Kickstarter and attained the $2 million goal in less than ten hours. Production began on June 17, 2013, with a projected release date of early 2014 and accumulated over $5.7million via Kickstarter.

Veronica Mars

Season synopses
Season one
The first season revolves around Veronica Mars, a high school student and private investigator in the fictional Southern California seaside town of Neptune. As the daughter of well-respected County Sheriff Keith Mars, Veronica's biggest problem was getting dumped by her boyfriend, Duncan Kane, until the murder of her best friend Lilly Kane. After Lilly's murder, Veronica's life falls apart. Keith accuses Lilly's father, popular software billionaire Jake Kane, of being involved in the murder. This provokes Neptune's wrath and Keith's ousting as sheriff in a recall election, replaced by Don Lamb. Veronica's mother, Lianne, develops a drinking problem and leaves town. Veronica's "09er" friendswealthy students from the fictional 90909 ZIP codeforce her to choose between them and her father; Veronica chooses her father. After being voted out as sheriff, Keith opens a private investigation agency, Mars Investigations, where Veronica works part-time. Veronica helps her father solve cases and conducts her own investigations on behalf of friends and acquaintances at school.

Veronica discovers new evidence which suggests that Abel Koontz, the man imprisoned after confessing to Lilly's murder, is innocent. As Veronica delves deeper into the murder case, she also works on other investigations, seeks her mother's whereabouts and deals with the aftermath of being drugged and raped during an "09er" party. Veronica, no longer part of the school's wealthy in-crowd, makes some new friends: Wallace Fennel, Neptune High basketball star; Eli "Weevil" Navarro, leader of the PCHers, a Latino biker gang; and Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, Neptune High's resident computer genius. Using her friends' resources, as well as those provided by her father and his contacts, Veronica gains a reputation for sleuthing and finds her skills in increasingly high demand at her school. Things get more complicated when Veronica falls into a relationship with Lilly's ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls, who for a time held Veronica partly responsible for Lilly's death and went out of his way to harass her.

Thomas felt that Amanda Seyfried was so good in the series as Lilly Kane that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned in the first season.

Season two
The second season begins with the introduction of two new cases: a bus accident that kills several of Veronica's classmates, and the death of PCH biker gang member Felix Toombs. A school bus carrying six Neptune High students and a teacher plunges off a cliff, killing all but one passenger. Veronica, who was supposed to be on the bus, makes it her mission to discover why the bus crashed. Logan picks a fight with Weevil and the PCHers and ends up accused of killing Toombs (a charge he denies). Partway through the season, Weevil becomes convinced of Logan's innocence and they team up to find the real killer. This season shows Veronica's life returning to much the way it had been before Lilly's death: having broken up with Logan during the summer, she reunites with Duncan and is somewhat accepted by the '09ers. However, her private-eye sideline and tough persona keep her from being truly assimilated back into the rich crowd. '09ers Dick Casablancas and Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas deal with a gold-digging stepmother, Kendall Casablancas, with whom they are left when their father flees the country while under investigation for real estate fraud. Wallace discovers that his biological father is alive, and takes a romantic interest in Jackie Cook.

Veronica Mars

Season three
In the third season, Veronica, Logan, Wallace, Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie and Dick are freshmen at Neptune's Hearst College. Two new regular main characters are introduced: Stosh "Piz" Piznarski and Parker Lee, who are the respective roommates of Wallace and Mac. The first mystery is established when Parker becomes a victim of the Hearst serial rapist, a storyline begun in the second season. Feeling guilty for not helping her, and remembering her past rape, Veronica sets herself the task of catching the rapist. The next mystery, the murder of the College's Dean, commences in the same episode the rapist is caught. During the season, Keith begins an adulterous affair with a married client, Wallace struggles to balance academics and sports, Mac begins dating again after previous failed relationships, and Dick has a breakdown and appeals to Logan for help. The season also chronicles Veronica and Logan's failing attempts to maintain their relationship in the face of Veronica's increasing mistrust.

Cast and characters


The first season had seven regular characters. Kristen Bell portrayed the titular Veronica Mars, a high school junior and skilled private detective. Teddy Dunn played Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend and Lilly's brother. Jason Dohring played Logan Echolls, the "bad-boy" 09er, the son of an A-list actor. Percy Daggs III portrayed Wallace Fennel, Veronica's best friend and frequent partner in solving mysteries. Francis Capra portrayed Eli "Weevil" Navarro, the leader of the PCH Biker gang and Veronica's friend. Enrico Colantoni played Veronica's father Keith Mars, a private investigator and former Balboa County Sheriff. Sydney Tamiia Poitier played Mallory Dent, Veronica's journalism teacher at Neptune High. Although she was given series regular billing, Poitier appeared in only four episodes, but was given credit for seven. Poitier's removal from the series was rumored to be due to budget issues. Thomas, who said he "conceive[d] the show as a one-year mystery", decided that he needed to introduce and eliminate several characters to be able to create an "equally fascinating mystery" for the series' second season. Thomas felt that he could not bring back the Kanes and the Echolls and "have them all involved in a new mystery"; he needed "new blood". The second season saw the introduction of Tessa Thompson as Jackie Cook, a romantic interest of Wallace and daughter of a famous baseball player. Previous recurring characters Dick Casablancas and Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas were upgraded to series regulars. Dick, played by Ryan Hansen, was an 09er friend of Logan, a womanizer and former high-school bully turned frat boy. Kyle Gallner portrayed "Beaver", Dick's introverted younger brother. Dunn, who portrayed Duncan Kane, left the series midway through the season, although was credited as a main cast member for the remainder of the season. Thomas explained that the Logan-Veronica-Duncan love triangle had run its course, and to keep the series fresh, there would need to be "other guys in her life". He attributed Dunn's removal to fan interest dominating the Logan-Veronica relationship, saying "it became clear that one suitor won out". The third season introduced two new series regulars, Parker Lee and Stosh "Piz" Piznarski. Julie Gonzalo portrayed Parker, Mac's extroverted roommate at Hearst College and "everything that Mac is not". Piz, played by Chris Lowell, was Wallace's roommate at Hearst College and a music lover with his own campus radio show. Piz was named after the director of the pilot, Mark Piznarski. The character's role was to have another male friend for Veronica who was middle-class, and not upper-class. Thomas used the radio show as a narrative device to capture the mood of the university. Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie and Don Lamb, recurring characters in the first two seasons, were upgraded to series regulars. Mac, portrayed by Tina Majorino, was a computer expert befriended by Veronica. Lamb, portrayed by Michael Muhney, was the Balboa County Sheriff who won the office from Keith in the recall election.

Veronica Mars

Production
Conception
Rob Thomas originally wrote Veronica Mars as a young adult novel for publishing company Simon & Schuster. Prior to his first television job on Dawson's Creek, Thomas sold two novel ideas. One of these was provisionally titled Untitled Rob Thomas Teen Detective Novel, which formed the basis for the series. The novel had many elements similar to Veronica Mars, though the protagonist was male. Thomas's father was a vice-principal at Westlake High School near Austin, Texas, and the main character attended a "thinly disguised version" of the school. As Thomas had begun writing for film and television, he did not resume his teen detective idea for several years. Writing a novel could take months for Thomas, whereas a television script only took several weeks. Knowing that television scripts paid more, Thomas wrote the television version of the teen detective project as a spec script before it became a novel. Since no studio or network had asked him to write it, and he would not get paid unless it sold, Thomas said that "it was never a very pressing project for me". Tinkering with it from time to time, Thomas wrote project notes a year before he actually started writing the television script. Most of his original ideas made it into the script, but some changed drastically. Thomas wanted to use flashbacks, and he had to shorten the timeline so that the murder could happen in a recent time. Thomas changed the gender of the protagonist because he thought a noir piece told from a female point of view would be more interesting and unique.

Casting
Kristen Bell was chosen to play Veronica Mars from more than 500 women who auditioned for the role. Bell felt that it was "just luck" that Rob Thomas saw that "I have some sass to me, and that's exactly what he wanted". Bell thought that it was her cheerleader looks and an outsider's attitude that set her apart from the other women who auditioned. Jason Dohring, who played Logan Echolls, originally auditioned for the role of Duncan Kane. Teddy Dunn originally auditioned for Logan, but ended up portraying Duncan Kane. Dohring Teddy Dunn, who portrayed Duncan Kane, originally auditioned for the role of Logan. felt that his audition for Duncan "was a little dark", and he was told by the producers that it was "not really right". The producers asked Dohring to read for the role of Logan, which involved reading Duncan's lines. Dohring acted one scene from the pilot, in which he shattered the headlights of a car with a crowbar. During the final auditions, Dohring read two times with Bell and met with the studio and the network. When reading with Bell, Dohring acted the whole scene as if he had raped her, and tried to give the character an evil and fun feel. At the time of Dohring's audition for Logan, the character was only going to be a guest star in the pilot. Percy Daggs III auditioned for the role of Wallace Fennel two times before being cast, and he had to go through three tests with the studio and network executives. During his first audition, Daggs read four scenes from the pilot. Just before his studio test, Daggs read with Bell and had "a great conversation". He said that she "made me feel comfortable about auditioning" and was a big reason why he became more comfortable playing Wallace as the season went on. Thomas described Amanda Seyfried, who portrayed the murdered Lilly Kane, as "the biggest surprise of the year". When casting a series regular, he was able to see all the best actors in town, mainly because they all wanted to be a series regular. When casting Lilly Kane, who would only appear from time-to-time as "the dead girl", Thomas did not receive the same level of actors. Thomas said that he had "never had a more cut and dry audition" than he did with Seyfried. He said that she was "about 100 times better than anyone else that we saw, she was just spectacular". He continued by saying that she ended up being so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned.

Veronica Mars

Writing and format


"To service a 22-episode mystery, you have to have a large playing field. To service a 9-episode mystery, we can keep that tighter, more focused. Instead of having 12 people who can be in the running for the villain, there might be five in one of those mysteries. I think it will be much cleaner. I think it will also give a new audience more jumping-in points." Series creator Rob Thomas on the change of format for the third season.

The episodes of the series have a distinct structure: Veronica investigates a different "case of the week" while continually trying to solve a larger mystery which spans several episodes or a whole season. The first two seasons of Veronica Mars have a season-long mystery arc, which is introduced in the first episode of the season and solved in the finale. The third season takes on a different format, focusing on two smaller mystery arcs that last the course of nine and six episodes respectively. The final five episodes of the season feature stand-alone mysteries. During the first season, Thomas was unsure if the success of the series was attributed to the "case of the week" each episode, or the overarching story. He realized that fans were cool with the "case of the week", but came back for the ongoing mystery. Thomas felt that Bell had been overworked in the first season, and the mystery involving Logan and Weevil in the second season was an attempt to give her some time off. He said that the mystery arcs of the second season had "way too many suspects, way too many red herrings", and that the third season needed a change. The third season was initially planned to include three separate mysteries that would be introduced and resolved in a series of non-overlapping story arcs. Thomas realized by talking to CW Entertainment President Dawn Ostroff that viewers got too confused by his original format, and the new format would allow new viewers to start watching at any point in the season. Inspired by the improvised thriller Bubble, Thomas started laying "subtle" motives for the second mystery during the first one, so that fans would have "a theory on whodunit" when it occurred. The first mystery took place over the first nine episodes. Originally, the second mystery was to be seven episodes long and the third mystery was to occur over the last six episodes of the season. This was changed when The CW ordered a 20 episode season instead of the usual 22 episodes. The second mystery arc was shortened from seven episodes to six, and the third mystery was first changed from a six episode arc to a five episode arc. After an eight-week hiatus for the series was announced, the final mystery was changed to five stand-alone episodes designed to be friendlier to new viewers. The final mystery was originally going to be "unlike any of the others we've done before". Previously, "nice characters" like Wallace and Mac had always been absent from the big mystery because no one was going to believe them as a suspect. For the third mystery, Thomas had wanted to present a situation where Wallace and Mac could be fully involved, "key players [with] really interesting stuff to do".

Filming
The original pilot filmed was darker in tone than the one aired. Thomas intended to take the script to FX, HBO or Showtime, but gave UPN "credit" as they only wanted it a bit lighter to match their standards and practices. There was also a lengthy debate as to whether Veronica could be a rape victim; UPN eventually consented. In the aired version of the pilot, Lilly Kane was found by the pool in the same spot where she was murdered. However, Thomas stated that Lilly's body was originally going to be found in the ocean, and he had a plan for events which led to Lilly's body being dumped. When Thomas pitched the idea to UPN, the network felt that it was "too dark and creepy" for Jake Kane to dispose of his daughter's body to protect his son, and the idea was changed.

Oceanside, California worked as a stand-in for San Diego while filming the series

Many of the series' scenes were filmed at Stu Segall Productions in San Diego, California. Producer Paul Kurta said that most of the scenes taking place in Neptune were filmed in Oceanside, California. Kurta liked that it was "a

Veronica Mars seaside town that still feels like middle-class people live there ... Most of the seaside towns feel resort driven." It was estimated that the series spent $44 million a year shooting each season in San Diego, which made more than half of the revenue generated by film production in the area in 2006. The setting of Neptune High, which was featured in the first two seasons, was also located in Oceanside. The school, Oceanside High School, was paid $7,750 by Stu Segall Productions for the use of the campus and extras. The series' third season setting of Hearst College was mostly filmed on the campuses of San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and the University of California, San Diego. Filming locations were chosen by the director and by production designer Alfred Sole. Sole reportedly "really liked the look and feel of the school", and San Diego State University invited the series with "open arms". Taping at the university led to financial and employment benefits for the university and its students. Alumni worked as crewmembers while students worked as actors; half of the third season extras were students from the university's film department.

Music
"We Used to Be Friends" by The Dandy Warhols was used as the series' theme song. Composer Josh Kramon was originally going to produce a noir version of a 1980s song for the theme. However, Rob Thomas was "pretty much set on finding a song", and "We Used to Be Friends" was chosen right from the beginning. This theme was considered by TV critic Samantha Holloway to be one of "the five most recognizable, sing-along-able, memorable and best theme songs". In the third season, the theme song was remixed in a softer piano style with dark and vibrant electronic beats to reflect the more noir-influenced opening credits. Kramon wrote the original background music to convey the film noir themes. For the pilot, Thomas wanted "a really atmospheric, kind of modern noir type of vibe", and Kramon used sounds similar to that of Air and Zero 7. Kramon used "traditional sounds" for the series, but also processed and filtered them. Among the instruments used were piano, vibraphone and guitar. When using an acoustic piano, Kramon would use compression so that it did not sound like a traditional piano. Live bass and percussion was also used, as Kramon did not like to program them. The main instrument used was guitar, but Kramon felt that piano was "by far the most important instrument for working on TV shows, especially when you're doing everything yourself." A week before choosing the sounds for the episodes, the crew had a "spotting session", where they would discuss with Thomas and the producers which type of music was going to be featured. Kramon did not decide the songs to be featured, but composed and created the whole score. Since there was little orchestral music, and Kramon could play guitar, piano, bass and drums, he played the whole score without hiring a musician. Veronica Mars: Original Television Soundtrack, a song compilation from the series' first and second seasons, was released by Nettwerk Records on September 27, 2005. Thomas revealed that the primary goal for the soundtrack was to "get more publicity, which will in turn hopefully get more viewers for the show".

Veronica Mars

Cancellation and film


Cancellation
In January 2007, Dawn Ostroff announced that while she was pleased with the gradual ratings improvement of Veronica Mars, the series would be put on hiatus after the February sweeps to air a new reality series, Pussycat Dolls Present. When the hiatus ended, the series returned for the last five episodes of the season with non-serialized plotlines. At the 2007 CW Upfront, Ostroff announced that Veronica Mars was not part of the new primetime lineup and was "not coming back". Thomas created a trailer that took place four years after the third season finale, with the working title "Veronica in the FBI", and released it on the third season DVD. When asked if the FBI concept could happen, Ostroff said that the series was probably completely gone "in any form". Ostroff also said that Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas might collaborate on another project for the CW network. In June 2007, TV Guide writer Michael Ausiello confirmed that the cancellation of Veronica Mars was official.

Potential film progress

Thomas stated that he was interested in writing a feature film based on the series, in the interest of providing closure to the story lines and character arcs. In September 2008, Michael Ausiello, writing for Entertainment Weekly, reported that Thomas had met with Bell to discuss the plot, which would likely involve Veronica solving crime in college rather than as an FBI agent. Thomas felt that the "FBI scenario was more of a 'What if...?'", aimed at getting a fourth season, and that he "would want to bring back our key players, and it would be tough to believe that the FBI stationed Veronica in Neptune." Ausiello later reported that Enrico Colantoni would be involved in the project. Colantoni said that he was fully aware of the talks taking place, adding, "cult shows have translated well into the film arena. Nothing's official, but they're talking about it." In addition to the feature-film possibility, Thomas has had a meeting with DC Comics to talk about a Veronica Mars comic book series. In September 2008, Thomas told Entertainment Weekly that "I thought I had the idea broken, but I've hit a wall in the final act that I haven't quite figured out". Thomas explained that he was very busy writing for Cupid and Party Down, both of which he created. In January 2009, TV Guide reported that the film was Thomas' first priority after Cupid. Thomas noted that as well as writing the script, someone would need to pay for the film, but indicated that producer Joel Silver was ready to green-light the film. In June 2009, Bell said "I don't think it will ever happen, and here's why: [Series creator] Rob Thomas and I had a powwow, and we were both 100 percent on board. We took our proposal to Warner Bros. and Joel Silver told us that there is no enthusiasm [there] to make a Veronica Mars movie, and that is unfortunately a roadblock we cannot compete with." At the 2010 TCA Winter Press Tour, Rob Thomas stated that the movie won't be happening, "I would write it if anyone would finance it. If anyone's interested in making that movie I am available, Kristen's [Bell] available. I would love to do it. I think the closest we came was Joel [Silver] pushing it at Warner Bros. and they didn't bite. It has sort of gone away." In April 2010, Thomas insisted, "it's not dead. I continue to want to do it [...] We're still looking into it." In June 2010, Silver was less optimistic about the film happening; "we analyzed all these areas about it. I talked to the home video people, because a movie like that would be driven by video. The [season DVDs] didn't do that well... So they didn't feel there was a need or an audience."

Enrico Colantoni, who played Veronica's father Keith Mars, expressed interest in the film adaption of the series.

Veronica Mars

Kickstarter project
On March 13, 2013, Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell launched a Kickstarter fundraiser in an attempt to get the film made, with the help of fans to reach the goal of $2 million. The campaign offered various incentives to those who donated more than $10. Thomas and Bell stated that they approached Warner Bros. with the idea and they approved and will be distributing the finished title. Bell, Thomas, Enrico Colantoni, Ryan Hansen, and Jason Dohring appeared in a video promoting the campaign that was shot in February 2012. The goal was met within 10 hours of the start of the campaign. The project broke several Kickstarter records, including being the largest successful film project on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter campaign ended on April 13, with 91,585 donors raising $5,702,153. Production began in June 2013, with a projected early 2014 release. On April 5, Thomas had completed the first draft of the script. Several casting announcements were made through April to June, with confirmation of several returning cast members, including Jason Dohring (Logan Echolls), Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars), Percy Daggs III (Wallace Fennel), Chris Lowell (Stosh "Piz" Piznarski), Francis Capra (Eli "Weevil" Navarro), Ryan Hansen (Dick Casablancas), and Tina Majorino (Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie), among several others.

Reception
Ratings
Below, "rank" refers to how well Veronica Mars rated compared to other television series which aired during primetime hours of the corresponding television season. The television season tends to begin in September, of any given year, and end during the May of the following year. "Viewers" refers to the average number of viewers for all original episodes, broadcast during the television season in the series' regular timeslot. "Rank" is shown in relation to the total number of series airing on the six/five major English-language networks in a given season. The "season premiere" is the date that the first episode of the season aired. Similarly, the "season finale" is the date that the final episode of the season aired.
Season Timeslot (ET) Network Season premiere Season finale TV season Rank/ total series Viewers (in millions) 2.5

Tuesday 9:00 pm

UPN

September 22, 2004 September 28, 2005

May 10, 2005

20042005 #148/156

Wednesday 9:00 pm (September 28, 2005 April 5, 2006) Tuesday 9:00 pm (April 11, 2006 May 9, 2006) Tuesday 9:00 pm (October 3, 2006 May 22, 2007) Tuesday 8:00 pm (May 22, 2007) The CW

May 9, 2006 20052006 #145/156

2.3

October 3, 2006

May 22, 2007

20062007 #138/142

2.5

Veronica Mars

10

Critical reception
Although not a ratings success, the series was a critical success from its first season. Robert Abele of LA Weekly said "in this smart, engaging series about a former popular girl turned crime-solving high school outcast, the hard-boiled dialogue comes from its teen protagonist's mouth in a way that stabs any potential cutesiness in the heart with an ice pick." In her review, Paige Wiser of the Chicago Sun Times said that "on Veronica Mars, wholesome is out; gritty reality is in. The show never soft-pedals the timeless, fundamental truth that high school is hell."[1] Joyce Millman of The Phoenix felt that the series was "a character study masquerading as a high-school drama". Joy Press of The Village Voice saw the series as "a sharp teen noir in the making. Tinged with class resentment and nostalgia for Veronica's lost innocence, Kristen Bell's performance as Veronica Mars was this series pulses with promise." Michael Abernethy of PopMatters praised, and several critics felt that she was overlooked said that "intrigue, drama, and humor, Veronica Mars is also a and deserved an Emmy Award nomination. lesson book for the disenfranchised. Few TV series aim so high; even fewer succeed so well." James Poniewozik of Time labeled it as one of the six best dramas on television. He praised Bell as "a captivating star", and said that the series "uses its pulp premise to dramatize a universal teen experience: that growing up means sleuthing out the mystery of who you really are." Kay McFadden of The Seattle Times called the series an update to the "classic California film noir". She felt that Veronica Mars was the best new series on UPN, and that the title character was potentially "this season's most interesting character creation". McFadden described the series as "Alias in its attitude, Raymond Chandler in its writing and The O.C. in its class-consciousness." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com praised the first season finale for being "just the sort of satisfying capper you look for in a series that, week after week, keeps you asking questions." Veronica Mars was also positively received by other writers. Joss Whedon, who made a guest appearance in the second season episode "Rat Saw God", said that it was the "Best. Show. Ever. Seriously, I've never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn't making, and maybe even more than those [...] These guys know what they're doing on a level that intimidates me. It's the Harry Potter of shows." Kevin Smith, who guest starred in the episode "Driver Ed", said that Veronica Mars was "hands-down, the best show on television right now, and proof that TV can be far better than cinema." Stephen King described the series as "Nancy Drew meets Philip Marlowe, and the result is pure nitro. Why is Veronica Mars so good? It bears little resemblance to life as I know it, but I can't take my eyes off the damn thing." Ed Brubaker called it "the best mystery show ever made in America."[2] Despite being a critical success throughout its run, criticisms began to emerge of the series in its third season. Keith McDuffee of TV Squad described the third season as "disappointing", mainly because the episodes offered nothing new: "most fans of Veronica Mars felt that season three was clearly its weakest." Eric Goldman of IGN said that the main issue was the shift in the overall tone, with a lighter feeling than the previous seasons. He felt that Logan had been most affected by the tone change, robbed of his darker aspects and changed into an "increasingly extraneous character." Goldman felt that despite the concerns over final five episodes, the series ended with "three very strong episodes, with lots of strong dialogue and Veronica proving again just how tough she can be, and what a strong character she is." Goldman concluded that although the third season "was very choppy", it still had "plenty of witty dialogue and a continually engaging performance by Kristen Bell as the title character." The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opined that Veronica Mars had taken a dive "creatively", from "the mopier version of its theme song to stalled storylines." The reviewer felt that "the arcing mysteries had grown less convincing and compelling as time went on and were too drawn out." Fox News Channel's Bridget Byrne pointed out that Veronica had "gone from punky to-dare we say-preppy" in the third season. Byrne further explained that "with her quick, bright wit and sharp eye for

Veronica Mars life's darker moments [Veronica] has left high school and is going to college, doffing her dark threads and spiked tresses for something a little more stylish." The series, described as a "critical darling", appeared on a number of fall television best lists. In 2005, the series was featured on AFI's TV Programs of the Year, and on the lists of MSN TV, The Village Voice, the Chicago Tribune, People Weekly and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It was named the second best series by Ain't It Cool News, fourth best returning series by Time, fifth best series by Newsday, PopMatters and San Jose Mercury-News, and sixth best by Entertainment Weekly and USA Today. In 2006, the series was ranked number one on the lists of Ain't It Cool News and the Chicago Sun-Times, and was ranked number six by Metacritic. In 2007, the series ranked number 18 on TV Guide's list of the "Top Cult Shows Ever". In 2008, AOL TV ranked Veronica Mars the 10th Best School Show of All Time. The same year, British film magazine Empire ranked it number 48 in their list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time". The magazine said that "smart storylines and witty riffs on pop culture pepper the scripts, while Kristen Bell lent ballsy charm to the title role and ensured that every episode of the show's three seasons was television gold. Its untimely cancellation was a slap in the face that still smarts to this day." Empire named "Not Pictured" the best episode of the series. In 2010, Kristin dos Santos of E! ranked Veronica Mars number 8 on her list, "Top 20 TV Series of the Past 20 Years". The A.V. Club named it the 15th best TV series of the '00s. In 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed the show at #13 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years", with the comments, "It's not easy telling the story of a girl's mission to solve her best friend's murder - while also investigating her own rape - but creator Rob Thomas' tough assignment was made easier by putting the tirelessly smart and snarky Veronica Mars on the case. Her wry one-liners injected much-needed lightness into sometimes grim mysteries."[3]

11

Fandom
Veronica Mars has attracted a loyal and dedicated fan base. A group of fans calling themselves the "Cloud Watchers" organized several campaigns to bring more viewers to the series to ensure its continuation. The group hired a plane to fly over the CW offices, carrying a banner reading "Renew Veronica Mars". The group hired street teams in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago to distribute 30,000 fliers advertising the series' return after its midseason hiatus in the third season. The "Cloud Watchers" raised $50,000 in donations and through the sale of Veronica Mars clothing and tchotchkes. Upon the cancellation of the series, fans sent more than 10,000 Mars Bars to the CW, hoping that the network would reverse its decision and renew the series. Rob Thomas thanked the fans of the series for their efforts, saying "I love those people and they have been so good to me, but it's not going to happen." A feature film continuation was made possible in 2013 through a Kickstarter fund, in which 91,585 fans donated $5,702,153 to get the film made.

Awards and nominations


Year Award Kristen Bell Recipient Result Nomination Won Kristen Bell Kristen Bell Nomination Won Nomination Nomination Kristen Bell Nomination Nomination Kristen Bell Nomination

2004 Saturn Award for Best Television Actress 2005 American Film Institute Award for Television Programs of the Year Satellite Award for Outstanding Actress in a Series, Drama Saturn Award for Best Television Actress Saturn Award for Best Network Television Series Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Show Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Performance, Female Television Critics Association Awards for Outstanding New Program of the Year Television Critics Association Awards for Individual Achievement in Drama

Veronica Mars

12
Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni Won Nomination

2006 Family Television Award for Favorite Father/Daughter International Cinematographers Guild Publicists Award for The Maxwell Weinberg Publicist Showmanship Award for Television Satellite Award for Actress in a Series, Drama Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress: Drama/Action Adventure Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Sidekick Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Parental Unit Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Drama

Kristen Bell Kristen Bell Kristen Bell Percy Daggs III Enrico Colantoni Rob Thomas for "Normal Is the Watchword"

Nomination Nomination Nomination Nomination Nomination Nomination

2007 Writers Guild of America Award for On-Air Promotion (Radio or Television)

Nomination

Distribution
International
The CTV Television Network began airing Veronica Mars in Canada as a mid-season replacement on May 30, 2005. CTV decided not to pick up the second season, which began broadcast by Sun TV on July 18, 2006. The third season was simulcast in Canada by Fox 44. Subscription channel Living began showing the series in the United Kingdom in October 2005, averaging 50,000 viewers per episode for its first season. The channel began airing the second season on June 8, 2006, airing one episode per week rather than showing one every night as they did in the first season. Despite low ratings in the second season, Living decided to air the series' third season. It was syndicated through the Living TV Group platform, airing on the now defunct channel Trouble just before its closure. Free-to-air channel E4 began broadcasting the series from July 16, 2009. Veronica Mars premiered in Australia by Network Ten on November 28, 2005, where the series saw erratic airings. TV2 began showing the series in New Zealand on July 15, 2005, and has shown all three seasons since. In Ireland, the series aired on RT One and RT Two.

DVD releases
The first season of Veronica Mars was released in region 1 as a widescreen six-disc DVD box set on October 11, 2005. In addition to all the episodes that had been aired, DVD extras included an extended "Pilot" episode (through the inclusion of an unaired opening sequence) and over 20 minutes of unaired scenes. The same set was released on May 16, 2008 in Region 2, and on June 4, 2008 in Region 4. The second season was released in region 1 as a widescreen six-disc DVD box set on August 22, 2006, Region 2 on August 15, 2008, and Region 4 on September 8, 2008. In addition to all the aired episodes, DVD extras included two featurettes: "A Day on the Set with Veronica Mars" and "Veronica Mars: Not Your Average Teen Detective", a gag reel, a promo trailer for the third season and additional scenes, including an alternate ending to "My Mother, the Fiend". The third season was released in region 1 as a widescreen six-disc DVD box set on October 23, 2007, Region 2 on December 12, 2008, and Region 4 on February 11, 2009. In addition to all the aired episodes, DVD extras included "Pitching Season 4", an interview with Rob Thomas discussing a new direction for the series that picks up years later, with Veronica as a rookie FBI agent; "Going Undercover with Rob Thomas"; webisode gallery with cast interviews and various set tours; unaired scenes with introductions by Rob Thomas; and a gag reel.

Veronica Mars

13

Syndication
In July and August 2005, four episodes of the first season aired on CBS, UPN's sibling network, in an attempt to gain more exposure for the series.

References
[1] (Login required) [2] Marvel Spotlight: Ed Brubaker/Billy Tan, Marvel Publishing, August 2006, p. 13. [3] "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years". Entertainment Weekly. August 3, 2012, pp. 40-41.

Further reading
Rob Thomas, Leah Wilson (Hrsg.): Neptune Noir: Unauthorized Investigations Into Veronica Mars. Jennifer Canzoneri, 2007, ISBN 978-1-933771-13-7. ( online copy (http://books.google.com/ books?id=VHu3waVCobIC) at Google Books) Sue Turnbull: Veronica Mars. In David Lavery (ed.): The Essential Cult TV Reader. University of Kentucky Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8131-2568-8, pp.314321. ( online copy (http://books.google.com/ books?id=TKcaI75I72AC&pg=PA314), p. 314, at Google Books) Rhonda V. Wilcox, Sue Turnbull: Investigating Veronica Mars: Essays on the Teen Detective Series. McFarland, 2011, ISBN 978-0-7864-4534-9. Corine Elizabeth Mathis: "That Girl of Yours, She's Pretty Hard-boiled": Film Noir and the Claiming and Performance of Gender in Veronica Mars (http://etd.auburn.edu/etd/handle/10415/1639). Master Thesis, Auburn University 2009 Kim Johansen Ostby: Investigating Veronica Mars. The Noir and Teen Clash in Neptune, California (https:// www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/123456789/27265/Kim_Johansen_Ostby_Master_Thesis.pdf). Master Thesis, Sarpsborg, May 2010

External links
Official website (http://www.thewb.com/shows/veronica-mars) at The WB Veronica Mars (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412253/) at the Internet Movie Database Veronica Mars (http://www.tv.com/shows/veronica-mars/) at TV.com

Locations

14

Locations
Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during UPN's last two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Set in the fictional town of Neptune, the series starred Kristen Bell as the title character, a student who progressed from high school to college during the series while moonlighting as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father.

Neptune
Neptune, California is the series' fictional setting, a US unincorporated town in Balboa County. The town is described as without a middle class, and the upper class is known as "09ers", wealthy citizens from the fictional 90909 ZIP code. The nearby towns, at some distance from the beaches, do not have the same extremes between rich and poor.

Geography
Neptune is a coastal community located between San Diego and Los Angeles on the route of California's Pacific Coast Highway. Many locations in California are named after Vasco Nez de Balboa, including the Balboa Peninsula section of Newport Beach in Orange County and San Diego's Balboa Park. In reality, State Route 1 does not run south of Orange County. In season 1, it is implied that Neptune is about 85 miles from San Diego, and since it is between San Diego and Los Angeles, the nearest real-life area Neptune could be located in is Santa Ana. Series creator Rob Thomas stated in an interview that Neptune is located near San Juan Capistrano in Orange County. The series states that Neptune is within a day-trip distance to Tijuana, consistent with a location in Orange County. Southern Orange County calls State Route 1 the "PCH", uses the moniker "South Coast" for many organizations (such as the South Coast OB/GYN Society in "The Rapes of Graff", is a suburb of both Los Angeles and San Diego, is located close enough to Tijuana for day-trips, and has a considerable Latino population that works in the service industry. The North County area is home to a large number of technology firms, which are responsible for much of its affluence and which may have served as an inspiration for Kane Software. Neptune scenes are generally filmed in San Diego County, and exteriors of all of the show's most notable locations are found there. For example, exteriors of the Mars residence are filmed in Point Loma, and exteriors of Mars Investigations are filmed on Adams Avenue in Normal Heights. Oceanside High School in Oceanside, CA doubles as the fictional Neptune High, and San Diego State University, University of California, San Diego and University of San Diego are portrayed as the fictional Hearst College. The closest real zip codes to 90909 are 90899, which belongs to Long Beach, California, 91001 which belongs to Altadena, California, and 92009 which belongs to Carlsbad, California. 909xx series zip codes are an unassigned series in the greater Los Angeles zipspace.[1]

Politics
All aspects of Neptune, including its politics, are controlled by the "09ers". Neptune is the county seat of Balboa, containing the county's main Sheriff's Office (the only one seen) and the County Supervisor's Office. When the series begins, the sheriff is Don Lamb. Lamb is more concerned with the bureaucratic side of his job rather than proper and thorough police work. He gained his office in an emergency recall election, after the ousting of his former boss Keith Mars. Lamb has consistently displayed significant favoritism toward 09'ers, such as allowing Jake Kane to avoid having his daughter Lilly's car impounded for unpaid parking tickets. A County Supervisor, informally referred to as the "Mayor" of Neptune, was seen during the season one episode "Silence of the Lamb," but his name was not given. At the start of season two, baseball team owner Woody

Locations Goodman ran for and won the position of County Supervisor, holding the position until fleeing Neptune after being accused of blowing up the school bus at the start of the season. Besides being eventually exposed as a pedophile child molester, Goodman was murdered by Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas, the son of a wealthy "09er" family who had been sexually abused by Goodman when he was younger. As of the third season, no word has been given as to how Goodman's death would be handled in terms of naming a successor to the position of "County Supervisor". The second season explored these political elements with plotlines involving an election for the offices of Sheriff and County Supervisor, with Keith Mars (supported by Goodman) trying to get his old job as sheriff back by running against Don Lamb. While Keith lost his bid to reclaim his old job, Goodman won his election. Afterwards, he showed his ambitious side by launching a campaign to incorporate Neptune, which would lead to the town having an official mayor and its own police department, with the municipal boundaries only including the "09er" sections of town. Those outside this incorporation area came under risk of lower property values and even further reduction in government response and effectiveness. The incorporation would also have gutted the powerbase of Sheriff Lamb, as the local Sheriff's office is located outside of the "09er" section of the town, effectively leaving Lamb on the outside looking in. This led to much speculation as to why Goodman aligned himself politically with Keith Mars, a plot point that was not explored during the season. In the end, Goodman's incorporation scheme failed due to a blackmail scheme orchestrated by his former child molestation victim Cassidy Casablancas. With help from his stepmother Kendall Casablancas, Cassidy had purchased a great deal of property outside of the incorporation zone at bargain-basement prices (due to the depressed property values brought about due to incorporation talks) and sought to make a profit on them by killing incorporation, driving their prices back up to their original values. Threatening to go public regarding the child molestation charges, Cassidy forced Goodman to manufacture a sex scandal which implicated Keith Mars. Cassidy knew that Keith would fight Goodman to clear his name, and would ensure as a result that the public would think of Goodman as an adulterous politician. This 'backfiring' scandal would then cause Neptune residents to vote against Goodman and incorporation. Following the plan, incorporation lost at the ballot boxthough Cassidy would not live to reap the rewards of his scheme for himself, as he committed suicide after Veronica revealed that Cassidy had murdered several of his classmates (along with several innocent bystanders) in order to keep said classmates from exposing Goodman as a pedophile child molester before Cassidy's blackmail/real estate scheme could be carried out.

15

Economy
Neptune has a huge gap between the rich "09ers" and those who work for them either directly or through service industry businesses. In Veronica's words, if you live in Neptune, "either your parents are millionaires, or your parents work for millionaires". In the pilot episode and other season one episodes, it was implied that the Mars family existed on the fringes of the "09er" society and that most of their social standing came from Keith Mars's job as sheriff and Veronica's friendship with the children of software mogul Jake Kane. The largest and most successful business in the community, Kane Software is run and operated by Jake Kane, father of Duncan Kane and Lilly Kane. The company holds the patent on streaming video over the Internet, and according to Veronica is responsible for the huge boom in the local economy. When the patent was approved, many people in the community became rich overnight. Other "09ers" (such as movie star Aaron Echolls and his family) choose to live in Neptune due to its warm climate and its beaches, thus contributing even more to its economy. A few residents have become rich through service businesses (such as the Casablancas family, through real estate) in the boom created by the other "09ers".

Locations

16

The Mars Residence


The Mars' apartment building, as shown in the pilot episode, is The Inn at Sunset Cliffs on Point Loma, 1370 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. 92107. This area of Point Loma, CA has a reputation as a beautiful place to watch the sunset and waves crashing below, as well as being a favorite surfing spot.[2]

Mars Investigations
The exterior shot of the building where Veronica's dad's private investigation agency is housed is the Cabrillo Academy of the Sword along 3339 Adams Avenue 92116 in Normal Heights. For reference, the popular Lestat's Coffee House is next to where Mars Investigations would be. Most of the scenes filmed inside the office of Mars Investigations are, of course, on a set at the Stu Segall lot. Across the street and on the same block as Mars Investigations is the car wash often seen in Season One flashbacks with Lilly Kane. It is the Adams Avenue Car Wash on Adams Avenue.

Neptune High
Neptune High is a high-school in the fictional seaside city of Neptune, California, attended by Veronica in the first two seasons. The school is divided into two groups, the "09ers" in one group, and everyone else in the other, including the PCH Bike Club. Neptune's main rival is Pan High, who are known to perform pranks on each other every year. The former principal, Alan Moorehead, was exposed to have had an affair with one of his students and have hid the baby that resulted from the affair in the girls' bathroom ("My Mother, the Fiend"). Moorehead was subsequently replaced by Principal Van Clemmons Mr. Rooks was also found to have had an affair with one of his students, Susan Knight ("Mars vs. Mars"). Ms. Hauser, the health teacher, was caught taking money from the Senior Trip ("Aint No Magic Mountain High Enough"). Neptune High also had a policy of "Pirate Points", where students who were involved in certain activities, like sports, student council, and cheerleading, were allowed extra privileges (like getting to have food delivered on-campus). Duncan Kane, upon becoming student council president, restructured the Pirates Points system to allow those in band, the school newspaper, school plays, on the honor roll, or those in vocational trades receive points as well ("Return of the Kane"). Neptune High was also home to a secret society called the Tritons. Those who were chosen to become Tritons had to go through various hazing rituals, such as streaking through the school, performing karaoke, or speaking entirely in pangrams ("Clash of the Tritons"). During the filming of the pilot, producer Paul Kurta said that much of the filming would take place in Oceanside, California. Kurta liked that it was "a seaside town that still feels like middle-class people live there ... Most of the seaside towns feel resort driven." The setting of Neptune High, which was featured in the first two seasons, was also located in Oceanside. The school, Oceanside High School, was paid $7,750 by Stu Segall Productions for the use of the campus and extras.

Neptune Grand
The Neptune Grand is a luxury hotel, mainly catering to the upper class, as opposed to the cheaper Camelot Motel. Lianne Mars told Veronica that Jake Kane was innocent of his daughter's murder because he had been at the Neptune Grand with Lianne at the time of Lilly's death. During the second season, Duncan lived in a suite in the Grand ("Driver Ed"). After a fire in Logan Echolls' house, he moved in with Duncan ("Rat Saw God") and he kept the suite after Duncan ran away to Australia. Logan held the "alterna-prom" in his suite when Neptune High canceled the prom ("Look Whos Stalking") and also held a graduation party there. Veronica and Beaver's confrontation on the roof of the hotel ended with Beaver jumping to his death ("Not Pictured"). The Neptune Grand is where Aaron Echolls (Logan Echolls' father) was murdered, and the location where Dean O'Dell's wife Mindy had been having an

Locations affair with Hank Landry, Veronica's criminology professor. Exterior shots of the Hilton San Diego, Gaslamp Quarter were used for the Neptune Grand in season two. Other shots of the Hyatt Regency [citation needed] were also used.

17

Hearst College
Hearst College is a fictional Southern California college, attended by Veronica in the third season. The name was chosen in the series' second season when a prominent Californian name was needed, and there was already a Stanford University. Hearst is named after William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Randolph Hearst's granddaughter Patty Hearst, was signed to play Selma Hearst Rose, the granddaughter of the founder of Hearst College. The character was an heiress of Hearst Mart, a chain similar to Wal-Mart. The setting of Hearst College was mostly filmed on the campuses of San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and the University of California, San Diego. Assistant Location Manager Steven Lee said that the filming locations were chosen by the director and by production designer Alfred Sole. Sole reportedly "really liked the look and feel of the school", and San Diego State University invited the series with "open arms". Taping at the university led to financial and employment benefits for the university and its students. Alumni worked as crewmembers while students worked as actors; half of the third season extras were students from the university's film department. Hearst College is first mentioned in the second season, when one of Veronica's fellow jurors recommends its generous scholarships and grant programs. ("One Angry Veronica") Later on in the season, Veronica and Wallace go to a "Get to Know Hearst" weekend. During her visit, Veronica discovers that there is a serial date rapist who shaves the heads of his victims. She manages to exonerate her ex-boyfriend Troy, but is not able to figure out who the rapist is. ("The Rapes of Graff") The third season begins with Veronica, Logan, Wallace, Mac, Dick, Piz and Parker as freshmen at Hearst College. Veronica is studying criminology, and is still living at home. Weevil is the maintenance worker at Hearst, and he forms a friendship with Dean Cyrus O'Dell. At the beginning of the semester, Parker is raped by the Hearst serial rapist. ("Welcome Wagon") Feeling guilty for not helping her, Veronica sets herself to catching the rapist. ("My Big Fat Greek Rush Week") Veronica discovers the identity of the rapist, a fellow student, and Dean O'Dell is found dead. ("Spit & Eggs") Hearst College is also mentioned in the TV Series Moonlight, also starring Jason Dohring, the actor who portrayed Logan Echolls.

Cuba
In the episode "A Trip to the Dentist" what is supposed to be a location in Cuba (the country) is actually the El Prado area of Balboa Park, where most of the museums are concentrated.

Strip clubs
In a couple of early episodes, strip clubs are seen in stakeouts: the Body Shop and Les Girls, both located next to each other just off Rosecrans Blvd. in the Sports Arena/Midway district.

Dog Beach/Boardwalk
Dog Beach in Ocean Beach appears to have been the location for most of the beach scenes in Veronica Mars. Some other beach scenes were also filmed at La Jolla Shores beach. Some of the Neptune Boardwalk scenes in the first two seasons were shot at Belmont Park in Mission Beach the Giant Dipper Rollercoaster is the giveaway.

Locations

18

Other Sightings
The video store in "Meet John Smith" is Kensington Video on Adams Ave. in Kensington. Scolari's Office in North Park is Fitzpatrick's Bar. Winston's bar in Ocean Beach was used in "Welcome Wagon". Other frequently used locales were Ocean Beach, Sunset Cliffs, La Jolla, Torrey Pines Golf Course, Oceanside and Normal Heights.

References
[1] United States Postal Service. L002 3-Digit ZIP Code Prefix Matrix (http:/ / pe. usps. gov/ text/ dmm300/ L002. htm) (Domestic Mail Manual online), viewed 2008-07-20. [2] Figuracion, Inigo. " Veronica Mars San Diego Locations (http:/ / sandiego. about. com/ od/ uniquelysandiego/ p/ veronica_mars. htm)". About.com Guide. Retrieved on March 18, 2010.

External links
Veronica Mars Filming Locations (http://www.newtosandiego.com/Veronica-Mars-Filming-Locations/) Complete Episode, Soundtrack, and Character Information (http://marsinvestigations.net/index.php) from marsinvestigations.net, a fansite Veronica Mars on Warnerbros.com (http://www2.warnerbros.com/television/tvShows/veronicamars/)

19

Characters
List of characters
Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during UPN's last two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Balancing murder mystery, high-school and college drama, the series features social commentary with sarcasm and off-beat humor in a style often compared to film noir. Set in the fictional town of Neptune, the series starred Kristen Bell as the title character, a student who progressed from high school to college during the series while moonlighting as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father. The first season had seven regular characters. As Thomas had conceived the show as a one-year mystery, he decided to introduce and Kristen Bell on the set of Veronica Mars eliminate several characters in order to create an "equally fascinating mystery" for the series' second season. Thomas needed "new blood" since he felt unable to bring back the Kanes and the Echolls and "have them all involved in a new mystery". The third season features a cast of ten actors who receive billing, an increase from the nine actors in the second. Three of the regulars in the second season are written out of the series, two new characters are introduced and two others are upgraded from recurring roles.

Main characters
Actor Character 1 Kristen Bell Teddy Dunn Jason Dohring Percy Daggs III Francis Capra Enrico Colantoni Veronica Mars Duncan Kane Logan Echolls Wallace Fennel Eli "Weevil" Navarro Keith Mars Main Main Recurring Main Starring Seasons 2 Main Main Main Main Main Main Starring Starring Starring Starring 3 film Starring

Sydney Tamiia Poitier Mallory Dent Tessa Thompson Ryan Hansen Kyle Gallner Tina Majorino Julie Gonzalo Chris Lowell Michael Muhney Jackie Cook Dick Casablancas

Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas Recurring Main Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie Parker Lee Stosh "Piz" Piznarski Don Lamb Recurring Recurring Main Starring Main Main Starring Main

List of characters Kristen Bell portrayed the titular Veronica Mars, a high school junior and skilled private detective. Bell was chosen to play Veronica Mars from more than 500 women who auditioned for the role. Bell felt that it was "just luck" that Rob Thomas saw that "I have some sass to me, and that's exactly what he wanted". Bell thought that it was her cheerleader looks and an outsider's attitude that set her apart from the other women who auditioned. Teddy Dunn portrayed Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend and Lilly's brother. Dunn originally auditioned for Logan, but ended up portraying Duncan Kane. Dunn left the series midway through the second season because Thomas felt that the Logan-Veronica-Duncan love triangle had run its course. He needed to put "other guys in her life" to keep the series fresh and attributed Dunn's removal to fan interest dominating the Logan-Veronica relationship, saying "it became clear that one suitor won out".

20

Teddy Dunn, who portrayed Duncan, originally auditioned for the role of Logan.

Jason Dohring played Logan Echolls, the "bad-boy" 09er son of an A-list actor. Dohring originally auditioned for the role of Duncan Kane. After his audition, the producers asked Dohring to audition for the character of Logan, who at the time was only going to be a guest star in the pilot. Dohring felt that his audition for Duncan "was a little dark", and was told by the producers that it was "not really right". The producers then asked Dohring to read for the role of Logan. The audition process for Logan was originally Duncan, and Dohring acted one scene from the pilot; bashing the headlights of a car in with a crowbar. During the final auditions, Dohring read two times with Bell, and met with the studio and the network. When reading with Bell, Dohring acted the whole scene as if he had raped her, and tried to give the character an evil and fun feel.

Jason Dohring's character Logan was originally a guest star in the pilot.

Percy Daggs III portrayed Wallace Fennel, Veronica's best friend and frequent partner in mystery solving. Percy Daggs III auditioned for the role of Wallace Fennel two times before being cast, and had to go through three tests with the studio and network executives. During his first audition, Daggs read four scenes from the pilot. Just before his studio test, Daggs read with Bell and had "a great conversation". He said that she "made me feel comfortable about auditioning", and was a big reason why he became more comfortable playing Wallace as the season went on. Francis Capra portrayed Eli "Weevil" Navarro, the leader of the PCH Biker gang and Veronica's friend. Enrico Colantoni played Veronica's father Keith Mars, a private investigator and former Balboa County Sheriff.

List of characters

21

Sydney Tamiia Poitier played Mallory Dent, Veronica's journalism teacher at Neptune High through the first season's first half. Ms. Dent, as she was commonly referred to, was the only teacher who took Veronica at face value, not based on prejudices. Together with Veronica, she was responsible for uncovering the voting scam that led to Duncan winning the school elections illegally. Ms. Dent left her job after becoming pregnant. Although she was given series regular billing, Poitier appeared in only four episodes, but was given credit for seven. Poitier's removal from the series was rumored to be due to budget issues. Tessa Thompson portrays Jackie Cook in the second season as a romantic interest of Wallace and the daughter of a famous baseball player. Fan reaction to the character was generally negative, after Veronica witnessed Jackie talking to a guy while dating Wallace. Thomas blamed the character's reception on his error in judgment: he had hoped fans would question whether it was Jackie or Poitier was given series regular Veronica in the wrong, however the audience automatically assumed that it was billing, but appeared in only a total of four episodes. Jackie. Thomas decided not to change the story arc he had planned for Jackie, as he believed Thompson was "a fantastic actress and she's got more to play." He said that whether fans end up liking Jackie is "up in the air", but he hoped that they did because "she's really, really good". Jackie was subsequently written out of the series at the end of the second season. Ryan Hansen portrayed Dick Casablancas, an 09er friend of Logan, a womanizer and former high-school bully turned frat boy. Dick was a recurring character in the first season, but was upgraded to a series regular in the second season. Kyle Gallner acted as Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas, Dick's introverted younger brother. Cassidy was a recurring character in the first season, but was upgraded to a series regular in the second season. Tina Majorino portrayed Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, a computer expert befriended by Veronica. Mac was a recurring character in the first two seasons, but was upgraded to a series regular in the third. Julie Gonzalo portrayed Parker Lee, Mac's extroverted roommate at Hearst College, described by Thomas as "everything that Mac is not". Parker was introduced in the third season as a series regular. Chris Lowell played Stosh "Piz" Piznarski, Wallace's roommate at Hearst College and a music lover with his own campus radio show. Piz was introduced in the third season as a series regular, and was named after the director of the pilot, Mark Piznarski. The character's role was to have another male friend for Veronica who was middle-class, and not upper-class. Thomas used the radio show as a narrative device to capture the mood of the university. Michael Muhney portrayed Don Lamb, the Balboa County Sheriff who won the office from Keith in the recall election spearheaded by Jake Kane. Lamb was a recurring character in the first two seasons, but was upgraded to a series regular in the third.

List of characters

22

Recurring characters
Family
Charisma Carpenter portrays Kendall Casablancas (Kendall Lacey Shifflet, a fake real name; really Priscilla Banks), Cassidy and Dick's gold-digging stepmother. Kendall first appears in the second season premiere, having married real estate magnate Richard Casablancas, seemingly for his vast wealth. She becomes the stepmother of Dick and Cassidy, and begins an affair with their friend, Logan. Cassidy hires Veronica to investigate his stepmother, and she discovers that she helped Richard commit real estate fraud. Veronica told Cassidy and gave the information to the Securities and Exchange Commission; however, Richard fled the country before he could be arrested. Richard's lawyers told Kendall that while the boys both had trust funds, essentially she had nothing. Kendall became desperate for money, and began selling Richard's belongings, and turned to Logan and Duncan, but to no avail. Cassidy, who had started a real estate company called Phoenix Land Trust, needed Kendall to be his CEO for Charisma Carpenter appeared in 11 business purposes, because of his underage status. Although Kendall and Cassidy episodes as Kendall Casablancas. admitted their mutual dislike of each other, the prospect of the salary eventually made Kendall come around. The business continued, though most people assumed Richard was behind Phoenix Land Trust, not Cassidy. When Cassidy informs Kendall they need to acquire more land, she goes and visits the incarcerated Aaron. She makes a deal with him: he will buy into Phoenix Land Trust if she goes to Duncan and Logan's suite and gets something for him. Kendall goes to the suite, and removes some of Duncan's hair from the shower drain. Aaron later uses the hair to plant false evidence implying Duncan committed the crime for which he was on trial, and Aaron was acquitted. When Keith discovers that Kendall is the beneficiary of the life insurance policies on her stepsons, who could have been killed in the bus crash that claimed the lives of several people, he began investigating. He and Veronica discover that everything they know about Kendall is a lie; she is not a dumb trophy wife, rather a con artist named Priscilla Banks. She had been working with the Fitzpatrick crime family, and spent time in jail to protect her lover, Cormac Fitzpatrick (Jason Beghe). Keith breaks into Kendall's home, which leads to a dangerous confrontation with Kendall and Liam Fitzpatrick. When Cormac is released from prison, Keith reunites the two, who are trying to escape from Liam Fitzpatrick with the money Kendall received from Phoenix Land Trust. As Keith leaves the two, Cormac shoots and kills Kendall and tries to shoot Keith, who escapes. Keith believes he got Kendall killed, and feels guilty since he and Kendall had formed a cordial relationship while he was working for her. He goes back to the crime scene with the police, but neither the body of Kendall or Cormac are found, who is believed to have been killed by Liam for not giving up the money. David Starzyk portrays Richard Casablancas, Cassidy and Dick's father. Richard marries Kendall for her to be a trophy wife, and openly favors Dick over Cassidy. When Veronica discovers that he has committed real estate fraud and tells the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Richard flees the country before he can be arrested. Jeffrey Sams acts as Terrence Cook, an ex-major-league baseball player, gambler, and Jackie's formerly estranged father.

List of characters

23

Harry Hamlin (left) and Lisa Rinna (right) are married in the series and in real life.

Harry Hamlin plays Aaron Echolls, an Oscar-winning A-list actor and is the main antagonist during the season 1 finale. At the beginning of the series, Aaron is married to his second wife Lynn, with whom he has a son Logan. He adopted his daughter Trina while married to his previous wife. Aaron has numerous female fans, due to his impressive physique and good looks. Aaron cheats on his wife, and easily angered, he physically abuses Logan, but tolerates Trina. Aaron quits acting when Lynn commits suicide, and tries to reconcile with Logan and Trina. Upon learning that Trina is being physically abused by her boyfriend, he beats the boy, threatening more if the boy ever returned. When Veronica exposes him as the man who killed Lilly, Aaron is indicted and held without bail. Logan visits his father in a holding cell after new evidence implicates Logan in a murder case. Aaron claims that he is innocent, and tries to convince his son that he had been wrongfully accused. Logan, who despises his father, does not believe Aaron's story, but recognizes that the evidence against Aaron is circumstantial at best. Later, Kendall visits Aaron in prison, and he agrees to invest in Phoenix Land Trust if she gets some of Duncan's hair. Aaron uses the hair to plant false evidence implying Duncan committed the crime, and Aaron is acquitted. He goes to the Neptune Grand and has sex with Kendall. While she is in the shower, Clarence Wiedman appears and kills Aaron with a silenced pistol on the orders of Duncan. Lisa Rinna portrays Lynn Echolls, Logan's mother and Trina's stepmother. Lynn was a famous movie star who was married to Aaron Echolls, an even bigger movie star. Lynn tried to ignore Aaron's abuse of Logan by turning to alcohol and pills. After Aaron received several threatening letters, Lynn turned to Keith in an effort to discover who was behind them. It turned out to be a caterer who had seen Aaron having an affair at a party, and he had her fired. At the Echolls's Christmas party, the caterer knifed Aaron in the gut. Aaron recovered, and hired Keith to find out who was leaking stories of his many infidelities to the press, only to discover it was Lynn. When Aaron confronted Lynn, she said that she wanted to hurt him like he hurt her, and went back to her car, took some pills, and drove away. Her car was found abandoned on the Coronado Bridge. Apparently, she had jumped, but no body was found. Even after the funeral, Logan refused to believe that his mother was dead. He believed she left him clues that she was still alive (ex: leaving behind a lighter that was engraved with "Free At Last" that she always kept in her purse), and that she was faking her death to get away from Aaron. Logan hired Veronica to prove his mother was alive; however, a video filmed by a freshman and his friends who were making a movie showed jumping from the bridge in the background, the exact time it was believed Lynn had jumped. Logan finally realizes that she's gone due to the evidence in the video and after discovering that Trina was the one using his mother's credit cards. With all hope gone of his mother being alive, he breaks down crying in Veronica's arms. Later, when Lynn's will was read, it was discovered she had cut Aaron out completely, left nothing to Trina, and given Logan everything she had.

List of characters

24

Alyson Hannigan plays Trina Echolls, Logan's adopted sister and a struggling actress. She is first mentioned by Aaron in "Clash of the Tritons", who says that she is the only one who will talk to him. Logan asks Veronica to investigate his mother's death, and they discover Trina is staying at the Neptune Grand. The film Trina had been shooting in Australia had not worked out, and she had decided to return home. Trina moves back into the house, and gets into trouble with money after borrowing money from her boyfriend, Dylan. She asks Logan for a loan; however, he does not give her any money. Because Trina can't pay Dylan, he ends up beating her to which Logan finds out about after seeing her limp and has a black eye. Once Dylan arrives to talk to Aaron about starring in his movie, Aaron confronts him and beats him. In "My Mother, the Fiend", Trina returns to Neptune as the "Special Celebrity Director" of the school play. During this time, Veronica investigates the case of a Rob Thomas said that it was hard to baby left in the bathroom of Neptune High during the prom of 1980. She believes write an episode featuring Hannigan because of her busy schedule. Celeste Kane is the mother and wants her to own up to abandoning the child. Veronica eventually discovers Trina was the prom baby, and tells Trina the truth, who is excited at the thought of inheriting some of Celeste's wealth. The next day at school, Veronica and Trina are talking when Mary, the deaf lunch lady, begins pointing to herself and then to Trina. Veronica eventually deciphers her sign language: Mary is Trina's biological mother. It turns out then-student Mary had an affair with a teacher, and she left baby Trina at his doorstep. He then left the baby in the bathroom at the prom, knowing they would think it belonged to a student. It turned out the teacher was the current principal, Alan Moorehead. Trina busts him in the middle of a staff meeting, in front of all the other teachers, and he is fired. As a result of Hannigan's busy schedule, several of her storylines had to be swapped between episodes. Thomas said that he "loved having Alyson in the show", and had "a lot of fun with her". Erica Gimpel portrays Alicia Fennel, Wallace's mother; dated Keith Mars at the end of season one and the beginning of season two. Kyle Secor recurs as Jake Kane, Lilly and Duncan's father, a software billionaire. He is Lianne Mars' sweetheart in high school and was having an affair with her at the start of season one. Jake invented streaming video, making him one of the most influential men in Neptune, California via his software company, Kane Software. When Veronica interviews Abel Koontz, he suggests that Veronica is actually Jake's biological daughter rather than Keith's because Jake and Lianne once dated while in high school. Keith later has a paternity test and is proved to be Veronica's biological father. Jake returns in the series finale as a member of the secret society "The Castle". Lisa Thornhill acts as Celeste Kane, Lilly and Duncan's mother. Celeste loathed Veronica because of her husband's affair with Veronica's mother. She disapproved of Veronica and Duncan's relationship, and told Duncan that Veronica could have been his half-sister, because of Jake's affair with Lianne. This caused Duncan to break up with Veronica. Before Lilly died, Celeste had shown some resentment towards her daughters' way of life, and blamed every problem her family faced on Lilly. In her last appearance, in Donut Run, she hired Vinnie Van Lowe to find Duncan.

List of characters

25

Amanda Seyfried portrays Lilly Kane, Duncan's older sister, Veronica's best friend, and Logan's girlfriend. Lilly was the daughter of Jake and Celeste Kane. She was murdered roughly eight months prior to the time of the show's first episode. Abel Koontz, a disgruntled employee fired from Jake's firm, confessed to the crime and was awaiting execution. Lilly is seen on the show throughout a series of flashbacks and Veronica's daydreams, which portray her as a fun, wild, and stylish teenage girl. She was best friend to Veronica, who was dating Lilly's brother, Duncan. Prior to her death, Lilly had been dating Logan, but had also been in a relationship with Eli "Weevil" Navarro, as Lilly did not like to be tied down. Lilly's murder changes Veronica's life completely, being the catalyst for a series of events that include Veronica's father Keith losing his job, Veronica's mother Lianne leaving town, and all of Veronica's friends abandoning her. Through the first season, Veronica investigates Lilly's murder, and finds that nothing is what it seems. All three of the Kanes falsified their alibis, and Lilly's time of death was three hours off. Clarence Wiedman, the head of security for Kane Software, called in the tip that got Abel Koontz arrested.

Thomas felt that Seyfried was so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned.

In the episode, "Leave It to Beaver", Veronica and Duncan discover several video tapes in Lilly's bedroom. They show Lilly in bed with Aaron, Logan's father. Veronica realizes that Aaron killed Lilly to get the tapes back. When Duncan found her body, he went into a catatonic state. When his parents discovered him reeling over Lilly's dead body they assumed he had killed Lilly in an epileptic fit. To protect their son, they began an elaborate cover-up of the murder. However, before Veronica is able to take the tapes to the police, Aaron tries to kill her. After a chase, Keith arrives and he manages to subdue Aaron, and he is arrested. Later that night, Veronica has a dream about Lilly. The two of them are floating in a lily-covered pool. Leaning back and smiling, Veronica declared this was the way things were supposed to be, and how they were going to be from now on. Lilly smiles sadly and replies, "You know how things are going to be from now on, don't you? You have to know." She then asks Veronica not to forget about her and Veronica turns to see that Lilly has disappeared and she is alone in the pool. Veronica promises that she could never forget her best friend. Lilly also appears as a hallucination in the season two premiere, "Normal Is the Watchword". Distracted by seeing Lilly, Veronica misses the bus and has to ride with Weevil back to town instead; the bus later crashes, and all aboard eventually die. Lilly returns for one last dream sequence in "Not Pictured", wherein Veronica's subconscious suggests that Lilly would have attended Vassar, had she lived. As high-spirited as ever, Lilly brags over her sexual experiments and promises Veronica will understand once she goes to college. A painting of Lilly is seen in the final episode, as an homage to the character. Thomas described Seyfried as "the biggest surprise of the year". When casting Lilly Kane, who would only appear occasionally as "the dead girl", Thomas did not receive the same level of actors who auditioned for the role of a series regular. Thomas said that he had "never had a more cut and dry audition" than he did with Seyfried. He said that she was "about 100 times better than anyone else that we saw, she was just spectacular". He said that she ended up being so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned. Corinne Bohrer recurs as Lianne Mars, Veronica's estranged and alcoholic mother. Lianne was the high school sweetheart of Jake Kane, who she believed was Veronica's father. At Neptune High, Lianne was credited to being a gossip and a friend to the deaf girl, Mary, who was later revealed to be the biological mother of Trina Echolls. Lianne later marries Keith, however she has an affair with Jake. After the Lilly Kane murder is made public, Lianne develops a drinking problem and leaves town. When she returns, claiming to want to fix her problems, Veronica spends all of her college savings to enter her mother into rehab. Lianne returns to stay, seemingly sober, however Veronica finds out that Lianne did not finish rehab. Veronica asks Lianne to leave, who steals the $50,000 settlement Veronica received from the Kanes. Lianne reappeared in Veronica's dream, where Lilly was never murdered and Lianne is the perfect mother.

List of characters

26

Ryan Eggold guest stars as Charlie Stone, Logan's half-brother and Aaron's son. When Logan asks Veronica to investigate his rapidly declining trust fund, she uncovers the fact that Logan's father, movie star Aaron, had an illegitimate child. In order to keep this fact a secret from the tabloids, Aaron arranged for his accountant to deposit $10,000 a month from the Echolls estate into a fake charity set up to funnel the money to his son. After learning this information, Logan reaches out to his half-brother, finding a confidante and potential friend. Veronica continues her investigation to discover that the person Logan believes to be his half-brother (Matt Czuchry) is actually a writer for Vanity Fair who posed as Charlie Stone in order to get Logan to share personal details about growing up in the Echolls home. The real Charlie Stone refused to answer the reporter's questions, preferring to remain anonymous. Logan, believing that Ryan Eggold played Logan's real Charlie set up the reporter, reveals his brother's identity on Larry King Live in an half-brother. attempt to scoop the magazine profile. After Veronica informs him that the real Charlie had nothing to do with the reporter, Logan tearfully contacts his half-brother again. Cress Williams appears as Nathan Woods, Wallace's biological father with a shady past as an undercover cop.

Residents of Neptune
Richard Grieco portrays Steve Batando, a struggling actor and drug addict as well as Mindy O'Dell's ex-husband. Killed Lamb with a bat then was shot and killed by Sacks. Laura San Giacomo recurs as Harmony Chase, a married woman with whom Keith becomes romantically involved. Max Greenfield recurs as Leo D'Amato, introduced as the new Sheriff's Deputy, who Veronica befriends. Without his consent, Veronica steals a recording of an anonymous tip implicating Abel Koontz in the death of Lilly Kane from the evidence room. Leo is shortly suspended for the break-in, and when Veronica attempts to apologize, he is reluctant to forgive her. When Veronica admits she has fallen for him, he dismisses the claim, however they Richard Grieco portrays Steve Batando kiss during her school dance. When Veronica secretly begins to date Logan, she confesses the affair to Leo and ends the relationship. The pair manage to remain on good terms, and Leo assists Veronica in breaking-up a dognapping ring the same night she breaks up with him. To get enough money to send his little sister with Down syndrome to a private school, Leo steals and sells the Aaron Echolls and Lilly Kane sex tapes to Logan. Logan promptly destroys the tapes due to the traumatic nature of them, however he inadvertently compromises the pending case against Aaron. Keith discovers Leo's participation in the theft, however, he covers for him by stating that the tapes were stolen because Leo was not at his post. Leo is promptly fired from the sheriff's department, but is able to keep the money that Logan paid him and help his sister. Leo begins working for a private security company, and finds himself working for Woody Goodman's daughter Gia. Leo contacts Keith when he is concerned that his security company's warehouse is about to be robbed. Leo loses his job for involving Keith, although Keith asks him to return as a deputy. Rodney Rowland plays Liam Fitzpatrick, a formidable Irish-Catholic gangster and drug dealer. Liam Fitzpatrick is in charge of the Fitzpatrick mafia family, also known as the Fighting Fitzpatricks. He shoots his brother, Cormac Fitzpatrick, in cold blood, after Cormac fails to retrieve an original Van Gogh painting. It has been hinted that he and his family are helping Vinnie Van Lowe win the election for Sherriff. Liam tells Keith that if Vinnie does not win the election, or if Keith does anything to hurt Vinnie's campaign, he will kill Veronica.

List of characters Steve Guttenberg portrays Woody Goodman, the owner of the Sharks baseball team and Balboa County Executive. More commonly known as the "Mayor of Neptune", although the position is actually "County Supervisor." Revealed at the end of season two to have molested boys through his involvement with Little League baseball teams. Woody was killed when his private plane was blown up by explosives planted by Cassidy Casablancas. Rick Peters plays Tom Griffith, a plastic surgeon and coke-addict who was asked by the Fitzpatricks to testify that Logan killed Felix. Logan retaliated by dating his daughter Hannah until he dropped his charges. Christian Clemenson plays Abel Koontz, Lilly Kane's falsely confessed murderer. Koontz was the person at Kane software who perfected streaming media, but was cheated out of the patent. He then tried to invent a technology that "would put Kane out of business", though he failed and his wife walked out on him. Three months after Lilly's murder, Koontz confessed to murdering her. Lamb found Lilly's backpack and shoes while searching Abel's houseboat, backing up Koontz's confession. Until this point, Keith's investigation was squarely focused on the Kane family as suspects. It was Keith's failure to investigate Koontz that led to his eventual ousting as Neptune's Sheriff. A year later, when Veronica started to conduct her own investigation of Lilly's murder, she visited Koontz on death row twice. During their first visit, Koontz quickly recognizes Veronica and reveals that Jake Kane may be her real father. She was suspicious of Koontz's confession because he fired his attorney while on death row and she discovered that the same shoes that were found in Koontz houseboat were in Lilly's room at the time of the murder. Veronica sneaked into Koontz's doctor's office, and stole both his and Duncan's medical files. She found out that Duncan had type-4 epilepsy, whose symptoms included violent outbursts and seizures. For the first time, Veronica realized that Duncan was a possible suspect in Lilly's murder. She also found out that Abel Koontz had stomach cancer, and that he was dying. She concluded that Jake Kane paid Koontz to confess to the murder, even though he was not the perpetrator so that Keith Mars' investigation into the Kane family would end. Koontz accepted the offer because he knew he was dying and intended to give the money to his daughter, Amelia DeLongpr, who he had neglected in the past. Veronica locates Abel's daughter in order to help prove that he is innocent, but Clarence Wiedman, head of Kane security, bribes her with three million dollars in exchange for her silence. During Veronica's second visit to Koontz, she told him that she knew that he was dying, and that he was paid to confess to the murder. Koontz's innocence was further solidified when Keith went to Las Vegas to talk to a prostitute that was with Koontz at the time of Lilly's murder. Koontz's final appearance was in the second season episode "Rat Saw God". After being cleared of all murder charges and released from prison, he asks Veronica to help locate Amelia before he dies. While investigating, Veronica discovers that Amelia was killed by her boyfriend after they blackmailed Clarence Wiedman for more money. Instead of telling him the truth, Veronica says that his daughter was happily living in Aspen, and that she could not fly down yet because of the weather. He then dies at the end of the episode, but it is not shown. Daran Norris recurs as Cliff McCormack, a Public Defender and Mars family friend. Cliff is a public defender in Neptune who has served as an ally to Keith and Veronica Mars, as well as a steady client of Mars Investigations. Although rarely a key player in the series, he has had some notable and memorable appearances. In "The Rapes of Graff", Cliff was seduced by an escort hired by Aaron Echolls to steal Cliff's briefcase, which contained the Logan Echolls murder case files and keys to the storage locker containing Aaron's personal belongings, including an Oscar statue. Jaime Ray Newman appears as Mindy O'Dell, Dean O'Dell's wife. Mindy and Cyrus share no children of their own, but parent Cyrus' adolescent son from a previous marriage and Mindy's younger son by her first husband, Steven Batando. In "President Evil", the O'Dells hire Keith to find Steven in the hopes that his bone marrow would be a match to that of his biological son, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Keith locates Steven, who refuses to donate his marrow. When Batando later disappears, Keith suspects that the O'Dells kidnapped him and took the marrow donation against his will, but looks the other way. In "Hi, Infidelity", Veronica finds Mindy sharing a hotel room with Hank, her criminology professor at Hearst College, and an employee of Cyrus'. Keith puts Mindy under surveillance after Cyrus hired him to find out if she's having an affair. Keith discovers no affair, but Veronica reveals

27

List of characters the affair with Landry to her father, Keith, who reveals it to Cyrus. Cyrus confides in Keith, saying that Mindy was too young and too beautiful, and their marriage had been doomed to fail. Mindy is preparing to leave Landry in the Neptune Grand hotel room they shared when Cyrus enters and confronts them both about the affair, brandishing a loaded pistol. When Cyrus is found shot to death in his office, the insurance company rules his death a suicide, leaving the O'Dell family with no compensation for the loss of income, in "Spit & Eggs". Mindy returns to Keith Mars and hires him to prove that Cyrus was murdered, in "Show Me the Monkey". Mindy finally gets the insurance money from her husband's murder, buys a boat and leaves town after being questioned by Acting Sheriff Keith Mars. Hank Landry catches up with Mindy on her boat and he later confesses to accidentally killing her the night before being found, in "Papa's Cabin". Ken Marino recurs as Vinnie Van Lowe, Keith's rival private investigator. Announced his intentions to run for Sheriff against Keith in the special election. Vinnie Van Lowe is a private investigator in Neptune, California and is the main competition for Keith and Veronica. Vinnie has rather lax moral standards and is often willing to take on cases that the Mars Investigation team would refuse. It is because of this that he has a much larger caseload than the Mars family. The cases that Vinnie Van Lowe takes on have sometimes helped the Mars family, but sometimes his work has been in opposition to the cases of Mars Investigations. In "Kanes and Abel's", Veronica is attempting to find out who has been harassing Sabrina Fuller, the School Board President's daughter, and one of the top candidates for the Kane Scholarship. The Kane Scholarship is a full scholarship named in honor of Lilly, awarded to the valedictorian of Neptune High. In her investigation, Veronica discovers that one of the cars that was used during a harassment was owned by Vinnie Van Lowe's ex-wife, Debra Villareal. From this she was able to figure out that Vinnie Van Lowe was the person hired to harass Sabrina. In "Donut Run" Van Lowe was hired by Celeste Kane to watch Veronica because Celeste suspected that Veronica knew where Duncan took the kidnapped baby. Veronica was able to take advantage of Vinnie's willingness to change clients if he is offered a better deal. Veronica had Duncan offer Vinnie more money to drive the Manning baby and a Veronica look-alike over the Mexican border and to pick Duncan up in Mexico. It was because of this that Duncan was able to successfully escape authorities with the kidnapped baby. In "Not Pictured", Vinnie and Keith team up to catch Woody Goodman. Vinnie had broken into the Goodman house and stole all their records. Vinnie was arrested, but got away with the records. Using his one phone call, he meets with Keith to get him to split the bounty. Vinnie gives the records and Keith gets the man. In "Welcome Wagon", he almost gets Keith killed while working for Liam Fitzpatrick. However, in "Of Vice and Men", Vinnie rescued Veronica and Meryl from serious danger from the Fitzpatricks when the two girls wander into the River Stix searching for Meryl's missing boyfriend. Christopher B. Duncan recurs as Clarence Wiedman, the Head of Security at Kane Software. He kills Aaron Echolls at the end of season two on Duncan's orders. As Head of Security for Kane Software, Wiedman is known to do the less-than-savory jobs that Jake Kane needs done. It is known that Jake Kane called Wiedman before he reported his daughter's murder and Veronica speculates that he assisted in the cover-up of Lilly's true time of death by lowering the temperature of her body. It is known that Wiedman paid Amelia deLongpre so that her father, Abel Koontz, would falsely confess to the murder of Lilly. When Veronica found Amelia and tried to convince her to reveal the existence of the payoff money, Wiedman got to her first and gave her even more money so that she would leave Neptune, in "Kanes and Abel's". Wiedman also called in the anonymous tip that got Abel Koontz arrested and took photos of Veronica that were sent to Lianne Mars in "You Think You Know Somebody". Unfortunately, Amelia DeLongpre didn't stay away long. When Abel tried to get Veronica to find his daughter, Veronica found out that she had called Kane Software from a payphone across the street and confronted Wiedman about it. Later on, when Veronica found her body, Clarence was there and confessed to her that Amelia had asked for more money. As it turned out, it was Amelia's new boyfriend, Carlos Mercado, who had wanted the money and after he got it, he killed Amelia. Wiedman traced the money to Las Vegas and it was implied that he killed Carlos in "Rat Saw God". Wiedman made another appearance when Aaron was acquitted. In "Not Pictured", Aaron's hotel room, Clarence assassinated him with two bullets. Afterwards, he called Duncan in Australia, who asked "CW?" Wiedman responded, "It's a done deal".

28

List of characters

29

Neptune High
John Bennett Perry plays Alan Moorehead, the Principal of Neptune High. When Moorehead was a teacher, he had an affair with then-student Mary, and she left their baby Trina Echolls at his doorstep. He then left the baby in the bathroom at the prom, knowing they would think it belonged to a student. Many years later, when Veronica discovers that he is Trina's father, Moorehead is fired as principal. Duane Daniels plays Van Clemmons, the Vice Principal turned Principal of Neptune High. During high school, Veronica constantly John Bennett Perry played Alan Moorehead gets into trouble and as a result regularly meets with Clemmons. Occasionally, Van Clemmons asks Veronica for help, once asking her to locate the missing school mascot. Clemmons is the one who instructs Veronica to organize some old files, which led to her discovering Moorehead as Trina Echolls' father. When Moorehead is fired as principal, Veronica realizes that it was Clemmons' plan all along to become principal. When Veronica graduates, Clemmons says that he cannot decide if his life will be easier or more difficult with her gone. Clemmons reappears in "Un-American Graffiti", where he is caught on tape being shot with a paintball gun by several Neptune High students. Adam Hendershott portrays Vincent "Butters" Clemmons, a student at Neptune High and Van Clemmons' son. When he was a freshman, Vincent was pantsed by a bully and given the nickname "Butters". Vincent vowed revenge and that following fall, the jock who had humiliated him and those who did nothing to save him, found themselves having failed mandatory drug tests, essentially barring them from playing sports in their final year of high school. Veronica believed Butters to be behind the crime; however, she discovered the real culprits were a conclave of parents who rigged the drug tests so that their children could gain the spots opened up in the wake of the mass suspension of athletes. Later, when Butters' only friend Marcos Oliveres was killed in the bus crash and his parents sued the school, Veronica thought Butters was targeting the family, leaving them reminders of their son to torment the parents. She discovers that Butters and Marcos secretly ran the local pirate radio station, "Ahoy, Mateys!", which was infamous for its vicious slandering of the popular cliques at school. Butters tells Veronica that he had little contact with Marcos since the summer, when he came back from summer camp and quit the radio show without telling Butters why. Veronica later found out summer camp was an antigay camp he was sent to, and that the real culprit was Marcos' friend Ryan, who had a crush on Marcos and who sought to make the Oliveres suffer the same way they made their son suffer in regards to his potential homosexuality. Butters develops a crush on Mac, much to her disgust, and she is forced to attend Logan's "anti-prom" with him. James Jordan acts as Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic, the deceased former janitor at Neptune High. He previously acted as a bat boy for Woody Goodman's baseball team, the Sharks. Jonathan Chesner portrays Douglas "Corny", a Stoner, occasional ally of Veronica's. Corny is in the same graduation class as Veronica. Corny makes the bong that Veronica plants in Logan's locker in "Pilot". Resident stoner of Neptune High. Works at Cho's Pizza as a deliveryman. When he is mugged and tasered in "Versatile Toppings" he helps Veronica find the culprit. He appears to have somewhat of a crush on Veronica as seen in "Blast from the Past" when he nominates her for Neptune High's Homecoming Queen. He was the DJ in between the Faders's sets at the Homecoming dance his senior year. He's very proud of his brownie recipe claiming that "it's all in the butter." He appears to go to Logan's Alterna-Prom alone. Krysten Ritter portrays Gia Goodman, the daughter of the influential Neptune citizen and professional baseball team owner Woody Goodman, and a student at Neptune High. Gia starts attending Neptune High after she transfers from a private boarding school. She attends the class field trip to Shark Field and meets Dick Casablancas, his brother Cassidy, Duncan Kane and Veronica for the first time. Gia rides the school bus on the way to the stadium,

List of characters however she opts to ride in Dick Casablancas' limo with the other "09ers" on the way back. The bus crashes and all of the passengers die, except for Meg Manning. Later in the year, Gia invites Veronica to her slumber party. Veronica attends, however she has an ulterior motive and is investigating families that Meg babysat for. When Gia is sent footage of herself at her brother's soccer game, she hires Veronica to find the sender. Gia and Veronica's friendship is broken when a feud erupts between their fathers, and she fires Veronica from the case. When Veronica realizes that Gia's stalker is Neptune High's janitor Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic, she rushes to her aid. Lucky is arrested, but he is let go when the Mannings pay for his bail. He comes to school the next day with a gun looking for Gia; however he is shot and killed by school security. Jessy Schram plays Hannah Griffith, an "09er" high-school sophomore student at Neptune High. Hannah meets Logan at the school carnival, and is surprised when he asks her out. Logan reveals to Hannah that her father, plastic surgeon Dr. Thomas Griffith, is a cocaine user. He tells her that he is protecting his dealers, the Fitzpatricks, and has falsely testified against Logan in a murder trial. Hannah decides that she cannot trust Logan, because he is only dating her to get to her father, but she is quick to forgive him. When her father catches her being undressed by Logan, he sends Hannah to a boarding school in Vermont. Kari Coleman portrays Deborah Hauser, a divorced sex education teacher with a bitter approach to her students, disliking all non-09ers and kissing ass to the 09ers. Veronica baby-sits her demonic son in order to find out if he is being abused. It is also revealed she was friends with Lianne Mars when they attended Neptune High as teenagers, and were suspended together for spreading a "false and malicious rumour". Mrs Hauser maintained that Lianne told her a rumour knowing it was false and Deborah passing it on unknowingly, however Veronica found out the real story. Lianne's friend had an affair with a teacher at the school and became pregnant, and not knowing how to help, confided in Deborah, who passed the gossip around. This baby would end up being Trina Echolls. Mrs Hauser makes another appearance during the Winter Carnival at school where she steals money from the cashbox and tries to blame Veronica and Jackie. However, she is caught and deservedly fired. Paula Marshall acts as Rebecca James, the school guidance counsellor and briefly dated Keith Mars. Paula had previously worked with series creator Rob Thomas on his earlier series, Cupid. Veronica does not approve of their relationship and digs up information on her to change Keith's mind - information being Ms. James was arrested for passing bad cheques when she was 21. Ms. James and Veronica's relationship is strained because of this, although she does try to help Veronica discover the meaning of her haunting dreams in the second season. Alona Tal recurs as Meg Manning, an "09er" cheerleader and the daughter of mentally abusive fundamentalist Christian parents. She initially appears when Veronica is the victim of a nasty prank and lends her clothes, and sticks up for her when other 09ers start insulting her. When an online purity test posts all the participants results, Meg's is faked to be unusually low and she gets a reputation as a slut. Veronica finds the person responsible for making this up about Meg (in "Like a Virgin"). When Meg asks Veronica to help find her secret admirer, she is keen to help, until she finds out that her secret admirer is Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend. Eventually, Veronica accepts Meg and Duncan's relationship. ("Ruskie Business") After finding out that he is not Veronica's half-brother, Duncan breaks up with Meg, who blames Veronica. Afterward, Meg's attitude towards Veronica is openly hostile. On the way back from a field trip to a baseball ground, while Veronica was talking to Weevil during a rest stop, Meg deliberately implied that Veronica had returned to the bus, causing it to leave without her. However, the bus subsequently careened off a cliff and into the ocean. ("Normal Is the Watchword")

30

Alona Tal auditioned for the role of Veronica Mars, and was Rob Thomas' second choice. Thomas created the recurring role of Meg Manning specifically for her.[citation
needed]

List of characters Meg was the only survivor, but she remained in a coma for much of the second season. Meg has two younger sisters, Lizzie and Grace. While Meg was in a coma, Lizzie brought Duncan Meg's laptop, asking him to remove Meg's personal files from the system before her parents were able to check them. Duncan and Veronica found that Meg had compiled information about a child whom she often babysat. The young boy was being abused by his parents. Soon, the two uncovered that the abused child (who was referred to by Meg as a boy) was actually Meg's youngest sister Grace. Meg's parents are religious zealots who lock Grace in a closet when they are out, and make her fill out exercise book after exercise book with the phrase: "The path of God is paved with righteousness." Duncan and Veronica found dozens of these books in Grace's room. Veronica visited Meg in the hospital and discovered that Meg was pregnant, this being the reason she was so mad at Veronica. Shortly after she left, Meg awoke from her coma. ("My Mother, the Fiend") Meg apologized to Veronica for her harsh treatment and then asked Veronica to make sure that her baby wouldn't fall into her parents' hands should anything happen to Meg. Later that same episode, Meg died of a blood clot to the heart, but not before giving birth to her daughter Faith, who was later renamed Lilly by the child's father Duncan Kane. ("One Angry Veronica") Duncan flees to Australia with her to escape Meg's parents. James Molina plays Eduardo "Thumper" Orozco, a PCH biker who betrays Weevil and starts dealing for the Irish gang the Fitzpatricks. Murdered deliberately by the Fitzpatricks and indirectly by Weevil and inadvertently but directly by Logan. Leighton Meester plays Carrie Bishop, nicknamed the queen of gossip at Neptune High. She appeared in two episodes. She was known for faking an affair with a teacher who Veronica strongly thought was innocent. The teacher is found that he had in fact had a relationship with a previous student who had his baby, whom he denied and left. That student was the reason why Carrie had made these accusations. She also appeared in a later episode when Veronica is searching for the one responsible of raping her at Shelly Pomeroy's party. Carrie had told her that Duncan Kane was the one she saw with Veronica in the bedroom. Michael Kostroff portrays Samuel Pope, the teacher of Future Business Leaders of America and one of the few ethical people of Neptune. He plans to retire to a life of sailing during the second season, after making a small fortune from real estate investment in Big Dick Casablancas' firm. Veronica discovers that the company is defrauding the investors and encourages Mr. Pope to get rid of his stock before she reports it, but he sadly replies he cannot do this; to get rid of it, he would have to sell it to someone else, and they would pay they price. He sadly admits he cannot do that, and cannot retire as planned. It is assumed he continues teaching at Neptune High. Amanda Noret plays Madison Sinclair, Dick's ex-girlfriend and Neptune High's resident bitch. Shortly after Lilly's murder, at Shelly Pomeroy's party, Dick dosed Madison's drink with GHB to loosen her up; however, Madison spat in the drink, which she calls "A Trip to the Dentist", and gave it to Veronica. In turn, Veronica drank the soda, and later had sex with Duncan, who had also unknowingly ingested GHB (given to him by Logan). The following year, Madison rigged the school election in order to get Duncan Kane elected to student body president. Veronica exposed the plot which resulted in Madison losing her place on the student council and the special privileges granted by the position. Veronica discovers in Season One that Madison was switched at birth with Mac. It is shown that Madison constantly argues with her family, whereas Mac's parents have fully accepted Mac as their daughter, and have shown no signs of wanting anything to do with Madison. After breaking up with Dick, she is secretly involved with Sheriff Don Lamb ("The Rapes of Graff"). Veronica discovers this and mocks Madison about her relationship with Lamb in front of their classmates through innuendo that, while her classmates do not understand, had a meaning that was quite apparent to Madison. Madison, having gone off to college at USC, is absent from much of Veronica's life at Hearst, until she had several run-ins with her in Neptune in the episode "Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves". Veronica first sees Madison when she arrived unexpectedly at Neptune Grand Suite shared by Logan and Dick; thinking that Madison was simply looking up her ex, Veronica sent her on her way. Later, however, she ran into her again at a lingerie shop where Madison maliciously let slip that she had spent the night with Logan while in Aspen over Christmas break, when

31

List of characters Veronica and Logan were split up. In the following episode, Veronica, consumed by images of Madison's tryst with Logan, follows her and eventually plots with Weevil to have Madison's new car crushed and cubed. Veronica has a change of heart, however, and asks him to return it unscathed, save for a can of tuna in her air conditioning. Brad Bufanda acts as Felix Toombs, Weevil's former right-hand man. Killed supposedly by Logan, but actually by Thumper, a fellow PCHer. Bufanda originally tried out for the role of Weevil. Throughout season 1, Felix was known as a PCH bike gang member and Weevil's (PCH leader) best friend. At the end of season 1 someone knocked on Veronica's door and she smiled saying "I was hoping it would be you." Fans were on the edge of their seat trying to find out who it was. As many fans suspected and hoped it was Logan Echolls. Once there, a beaten Logan told Veronica the story of how he got that way. The PCH gang members beat the living hell out of Logan because: 1. They thought he killed Lilly Kane (Weevil's lover) 2. Logan knocked Weevil out cold. After Logan woke up from the beating he discovered that Felix had been stabbed and bled to death. During season 2 Weevil was on a mission to solve the murder of Felix Toombs. First Weevil suspected Logan, but later on he found out it wasn't Logan so he enlisted Logan's help to try to solve this case. During that time he found out the PCHers had been dealing drugs with the Fitzpatricks. Felix was secretly dating Molly Fitzpatrick (Liam Fitzpatrick's niece). Liam got Thumper (who at the time was Liam's lackey) to stab Felix. Weevil knew that Thumper did it but couldn't prove it. So, Weevil set up Thumper to look like he was stealing drugs and money from the Fitzpatricks. Liam and cousin Danny Boyd locked Thumper in "Shark Stadium" which was blown up by Logan (directly) and Woody Goodman (indirectly) with Thumper and his bike inside. Thus, finally resolving the murder of Felix Toombs. Aaron Ashmore portrays Troy Vandegraff, the childhood friend of Duncan's; Veronica's boyfriend for the early stretch of season one. He betrays Veronica and leaves town, but he is somewhat reformed by the time they meet again later in the series. Troy and Veronica dated for a short time in Season One, but their relationship didnt last long because Troy involved an unwitting Veronica in a plot to smuggle steroids from Mexico into the US. Veronica managed to find out his intentions before he was able to successfully complete his plan and run away with his real girlfriend. He later comes back in the episode The Rapes of Graff in Season 2 where he is accused of raping and shaving the head of a girl at Hearst College. Veronica ends up clearing Troy's name but doesn't find out who the real rapist is until the third season. Ashmore thought that Veronica Mars was a "great show", and loved the character of Troy.[2] Valorie Curry plays Jane Kuhne, student athlete at Neptune High and Wallace's girlfriend after he returns from Chicago. She is introduced in Season 1 while Wallace is pursuing Jackie as a distant admirer of Wallace who has been ignored. After Wallace returns from Chicago, he takes up with Jane. She is features in the episode "The Quick and the Wed" when her older sister disappears following a bachelorette party, and Veronica investigates the disappearance.
Ashmore enjoyed his reappearance in the second season, saying "it was kinda nice coming back and being the good guy and not the bad guy for [1] once".

32

Hearst College
Matt McKenzie plays Tom Barry, Wallace's basketball coach and father of Josh Barry. He is allegedly murdered the night after a basketball game during which he fights with Josh and the team loses the game. Josh is believed to be his killer due to the argument and the fact that Mason drove past the area where Coach Barry died and saw someone who appeared to be Josh with him. It is revealed that he was dying of an incurable brain disease that would be slow, painful, humiliating and costly. He arranged for his suicide to appear as a carjacking so that his family would be paid life insurance (which they would not in the case of a suicide) and take care of them financially. David Tom plays Chip Diller, the President of the Pi Sig frat house. He first appears in season two when Veronica visits Hearst, and she accuses him of raping a student. While it turns out he is not a rapist, he is shown to be still a

List of characters horrible person. He is attacked by a group of campus feminists, head shaved and an egg shoved into his rectum on the anniversary of Patrice Pitrelli's attempted suicide for his part in it. During the episode "Spit & Eggs", Veronica points out to Chip that the beer coasters provided by the Pi Sig's were not effective, since they were supposed to be used for drug testing, but he does not care. Chip is one of the main perpetrators in spreading the sex video of Veronica and Piz, however did not have anything to do with its creation. James Jordan appears as Tim Foyle, a teaching assistant for Professor Hank Landry at Hearst College. Tim seems to dislike Veronica, possibly because Landry seems to prefer her over him. In the first session of Landry's criminology class (in Welcome Wagon), he has his students play a detective game, "Murder on the Riverboat Queen". Veronica beats Tim's record time for solving the mystery by ten minutes, then embarrasses and annoys him by saying "There is one thing I can't figure out: what did you do with the extra ten minutes?" In Hi, Infidelity, Tim accuses Veronica of plagiarizing her mid-term paper and gives her three days to clear herself. After Veronica figures out what happened, she accuses Tim of setting her up just so that she would discover that Landry was having an affair with Mindy O'Dell, the Dean's wife, but Tim does not explicitly deny it; instead he says that if he HAD set the whole thing up, it would have been to show Veronica what Landry was really like before she became his protege. Tim is also the boyfriend of Bonnie Capistrano, Dick's fling, and is presumably the father of her miscarried baby. While investigating the truth behind Bonnie's miscarriage, she discovers that Tim was very supportive over her decision to have the baby. And that he even asked Bonnie to marry him in order to please her religious parents. In Papa's Cabin, Tim and Veronica team up in an attempt to clear Dr. Landry of the murder of Hearst College's Dean of Students, Cyrus O'Dell. At the end of the episode, however, it is revealed that Tim himself murdered Cyrus O'Dell to take revenge on Landry for ruining his chances at a job at (a fictional version of) Pepperdine University, by giving an unfavorable reference to the prospective employer. Tim's name is, in fact, a joke by the writers. His character was created as a foil for Veronica, and was referred to as "FOIL" during the early drafts. According to Rob Thomas on the DVD extras, they eventually decided to call him Foyle anyway, and Tim as his first name as a play on "tin foil". Adam Rose portrays Max, a geeky student who provides test answers for cash. While he started out as a one time guest star, turned into a recurring character due to his likability. He makes quite a profit with his business, and does not care when he is expelled from Hearst, planning to make his living from it anyway. Max comes to Veronica with the task of finding his dream girl whom he met at ComiCon and had an instant connection with, who left telling him she'd left her details in his hotel room, for him to return and find the hotel cleaners had already been and it had disappeared. It turned out that this girl was actually a hooker hired by his friends so that Max could lose his virginity; he decides to continue trying to find her even when he finds this out. Max convinced Chelsea to leave the prostitution business for him, and he pays off her $10,000 debt to her pimp. However things are not the same when her past keeps being brought up; he finally asks whether she actually left her information and Chelsea is heartbroken when he realises she didn't - "But I really wish I had." She leaves but promises to pay him back - it is implied that she is making her money by stripping. Max comes back into the series as Mac's new boyfriend after she breaks up with Bronson for him. Ryan Devlin recurs as Mercer Hayes, a friend of Logan and Dick, who runs an illegal casino out of his dorm room called the Benetian. Parker suspects him of being the rapist due to him wearing the same cologne she smelled the night she was raped, and Veronica investigates and finds he owns an electric razor too. She reports this to Lamb, who agrees with her for once, due to finding the same date rape drugs inside Mercer's money box. However Logan provides Mercer with an incriminating alibi - they accidentally burnt down a Tijuana motel the night of one of the rapes - but Veronica finds other proof that he didn't do it (his live, call in radio show being on at the time of one of the rapes). However when at the Pi Sig party she hears his show being played and recognises electronic distortion and skipping, she realises he IS the rapist, the shows being able to be recorded. She prevents him from raping a 5th girl and stabs him with a ceramic unicorn horn, and eventually Keith arrests Moe and Mercer. He is last seen in a jail cell, with Logan (who smashed a police cruiser to get arrested, get put into a cell with Mercer and get revenge on him for what he did to Veronica and the other girls).

33

List of characters Patrick Fabian portrays Hank Landry, Veronica's Criminology professor and admirer. He is having an affair with Dean O'Dell's wife Mindy O'Dell and accidentally kills her when framed by his TA Tim Foyle for the murder of the Dean. Hank Landry is Veronica's Intro to Criminology professor. Although Veronica has yet to decide on a major, Prof. Landry has been advocating criminal investigations as a career choice for her. Prof. Landry is joined in his Intro to Criminology class by his teaching assistant Tim Foyle. Veronica first impressed Prof. Landry by solving the murder mystery he presented on the first day of class in record time. Later, she impresses him by being the sole person to write an "A" caliber paper on his "Perfect Murder" assignment. After reading the paper, he talks to Veronica about her potential and offers to be her faculty adviser. While Veronica is considering Prof. Landry's offer, she is manipulated by Tim Foyle into finding out one of Landry's secrets: he has been having an affair with Mindy O'Dell, the wife of the Dean of Hearst College. Shortly after this incident, Prof Landry announces his end-of-term research paper: to plan the perfect murder. He then meets with Veronica and tells her that he is going to recommend her for a summer internship with the FBI and that he will accept her application essay for the position as a replacement for the end-of-term assignment. Veronica assumed that Prof. Landry was attempting to buy her silence about Landry's affair with Mindy and turned down the offer. Upon telling this to Prof. Landry, he explained that the internship offer had nothing to do with what she knew about him, but Veronica still opted to write the end-of-term paper. Veronica received one of the three "A"s that Prof. Landry gave out for this paper. When Veronica finds out that her father is investigating whether Dean O'Dell's wife is having an affair she tells Keith what she knows about Prof. Landry and Mindy. Keith tells the Dean who takes a loaded revolver and visits Prof. Landry and Mindy O'Dell in the middle of one of their rendezvous. It is as of now unknown what transpired in the room that night. When Keith takes the Dean O'Dell case, he finds Prof. Landry at a local bar and attempts to entice a confession out of Landry over some drinks. This does not work, however, as Landry informs Keith that he read Keith's book and he knows that Keith is a private investigator. Krista Kalmus plays Claire Nordhouse, a feminist and member of Lillith house, friends with Nish and Fern. She is one of the protestors who made a front page newspaper picture, of many topless women holding a banner reading "We go to Hearst, go ahead and rape us!" Claire is very attractive, with long blonde hair, making her the target of the rival newspaper's response (topless men holding a banner saying "No thanks! (except maybe the blonde in the middle)"). The three use this response in order to have the Pi Sig house shut down as well as the rival newspaper run by them by faking Claire's rape. However Veronica finds out that it was not real and exposes this - ATM photos showing the guy with her before her rape, who took her home, was actually Claire's boyfriend who helped set it up. She is then expelled from Hearst as a result. She was Patrice Pitrelli's best friend in their freshman year, and was the original source of information about the Theta Beta two-way mirror.

34

List of characters

35

Ed Begley, Jr. portrays Cyrus O'Dell, the Dean of Hearst College. Initially Veronica's adversary, gradually becoming her ally and gaining her respect, and vice versa. Married to much younger Mindy, he suspects her of having an affair, which Keith later proves to be with Hank Landry. He confronts the two, threatening to leave her broke and ruin Landry's career. He is killed by Tim Foyle during the ninth episode in the style of Veronica's Plan a Perfect Murder paper (a fake suicide). After his death it is revealed that he wrote her a referral to the FBI, a statement of what a brilliant student she was and how he had not encountered a student with more talent in all his years in academia. His body is found by Weevil, who is rather gutted, having grown quite fond of the dean while working at Hearst. Michael Mitchell plays Bronson Pope, an animal rights activist and Mac's first post-Cassidy boyfriend. He is shown to be extremely outdoorsy, encouraging Mac to play Ultimate Frisbee and take early morning hikes. She loses her virginity to him on Valentine's Day, but breaks up with him not much later after falling for Max.

Ed Begley, Jr. played Cyrus O'Dell.

Andrew McClain acts as Moe Slater, the R.A. of the Hearst College dorms. He is very earnest and is always offering oolong tea to everyone - implied to be how he drugs people. He is Mercer's partner, who helped him rape the girls as he was the Safe Ride Home driver. He would take drunk girls home (it is still not clear whether he drugged them at the party or drugged them once they were in their dorms) and then tell Mercer which room, and provide him the keys to get in. The relationship between him and Mercer is implied to be a result of the prison warden experiment that Logan and Wallace underwent, as he keeps a photo of the two of them in their uniforms. Moe was the prisoner and Mercer the warden, who mentally dominated him and controlled him into helping him rape. It was Moe that drugged Veronica and tried to shave her head, in order to give Mercer an alibi. Chastity Dotson portrays Nish Sweeney, the former Editor of the Hearst Free Press and feminist of Lillith House. She and Veronica are initially friends when she gives Veronica the assignment to go undercover and infiltrate the Theta Beta sorority house. Veronica is supposed to find proof of a two-way mirror in which Theta Betas would make the rushes undress in front of for the Pi Sigs enjoyment. However Nish publishes the article that Veronica asked her not to that she wrote about a cannabis farm at the sorority house, and they become enemies. Nish helps Claire fake the rape, and eggs Dean O'Dell's window the night he was murdered. By the end of the semester, Nish and Veronica are on good terms, as Veronica gives her a list of names of members of the secret fraternity the Castle.

Other characters
The following is a supplementary list of recurring or one-time guest stars, which includes characters that appear briefly in multiple episodes, but have little to no real world content to justify an entire section covering their in-universe histories. Steve Rankin acts as Lloyd Blankenship, a newspaper reporter and ally of Keith. Taylor Sheridan plays Danny Boyd, Liam Fitzpatrick's dim-witted cousin and accomplice. Brandon Hillock plays Jerry Sacks, Sheriff Lamb's right-hand man. Annie Campbell plays Molly Fitzpatrick, a member of the Fitzpatrick family and Felix's girlfriend until his death. Kevin Sheridan plays Sean Friedrich, an "09er" with a penchant for thievery and drug dealing. Cher Ferreyra portrays Fern Delgado, a disgruntled feminist and member of the "Take Back the Night" program. She lives in Lillith house with Nish and Claire, and dislikes Veronica for proving the Pi Sigs weren't rapists. Veronica initially suspects her in the disappearance of Selma Hearst Rose

List of characters Robert Ri'Chard plays Mason, a hot-tempered basketball jock and Wallace's new friend. He encourages Wallace to skip studying to hang out with him, and instead puts him in contact with Max to cheat. He is the one who mistakes Josh as being the person out on the overlook with Coach Barry before he is killed. Joss Whedon plays Douglas, a clueless car-rental salesman who inadvertently helps Veronica track down Abel Koontz' daughter Amelia Delongpre in the episode "Rat Saw God".

36

References
[1] http:/ / www. ifmagazine. com/ feature. asp?article=1612 [2] http:/ / www. kryptonsite. com/ ashmoretca. htm

External links
Complete Episode, Soundtrack, and Character Information (http://marsinvestigations.net/index.php) Veronica Mars CWiki on CWTV.com (http://cwiki.cwtv.com) Veronica Mars on Warnerbros.com (http://www2.warnerbros.com/television/tvShows/veronicamars/) Veronica Mars (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412253/) at the Internet Movie Database Veronica Mars (http://www.tv.com/shows/veronica-mars/) at TV.com

Cassidy Casablancas

37

Cassidy Casablancas
Cassidy Casablancas
First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "M.A.D." "Not Pictured" Rob Thomas Kyle Gallner Information Nickname(s) Gender Family Beaver Male Richard Casablancas, Sr. (father) Betina Casablancas (mother) Kendall Casablancas (step-mother, deceased) Dick Casablancas (brother)

Significant other(s) Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie (girlfriend at time of death)

Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas is a fictional character on UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars, portrayed by actor Kyle Gallner. He was a series regular during the second season and the main antagonist during the second season finale.

Background
Cassidy, known as "Beaver" (a nickname he despises), is a son of one of Neptune, California's richest men, Richard Casablancas, and younger brother of town bully Dick Casablancas. Cassidy hangs around with his older brother a lot, even though Dick victimizes him almost as much as his usual targets. Despite his unspoken reservations, Cassidy acts as accomplice when Dick and his friend Logan Echolls cause trouble in the community. Cassidy is extremely needy as a result of the emotional neglect he suffers at the hands of his father, who openly favors Dick over him. In season three, a guilt-ridden Dick reveals that he and his father would have contests to see which one could make Cassidy cry. Dick also admits to duct-taping Cassidy's feet to the pedals of his bike, forgetting about it and a couple of hours later finding him pedaling around desperately in circles. Some critics have interpreted Cassidy's characterization, especially in the second season, as indicating that the character was in fact secretly gay.[1]

Notable events
Dick and Cassidy provide an alibi for Logan even though he had returned to Neptune the day of Lilly Kane's murder. Eventually, Cassidy tells Veronica Mars that they had lied to the police. During Veronica's investigation of her rape at Shelley Pomroy's party, she discovers Dick had encouraged Cassidy to rape her while she was unconscious to lose his virginity. Cassidy, however, denies it. He tells Veronica that he ran out of the room and threw up, after realizing that he could not go through with it. In the season two premiere "Normal Is the Watchword", while Dick is talking to Logan in a flashback, it is shown that Cassidy avoids directly looking at Veronica. When his father marries a younger woman, Kendall Casablancas, Cassidy tells Veronica that he suspects she is having an affair and hires Veronica to find proof. In the process, Veronica exposes Cassidy's father's real estate scam. Cassidy's father quickly abandons his family and flees the country.

Cassidy Casablancas After a failed request to move back in with his birth mother, Cassidy and Kendall start a new real estate business to make money. With help from Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie as his tech girl, he creates a company named Phoenix Land Trust, using Kendall as the on-paper "owner" of the company, as Cassidy is underage. The Trust buys up cheap properties outside the proposed borders for the City of Neptune, a risky move that bet heavily against passage of incorporation. Cassidy and Mac soon begin dating, but their relationship falls apart when he refuses to become sexually intimate with her. When she mentions to Cassidy that she had gone to Veronica for advice, Cassidy abruptly dumps her for bringing Veronica into his personal life. In the second season finale, "Not Pictured", it is revealed that he was among the boys molested by Woody Goodman. Veronica discovers that not only did Cassidy set up the bus crash to kill Woody's other victims, who intended to come forward, but he is also responsible for many of the events of the first two seasons such as orchestrating the exposure of his father's real estate fraud, and Goodman's fall from public favor. She also discovers that he did rape her after all, giving her chlamydia in the process, which he had, in turn, contracted after being molested by Woody. After Cassidy blows up the plane bringing Goodman back to Neptune following his arrest, he tries to kill Veronica. Logan stops him, however, and Cassidy prepares to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of the Neptune Grand. Logan tries to stop him, but Cassidy asks why he shouldn't kill himself. When Logan is unable to answer, Cassidy jumps to his death.

38

Appearances
Season 1
1x20 M.A.D. 1x21 A Trip to the Dentist 1x22 Leave It to Beaver

Season 2
2x01 Normal Is the Watchword 2x02 Driver Ed 2x03 Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang 2x07 Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner 2x09 My Mother, the Fiend 2x12 Rashard and Wallace Go to White Castle 2x13 Aint No Magic Mountain High Enough 2x15 The Quick and the Wed 2x17 Plan B 2x18 I Am God 2x21 Happy Go Lucky 2x22 Not Pictured

References
[1] http:/ / www. afterelton. com/ archive/ elton/ TV/ 2006/ 5/ veronicamars. html The Good, the Bad, and the Gay on the Season Finale of Veronica Mars

Dick Casablancas

39

Dick Casablancas
Richard Casablancas, Jr.
Ryan Hansen as Dick Casablancas First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Credit Where Credit's Due" "The Bitch Is Back" Rob Thomas Ryan Hansen Information Nickname(s) Gender Occupation Family Dick Male Student Richard Casablancas, Sr. (Father) Betina Casablancas (Mother) Kendall Casablancas (Stepmother, deceased) Cassidy Casablancas (Brother, deceased) Melinda Button (divorced/annulled)

Spouse(s)

Significant other(s) Madison Sinclair Gia Goodman

Richard "Dick" Casablancas, Jr. is a fictional character on the UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars, which debuted during the fall 2004 season on UPN. He is portrayed by Ryan Hansen. He is a series regular from season two forward.

Background story
Dick is the eldest son of one of Neptune, California's wealthiest men, Richard Casablancas. He is part of the in-crowd at Neptune High, and is good friends with Logan Echolls. Though he doesn't have a very large role for most of the first season, it is learned that Dick only loves three things in life: women, sex and surfing. He spends most of his time at school bullying kids without money, and tries to find as many ways as possible to make Veronica's life miserable. He has a younger brother named Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas, to whom Dick is painfully cruel to throughout the series. He and his father see him as weak and bully him mercilessly when they aren't ignoring him. Veronica later finds out that Dick encouraged his brother to have sex with her while she was unconscious, having been drugged with GHB. Dick is more prominently featured towards the end of the first season, and becomes a regular in season two. He is still shallow and horny as ever, although he tries to be on good terms with Veronica, who, now that she's dating Duncan Kane again, is a part of their crowd. Over the summer, Dick and Logan are heavily involved in a battle with the PCH after one of their gang members is murdered and they hold Logan (falsely) responsible. When Logan is cleared of all charges, the PCH decide to take matters into their own hands and begin stalking and harassing the 09'er crowd. Dick and Logan then burn down the county pool so that the PCH can't go for a swim during hot days. He dates Madison Sinclair for over two years, but she leaves him for an older man, who is later revealed to be Sheriff Don Lamb. Dick then takes an interest in Gia Goodman, a fellow student at Neptune High and the daughter of Mayor Woody Goodman. They date for a while, until they break up for an unexplained reason, and Dick begins pursuing Madison again, as well as some other girls at Neptune High. When his father flees the country to avoid

Dick Casablancas going to prison for real estate fraud, Dick and Cassidy stay behind with their gold-digging stepmother Kendall Casablancas, who is horrified to learn that Dick and Cassidy now have a huge trust fund that is owned by their mother until the boys turn 21. Dick also finds out that Logan has been sleeping with Kendall for the larger part of her marriage to Richard Casablancas, but he seems to accept it, stating he had been attracted to Logan's mother ever since he met her. When Dick finds out that Cassidy is dating Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, a shy computer expert and one of Veronica's best friends, he takes it upon himself to ruin every moment they have together. He embarrasses Cassidy several times in front of his friends and Mac by announcing that Cassidy is still a virgin, and how Mac should be gentle with him once they have sex. Cassidy is humiliated and begins to retreat from Mac, eventually breaking up with her when she brings up having sex. Dick remains oblivious to Cassidy's vulnerability, but also grows angry at him, even going as far as threatening him. Season three starts off with Dick attending Hearst College like his friends, after his mother has pulled strings to allow him to attend, and he becomes a member of the Pi Sigma Sigma fraternity. Dick struggles with his brother's terrible crimes in the Season 2 finale, "Not Pictured", Cassidy is revealed to have been responsible for the bus crash that killed eight people and suicide, struggling through a deep depression that finally brings him to terms with the anguish he caused his brother for so many years. After rejecting Logan and Veronica's help a few times, he ultimately shows up at Logan's doorstep, beaten up and completely lost, stating "I have nowhere else to go. I messed up", before breaking down in Logan's arms. He eventually returns to his old self, even ends up going to Las Vegas, where he meets and marries Melinda Button (Lisa Jay); the marriage is dissolved within hours. Although he now has a somewhat stable place to live, Dick is still unable to cope with what happened to his brother. When he unexpectedly runs into Mac, he's visibly shocked to see her, implying the two haven't seen each other since Cassidy committed suicide, and Dick takes his pain and anger out on her, stating that Cassidy never loved her, and she was just his beard. When his father returns to face criminal charges, Dick lashes out at his father for the way they treated Cassidy, and how he feels ashamed of the abuse they inflicted on him. He says he still struggles to walk past the spot where Cassidy committed suicide, and dares his father to go to the roof and see it for himself. After the confrontation, Dick starts drinking and partying harder than ever. Although Dick refuses to speak to his father, Richard decides he should stay and try to support his son, and help the two of them heal. After he forces Dick to spend time with him, Dick slowly begins to deal with everything that has happened, as well as his own actions over the past few years. He decides to try to change for the better, and become a man someone could be proud of. Dick sincerely apologizes to Mac, telling her how sorry he is for the way he treated her and Cassidy, and that can see why his brother liked her so much. She forgives him, but, in typical fashion, he jokingly tries to kiss her seconds later.

40

Jackie Cook

41

Jackie Cook
Jackie Cook
First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Driver Ed" "Not Pictured" Rob Thomas Tessa Thompson Information Gender Occupation Family Female Waitress Terrence Cook (Father) Kim (Mother)

Significant other(s) Wallace Fennel Children Unnamed son

Jackie Cook is a fictional character on the UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars. She is portrayed by Tessa Thompson. She was a series regular for the second season, which aired on UPN.

Background
Jackie Cook enrolls at Neptune High at the start of the second season. She is the daughter of Neptune Sharks baseball legend, Terrence Cook. She is very self-conscious of the way her classmates view her. Jackie Cook entertains herself by partying like a rockstar Jackie is befriended by Wallace Fennel when he helps her find out who hit her father's Porsche, and they date until he leaves for Chicago. However, she and Veronica frequently butt heads, and she even has Veronica Punk'd on a local cable show. Her fortunes change when her father is accused of causing the bus crash that killed several Neptune High students, making her a social pariah. Eventually, she and Veronica become friends, and she resumes dating Wallace after at first trying to turn him away. When her dad ends up in the hospital, she visits him frequently and they become much closer. But after he is released, he says he no longer has time for her and tells her that she should leave Neptune. (He does not tell her that he is being pressured by a thuggish and threatening casino owner to whom he owes several million dollars.) She leaves Wallace a note saying she has left for Paris to attend the Sorbonne, and after graduation he heads to Paris to find her. However, Veronica tracks her to Brooklyn, New York. Although Jackie claimed to be the daughter of a model who grew up on the Upper West Side, she is really the daughter of a waitress, and she is working in a diner with her mother. Jackie also has a two-year-old son who her mother had been raising while she got a new start in Neptune. Jackie intercepts Wallace during his layover in New York, and tells him that she has to stay in New York so that she can be a mother to her son.

Jackie Cook

42

Quotes
"Look, I might've lied about my life, but I swear I never lied to Wallace about how I felt." "I want it all: the corsage, the photos under the balloon arch, the clandestine loving with my age-appropriate date...with the focusing problem. Hey! Dreamweaver." "Look, I don't care if you're the house magician, can you just make me a macchiato?" "I can't be that person, Wallace. I had to come back. And I have to stay." "Jackie Cook is super awesome."

Appearances
Season 2
2x02 Driver Ed 2x03 Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang 2x04 Green-Eyed Monster 2x05 Blast from the Past 2x12 Rashard and Wallace Go to White Castle 2x13 Aint No Magic Mountain High Enough 2x14 Versatile Toppings 2x17 Plan B 2x19 Nevermind the Buttocks 2x20 Look Whos Stalking 2x21 Happy Go Lucky 2x22 Not Pictured

Logan Echolls

43

Logan Echolls
Logan Echolls
Jason Dohring as Logan Echolls First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Pilot" "The Bitch Is Back" Rob Thomas Jason Dohring Information Gender Occupation Family Male Student Aaron Echolls (father, deceased) Lynn Echolls (mother, presumed deceased) Trina Echolls (adopted sister) Charlie Stone (half-brother)

Significant other(s) Veronica Mars Lilly Kane Hannah Griffith Kendall Casablancas Caitlin Ford Parker Lee

Logan Echolls is a fictional character on the UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars, which debuted during the fall 2004 season on UPN. He is portrayed by Jason Dohring.

Background
Described as Neptune High's "obligatory psychotic jackass" by Veronica's voice-over narration in the show's pilot episode, Logan was originally conceived as the school's main bully and a teenaged nemesis for Veronica Mars. But as the show progressed during the first season, Veronica (and the viewers of the show) would discover that Logan was just a troubled teen, dealing with Lilly's murder and a hidden abusive home life. Logan was the on-again, off-again boyfriend of the deceased Lilly Kane and close friend of Veronica Mars and her then-boyfriend Duncan Kane, Lilly's brother. Logan's life is torn apart when Lilly is murdered, and Veronica's father, former Balboa County Sheriff Keith Mars, accuses Lilly's father, Jake Kane, of the crime. Logan is horrified by the accusation, and, when Veronica refuses to renounce her father, Logan quickly moves in to blackball her from the popular "09er" crowd. Logan confesses to the guidance counselor that he blames Veronica for Lilly's death, because she told Lilly about him kissing another girl, which was the reason they broke up at the time, and, had Veronica not done so, the two of them would have been together that day. Their mutual hatred slowly fades as Veronica helped Logan when he believed his mother was still alive and comforted him when he came to terms with her death. When they began dating, because Duncan had disappeared, they decided to keep it a secret so that when Duncan came back he could hear it from them rather than by rumors. Logan Echolls is the youngest child in the Echolls family. He has a strained relationship with his older half-sister (later retconned as his adopted sister) Trina, who left the family to pursue an acting career, with little success. While Logan loves his mother, Lynn, his relationship with his abusive father Aaron is largely hostile, and the show alludes to a physically abusive relationship between father and son. This is first hinted at after Logan's bum fight

Logan Echolls video is leaked; Aaron confronts him about it, and Logan is visibly nervous when his father shoves him onto a couch. Later, in that same episode, the abuse is further revealed when, as punishment for publicly embarrassing him, Aaron beats Logan with a belt. Logan also reveals that, when he was ten, Aaron gave him a bloody nose for spilling a milkshake in the car. Some episodes later, Logan's sister Trina sarcastically refers to Logan's claims of other abuse at Aaron's hands, including being burned with cigarettes and having his nose broken, accusations which Veronica overhears. Nonetheless, Logan's feelings toward his father are made ambiguous by the inherent parent-child bond, Logan's unusually deep capacity for love and loyalty, and Aaron's own complex character, which includes intermittent (and generally self-serving) attempts to support his children, and some degree of parental protectiveness (as seen, for instance, when he beats up one of Trina's abusive boyfriends). Nevertheless, Logan receives little comfort from his mother, who turns to pills to distract herself from her husband's adultery and violence. Logan hides the truth of his home life from his friends at school, where he acts out his frustrations by bullying weaker students and flaunting his status as a member of the wealthy "'09er" community in front of less affluent students. Ultimately, the Echolls family self-destructs when one of Aaron's sexual conquests, after seeing in the arms of yet another woman, stabs Aaron at a Christmas party, leading to the exposure of his chronic infidelity. His wife Lynn takes her revenge by leaking stories of Aaron's other affairs in order to further damage his public image and, when Aaron confronts her, vows to divorce him. When Aaron retaliates by threatening to use all of his resources to destroy Lynn's life if she leaves him, Logan sticks up for his mother and angrily tells Aaron that if he says another word to her, he will kill him. Lynn says she can't deal with her life the way it is anymore and drives to the Coronado Bridge, where her car is found abandoned; thus, the community assumes she jumped to her death, though her body is never found. Logan refuses to believe that his mother is dead, convinced she has only skipped town, so he hires Veronica to track her down. However, video footage shot by a freshman at their school shows what looks like someone jumping off the bridge at the time Lynn supposedly did so. Logan still refuses to believe it, and his hope is lifted when Veronica tells him his mother's credit cards are being used. It turns out that Trina is the one who's been using them, and Logan is heartbroken over this. With all hope of his mother being alive gone, Logan starts sobbing and falls to his knees as he cries on Veronica's shoulder while she hugs him. His wife's apparent suicide shames Aaron so much that he retires from acting and concentrates on trying to save his disintegrating relationship with his son (although it is implied that this behavior is only an attempt to get money from Logan, to whom Lynn left all of her money). This uncharacteristic attempt at kindness fails, however, when Veronica Mars reveals that Aaron murdered Logan's girlfriend, Lilly Kane, in an attempt to retrieve tapes that he had made of himself and Lilly having sex in order to cover up their affair. After trying to kill Veronica in the Season One finale, Aaron goes on trial near the end of Season Two. His defense blames Duncan for his sister's murder, denies the affair between Aaron and Lilly, and accuses Veronica of lying about Aaron's attempt to kill her. Logan bolsters the defense case by buying the sex tapes of Aaron and Lilly earlier in Season Two which had been stolen and put up for bid by Veronica's former boyfriend, Leo, one of Sheriff Lamb's deputies and erasing them to prevent their being posted on the Internet. Despite both Logan's and Veronica's testimony regarding the content of the tapes, their evidence is discredited, and Aaron is found not guilty of all charges and released. Once acquitted, Aaron makes a last-ditch effort to reconcile with his son by forcibly reminding Logan that, as a free man, he now controls the family fortune. (Logan had gained power of attorney over his father's wealth while Aaron was awaiting trial.) Ominously, Aaron threatens to cut off his wayward son's finances but never has a chance to carry out his threat. In the Season Two finale, Duncan Kane, furious that his sister's murderer got away with the crime, arranges for Clarence Wiedman, Kane Software's head of security, to murder Aaron in his hotel room. In Season Three, Logan asks Veronica to investigate the disappearance of trust money left to him after Aaron's death. Veronica finds a series of large monthly payments made indirectly to Charlie Stone, the child of Aaron's affair with a flight attendant. When Logan agrees to meet with his unknown half-brother, he is tricked by a reporter who

44

Logan Echolls knew of the love child and acted as Charlie to get the insider's scoop for a Vanity Fair article; the story is ultimately dropped when Logan makes a preemptive appearance on Larry King Live and announces the scandal. The real Charlie ignores all of Logan's calls, angered that Logan exposed him to media scrutiny and destroyed what normal life he may have had. It is suggested that Logan's favorite movie is Easy Rider, as he has both Hannah Griffith and Veronica watch it with him and quotes it in his prize-winning essay.

45

Relationship with Veronica


In various season one flashbacks, it was shown that Logan had been friends with Veronica Mars and that, along with Logan's girlfriend Lilly Kane and her brother Duncan, they were part of a close-knit clique at the center of Neptune High's '09er social scene. The two were portrayed as being close, although even Veronica did not know about Logan's abuse at the hands of his father. As a flashback reveals, the seeds for the inevitable falling out between the two friends began when Veronica caught Logan kissing a new transfer student (the daughter of a famous rap music producer) and told Lilly about it. When Lilly refuses to speak to Logan, he quickly realizes that Veronica had ratted him out. Later, Logan would confide to his school's guidance counselor that this was the catalyst for him turning on Veronica: he rationalizes that had Lilly not broken up with him, he might have been with her when she was attacked and fought off the attacker, saving her life. When Lilly is murdered, Logan holds his tongue, but two subsequent events give him an excuse to vent his hatred for Veronica. The first is when police video footage showing Lilly's dead body is stolen from the Sheriff's department and posted all over the Internet. The second is when Veronica's father, then-Sheriff Keith Mars, publicly accuses Jake Kane, Lilly and Duncan's father, of murdering his own daughter. Consumed with anger, Logan gives Veronica an ultimatum: publicly denounce her father, or be declared "dead" by Logan and the teen '09er crowd. Veronica stands by her father, and Logan blacklists her at school and in the community, turning her into a pariah. His disdain for Veronica comes to a head when Veronica crashes an '09er party. Shortly after Veronica's arrival, Madison Sinclair gives Veronica a drink that had been given to her by her own on-again/off-again boyfriend, Dick Casablancas. Unknown to Madison, Dick had spiked the drink with GHB (supplied to him by Logan), in order to ensure that he could have sex with the normally chaste Madison that night. Veronica becomes drugged instead. Logan organizes for his fellow party-goers to take "body shots" off the now helpless (and perhaps unconscious) girl. When Duncan Kane comes to Veronica's defense and drags her away from Logan's mob of partiers, Logan secretly uses the same drugs on Duncan; drugging his drink in a desperate attempt to get the unusually tense Duncan to relax. In his drugged state, Duncan wanders past the bedroom where a drugged Veronica is lying unconscious; they then have what Duncan at least believed to be consensual sex. The date rape drugs ensure that Veronica would only have vague memories of the night, but when morning came Veronica is quite aware that she had been raped. Duncan flees in the morning, because he still thinks that Veronica is his half-sister. At the start of the series, Veronica and Logan are arch-rivals, separated by the bitter consequences of Lilly Kanes death. Logan mocks Veronica's mother (an alcoholic who abandoned her family), and Veronica arranges for Logan to be suspended by planting drug paraphernalia in his locker. Logan responds by gathering a gang of male '09ers and vandalizing Veronica's car, but is stopped from causing major damage by the arrival of Eli Weevil Navarro, a fellow high school student who Veronica has befriended. While they appear to hate one another, Logan specifically exhibits this metaphorical 'dance' between them is rooted in more than just disdain he frequently watches her for inordinate amounts of time and it becomes clear he has a crush on her, which is confirmed[citation needed] in a flashback in 'The Wrath of Con'. The seeds of their future relationship are further firmly planted in said episode when they share a meaningful look over Lily's memorial video.

Logan Echolls With Lilly dead, Duncan becoming emotionally distant and apathetic towards the '09er social scene, and Veronica persona non-grata, the beginning of Season One shows Logan becoming the de facto leader of the Neptune High '09er community. Surrounding himself with a new inner circle that includes fellow social snobs Madison Sinclair and Dick Casablancas, Logan begins a reign of terror that plays into the ever-present class warfare among the teens at Neptune High. His grief for his dead girlfriend and the worsening physical abuse he is secretly suffering at the hands of his father leads Logan to misbehave more frequently and extremely, spurring Veronica to christen him, in the Season One opener, Neptune's "obligatory psychotic jackass". The only common ground that exists by this point is Duncan Kane, who Logan has remained friends with even though Duncan himself refrains from participating in the bulk of the activities of Logan's new clique. Duncan is moody, very depressed, withdrawn from his fellow peers, and still in love with Veronica. Logan attempts to use Duncan's presence in social situations to reach out to Veronica, in hopes that Veronica might bring his friend back to life. But Veronica refuses, partly out of disdain for what Logan has become and partly out of a desire to stay away from Duncan due to the cold way Duncan ended their relationship before Lilly's death. This only intensifies Logan's hatred of Veronica. The relationship between Logan and Veronica begins to thaw when Logan volunteers to make a tribute video for the Kane family for their slain daughter, to be played at the dedication of a memorial fountain at Neptune High. Despite his desire to create a tribute for his ex-girlfriend and best friend, Logan is frustrated at the fact that the Kane family only provided him home movies and photos of Lilly to work with. In Logan's eyes, none of the material captures Lilly's true nature, the side of her that her friends, her brother, and her classmates knew and loved. Veronica agrees and she gives him a tape shot a year before Lilly's death when they were all going to the Homecoming dance. At the end of the video tribute, Logan looks over at Veronica and the two briefly smile at each other. Logan and Veronica mutual hostility thaws for good after Logan's mother commits suicide. Believing that his mother could still be alive, Logan hires Veronica to investigate the possibility. Veronica agrees, and while the investigation fails to provide the answer Logan is looking for, the time together is enough to cause the two to abandon old grudges and Veronica is there to comfort Logan when he has to come to terms with his mothers death. Veronica also learns about Logan's father's abusive nature when his sister Trina mentions the stories Logan used to tell, despite him mouthing at her to stop talking. Their relationship further grows when Logan saves Veronica from a young undercover ATF agent, who is seeking to frame a local bully for plotting to blow up Neptune High. Initially, Veronica gives Logan a quick kiss as a thank youbut Logan pulls her back and the two kiss for the first time,leaving them both awed and confused.Both agree to continue the relationship and Veronica and Logan begin dating, though Veronica insists that they keep their relationship a secret because she fears how their mutual friend Duncan would react. In the episode "A Trip to the Dentist", however, their relationship goes public when Logan's father make a cheesy attempt to make up for lost time with his son by throwing a surprise "birthday" party. Logan and Veronica walk into his house kissing, only to find his friends (including Duncan) waiting for them. Everyone stares in shock and Dick makes some snide remarks to which Logan openly tells him, and everyone else, that if they have a problem with Veronica being his girlfriend, they are "pretty much dead" to him. Logan's announcement of his love for Veronica and willingness to stand up for her to his friends helps soften the blow when Veronica learns that Logan indirectly provided the drugs that led to her being raped. While she is initially furious at Logan, her anger lessens when she learns that Madison Sinclair was also responsible (albeit unknowingly). When Veronica confronts Logan, she forgives him for what he did to her, and Logan reveals that he had given Duncan the drugs that led to his having sex with Veronica. However, she readily forgave him again. Things fall apart for Veronica, however, when she finds hidden video cameras in Logan's pool house, where he had taken Veronica in order to make out. At the time, she does not know that they were Aaron's cameras and that Logan had no knowledge of them. Furthermore, in the Season One episode "Leave It to Beaver", Veronica learns that Logan had Dick and Cassidy Casablancas provide a false alibi for him for the day that Lilly Kane was murdered.

46

Logan Echolls Despite his brother's demands that the two keep their word to Logan about his alibi, Cassidy eagerly tells Veronica that Logan had left the Casablancas brothers early during a trip to Tijuana to see Lilly. Logan had learned that Lilly had a new boyfriend (Weevil, though by this point, Lilly had dumped Weevil and moved on to Logan's father Aaron). This disclosure invalidates Logan's alibi and made Veronica fear that Logan had murdered Lilly Kane. As her father clears Abel Koontz (the man convicted of murdering Lilly) of the murder, Veronica convinces Sheriff Lamb to arrest Logan for Lilly's death. Logan is oblivious to the fact that Cassidy had betrayed him, and calls Veronica to come help him. Sheriff Lamb then breaks the news to Logan that Veronica is to blame for his arrest. After being released on bail, Logan confronts Veronica and the two have an emotional conversation in which Logan pleads his innocence: Logan: You know... I... I knew Lilly was seeing someone. It was driving me crazy. When I left for Neptune, I didn't know if I was gonna scream at her for treating me like dirt or beg her to take me back. And I saw her at the car wash. Veronica: I didn't see you there. Logan: Well, I just parked across the street and watched her. And this feeling came over me, you know, I dont I dont know how to describe it but I just knew it was over. So I sat in my car and I wrote this note to her, explaining it. Veronica: Did you give it to her? Logan: Yeah, I left it in the car. Veronica: With the shot glass. Logan: Yeah, with the shot glass. You know, if you read that letter, you'd know I'd never hurt her. In order to find the note that Logan wrote Lilly, Veronica sneaks into a party being thrown at the Kane estate by dressing up as a waiter. Duncan catches her checking the vents in Lilly's room (a favorite hiding spot of Lilly's) and after a tense confrontation, convinces Duncan to let her retrieve the letter. Instead of a letter, they find a set of video tapes, featuring Lilly having sex with Aaron Echolls. Veronica then starts to piece together that Aaron was the one who murdered Lilly after discovering she had stolen the tapes and refused to give them back to him, possibly leading to the revelation of their affair. Veronica rushes to get the tapes to the authorities, but ends up being attacked and nearly killed by Aaron, who had hidden in the backseat of her car and was planning to kill her to stop her from exposing him. Meanwhile, at the same time, a drunk and despondent Logan heads to the Coronado Bridge to tempt fate and possibly jump. He is prevented from doing anything serious by Weevil and his fellow Pacific Coast Highway bikers. Weevil, much like Logan, is still haunted by his love of Lilly Kane and is consumed with anger at Logan, wanting to inflict vigilante justice to ensure Logan would pay for "murdering" the woman he loved. Weevil is soon taken out of the fight when Logan takes advantage of a temporary distraction and kicks him in the head, rendering him unconscious. However, the PCHers beat Logan within an inch of his life and leave Weevil's two top underlings, Thumper and Felix, to finish the job. Season Two opens where Season One left off, after Veronica opens her door and says, "I was hoping it was you." It turns out to be Logan, who is bloodied and bruised. Logan manages to weakly say "Hey, Veronica" before painfully collapsing into her arms. As Veronica tends to his injuries, Logan explains what happened and that Felix was dead. Because Logan had been drinking and was barely conscious from his beating, he has practically no memory of Thumper turning against Felix, killing his fellow biker and planting the murder weapon on Logan to frame him for the crime. The murder is part of a complex scheme by Thumper to curry favor with the Irish crime family known as the Fitzpatricks, who were furious that Felix was dating the daughter of a high ranking Fitzpatricks gang member. Logan would be the scapegoat and Thumper's scheme would soon bear bitter fruit for Logan. Logan pleads his innocence in Felix's murder, but the police don't believe him and he is quickly arrested for murder. The case goes to a grand jury, who refuse to indict due to lack of evidence. The grand jury's decision, combined with

47

Logan Echolls the fact that his father had been revealed to be the murderer of Lilly Kane, caused the residents of Neptune to vilify Logan as yet another spoiled white rich kid who got away with murder. Logan responded to his new pariah status by retreating into his old patterns of abusive behavior. With Dick and Cassidy Casablancas at his side, Logan burns down public pool facilities in Neptune so as to punish the poor residents of the town who use the public pool complex. Veronica tries to stay loyal to her boyfriend, though the strain ensures that the two never consummate their relationship. In the season two premiere episode "Normal Is the Watchword," it is revealed via flashback that Veronica breaks up with Logan after making an emotional plea to him to stop the cycle of violence he was becoming trapped in: Logan: Are you breaking up with me? Veronica: I can't stay with you. Not with you and your toadies cruising around at night and hatching plans, refusing to let everything get back to normal. Someone's gonna get killed, Logan. Logan: Someone already has, did you forget that already? And most of the people in this town think I did it. [Logan shifts up to sit on the arm of the couch, becoming increasingly emotional.] Logan: Those people you call "toadies" are my friends; they've got my back. Veronica: [urgently] It's not about protection, Logan. It's about pride. [Logan puts his hand to his forehead as if pained.] Veronica: And, the thing that I can't stand is thatI'm pretty sure there's a part of you that's having fun with all of this. Logan: Fun? Fun?! [He gets up to leave, then spins back around, smashing a lamp.] Logan: [angrily] My mom is dead! My girlfriend is dead! My dad is a murderer! And the only person I still care about is dumping me. You think I'm having fun? Veronica's father then enters the room and ordered Logan to never come near his daughter again. Further adding to the fire is Veronica's reconciliation with Duncan. Since the spectre of incest has been removed with the revelation that Veronica is not Jake Kane's illegitimate daughter, the two reconcile, much to Logan's horror. His response is to secretly begin an affair with Kendall Casablancas, Richard Casablancas's young trophy wife and Dick and Cassidy's stepmother. His affair with Kendall is derailed, however, when the murder charges against Logan are refiled after a witness comes forward, though Veronica and Logan quickly discover that the witness is a plastic surgeon who is implicating Logan as a means to pay off a large drug debt to the Fitzpatricks. However, an unexpected ally emerges in the form of Eli "Weevil" Navarro, Felix's best friend; he begins a war against Logan, which culminates in Weevil burning down the Echolls family mansion, a move that forced Logan to move into a nearby hotel as his new home. Despite his initial belief that Logan murdered Felix, Weevil soon suspects Thumper of the crime. As the two enemies conspire to expose Thumper, Thumper strikes first and uses Weevil's alliance with Logan to usurp control of the PCH biker gang, allowing Thumper to form an alliance between the PCHers and the Fitzpatricks involving the Irish gang's drug trade. Knowing that the new witness against him is tied to the Fitzpatricks, Logan engages in psychological warfare against the witness by dating his daughter, Hannah. The mind games climax when Logan reveals to Hannah that her father is a cocaine addict and then threatens her father with the possibility that he would seduce Hannah if he doesn't recant his testimony. Griffith recants, though Logan develops actual feelings for Hannah and seeks to continue their relationship. When Hannah is caught with Logan again, she is shipped off to a Vermont boarding school. Later, Logan unknowingly causes Thumper's death after Weevil manipulates events so that Thumper would be betrayed by the Irish crime syndicate and chained in the bathroom of a stadium that Logan (who had won an essay contest) is allowed to ceremonially demolish.

48

Logan Echolls Vindicated of all charges, Logan begins to mend his fences with Veronica, who now is single again. In "Look Who's Stalking", he drunkenly confesses his feelings for Veronica and compares their relationship to an "epic" romance. Logan: You know, I'm surprised, Veronica. As a keen observer of the human condition, I thought you saw through people better than that. Bimbos? That's not me anymore. Veronica: [scoffs] So, what are you like now? Logan: You know, tortured. Ever since I had my heart broken. Veronica: Hannah really did do a number on you, huh? Logan: Come on, you know I'm not talking about Hannah. [Veronica looks at him, astonished.] I thought our story was epic, you know? You and me. Veronica: Epic how? Logan: Spanning years, and continents. Lives ruined and blood shed. Epic! [pause] But summer's almost here, and we won't see each other at all. And then you'll leave town, and then... it's over. Veronica: Logan... Logan: I'm sorry... about last summer. You know, if I could do it over... Veronica: Come on. Ruined lives? Bloodshed? You really think a relationship should be that hard? Logan: No one writes songs about the ones that come easy. [tries to kiss her, but she pulls away.] Veronica: I have to go. I have... to go. Veronica flees from the party in shock. When she returns the next morning, she plans on telling him that she still loves him. As she recounts his words, his eyes show both pain and regret, and he confesses that he had been so drunk, he doesn't remember his speech, shocking Veronica. Further twisting the knife into her heart, Kendall appears at the door behind him, as Logan had responded to Veronica's apparent rejection by contacting Kendall and having a one-night stand with her. Veronica quickly leaves in order to keep Logan from seeing how heartbroken she is. Days later, the two pretend that nothing happened. Logan: Hello. Veronica: First, let me say that I'm sorry for running out last night like I did. I was a bit overwhelmed. I needed to collect my thoughts, think about what you said. Logan: Veronica Veronica: Let me just get this out. I don't want to lose you from my life, either. And I'm not saying I'm ready to dive back into anything, but... after graduation, let's make it a point to see each other. See where that takes us. Remember what you said about our relationship being epic? [realizing Logan doesn't remember what he told her] Oh, God. Logan: Last night was kind of a blur. Kendall: Is that our room service? [comes to the door] No. Just Veronica Mars. What a disappointment. Come on, let's get you cleaned up. Bye, Veronica. Logan: Look, whatever I said, I... You should know Veronica: [coldly] Stop. [walks away, crying] Prior to the graduation party, Veronica had realized that not only had Cassidy Casablancas raped her (thus giving her chlamydia), but that he was personally responsible for bus crash that killed 8 of his fellow students in "Normal is the Watchword." While confronting Cassidy on the hotel roof, Veronica is overpowered by him. She is able to send a quick text message Logan to save her. Cassidy then makes Veronica watch as he blows up a plane that she believes Keith is on, and Veronica is devastated. Cassidy then points a gun at Veronica to force her to jump from the roof, but Logan appears just in time and tackles Cassidy out of the way. The two scuffle until Veronica fires a shot from the gun and holds it aimed at Cassidy and tells Logan to get out of the way. Logan calmly tells Veronica that she isn't a

49

Logan Echolls killer and to give him the gun. Veronica eventually backs down and Logan hugs her as she sobs. When Cassidy climbs over the railing on the roof, Logan pleads with him not to jump. Cassidy demands that Logan give him a reason not to, but Logan stays quiet, unable to think of anything to say. With a smirk, Cassidy jumps to his death while Logan and Veronica can only watch. Meanwhile, Aaron (staying in the same hotel) is murdered by Kane family employee Clarence Wiedman after being hired by Duncan in retaliation for Lilly's murder. Logan and Veronica go back to her place, where Veronica is still heartbroken about her father. In the morning, Veronica hears someone moving around in the kitchen and she runs out of her room, hoping to see her dad, but finds Logan making her breakfast. Veronica starts to cry in Logan's arms, but they are both surprised and relieved when Keith comes out his bedroom. Keith tells her that he was taken off the plane that Cassidy blew up at the last minute before takeoff. Now freed of his father, Logan and Veronica reconcile and resume dating during the finale of Season Two. Sometime before Season Three begins, they consummate their relationship. With his father gone, Logan has sought to change his life and become a better person through Veronica's love. As such, Logan enrolls in Hearst University, which has served as a place where Logan has been able to escape the notoriety of his family and his own past legal problems. As Logan has begun the process of growing up into adulthood, his relationship with Veronica hits the skids when he becomes worried about Veronica's safety and her continual obsession with putting herself in harm's way while trying fight the forces of evil as a detective. Making things even more complicated was his friendship with Mercer Hayes, an older college student who is secretly a serial rapist terrorizing campus. Mercer is arrested for one of the rapes but is released when the rape turns out to be a false report orchestrated by a group of anti-fraternity feminists. Though she had cleared Mercer, Veronica's continued quest to catch the rapist(s) led to Mercer and his accomplice to attack Veronica after drugging her drink in the school cafeteria. But by sheer luck, Logan saves Veronica as her attacker had just begun shaving her head (Mercer's calling card for his victims). Logan begs for Veronica to stop the investigations, out of fear for her own safety and even hired a bodyguard to secretly protect her, which only angered her more. Realizing that Veronica would never stop her investigations and that she is starting to resent him for being overprotective, Logan promptly tells Veronica that he wants to end the relationship. Logan nevertheless helps Veronica protect a girl who may have been a target of the rapist by driving over to her home. When he learns that Mercer is the rapist, Logan took his baseball bat and destroyed a police car's windshield in order to be arrested. It turns out this was his plan because he wanted to confront Mercer and avenge Veronica for being a target of his. Veronica realizes that Logan is a genuinely good person, and shows up at his door. The two passionately embrace, yet again getting back together. Just as Veronica and Logan begin dating again, she finds out he had slept with Madison Sinclair during their first breakup, and ends the relationship. He tries to get her back by leaving her a heartfelt and emotional voice mail message, but Veronica only listens to the first few seconds before deleting it. Logan continues to stay in his hotel room, until he has to babysit Heather, the younger sister of Dick's newest conquest, and she stays with Logan while Dick and his girlfriend go to Las Vegas. After a few days of staying with Heather, she finds out about Veronica and Logan's breakup and tries to get them back together. This goes so far as requesting love songs (partnered with an apology coming from Logan) to the local radio station. When Veronica hears the message, she ignores it and turns the radio off. Later on when Veronica is looking to find out who killed Dean Cyrus O'Dell, she finds herself in the elevator with Logan and Heather. Heather starts telling Veronica of Logan's feelings. The elevator ride ends before anything can come of this confession. Logan, although initially angry at Heather, soon forgives her and comes to a quiet revelation. After Heather leaves with her sister, Logan is finally able to leave his hotel room and go back to class. When Veronica is (incorrectly) arrested for helping someone escape from jail, Logan goes to visit her, stating that they're adults and can be mature despite the way they broke up. He then gets roped into a Valentine's Day scavenger hunt with Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, her new boyfriend, and Parker Lee. He and Parker hit it off and Logan is seen by

50

Logan Echolls Veronica smiling and eating with an equally happy Parker. In a later episode, it is shown that Logan throws a birthday party for Parker and invites Veronica. In the second to last episode, he attacks Piz, assuming that he posted a video of him and Veronica having sex. An infuriated Veronica tells him she wants nothing to do with him. On the same day, Parker breaks up with him after he doesn't deny still being in love with Veronica. The season (and series) ends with Logan and Veronica's relationship still unresolved.

51

Logan's inspirational message of the day


During season one and two, the writers came up with the running gag that Logan's cellphone voicemail greeting consisted of an ever changing list of famous inspirational quotes. Season 1 Episode 15: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Eleanor Roosevelt Episode 22: Adversity is the diamond dust with which heaven polishes its jewels. Thomas Carlyle Season 2 Episode 3: To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best. William Thackeray Episode 7: Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. Ben Franklin

Quotations
"My daddy took my T-Bird away. And you know what I'm not going to be having? Fun. Fun. Fun." (Beach Boys reference) "I don't know. Maybe it's like Brigadoon. Come back in a hundred years and it'll be right back in this spot." "'Anthropomorphic.' All yours, big guy." (To the vice principal, when asked if he can "have a word") "Annoy, tiny blonde one. Annoy like the wind!" (in a sarcastic perky tone as everyone lines up for a fire drill) "Heads up, chests out, big smiles! Ready? (claps) Okay!" (To Duncan) What, are we breaking up now? Do you want your best friend charm back? (while talking on the phone to allow Veronica access to an actor to question him about missing money from Logan's poker game he hosted) "Veronica Mars.....no, Veronica. V as in virgin." "Ho, ho, (sees Veronica walk in and looks at her) ho!" "Would you look at that? There's a string attached to my pop-tart!" "Tu casa es mi casa." "Never underestimate the size of my cojones." "Maybe we should volunteer for the full body search." "My day is complete. Veronica Mars has accused me of evil." "Maybe we should do a story on oxycontin use in the administration" "Dream on, Jump Street, I'm not leaving you alone with her." "FYI: if cuddling was the best part, he didn't do it right." "If I donate to the United Latino Pain in the Ass Fund, will you shut the hell up?" "Nice car. God, it must've been a huge cereal box." "Ah, see, I'm more of a purist. You know, less blood, more emotional distress. I'd rather see him locked in a room, padded, crapping himself in the corner. You know, he's an English teacher, he'd appreciate the poetic justice."

Logan Echolls "If you really want flowers, dying seems to be the way to go. [To his father] Here's your costume. You know, if it's not sad enough, I can order you a veil." "You know what Mom would have wanted! She would have wanted you to not sleep with all her friends. She would have wanted you to care as much about her as your career. So okay, Dad, let's be honest. Maybe we both wished we'd been better. But she's only gone because of you." "So, what? Couldn't get on Springer this week, so you make up lies about my Mom?! I'm sure trailer park rentals are expensive and with the high price of Spam..." "But if you're coming home, who will play Dead Hooker #2 on CSI this week?" "Come on, everybody, wang chung tonight! What? Everybody, wang chung tonight! Wang chung or I'll kick your ass!" "Push in on our hero. Natural light frames his handsome, weathered face, as he passed sage advice to his doting daughter. The music swells. [imitating Yoda] "Important your family is, hmm, hmm." "[stops his stopwatch] Twelve hours to hit me up for my dead mother's money. Hmmm, I wonder who had that in the pool." "I'm sure if you really tried, you could blow smoke up his ass from here. Hey, Trin if you take your top off before you get on the mechanical bull, you won't fall off." "I'm sure I'll thoroughly enjoy them right up until my esophagus closes up and cuts off my air supply and I shuffle off this mortal coil. Perhaps my last words will be 'Great crab, Papa.' [Aaron looks confused] I'm allergic to shellfish." "Get out of my house. You have a problem with Veronica, you leave. Actually, you have a problem with Veronica, you're pretty much dead to me, so just, like, evaporate or something, I dunno." "I can't take that I hurt you when all I want to do is protect you." "My mom is dead! My girlfriend is dead! My dad is a murderer! And the only person I still care about is dumping me. You think I'm having fun?" "Can Dick and Beaver come out and play?" "Didn't plug her right the first time, huh?" "My underbelly is rock hard. It can go all night." "O.K. God, I just can't take the begging. I'll relent, just this once but no cuddling after and I won't call you in the morning." "Oh, golly, I don't know. I was thinking about staying home, making a hope quilt for the lonely." "[in police lineup] Oh wow, I'm stunned. You like me! You really like me! Well first, I'd just like to say the other, uh, nominees are all such wonderfully gifted criminals. And I wanna thank my agent and my publicist for always shooting me from the left side." "I just need a little time to work through how you bashed my girlfriend's skull in." "Best thing about two days in jail? Two days worth of Ellen on the TiVo. That sweet feeling." "[explaining the benefits of an ankle monitor] ...And the other sweet thing is that I'm in constant video contact with Martha Stewart, right?" "Oh, have it your way we'll all live together in one big, wacky sitcom family." "Uh, bit of advice: when looking for a sugar daddy, at least pick the richest guy in the hotel suite. [Kendall looks surprised] I'm sorry. Did that hurt your feeling?" "It means I'm getting laid. And I owe your village a goat."

52

Logan Echolls "Wow. So your feelings have grown as your available balance has shrunk. It's like science! One of the problems of sleeping with your stepson's friend information tends to leak." "I've had a very bad year." "Oh, yes, where are my manners? Kendall Casablancas, Trina Echolls. Rode Hard, meet Put Away Wet." "Uh-oh. Did you catch him waxing his board?" "Drugs? Murder? Frame-ups? St. Mary's Church? God, why didn't we think of that sooner?" Veronica asks, "What's your poison?" at the slushy stand. Logan replies, "Oh, emotionally unavailable women." "I'm confused. You're talking and your clothes are on. I'm starting to think you really came over here to try and sell me real estate." "Oh, please. Let the lying cokehead plastic surgeon lecture me on karma." "Ask not what Logan can do for you but what you can do for Logan." "Let me know when that time comes. Until then, you know me: I'll just be speaking softly and carrying a big stick." "You do know I've been cleared of all charges, right? The whole 'dead Felix' business has lost its intrigue for me. Once something stops being important to me, my memory gets a little fuzz wait. Who are you?" "Follow the bouncing ball [signals with his fingers]: not-my-problem" "Ow. Oh, it burns!." When placing his left hand on the bible. [To Weevil] "If you're asking me to the prom again the answer is still no." "That's Honorary Deputy County Commissioner Echolls to you." [Veronica asks Logan to dance with her] "Oh, God. When I've dreamed of this moment, I've Had the Time of My Life was always playing. Well, what can you do?" "Thoughts of me? Hey, I get it. Sometimes I'm up all night, just thinkin' about myself." "Spanning years, and continents. Lives ruined and blood shed. Epic! [pause] But summer's almost here, and we won't see each other at all. And then you'll leave town, and then... it's over." "I'm not going to see you for a week. That's, like, a month." [Veronica asks if he has spoken to Dick] "Yeah, but it was brief shouted his name, flipped me off: the bonds of friendship." "But you know there's no one else. I only want you. You ought to know that by now. [Veronica ducks her head and silently smiles] What, no quip?" [about to have dinner with Keith and Veronica] "No calling you Bobcat, no talk of milky thighs." "So, it's Christmas, right? The entire family unit is around, which was rare. And I'm, I don't know, nine, and Aaron hands me a gift. But he notices the box has been re-wrapped, you know, so he knows I peeked. I'm nine years old. He's re-gifting me a fruit basket. He starts shouting about how I've ruined Christmas. So, I'm eating the pears and taking my time, taking these dainty bites. The man comes unhinged. Takes these pears and just starts shoving them down my throat one after another. And then...and I'm choking, but he doesn't stop until my mom holds a cheese knife to his throat. To this day, I puke if I smell a pear." "You know who I am. And you're constantly expecting me to change. [she looks at him dumbfounded] And even right now as you're thinking, "Crap, he's got a point," you still think you're ultimately right. I love you Veronica. I love you. [after no response] Do you love me?" Clif- They have set your court date. A month from today. Logan- Whatever will I wear? (to Veronica)Speaking of my bitchin' party, a funny thing happened. That stoner dude Corny offered to bring dessert. Exactly how many losers are now coming to my party?

53

Logan Echolls Talking to Veronica about Lucky) And I thought the weird thing was the foot bleaching. [In response to "You're gonna die"] "Yeah, [smirks] someday." [To Deputy Sachs, who has come to tell him that Sheriff Lamb "would like a word"] "If I'm under arrest, then do me the courtesy of making it all official-like." Apparently, we're into the cheap stuff. Can I mention that my eyes adored you? Just core stuff, you know, sociology, freshman comp. Mass com, which is kinda coming in handy. You know, apparently being the offspring of a murderer doesn't get old. I'm getting all these interview requests. Larry King wants me to come on with O.J.'s kids. [To Veronica about Veronica and Parker] "Did my fanclub meet today? I thought you guys only met on wednesdays?"

54

Appearances
Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) has appeared in every episode of the show except episodes 1.8, 1.9, 1.11 and 1.16

Wallace Fennel

55

Wallace Fennel
Wallace Fennel
Percy Daggs III as Wallace Fennel First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Pilot" "The Bitch Is Back" Rob Thomas Percy Daggs III Information Gender Occupation Family Male Student Alicia Fennel (mother) Nathan Woods (biological father) Hank Fennel (father, deceased) Darrell Fennel (half-brother)

Significant other(s) Jackie Cook Jane Kuhne

Wallace Fennel is a fictional character on UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars, which debuted during the fall 2004 season on UPN. He is portrayed by Percy Daggs III.

Background
Wallace has become Veronica's best friend; they first met when Veronica cut him down from the Neptune High flagpole after he was duct-taped to it by Eli "Weevil" Navarro. Deciding that Veronica was a better friend than any of the 09ers or jocks at Neptune High who simply laughed while he was taped to the flagpole, he began sitting with her at lunch. The two became fast friends when Veronica helped get him out of trouble with the PCH biker gang. Wallace is 19, a Sagittarius and his hometown is Chicago, Illinois.[1] He lives with his single mother, Alicia, and his brother. After befriending Veronica, he starts helping her in many cases. Because he is an office aide at Neptune High, Veronica often asks for "favors" in order to see school records and gain information on other students. He also gives her tardy slips and occasionally provides bits of key knowledge which helped Veronica in her investigations. When not working as her liaison into the school files, he is most often seen driving the getaway car (literally), providing distractions so Veronica could sneak around unseen, or planting bugged items around Neptune. He is, arguably, the best basketball player on the Neptune Pirates basketball team. This becomes the focal point of the episode "Betty and Veronica." One of his teammates steals the team mascot in an attempt to keep Wallace from playing so he could be a starter instead. Wallace usually helps Veronica out of feelings of friendship, although on occasion she needs to promise a little something extra perhaps the answers to a test. Typically, he does not ask why she needs his help or what she is doing with the information he passes on to her. He trusts her almost unquestioningly. But he is always there for her, and Wallace is the one person Veronica truly opens up to about her rape in the episode "A Trip to the Dentist." Initially, Wallace's mother is skeptical about letting him associate with Veronica, whom she thinks is a bad influence. However, things smooth over when Veronica's father Keith kicks out the Fennels' dead-beat tenant (in "Like a Virgin"). Alicia even begins seeing Keith romantically, which causes a bit of initial discomfort for Wallace and Veronica, though they eventually support and accept their parents' relationship. Nevertheless, the relationship

Wallace Fennel doesn't last. When Wallace finds out that the man who raised him wasn't his father and that his biological father is still alive, he tries to confide in Veronica. When the tension between Veronica and Wallace's new girlfriend Jackie Cook escalates to the point where Jackie pulls a huge prank, Veronica intends to get revenge. Wallace begs her not to, and the core of their relationship is shaken. Even though Veronica doesn't intend to do anything, she and Jackie get into a fight at the school dance. That, along with the revelation about his father, leads Wallace to leave town to go live with his biological father in Chicago. While in Chicago, he was a passenger in an SUV that was involved in a hit-and-run on a homeless man. Looking to escape his troubles, he returns to Neptune and re-enters Veronica's life. When he is framed for the accident back in Chicago, he has to work with Veronica to prove that he is innocent. He and Veronica eventually reconcile and become best friends again. Though he has started dating Jane Kuhne, he still had feelings for Jackie and tries to rekindle their relationship. Jackie doesn't want to steal another girl's boyfriend, however. After Wallace properly breaks up with Jane, he and Jackie begin dating again. Things get serious, until Jackie tells Wallace she is leaving to go to France and attend the Sorbonne. After Jackie's father treats her harshly, she leaves early, leaving only a note for Wallace. It turns out that Jackie is in fact in Brooklyn, now working at a diner with her mother. She also has a two year old child whom Jackie's mother is raising. Wallace comes to find her, but she breaks up with him because she has to try to be a parent like her father wasn't, and stay in New York. In Season 3, Wallace joins Veronica at Hearst College. His roommate is Stosh "Piz" Piznarski. At first, Wallace attempts to pursue both a major in Mechanical Engineering and his position as a starter on the basketball team. After getting caught cheating on an exam, however, Wallace decides to quit basketball for the semester to focus on his studies, even if it means losing his starting position. When Wallace returns to the team during the next semester, he earns back his starting position.

56

Quotations
"Why do all the hottest girls always have a daddy complex?" "You can't take the cool outta me. Look pocket protector and I'm still full of pimp juice!" "Hacky-sack: the final arena of unquestioned white domination." "It's been two weeks. That's like a decade in high school years." "My first college party: drinking pia coladas with a dude and talking about math." "Don't ask me, man. I stopped trying to figure her out day one." (on Veronica)

Appearances
Season 1
1x01 Pilot 1x02 Credit Where Credit's Due 1x03 Meet John Smith 1x04 The Wrath of Con 1x05 You Think You Know Somebody 1x06 Return of the Kane 1x08 Like a Virgin

1x09 Drinking the Kool-Aid 1x10 An Echolls Family Christmas 1x11 Silence of the Lamb

Wallace Fennel 1x12 Clash of the Tritons 1x13 Lord of the Bling 1x14 Mars vs. Mars 1x15 Ruskie Business 1x16 Betty and Veronica 1x18 Weapons of Class Destruction 1x19 Hot Dogs 1x20 M.A.D. 1x21 A Trip to the Dentist 1x22 Leave It to Beaver

57

Season 2
2x01 Normal Is the Watchword 2x02 Driver Ed 2x03 Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang 2x04 Green-Eyed Monster 2x05 Blast from the Past 2x10 One Angry Veronica 2x11 Donut Run 2x12 Rashard and Wallace Go to White Castle 2x13 Aint No Magic Mountain High Enough 2x15 The Quick and the Wed 2x16 The Rapes of Graff 2x17 Plan B 2x18 I Am God 2x19 Nevermind the Buttocks 2x20 Look Whos Stalking 2x21 Happy Go Lucky 2x22 Not Pictured

Season 3
3x01 Welcome Wagon 3x02 My Big Fat Greek Rush Week 3x04 Charlie Don't Surf 3x05 President Evil 3x06 Hi, Infidelity 3x08 Lord of the Pis 3x09 Spit & Eggs 3x13 Postgame Mortem 3x14 Mars, Bars 3x15 Papa's Cabin 3x16 Un-American Graffiti 3x17 Debasement Tapes 3x18 I Know What You'll Do Next Summer

3x19 Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down 3x20 The Bitch Is Back

Wallace Fennel

58

Notable skills
Proficient basketball player Working with Veronica, Wallace has developed amateur sleuth skills which include: Amateur tracking Gathering contacts Working bugging/surveillance equipment

References
[1] MySpace.com - Wallace - 20 - Garon - Neptune, CALIFORNIA - www.myspace.com/vmarswallace (http:/ / www. myspace. com/ vmarswallace)

Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.

Woody Goodman
Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during UPN's last two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Balancing murder mystery, high-school and college drama, the series features social commentary with sarcasm and off-beat humor in a style often compared to film noir. Set in the fictional town of Neptune, the series starred Kristen Bell as the title character, a student who progressed from high school to college during the series while moonlighting as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father. The first season had seven regular characters. As Thomas had conceived the show as a one-year mystery, he decided to introduce and Kristen Bell on the set of Veronica Mars eliminate several characters in order to create an "equally fascinating mystery" for the series' second season. Thomas needed "new blood" since he felt unable to bring back the Kanes and the Echolls and "have them all involved in a new mystery". The third season features a cast of ten actors who receive billing, an increase from the nine actors in the second. Three of the regulars in the second season are written out of the series, two new characters are introduced and two others are upgraded from recurring roles.

Main characters

Woody Goodman

59

Actor

Character 1

Seasons 2 Main Main Main Main Main Main Main Main Recurring Main Starring Starring Starring Starring Starring 3 film Starring

Kristen Bell Teddy Dunn Jason Dohring Percy Daggs III Francis Capra Enrico Colantoni

Veronica Mars Duncan Kane Logan Echolls Wallace Fennel Eli "Weevil" Navarro Keith Mars

Sydney Tamiia Poitier Mallory Dent Tessa Thompson Ryan Hansen Kyle Gallner Tina Majorino Julie Gonzalo Chris Lowell Michael Muhney Jackie Cook Dick Casablancas

Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas Recurring Main Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie Parker Lee Stosh "Piz" Piznarski Don Lamb Recurring Recurring Main Starring Main Main Starring Main

Kristen Bell portrayed the titular Veronica Mars, a high school junior and skilled private detective. Bell was chosen to play Veronica Mars from more than 500 women who auditioned for the role. Bell felt that it was "just luck" that Rob Thomas saw that "I have some sass to me, and that's exactly what he wanted". Bell thought that it was her cheerleader looks and an outsider's attitude that set her apart from the other women who auditioned. Teddy Dunn portrayed Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend and Lilly's brother. Dunn originally auditioned for Logan, but ended up portraying Duncan Kane. Dunn left the series midway through the second season because Thomas felt that the Logan-Veronica-Duncan love triangle had run its course. He needed to put "other guys in her life" to keep the series fresh and attributed Dunn's removal to fan interest dominating the Logan-Veronica relationship, saying "it became clear that one suitor won out".

Teddy Dunn, who portrayed Duncan, originally auditioned for the role of Logan.

Jason Dohring played Logan Echolls, the "bad-boy" 09er son of an A-list actor. Dohring originally auditioned for the role of Duncan Kane. After his audition, the producers asked Dohring to audition for the character of Logan, who at the time was only going to be a guest star in the pilot. Dohring felt that his audition for Duncan "was a little dark", and was told by the producers that it was "not really right". The producers then asked Dohring to read for the role of Logan. The audition process for Logan was originally Duncan, and Dohring acted one scene from the pilot; bashing the headlights of a car in with a crowbar. During the final auditions, Dohring read two times with Bell,

Jason Dohring's character Logan was originally a guest star in the pilot.

Woody Goodman and met with the studio and the network. When reading with Bell, Dohring acted the whole scene as if he had raped her, and tried to give the character an evil and fun feel. Percy Daggs III portrayed Wallace Fennel, Veronica's best friend and frequent partner in mystery solving. Percy Daggs III auditioned for the role of Wallace Fennel two times before being cast, and had to go through three tests with the studio and network executives. During his first audition, Daggs read four scenes from the pilot. Just before his studio test, Daggs read with Bell and had "a great conversation". He said that she "made me feel comfortable about auditioning", and was a big reason why he became more comfortable playing Wallace as the season went on. Francis Capra portrayed Eli "Weevil" Navarro, the leader of the PCH Biker gang and Veronica's friend. Enrico Colantoni played Veronica's father Keith Mars, a private investigator and former Balboa County Sheriff. Sydney Tamiia Poitier played Mallory Dent, Veronica's journalism teacher at Neptune High through the first season's first half. Ms. Dent, as she was commonly referred to, was the only teacher who took Veronica at face value, not based on prejudices. Together with Veronica, she was responsible for uncovering the voting scam that led to Duncan winning the school elections illegally. Ms. Dent left her job after becoming pregnant. Although she was given series regular billing, Poitier appeared in only four episodes, but was given credit for seven. Poitier's removal from the series was rumored to be due to budget issues. Tessa Thompson portrays Jackie Cook in the second season as a romantic interest of Wallace and the daughter of a famous baseball player. Fan reaction to the character was generally negative, after Veronica witnessed Jackie talking to a guy while dating Wallace. Thomas blamed the character's reception on his error in judgment: he had hoped fans would question whether it was Jackie or Poitier was given series regular Veronica in the wrong, however the audience automatically assumed that it was billing, but appeared in only a total of four episodes. Jackie. Thomas decided not to change the story arc he had planned for Jackie, as he believed Thompson was "a fantastic actress and she's got more to play." He said that whether fans end up liking Jackie is "up in the air", but he hoped that they did because "she's really, really good". Jackie was subsequently written out of the series at the end of the second season. Ryan Hansen portrayed Dick Casablancas, an 09er friend of Logan, a womanizer and former high-school bully turned frat boy. Dick was a recurring character in the first season, but was upgraded to a series regular in the second season. Kyle Gallner acted as Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas, Dick's introverted younger brother. Cassidy was a recurring character in the first season, but was upgraded to a series regular in the second season. Tina Majorino portrayed Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, a computer expert befriended by Veronica. Mac was a recurring character in the first two seasons, but was upgraded to a series regular in the third. Julie Gonzalo portrayed Parker Lee, Mac's extroverted roommate at Hearst College, described by Thomas as "everything that Mac is not". Parker was introduced in the third season as a series regular. Chris Lowell played Stosh "Piz" Piznarski, Wallace's roommate at Hearst College and a music lover with his own campus radio show. Piz was introduced in the third season as a series regular, and was named after the director of the pilot, Mark Piznarski. The character's role was to have another male friend for Veronica who was middle-class, and not upper-class. Thomas used the radio show as a narrative device to capture the mood of the university. Michael Muhney portrayed Don Lamb, the Balboa County Sheriff who won the office from Keith in the recall election spearheaded by Jake Kane. Lamb was a recurring character in the first two seasons, but was upgraded to a series regular in the third.

60

Woody Goodman

61

Recurring characters
Family
Charisma Carpenter portrays Kendall Casablancas (Kendall Lacey Shifflet, a fake real name; really Priscilla Banks), Cassidy and Dick's gold-digging stepmother. Kendall first appears in the second season premiere, having married real estate magnate Richard Casablancas, seemingly for his vast wealth. She becomes the stepmother of Dick and Cassidy, and begins an affair with their friend, Logan. Cassidy hires Veronica to investigate his stepmother, and she discovers that she helped Richard commit real estate fraud. Veronica told Cassidy and gave the information to the Securities and Exchange Commission; however, Richard fled the country before he could be arrested. Richard's lawyers told Kendall that while the boys both had trust funds, essentially she had nothing. Kendall became desperate for money, and began selling Richard's belongings, and turned to Logan and Duncan, but to no avail. Cassidy, who had started a real estate company called Phoenix Land Trust, needed Kendall to be his CEO for Charisma Carpenter appeared in 11 business purposes, because of his underage status. Although Kendall and Cassidy episodes as Kendall Casablancas. admitted their mutual dislike of each other, the prospect of the salary eventually made Kendall come around. The business continued, though most people assumed Richard was behind Phoenix Land Trust, not Cassidy. When Cassidy informs Kendall they need to acquire more land, she goes and visits the incarcerated Aaron. She makes a deal with him: he will buy into Phoenix Land Trust if she goes to Duncan and Logan's suite and gets something for him. Kendall goes to the suite, and removes some of Duncan's hair from the shower drain. Aaron later uses the hair to plant false evidence implying Duncan committed the crime for which he was on trial, and Aaron was acquitted. When Keith discovers that Kendall is the beneficiary of the life insurance policies on her stepsons, who could have been killed in the bus crash that claimed the lives of several people, he began investigating. He and Veronica discover that everything they know about Kendall is a lie; she is not a dumb trophy wife, rather a con artist named Priscilla Banks. She had been working with the Fitzpatrick crime family, and spent time in jail to protect her lover, Cormac Fitzpatrick (Jason Beghe). Keith breaks into Kendall's home, which leads to a dangerous confrontation with Kendall and Liam Fitzpatrick. When Cormac is released from prison, Keith reunites the two, who are trying to escape from Liam Fitzpatrick with the money Kendall received from Phoenix Land Trust. As Keith leaves the two, Cormac shoots and kills Kendall and tries to shoot Keith, who escapes. Keith believes he got Kendall killed, and feels guilty since he and Kendall had formed a cordial relationship while he was working for her. He goes back to the crime scene with the police, but neither the body of Kendall or Cormac are found, who is believed to have been killed by Liam for not giving up the money. David Starzyk portrays Richard Casablancas, Cassidy and Dick's father. Richard marries Kendall for her to be a trophy wife, and openly favors Dick over Cassidy. When Veronica discovers that he has committed real estate fraud and tells the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Richard flees the country before he can be arrested. Jeffrey Sams acts as Terrence Cook, an ex-major-league baseball player, gambler, and Jackie's formerly estranged father.

Woody Goodman

62

Harry Hamlin (left) and Lisa Rinna (right) are married in the series and in real life.

Harry Hamlin plays Aaron Echolls, an Oscar-winning A-list actor and is the main antagonist during the season 1 finale. At the beginning of the series, Aaron is married to his second wife Lynn, with whom he has a son Logan. He adopted his daughter Trina while married to his previous wife. Aaron has numerous female fans, due to his impressive physique and good looks. Aaron cheats on his wife, and easily angered, he physically abuses Logan, but tolerates Trina. Aaron quits acting when Lynn commits suicide, and tries to reconcile with Logan and Trina. Upon learning that Trina is being physically abused by her boyfriend, he beats the boy, threatening more if the boy ever returned. When Veronica exposes him as the man who killed Lilly, Aaron is indicted and held without bail. Logan visits his father in a holding cell after new evidence implicates Logan in a murder case. Aaron claims that he is innocent, and tries to convince his son that he had been wrongfully accused. Logan, who despises his father, does not believe Aaron's story, but recognizes that the evidence against Aaron is circumstantial at best. Later, Kendall visits Aaron in prison, and he agrees to invest in Phoenix Land Trust if she gets some of Duncan's hair. Aaron uses the hair to plant false evidence implying Duncan committed the crime, and Aaron is acquitted. He goes to the Neptune Grand and has sex with Kendall. While she is in the shower, Clarence Wiedman appears and kills Aaron with a silenced pistol on the orders of Duncan. Lisa Rinna portrays Lynn Echolls, Logan's mother and Trina's stepmother. Lynn was a famous movie star who was married to Aaron Echolls, an even bigger movie star. Lynn tried to ignore Aaron's abuse of Logan by turning to alcohol and pills. After Aaron received several threatening letters, Lynn turned to Keith in an effort to discover who was behind them. It turned out to be a caterer who had seen Aaron having an affair at a party, and he had her fired. At the Echolls's Christmas party, the caterer knifed Aaron in the gut. Aaron recovered, and hired Keith to find out who was leaking stories of his many infidelities to the press, only to discover it was Lynn. When Aaron confronted Lynn, she said that she wanted to hurt him like he hurt her, and went back to her car, took some pills, and drove away. Her car was found abandoned on the Coronado Bridge. Apparently, she had jumped, but no body was found. Even after the funeral, Logan refused to believe that his mother was dead. He believed she left him clues that she was still alive (ex: leaving behind a lighter that was engraved with "Free At Last" that she always kept in her purse), and that she was faking her death to get away from Aaron. Logan hired Veronica to prove his mother was alive; however, a video filmed by a freshman and his friends who were making a movie showed jumping from the bridge in the background, the exact time it was believed Lynn had jumped. Logan finally realizes that she's gone due to the evidence in the video and after discovering that Trina was the one using his mother's credit cards. With all hope gone of his mother being alive, he breaks down crying in Veronica's arms. Later, when Lynn's will was read, it was discovered she had cut Aaron out completely, left nothing to Trina, and given Logan everything she had.

Woody Goodman

63

Alyson Hannigan plays Trina Echolls, Logan's adopted sister and a struggling actress. She is first mentioned by Aaron in "Clash of the Tritons", who says that she is the only one who will talk to him. Logan asks Veronica to investigate his mother's death, and they discover Trina is staying at the Neptune Grand. The film Trina had been shooting in Australia had not worked out, and she had decided to return home. Trina moves back into the house, and gets into trouble with money after borrowing money from her boyfriend, Dylan. She asks Logan for a loan; however, he does not give her any money. Because Trina can't pay Dylan, he ends up beating her to which Logan finds out about after seeing her limp and has a black eye. Once Dylan arrives to talk to Aaron about starring in his movie, Aaron confronts him and beats him. In "My Mother, the Fiend", Trina returns to Neptune as the "Special Celebrity Director" of the school play. During this time, Veronica investigates the case of a Rob Thomas said that it was hard to baby left in the bathroom of Neptune High during the prom of 1980. She believes write an episode featuring Hannigan because of her busy schedule. Celeste Kane is the mother and wants her to own up to abandoning the child. Veronica eventually discovers Trina was the prom baby, and tells Trina the truth, who is excited at the thought of inheriting some of Celeste's wealth. The next day at school, Veronica and Trina are talking when Mary, the deaf lunch lady, begins pointing to herself and then to Trina. Veronica eventually deciphers her sign language: Mary is Trina's biological mother. It turns out then-student Mary had an affair with a teacher, and she left baby Trina at his doorstep. He then left the baby in the bathroom at the prom, knowing they would think it belonged to a student. It turned out the teacher was the current principal, Alan Moorehead. Trina busts him in the middle of a staff meeting, in front of all the other teachers, and he is fired. As a result of Hannigan's busy schedule, several of her storylines had to be swapped between episodes. Thomas said that he "loved having Alyson in the show", and had "a lot of fun with her". Erica Gimpel portrays Alicia Fennel, Wallace's mother; dated Keith Mars at the end of season one and the beginning of season two. Kyle Secor recurs as Jake Kane, Lilly and Duncan's father, a software billionaire. He is Lianne Mars' sweetheart in high school and was having an affair with her at the start of season one. Jake invented streaming video, making him one of the most influential men in Neptune, California via his software company, Kane Software. When Veronica interviews Abel Koontz, he suggests that Veronica is actually Jake's biological daughter rather than Keith's because Jake and Lianne once dated while in high school. Keith later has a paternity test and is proved to be Veronica's biological father. Jake returns in the series finale as a member of the secret society "The Castle". Lisa Thornhill acts as Celeste Kane, Lilly and Duncan's mother. Celeste loathed Veronica because of her husband's affair with Veronica's mother. She disapproved of Veronica and Duncan's relationship, and told Duncan that Veronica could have been his half-sister, because of Jake's affair with Lianne. This caused Duncan to break up with Veronica. Before Lilly died, Celeste had shown some resentment towards her daughters' way of life, and blamed every problem her family faced on Lilly. In her last appearance, in Donut Run, she hired Vinnie Van Lowe to find Duncan.

Woody Goodman

64

Amanda Seyfried portrays Lilly Kane, Duncan's older sister, Veronica's best friend, and Logan's girlfriend. Lilly was the daughter of Jake and Celeste Kane. She was murdered roughly eight months prior to the time of the show's first episode. Abel Koontz, a disgruntled employee fired from Jake's firm, confessed to the crime and was awaiting execution. Lilly is seen on the show throughout a series of flashbacks and Veronica's daydreams, which portray her as a fun, wild, and stylish teenage girl. She was best friend to Veronica, who was dating Lilly's brother, Duncan. Prior to her death, Lilly had been dating Logan, but had also been in a relationship with Eli "Weevil" Navarro, as Lilly did not like to be tied down. Lilly's murder changes Veronica's life completely, being the catalyst for a series of events that include Veronica's father Keith losing his job, Veronica's mother Lianne leaving town, and all of Veronica's friends abandoning her. Through the first season, Veronica investigates Lilly's murder, and finds that nothing is what it seems. All three of the Kanes falsified their alibis, and Lilly's time of death was three hours off. Clarence Wiedman, the head of security for Kane Software, called in the tip that got Abel Koontz arrested.

Thomas felt that Seyfried was so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned.

In the episode, "Leave It to Beaver", Veronica and Duncan discover several video tapes in Lilly's bedroom. They show Lilly in bed with Aaron, Logan's father. Veronica realizes that Aaron killed Lilly to get the tapes back. When Duncan found her body, he went into a catatonic state. When his parents discovered him reeling over Lilly's dead body they assumed he had killed Lilly in an epileptic fit. To protect their son, they began an elaborate cover-up of the murder. However, before Veronica is able to take the tapes to the police, Aaron tries to kill her. After a chase, Keith arrives and he manages to subdue Aaron, and he is arrested. Later that night, Veronica has a dream about Lilly. The two of them are floating in a lily-covered pool. Leaning back and smiling, Veronica declared this was the way things were supposed to be, and how they were going to be from now on. Lilly smiles sadly and replies, "You know how things are going to be from now on, don't you? You have to know." She then asks Veronica not to forget about her and Veronica turns to see that Lilly has disappeared and she is alone in the pool. Veronica promises that she could never forget her best friend. Lilly also appears as a hallucination in the season two premiere, "Normal Is the Watchword". Distracted by seeing Lilly, Veronica misses the bus and has to ride with Weevil back to town instead; the bus later crashes, and all aboard eventually die. Lilly returns for one last dream sequence in "Not Pictured", wherein Veronica's subconscious suggests that Lilly would have attended Vassar, had she lived. As high-spirited as ever, Lilly brags over her sexual experiments and promises Veronica will understand once she goes to college. A painting of Lilly is seen in the final episode, as an homage to the character. Thomas described Seyfried as "the biggest surprise of the year". When casting Lilly Kane, who would only appear occasionally as "the dead girl", Thomas did not receive the same level of actors who auditioned for the role of a series regular. Thomas said that he had "never had a more cut and dry audition" than he did with Seyfried. He said that she was "about 100 times better than anyone else that we saw, she was just spectacular". He said that she ended up being so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned. Corinne Bohrer recurs as Lianne Mars, Veronica's estranged and alcoholic mother. Lianne was the high school sweetheart of Jake Kane, who she believed was Veronica's father. At Neptune High, Lianne was credited to being a gossip and a friend to the deaf girl, Mary, who was later revealed to be the biological mother of Trina Echolls. Lianne later marries Keith, however she has an affair with Jake. After the Lilly Kane murder is made public, Lianne develops a drinking problem and leaves town. When she returns, claiming to want to fix her problems, Veronica spends all of her college savings to enter her mother into rehab. Lianne returns to stay, seemingly sober, however Veronica finds out that Lianne did not finish rehab. Veronica asks Lianne to leave, who steals the $50,000 settlement Veronica received from the Kanes. Lianne reappeared in Veronica's dream, where Lilly was never murdered and Lianne is the perfect mother.

Woody Goodman

65

Ryan Eggold guest stars as Charlie Stone, Logan's half-brother and Aaron's son. When Logan asks Veronica to investigate his rapidly declining trust fund, she uncovers the fact that Logan's father, movie star Aaron, had an illegitimate child. In order to keep this fact a secret from the tabloids, Aaron arranged for his accountant to deposit $10,000 a month from the Echolls estate into a fake charity set up to funnel the money to his son. After learning this information, Logan reaches out to his half-brother, finding a confidante and potential friend. Veronica continues her investigation to discover that the person Logan believes to be his half-brother (Matt Czuchry) is actually a writer for Vanity Fair who posed as Charlie Stone in order to get Logan to share personal details about growing up in the Echolls home. The real Charlie Stone refused to answer the reporter's questions, preferring to remain anonymous. Logan, believing that Ryan Eggold played Logan's real Charlie set up the reporter, reveals his brother's identity on Larry King Live in an half-brother. attempt to scoop the magazine profile. After Veronica informs him that the real Charlie had nothing to do with the reporter, Logan tearfully contacts his half-brother again. Cress Williams appears as Nathan Woods, Wallace's biological father with a shady past as an undercover cop.

Residents of Neptune
Richard Grieco portrays Steve Batando, a struggling actor and drug addict as well as Mindy O'Dell's ex-husband. Killed Lamb with a bat then was shot and killed by Sacks. Laura San Giacomo recurs as Harmony Chase, a married woman with whom Keith becomes romantically involved. Max Greenfield recurs as Leo D'Amato, introduced as the new Sheriff's Deputy, who Veronica befriends. Without his consent, Veronica steals a recording of an anonymous tip implicating Abel Koontz in the death of Lilly Kane from the evidence room. Leo is shortly suspended for the break-in, and when Veronica attempts to apologize, he is reluctant to forgive her. When Veronica admits she has fallen for him, he dismisses the claim, however they Richard Grieco portrays Steve Batando kiss during her school dance. When Veronica secretly begins to date Logan, she confesses the affair to Leo and ends the relationship. The pair manage to remain on good terms, and Leo assists Veronica in breaking-up a dognapping ring the same night she breaks up with him. To get enough money to send his little sister with Down syndrome to a private school, Leo steals and sells the Aaron Echolls and Lilly Kane sex tapes to Logan. Logan promptly destroys the tapes due to the traumatic nature of them, however he inadvertently compromises the pending case against Aaron. Keith discovers Leo's participation in the theft, however, he covers for him by stating that the tapes were stolen because Leo was not at his post. Leo is promptly fired from the sheriff's department, but is able to keep the money that Logan paid him and help his sister. Leo begins working for a private security company, and finds himself working for Woody Goodman's daughter Gia. Leo contacts Keith when he is concerned that his security company's warehouse is about to be robbed. Leo loses his job for involving Keith, although Keith asks him to return as a deputy. Rodney Rowland plays Liam Fitzpatrick, a formidable Irish-Catholic gangster and drug dealer. Liam Fitzpatrick is in charge of the Fitzpatrick mafia family, also known as the Fighting Fitzpatricks. He shoots his brother, Cormac Fitzpatrick, in cold blood, after Cormac fails to retrieve an original Van Gogh painting. It has been hinted that he and his family are helping Vinnie Van Lowe win the election for Sherriff. Liam tells Keith that if Vinnie does not win the election, or if Keith does anything to hurt Vinnie's campaign, he will kill Veronica.

Woody Goodman Steve Guttenberg portrays Woody Goodman, the owner of the Sharks baseball team and Balboa County Executive. More commonly known as the "Mayor of Neptune", although the position is actually "County Supervisor." Revealed at the end of season two to have molested boys through his involvement with Little League baseball teams. Woody was killed when his private plane was blown up by explosives planted by Cassidy Casablancas. Rick Peters plays Tom Griffith, a plastic surgeon and coke-addict who was asked by the Fitzpatricks to testify that Logan killed Felix. Logan retaliated by dating his daughter Hannah until he dropped his charges. Christian Clemenson plays Abel Koontz, Lilly Kane's falsely confessed murderer. Koontz was the person at Kane software who perfected streaming media, but was cheated out of the patent. He then tried to invent a technology that "would put Kane out of business", though he failed and his wife walked out on him. Three months after Lilly's murder, Koontz confessed to murdering her. Lamb found Lilly's backpack and shoes while searching Abel's houseboat, backing up Koontz's confession. Until this point, Keith's investigation was squarely focused on the Kane family as suspects. It was Keith's failure to investigate Koontz that led to his eventual ousting as Neptune's Sheriff. A year later, when Veronica started to conduct her own investigation of Lilly's murder, she visited Koontz on death row twice. During their first visit, Koontz quickly recognizes Veronica and reveals that Jake Kane may be her real father. She was suspicious of Koontz's confession because he fired his attorney while on death row and she discovered that the same shoes that were found in Koontz houseboat were in Lilly's room at the time of the murder. Veronica sneaked into Koontz's doctor's office, and stole both his and Duncan's medical files. She found out that Duncan had type-4 epilepsy, whose symptoms included violent outbursts and seizures. For the first time, Veronica realized that Duncan was a possible suspect in Lilly's murder. She also found out that Abel Koontz had stomach cancer, and that he was dying. She concluded that Jake Kane paid Koontz to confess to the murder, even though he was not the perpetrator so that Keith Mars' investigation into the Kane family would end. Koontz accepted the offer because he knew he was dying and intended to give the money to his daughter, Amelia DeLongpr, who he had neglected in the past. Veronica locates Abel's daughter in order to help prove that he is innocent, but Clarence Wiedman, head of Kane security, bribes her with three million dollars in exchange for her silence. During Veronica's second visit to Koontz, she told him that she knew that he was dying, and that he was paid to confess to the murder. Koontz's innocence was further solidified when Keith went to Las Vegas to talk to a prostitute that was with Koontz at the time of Lilly's murder. Koontz's final appearance was in the second season episode "Rat Saw God". After being cleared of all murder charges and released from prison, he asks Veronica to help locate Amelia before he dies. While investigating, Veronica discovers that Amelia was killed by her boyfriend after they blackmailed Clarence Wiedman for more money. Instead of telling him the truth, Veronica says that his daughter was happily living in Aspen, and that she could not fly down yet because of the weather. He then dies at the end of the episode, but it is not shown. Daran Norris recurs as Cliff McCormack, a Public Defender and Mars family friend. Cliff is a public defender in Neptune who has served as an ally to Keith and Veronica Mars, as well as a steady client of Mars Investigations. Although rarely a key player in the series, he has had some notable and memorable appearances. In "The Rapes of Graff", Cliff was seduced by an escort hired by Aaron Echolls to steal Cliff's briefcase, which contained the Logan Echolls murder case files and keys to the storage locker containing Aaron's personal belongings, including an Oscar statue. Jaime Ray Newman appears as Mindy O'Dell, Dean O'Dell's wife. Mindy and Cyrus share no children of their own, but parent Cyrus' adolescent son from a previous marriage and Mindy's younger son by her first husband, Steven Batando. In "President Evil", the O'Dells hire Keith to find Steven in the hopes that his bone marrow would be a match to that of his biological son, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Keith locates Steven, who refuses to donate his marrow. When Batando later disappears, Keith suspects that the O'Dells kidnapped him and took the marrow donation against his will, but looks the other way. In "Hi, Infidelity", Veronica finds Mindy sharing a hotel room with Hank, her criminology professor at Hearst College, and an employee of Cyrus'. Keith puts Mindy under surveillance after Cyrus hired him to find out if she's having an affair. Keith discovers no affair, but Veronica reveals

66

Woody Goodman the affair with Landry to her father, Keith, who reveals it to Cyrus. Cyrus confides in Keith, saying that Mindy was too young and too beautiful, and their marriage had been doomed to fail. Mindy is preparing to leave Landry in the Neptune Grand hotel room they shared when Cyrus enters and confronts them both about the affair, brandishing a loaded pistol. When Cyrus is found shot to death in his office, the insurance company rules his death a suicide, leaving the O'Dell family with no compensation for the loss of income, in "Spit & Eggs". Mindy returns to Keith Mars and hires him to prove that Cyrus was murdered, in "Show Me the Monkey". Mindy finally gets the insurance money from her husband's murder, buys a boat and leaves town after being questioned by Acting Sheriff Keith Mars. Hank Landry catches up with Mindy on her boat and he later confesses to accidentally killing her the night before being found, in "Papa's Cabin". Ken Marino recurs as Vinnie Van Lowe, Keith's rival private investigator. Announced his intentions to run for Sheriff against Keith in the special election. Vinnie Van Lowe is a private investigator in Neptune, California and is the main competition for Keith and Veronica. Vinnie has rather lax moral standards and is often willing to take on cases that the Mars Investigation team would refuse. It is because of this that he has a much larger caseload than the Mars family. The cases that Vinnie Van Lowe takes on have sometimes helped the Mars family, but sometimes his work has been in opposition to the cases of Mars Investigations. In "Kanes and Abel's", Veronica is attempting to find out who has been harassing Sabrina Fuller, the School Board President's daughter, and one of the top candidates for the Kane Scholarship. The Kane Scholarship is a full scholarship named in honor of Lilly, awarded to the valedictorian of Neptune High. In her investigation, Veronica discovers that one of the cars that was used during a harassment was owned by Vinnie Van Lowe's ex-wife, Debra Villareal. From this she was able to figure out that Vinnie Van Lowe was the person hired to harass Sabrina. In "Donut Run" Van Lowe was hired by Celeste Kane to watch Veronica because Celeste suspected that Veronica knew where Duncan took the kidnapped baby. Veronica was able to take advantage of Vinnie's willingness to change clients if he is offered a better deal. Veronica had Duncan offer Vinnie more money to drive the Manning baby and a Veronica look-alike over the Mexican border and to pick Duncan up in Mexico. It was because of this that Duncan was able to successfully escape authorities with the kidnapped baby. In "Not Pictured", Vinnie and Keith team up to catch Woody Goodman. Vinnie had broken into the Goodman house and stole all their records. Vinnie was arrested, but got away with the records. Using his one phone call, he meets with Keith to get him to split the bounty. Vinnie gives the records and Keith gets the man. In "Welcome Wagon", he almost gets Keith killed while working for Liam Fitzpatrick. However, in "Of Vice and Men", Vinnie rescued Veronica and Meryl from serious danger from the Fitzpatricks when the two girls wander into the River Stix searching for Meryl's missing boyfriend. Christopher B. Duncan recurs as Clarence Wiedman, the Head of Security at Kane Software. He kills Aaron Echolls at the end of season two on Duncan's orders. As Head of Security for Kane Software, Wiedman is known to do the less-than-savory jobs that Jake Kane needs done. It is known that Jake Kane called Wiedman before he reported his daughter's murder and Veronica speculates that he assisted in the cover-up of Lilly's true time of death by lowering the temperature of her body. It is known that Wiedman paid Amelia deLongpre so that her father, Abel Koontz, would falsely confess to the murder of Lilly. When Veronica found Amelia and tried to convince her to reveal the existence of the payoff money, Wiedman got to her first and gave her even more money so that she would leave Neptune, in "Kanes and Abel's". Wiedman also called in the anonymous tip that got Abel Koontz arrested and took photos of Veronica that were sent to Lianne Mars in "You Think You Know Somebody". Unfortunately, Amelia DeLongpre didn't stay away long. When Abel tried to get Veronica to find his daughter, Veronica found out that she had called Kane Software from a payphone across the street and confronted Wiedman about it. Later on, when Veronica found her body, Clarence was there and confessed to her that Amelia had asked for more money. As it turned out, it was Amelia's new boyfriend, Carlos Mercado, who had wanted the money and after he got it, he killed Amelia. Wiedman traced the money to Las Vegas and it was implied that he killed Carlos in "Rat Saw God". Wiedman made another appearance when Aaron was acquitted. In "Not Pictured", Aaron's hotel room, Clarence assassinated him with two bullets. Afterwards, he called Duncan in Australia, who asked "CW?" Wiedman responded, "It's a done deal".

67

Woody Goodman

68

Neptune High
John Bennett Perry plays Alan Moorehead, the Principal of Neptune High. When Moorehead was a teacher, he had an affair with then-student Mary, and she left their baby Trina Echolls at his doorstep. He then left the baby in the bathroom at the prom, knowing they would think it belonged to a student. Many years later, when Veronica discovers that he is Trina's father, Moorehead is fired as principal. Duane Daniels plays Van Clemmons, the Vice Principal turned Principal of Neptune High. During high school, Veronica constantly John Bennett Perry played Alan Moorehead gets into trouble and as a result regularly meets with Clemmons. Occasionally, Van Clemmons asks Veronica for help, once asking her to locate the missing school mascot. Clemmons is the one who instructs Veronica to organize some old files, which led to her discovering Moorehead as Trina Echolls' father. When Moorehead is fired as principal, Veronica realizes that it was Clemmons' plan all along to become principal. When Veronica graduates, Clemmons says that he cannot decide if his life will be easier or more difficult with her gone. Clemmons reappears in "Un-American Graffiti", where he is caught on tape being shot with a paintball gun by several Neptune High students. Adam Hendershott portrays Vincent "Butters" Clemmons, a student at Neptune High and Van Clemmons' son. When he was a freshman, Vincent was pantsed by a bully and given the nickname "Butters". Vincent vowed revenge and that following fall, the jock who had humiliated him and those who did nothing to save him, found themselves having failed mandatory drug tests, essentially barring them from playing sports in their final year of high school. Veronica believed Butters to be behind the crime; however, she discovered the real culprits were a conclave of parents who rigged the drug tests so that their children could gain the spots opened up in the wake of the mass suspension of athletes. Later, when Butters' only friend Marcos Oliveres was killed in the bus crash and his parents sued the school, Veronica thought Butters was targeting the family, leaving them reminders of their son to torment the parents. She discovers that Butters and Marcos secretly ran the local pirate radio station, "Ahoy, Mateys!", which was infamous for its vicious slandering of the popular cliques at school. Butters tells Veronica that he had little contact with Marcos since the summer, when he came back from summer camp and quit the radio show without telling Butters why. Veronica later found out summer camp was an antigay camp he was sent to, and that the real culprit was Marcos' friend Ryan, who had a crush on Marcos and who sought to make the Oliveres suffer the same way they made their son suffer in regards to his potential homosexuality. Butters develops a crush on Mac, much to her disgust, and she is forced to attend Logan's "anti-prom" with him. James Jordan acts as Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic, the deceased former janitor at Neptune High. He previously acted as a bat boy for Woody Goodman's baseball team, the Sharks. Jonathan Chesner portrays Douglas "Corny", a Stoner, occasional ally of Veronica's. Corny is in the same graduation class as Veronica. Corny makes the bong that Veronica plants in Logan's locker in "Pilot". Resident stoner of Neptune High. Works at Cho's Pizza as a deliveryman. When he is mugged and tasered in "Versatile Toppings" he helps Veronica find the culprit. He appears to have somewhat of a crush on Veronica as seen in "Blast from the Past" when he nominates her for Neptune High's Homecoming Queen. He was the DJ in between the Faders's sets at the Homecoming dance his senior year. He's very proud of his brownie recipe claiming that "it's all in the butter." He appears to go to Logan's Alterna-Prom alone. Krysten Ritter portrays Gia Goodman, the daughter of the influential Neptune citizen and professional baseball team owner Woody Goodman, and a student at Neptune High. Gia starts attending Neptune High after she transfers from a private boarding school. She attends the class field trip to Shark Field and meets Dick Casablancas, his brother Cassidy, Duncan Kane and Veronica for the first time. Gia rides the school bus on the way to the stadium,

Woody Goodman however she opts to ride in Dick Casablancas' limo with the other "09ers" on the way back. The bus crashes and all of the passengers die, except for Meg Manning. Later in the year, Gia invites Veronica to her slumber party. Veronica attends, however she has an ulterior motive and is investigating families that Meg babysat for. When Gia is sent footage of herself at her brother's soccer game, she hires Veronica to find the sender. Gia and Veronica's friendship is broken when a feud erupts between their fathers, and she fires Veronica from the case. When Veronica realizes that Gia's stalker is Neptune High's janitor Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic, she rushes to her aid. Lucky is arrested, but he is let go when the Mannings pay for his bail. He comes to school the next day with a gun looking for Gia; however he is shot and killed by school security. Jessy Schram plays Hannah Griffith, an "09er" high-school sophomore student at Neptune High. Hannah meets Logan at the school carnival, and is surprised when he asks her out. Logan reveals to Hannah that her father, plastic surgeon Dr. Thomas Griffith, is a cocaine user. He tells her that he is protecting his dealers, the Fitzpatricks, and has falsely testified against Logan in a murder trial. Hannah decides that she cannot trust Logan, because he is only dating her to get to her father, but she is quick to forgive him. When her father catches her being undressed by Logan, he sends Hannah to a boarding school in Vermont. Kari Coleman portrays Deborah Hauser, a divorced sex education teacher with a bitter approach to her students, disliking all non-09ers and kissing ass to the 09ers. Veronica baby-sits her demonic son in order to find out if he is being abused. It is also revealed she was friends with Lianne Mars when they attended Neptune High as teenagers, and were suspended together for spreading a "false and malicious rumour". Mrs Hauser maintained that Lianne told her a rumour knowing it was false and Deborah passing it on unknowingly, however Veronica found out the real story. Lianne's friend had an affair with a teacher at the school and became pregnant, and not knowing how to help, confided in Deborah, who passed the gossip around. This baby would end up being Trina Echolls. Mrs Hauser makes another appearance during the Winter Carnival at school where she steals money from the cashbox and tries to blame Veronica and Jackie. However, she is caught and deservedly fired. Paula Marshall acts as Rebecca James, the school guidance counsellor and briefly dated Keith Mars. Paula had previously worked with series creator Rob Thomas on his earlier series, Cupid. Veronica does not approve of their relationship and digs up information on her to change Keith's mind - information being Ms. James was arrested for passing bad cheques when she was 21. Ms. James and Veronica's relationship is strained because of this, although she does try to help Veronica discover the meaning of her haunting dreams in the second season. Alona Tal recurs as Meg Manning, an "09er" cheerleader and the daughter of mentally abusive fundamentalist Christian parents. She initially appears when Veronica is the victim of a nasty prank and lends her clothes, and sticks up for her when other 09ers start insulting her. When an online purity test posts all the participants results, Meg's is faked to be unusually low and she gets a reputation as a slut. Veronica finds the person responsible for making this up about Meg (in "Like a Virgin"). When Meg asks Veronica to help find her secret admirer, she is keen to help, until she finds out that her secret admirer is Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend. Eventually, Veronica accepts Meg and Duncan's relationship. ("Ruskie Business") After finding out that he is not Veronica's half-brother, Duncan breaks up with Meg, who blames Veronica. Afterward, Meg's attitude towards Veronica is openly hostile. On the way back from a field trip to a baseball ground, while Veronica was talking to Weevil during a rest stop, Meg deliberately implied that Veronica had returned to the bus, causing it to leave without her. However, the bus subsequently careened off a cliff and into the ocean. ("Normal Is the Watchword")

69

Alona Tal auditioned for the role of Veronica Mars, and was Rob Thomas' second choice. Thomas created the recurring role of Meg Manning specifically for her.[citation
needed]

Woody Goodman Meg was the only survivor, but she remained in a coma for much of the second season. Meg has two younger sisters, Lizzie and Grace. While Meg was in a coma, Lizzie brought Duncan Meg's laptop, asking him to remove Meg's personal files from the system before her parents were able to check them. Duncan and Veronica found that Meg had compiled information about a child whom she often babysat. The young boy was being abused by his parents. Soon, the two uncovered that the abused child (who was referred to by Meg as a boy) was actually Meg's youngest sister Grace. Meg's parents are religious zealots who lock Grace in a closet when they are out, and make her fill out exercise book after exercise book with the phrase: "The path of God is paved with righteousness." Duncan and Veronica found dozens of these books in Grace's room. Veronica visited Meg in the hospital and discovered that Meg was pregnant, this being the reason she was so mad at Veronica. Shortly after she left, Meg awoke from her coma. ("My Mother, the Fiend") Meg apologized to Veronica for her harsh treatment and then asked Veronica to make sure that her baby wouldn't fall into her parents' hands should anything happen to Meg. Later that same episode, Meg died of a blood clot to the heart, but not before giving birth to her daughter Faith, who was later renamed Lilly by the child's father Duncan Kane. ("One Angry Veronica") Duncan flees to Australia with her to escape Meg's parents. James Molina plays Eduardo "Thumper" Orozco, a PCH biker who betrays Weevil and starts dealing for the Irish gang the Fitzpatricks. Murdered deliberately by the Fitzpatricks and indirectly by Weevil and inadvertently but directly by Logan. Leighton Meester plays Carrie Bishop, nicknamed the queen of gossip at Neptune High. She appeared in two episodes. She was known for faking an affair with a teacher who Veronica strongly thought was innocent. The teacher is found that he had in fact had a relationship with a previous student who had his baby, whom he denied and left. That student was the reason why Carrie had made these accusations. She also appeared in a later episode when Veronica is searching for the one responsible of raping her at Shelly Pomeroy's party. Carrie had told her that Duncan Kane was the one she saw with Veronica in the bedroom. Michael Kostroff portrays Samuel Pope, the teacher of Future Business Leaders of America and one of the few ethical people of Neptune. He plans to retire to a life of sailing during the second season, after making a small fortune from real estate investment in Big Dick Casablancas' firm. Veronica discovers that the company is defrauding the investors and encourages Mr. Pope to get rid of his stock before she reports it, but he sadly replies he cannot do this; to get rid of it, he would have to sell it to someone else, and they would pay they price. He sadly admits he cannot do that, and cannot retire as planned. It is assumed he continues teaching at Neptune High. Amanda Noret plays Madison Sinclair, Dick's ex-girlfriend and Neptune High's resident bitch. Shortly after Lilly's murder, at Shelly Pomeroy's party, Dick dosed Madison's drink with GHB to loosen her up; however, Madison spat in the drink, which she calls "A Trip to the Dentist", and gave it to Veronica. In turn, Veronica drank the soda, and later had sex with Duncan, who had also unknowingly ingested GHB (given to him by Logan). The following year, Madison rigged the school election in order to get Duncan Kane elected to student body president. Veronica exposed the plot which resulted in Madison losing her place on the student council and the special privileges granted by the position. Veronica discovers in Season One that Madison was switched at birth with Mac. It is shown that Madison constantly argues with her family, whereas Mac's parents have fully accepted Mac as their daughter, and have shown no signs of wanting anything to do with Madison. After breaking up with Dick, she is secretly involved with Sheriff Don Lamb ("The Rapes of Graff"). Veronica discovers this and mocks Madison about her relationship with Lamb in front of their classmates through innuendo that, while her classmates do not understand, had a meaning that was quite apparent to Madison. Madison, having gone off to college at USC, is absent from much of Veronica's life at Hearst, until she had several run-ins with her in Neptune in the episode "Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves". Veronica first sees Madison when she arrived unexpectedly at Neptune Grand Suite shared by Logan and Dick; thinking that Madison was simply looking up her ex, Veronica sent her on her way. Later, however, she ran into her again at a lingerie shop where Madison maliciously let slip that she had spent the night with Logan while in Aspen over Christmas break, when

70

Woody Goodman Veronica and Logan were split up. In the following episode, Veronica, consumed by images of Madison's tryst with Logan, follows her and eventually plots with Weevil to have Madison's new car crushed and cubed. Veronica has a change of heart, however, and asks him to return it unscathed, save for a can of tuna in her air conditioning. Brad Bufanda acts as Felix Toombs, Weevil's former right-hand man. Killed supposedly by Logan, but actually by Thumper, a fellow PCHer. Bufanda originally tried out for the role of Weevil. Throughout season 1, Felix was known as a PCH bike gang member and Weevil's (PCH leader) best friend. At the end of season 1 someone knocked on Veronica's door and she smiled saying "I was hoping it would be you." Fans were on the edge of their seat trying to find out who it was. As many fans suspected and hoped it was Logan Echolls. Once there, a beaten Logan told Veronica the story of how he got that way. The PCH gang members beat the living hell out of Logan because: 1. They thought he killed Lilly Kane (Weevil's lover) 2. Logan knocked Weevil out cold. After Logan woke up from the beating he discovered that Felix had been stabbed and bled to death. During season 2 Weevil was on a mission to solve the murder of Felix Toombs. First Weevil suspected Logan, but later on he found out it wasn't Logan so he enlisted Logan's help to try to solve this case. During that time he found out the PCHers had been dealing drugs with the Fitzpatricks. Felix was secretly dating Molly Fitzpatrick (Liam Fitzpatrick's niece). Liam got Thumper (who at the time was Liam's lackey) to stab Felix. Weevil knew that Thumper did it but couldn't prove it. So, Weevil set up Thumper to look like he was stealing drugs and money from the Fitzpatricks. Liam and cousin Danny Boyd locked Thumper in "Shark Stadium" which was blown up by Logan (directly) and Woody Goodman (indirectly) with Thumper and his bike inside. Thus, finally resolving the murder of Felix Toombs. Aaron Ashmore portrays Troy Vandegraff, the childhood friend of Duncan's; Veronica's boyfriend for the early stretch of season one. He betrays Veronica and leaves town, but he is somewhat reformed by the time they meet again later in the series. Troy and Veronica dated for a short time in Season One, but their relationship didnt last long because Troy involved an unwitting Veronica in a plot to smuggle steroids from Mexico into the US. Veronica managed to find out his intentions before he was able to successfully complete his plan and run away with his real girlfriend. He later comes back in the episode The Rapes of Graff in Season 2 where he is accused of raping and shaving the head of a girl at Hearst College. Veronica ends up clearing Troy's name but doesn't find out who the real rapist is until the third season. Ashmore thought that Veronica Mars was a "great show", and loved the character of Troy.[2] Valorie Curry plays Jane Kuhne, student athlete at Neptune High and Wallace's girlfriend after he returns from Chicago. She is introduced in Season 1 while Wallace is pursuing Jackie as a distant admirer of Wallace who has been ignored. After Wallace returns from Chicago, he takes up with Jane. She is features in the episode "The Quick and the Wed" when her older sister disappears following a bachelorette party, and Veronica investigates the disappearance.
Ashmore enjoyed his reappearance in the second season, saying "it was kinda nice coming back and being the good guy and not the bad guy for [1] once".

71

Hearst College
Matt McKenzie plays Tom Barry, Wallace's basketball coach and father of Josh Barry. He is allegedly murdered the night after a basketball game during which he fights with Josh and the team loses the game. Josh is believed to be his killer due to the argument and the fact that Mason drove past the area where Coach Barry died and saw someone who appeared to be Josh with him. It is revealed that he was dying of an incurable brain disease that would be slow, painful, humiliating and costly. He arranged for his suicide to appear as a carjacking so that his family would be paid life insurance (which they would not in the case of a suicide) and take care of them financially. David Tom plays Chip Diller, the President of the Pi Sig frat house. He first appears in season two when Veronica visits Hearst, and she accuses him of raping a student. While it turns out he is not a rapist, he is shown to be still a

Woody Goodman horrible person. He is attacked by a group of campus feminists, head shaved and an egg shoved into his rectum on the anniversary of Patrice Pitrelli's attempted suicide for his part in it. During the episode "Spit & Eggs", Veronica points out to Chip that the beer coasters provided by the Pi Sig's were not effective, since they were supposed to be used for drug testing, but he does not care. Chip is one of the main perpetrators in spreading the sex video of Veronica and Piz, however did not have anything to do with its creation. James Jordan appears as Tim Foyle, a teaching assistant for Professor Hank Landry at Hearst College. Tim seems to dislike Veronica, possibly because Landry seems to prefer her over him. In the first session of Landry's criminology class (in Welcome Wagon), he has his students play a detective game, "Murder on the Riverboat Queen". Veronica beats Tim's record time for solving the mystery by ten minutes, then embarrasses and annoys him by saying "There is one thing I can't figure out: what did you do with the extra ten minutes?" In Hi, Infidelity, Tim accuses Veronica of plagiarizing her mid-term paper and gives her three days to clear herself. After Veronica figures out what happened, she accuses Tim of setting her up just so that she would discover that Landry was having an affair with Mindy O'Dell, the Dean's wife, but Tim does not explicitly deny it; instead he says that if he HAD set the whole thing up, it would have been to show Veronica what Landry was really like before she became his protege. Tim is also the boyfriend of Bonnie Capistrano, Dick's fling, and is presumably the father of her miscarried baby. While investigating the truth behind Bonnie's miscarriage, she discovers that Tim was very supportive over her decision to have the baby. And that he even asked Bonnie to marry him in order to please her religious parents. In Papa's Cabin, Tim and Veronica team up in an attempt to clear Dr. Landry of the murder of Hearst College's Dean of Students, Cyrus O'Dell. At the end of the episode, however, it is revealed that Tim himself murdered Cyrus O'Dell to take revenge on Landry for ruining his chances at a job at (a fictional version of) Pepperdine University, by giving an unfavorable reference to the prospective employer. Tim's name is, in fact, a joke by the writers. His character was created as a foil for Veronica, and was referred to as "FOIL" during the early drafts. According to Rob Thomas on the DVD extras, they eventually decided to call him Foyle anyway, and Tim as his first name as a play on "tin foil". Adam Rose portrays Max, a geeky student who provides test answers for cash. While he started out as a one time guest star, turned into a recurring character due to his likability. He makes quite a profit with his business, and does not care when he is expelled from Hearst, planning to make his living from it anyway. Max comes to Veronica with the task of finding his dream girl whom he met at ComiCon and had an instant connection with, who left telling him she'd left her details in his hotel room, for him to return and find the hotel cleaners had already been and it had disappeared. It turned out that this girl was actually a hooker hired by his friends so that Max could lose his virginity; he decides to continue trying to find her even when he finds this out. Max convinced Chelsea to leave the prostitution business for him, and he pays off her $10,000 debt to her pimp. However things are not the same when her past keeps being brought up; he finally asks whether she actually left her information and Chelsea is heartbroken when he realises she didn't - "But I really wish I had." She leaves but promises to pay him back - it is implied that she is making her money by stripping. Max comes back into the series as Mac's new boyfriend after she breaks up with Bronson for him. Ryan Devlin recurs as Mercer Hayes, a friend of Logan and Dick, who runs an illegal casino out of his dorm room called the Benetian. Parker suspects him of being the rapist due to him wearing the same cologne she smelled the night she was raped, and Veronica investigates and finds he owns an electric razor too. She reports this to Lamb, who agrees with her for once, due to finding the same date rape drugs inside Mercer's money box. However Logan provides Mercer with an incriminating alibi - they accidentally burnt down a Tijuana motel the night of one of the rapes - but Veronica finds other proof that he didn't do it (his live, call in radio show being on at the time of one of the rapes). However when at the Pi Sig party she hears his show being played and recognises electronic distortion and skipping, she realises he IS the rapist, the shows being able to be recorded. She prevents him from raping a 5th girl and stabs him with a ceramic unicorn horn, and eventually Keith arrests Moe and Mercer. He is last seen in a jail cell, with Logan (who smashed a police cruiser to get arrested, get put into a cell with Mercer and get revenge on him for what he did to Veronica and the other girls).

72

Woody Goodman Patrick Fabian portrays Hank Landry, Veronica's Criminology professor and admirer. He is having an affair with Dean O'Dell's wife Mindy O'Dell and accidentally kills her when framed by his TA Tim Foyle for the murder of the Dean. Hank Landry is Veronica's Intro to Criminology professor. Although Veronica has yet to decide on a major, Prof. Landry has been advocating criminal investigations as a career choice for her. Prof. Landry is joined in his Intro to Criminology class by his teaching assistant Tim Foyle. Veronica first impressed Prof. Landry by solving the murder mystery he presented on the first day of class in record time. Later, she impresses him by being the sole person to write an "A" caliber paper on his "Perfect Murder" assignment. After reading the paper, he talks to Veronica about her potential and offers to be her faculty adviser. While Veronica is considering Prof. Landry's offer, she is manipulated by Tim Foyle into finding out one of Landry's secrets: he has been having an affair with Mindy O'Dell, the wife of the Dean of Hearst College. Shortly after this incident, Prof Landry announces his end-of-term research paper: to plan the perfect murder. He then meets with Veronica and tells her that he is going to recommend her for a summer internship with the FBI and that he will accept her application essay for the position as a replacement for the end-of-term assignment. Veronica assumed that Prof. Landry was attempting to buy her silence about Landry's affair with Mindy and turned down the offer. Upon telling this to Prof. Landry, he explained that the internship offer had nothing to do with what she knew about him, but Veronica still opted to write the end-of-term paper. Veronica received one of the three "A"s that Prof. Landry gave out for this paper. When Veronica finds out that her father is investigating whether Dean O'Dell's wife is having an affair she tells Keith what she knows about Prof. Landry and Mindy. Keith tells the Dean who takes a loaded revolver and visits Prof. Landry and Mindy O'Dell in the middle of one of their rendezvous. It is as of now unknown what transpired in the room that night. When Keith takes the Dean O'Dell case, he finds Prof. Landry at a local bar and attempts to entice a confession out of Landry over some drinks. This does not work, however, as Landry informs Keith that he read Keith's book and he knows that Keith is a private investigator. Krista Kalmus plays Claire Nordhouse, a feminist and member of Lillith house, friends with Nish and Fern. She is one of the protestors who made a front page newspaper picture, of many topless women holding a banner reading "We go to Hearst, go ahead and rape us!" Claire is very attractive, with long blonde hair, making her the target of the rival newspaper's response (topless men holding a banner saying "No thanks! (except maybe the blonde in the middle)"). The three use this response in order to have the Pi Sig house shut down as well as the rival newspaper run by them by faking Claire's rape. However Veronica finds out that it was not real and exposes this - ATM photos showing the guy with her before her rape, who took her home, was actually Claire's boyfriend who helped set it up. She is then expelled from Hearst as a result. She was Patrice Pitrelli's best friend in their freshman year, and was the original source of information about the Theta Beta two-way mirror.

73

Woody Goodman

74

Ed Begley, Jr. portrays Cyrus O'Dell, the Dean of Hearst College. Initially Veronica's adversary, gradually becoming her ally and gaining her respect, and vice versa. Married to much younger Mindy, he suspects her of having an affair, which Keith later proves to be with Hank Landry. He confronts the two, threatening to leave her broke and ruin Landry's career. He is killed by Tim Foyle during the ninth episode in the style of Veronica's Plan a Perfect Murder paper (a fake suicide). After his death it is revealed that he wrote her a referral to the FBI, a statement of what a brilliant student she was and how he had not encountered a student with more talent in all his years in academia. His body is found by Weevil, who is rather gutted, having grown quite fond of the dean while working at Hearst. Michael Mitchell plays Bronson Pope, an animal rights activist and Mac's first post-Cassidy boyfriend. He is shown to be extremely outdoorsy, encouraging Mac to play Ultimate Frisbee and take early morning hikes. She loses her virginity to him on Valentine's Day, but breaks up with him not much later after falling for Max.

Ed Begley, Jr. played Cyrus O'Dell.

Andrew McClain acts as Moe Slater, the R.A. of the Hearst College dorms. He is very earnest and is always offering oolong tea to everyone - implied to be how he drugs people. He is Mercer's partner, who helped him rape the girls as he was the Safe Ride Home driver. He would take drunk girls home (it is still not clear whether he drugged them at the party or drugged them once they were in their dorms) and then tell Mercer which room, and provide him the keys to get in. The relationship between him and Mercer is implied to be a result of the prison warden experiment that Logan and Wallace underwent, as he keeps a photo of the two of them in their uniforms. Moe was the prisoner and Mercer the warden, who mentally dominated him and controlled him into helping him rape. It was Moe that drugged Veronica and tried to shave her head, in order to give Mercer an alibi. Chastity Dotson portrays Nish Sweeney, the former Editor of the Hearst Free Press and feminist of Lillith House. She and Veronica are initially friends when she gives Veronica the assignment to go undercover and infiltrate the Theta Beta sorority house. Veronica is supposed to find proof of a two-way mirror in which Theta Betas would make the rushes undress in front of for the Pi Sigs enjoyment. However Nish publishes the article that Veronica asked her not to that she wrote about a cannabis farm at the sorority house, and they become enemies. Nish helps Claire fake the rape, and eggs Dean O'Dell's window the night he was murdered. By the end of the semester, Nish and Veronica are on good terms, as Veronica gives her a list of names of members of the secret fraternity the Castle.

Other characters
The following is a supplementary list of recurring or one-time guest stars, which includes characters that appear briefly in multiple episodes, but have little to no real world content to justify an entire section covering their in-universe histories. Steve Rankin acts as Lloyd Blankenship, a newspaper reporter and ally of Keith. Taylor Sheridan plays Danny Boyd, Liam Fitzpatrick's dim-witted cousin and accomplice. Brandon Hillock plays Jerry Sacks, Sheriff Lamb's right-hand man. Annie Campbell plays Molly Fitzpatrick, a member of the Fitzpatrick family and Felix's girlfriend until his death. Kevin Sheridan plays Sean Friedrich, an "09er" with a penchant for thievery and drug dealing. Cher Ferreyra portrays Fern Delgado, a disgruntled feminist and member of the "Take Back the Night" program. She lives in Lillith house with Nish and Claire, and dislikes Veronica for proving the Pi Sigs weren't rapists. Veronica initially suspects her in the disappearance of Selma Hearst Rose

Woody Goodman Robert Ri'Chard plays Mason, a hot-tempered basketball jock and Wallace's new friend. He encourages Wallace to skip studying to hang out with him, and instead puts him in contact with Max to cheat. He is the one who mistakes Josh as being the person out on the overlook with Coach Barry before he is killed. Joss Whedon plays Douglas, a clueless car-rental salesman who inadvertently helps Veronica track down Abel Koontz' daughter Amelia Delongpre in the episode "Rat Saw God".

75

References
[1] http:/ / www. ifmagazine. com/ feature. asp?article=1612 [2] http:/ / www. kryptonsite. com/ ashmoretca. htm

External links
Complete Episode, Soundtrack, and Character Information (http://marsinvestigations.net/index.php) Veronica Mars CWiki on CWTV.com (http://cwiki.cwtv.com) Veronica Mars on Warnerbros.com (http://www2.warnerbros.com/television/tvShows/veronicamars/) Veronica Mars (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412253/) at the Internet Movie Database Veronica Mars (http://www.tv.com/shows/veronica-mars/) at TV.com

Mercer Hayes
Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during UPN's last two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Balancing murder mystery, high-school and college drama, the series features social commentary with sarcasm and off-beat humor in a style often compared to film noir. Set in the fictional town of Neptune, the series starred Kristen Bell as the title character, a student who progressed from high school to college during the series while moonlighting as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father. The first season had seven regular characters. As Thomas had conceived the show as a one-year mystery, he decided to introduce and Kristen Bell on the set of Veronica Mars eliminate several characters in order to create an "equally fascinating mystery" for the series' second season. Thomas needed "new blood" since he felt unable to bring back the Kanes and the Echolls and "have them all involved in a new mystery". The third season features a cast of ten actors who receive billing, an increase from the nine actors in the second. Three of the regulars in the second season are written out of the series, two new characters are introduced and two others are upgraded from recurring roles.

Main characters

Mercer Hayes

76

Actor

Character 1

Seasons 2 Main Main Main Main Main Main Main Main Recurring Main Starring Starring Starring Starring Starring 3 film Starring

Kristen Bell Teddy Dunn Jason Dohring Percy Daggs III Francis Capra Enrico Colantoni

Veronica Mars Duncan Kane Logan Echolls Wallace Fennel Eli "Weevil" Navarro Keith Mars

Sydney Tamiia Poitier Mallory Dent Tessa Thompson Ryan Hansen Kyle Gallner Tina Majorino Julie Gonzalo Chris Lowell Michael Muhney Jackie Cook Dick Casablancas

Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas Recurring Main Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie Parker Lee Stosh "Piz" Piznarski Don Lamb Recurring Recurring Main Starring Main Main Starring Main

Kristen Bell portrayed the titular Veronica Mars, a high school junior and skilled private detective. Bell was chosen to play Veronica Mars from more than 500 women who auditioned for the role. Bell felt that it was "just luck" that Rob Thomas saw that "I have some sass to me, and that's exactly what he wanted". Bell thought that it was her cheerleader looks and an outsider's attitude that set her apart from the other women who auditioned. Teddy Dunn portrayed Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend and Lilly's brother. Dunn originally auditioned for Logan, but ended up portraying Duncan Kane. Dunn left the series midway through the second season because Thomas felt that the Logan-Veronica-Duncan love triangle had run its course. He needed to put "other guys in her life" to keep the series fresh and attributed Dunn's removal to fan interest dominating the Logan-Veronica relationship, saying "it became clear that one suitor won out".

Teddy Dunn, who portrayed Duncan, originally auditioned for the role of Logan.

Jason Dohring played Logan Echolls, the "bad-boy" 09er son of an A-list actor. Dohring originally auditioned for the role of Duncan Kane. After his audition, the producers asked Dohring to audition for the character of Logan, who at the time was only going to be a guest star in the pilot. Dohring felt that his audition for Duncan "was a little dark", and was told by the producers that it was "not really right". The producers then asked Dohring to read for the role of Logan. The audition process for Logan was originally Duncan, and Dohring acted one scene from the pilot; bashing the headlights of a car in with a crowbar. During the final auditions, Dohring read two times with Bell,

Jason Dohring's character Logan was originally a guest star in the pilot.

Mercer Hayes and met with the studio and the network. When reading with Bell, Dohring acted the whole scene as if he had raped her, and tried to give the character an evil and fun feel. Percy Daggs III portrayed Wallace Fennel, Veronica's best friend and frequent partner in mystery solving. Percy Daggs III auditioned for the role of Wallace Fennel two times before being cast, and had to go through three tests with the studio and network executives. During his first audition, Daggs read four scenes from the pilot. Just before his studio test, Daggs read with Bell and had "a great conversation". He said that she "made me feel comfortable about auditioning", and was a big reason why he became more comfortable playing Wallace as the season went on. Francis Capra portrayed Eli "Weevil" Navarro, the leader of the PCH Biker gang and Veronica's friend. Enrico Colantoni played Veronica's father Keith Mars, a private investigator and former Balboa County Sheriff. Sydney Tamiia Poitier played Mallory Dent, Veronica's journalism teacher at Neptune High through the first season's first half. Ms. Dent, as she was commonly referred to, was the only teacher who took Veronica at face value, not based on prejudices. Together with Veronica, she was responsible for uncovering the voting scam that led to Duncan winning the school elections illegally. Ms. Dent left her job after becoming pregnant. Although she was given series regular billing, Poitier appeared in only four episodes, but was given credit for seven. Poitier's removal from the series was rumored to be due to budget issues. Tessa Thompson portrays Jackie Cook in the second season as a romantic interest of Wallace and the daughter of a famous baseball player. Fan reaction to the character was generally negative, after Veronica witnessed Jackie talking to a guy while dating Wallace. Thomas blamed the character's reception on his error in judgment: he had hoped fans would question whether it was Jackie or Poitier was given series regular Veronica in the wrong, however the audience automatically assumed that it was billing, but appeared in only a total of four episodes. Jackie. Thomas decided not to change the story arc he had planned for Jackie, as he believed Thompson was "a fantastic actress and she's got more to play." He said that whether fans end up liking Jackie is "up in the air", but he hoped that they did because "she's really, really good". Jackie was subsequently written out of the series at the end of the second season. Ryan Hansen portrayed Dick Casablancas, an 09er friend of Logan, a womanizer and former high-school bully turned frat boy. Dick was a recurring character in the first season, but was upgraded to a series regular in the second season. Kyle Gallner acted as Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas, Dick's introverted younger brother. Cassidy was a recurring character in the first season, but was upgraded to a series regular in the second season. Tina Majorino portrayed Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, a computer expert befriended by Veronica. Mac was a recurring character in the first two seasons, but was upgraded to a series regular in the third. Julie Gonzalo portrayed Parker Lee, Mac's extroverted roommate at Hearst College, described by Thomas as "everything that Mac is not". Parker was introduced in the third season as a series regular. Chris Lowell played Stosh "Piz" Piznarski, Wallace's roommate at Hearst College and a music lover with his own campus radio show. Piz was introduced in the third season as a series regular, and was named after the director of the pilot, Mark Piznarski. The character's role was to have another male friend for Veronica who was middle-class, and not upper-class. Thomas used the radio show as a narrative device to capture the mood of the university. Michael Muhney portrayed Don Lamb, the Balboa County Sheriff who won the office from Keith in the recall election spearheaded by Jake Kane. Lamb was a recurring character in the first two seasons, but was upgraded to a series regular in the third.

77

Mercer Hayes

78

Recurring characters
Family
Charisma Carpenter portrays Kendall Casablancas (Kendall Lacey Shifflet, a fake real name; really Priscilla Banks), Cassidy and Dick's gold-digging stepmother. Kendall first appears in the second season premiere, having married real estate magnate Richard Casablancas, seemingly for his vast wealth. She becomes the stepmother of Dick and Cassidy, and begins an affair with their friend, Logan. Cassidy hires Veronica to investigate his stepmother, and she discovers that she helped Richard commit real estate fraud. Veronica told Cassidy and gave the information to the Securities and Exchange Commission; however, Richard fled the country before he could be arrested. Richard's lawyers told Kendall that while the boys both had trust funds, essentially she had nothing. Kendall became desperate for money, and began selling Richard's belongings, and turned to Logan and Duncan, but to no avail. Cassidy, who had started a real estate company called Phoenix Land Trust, needed Kendall to be his CEO for Charisma Carpenter appeared in 11 business purposes, because of his underage status. Although Kendall and Cassidy episodes as Kendall Casablancas. admitted their mutual dislike of each other, the prospect of the salary eventually made Kendall come around. The business continued, though most people assumed Richard was behind Phoenix Land Trust, not Cassidy. When Cassidy informs Kendall they need to acquire more land, she goes and visits the incarcerated Aaron. She makes a deal with him: he will buy into Phoenix Land Trust if she goes to Duncan and Logan's suite and gets something for him. Kendall goes to the suite, and removes some of Duncan's hair from the shower drain. Aaron later uses the hair to plant false evidence implying Duncan committed the crime for which he was on trial, and Aaron was acquitted. When Keith discovers that Kendall is the beneficiary of the life insurance policies on her stepsons, who could have been killed in the bus crash that claimed the lives of several people, he began investigating. He and Veronica discover that everything they know about Kendall is a lie; she is not a dumb trophy wife, rather a con artist named Priscilla Banks. She had been working with the Fitzpatrick crime family, and spent time in jail to protect her lover, Cormac Fitzpatrick (Jason Beghe). Keith breaks into Kendall's home, which leads to a dangerous confrontation with Kendall and Liam Fitzpatrick. When Cormac is released from prison, Keith reunites the two, who are trying to escape from Liam Fitzpatrick with the money Kendall received from Phoenix Land Trust. As Keith leaves the two, Cormac shoots and kills Kendall and tries to shoot Keith, who escapes. Keith believes he got Kendall killed, and feels guilty since he and Kendall had formed a cordial relationship while he was working for her. He goes back to the crime scene with the police, but neither the body of Kendall or Cormac are found, who is believed to have been killed by Liam for not giving up the money. David Starzyk portrays Richard Casablancas, Cassidy and Dick's father. Richard marries Kendall for her to be a trophy wife, and openly favors Dick over Cassidy. When Veronica discovers that he has committed real estate fraud and tells the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Richard flees the country before he can be arrested. Jeffrey Sams acts as Terrence Cook, an ex-major-league baseball player, gambler, and Jackie's formerly estranged father.

Mercer Hayes

79

Harry Hamlin (left) and Lisa Rinna (right) are married in the series and in real life.

Harry Hamlin plays Aaron Echolls, an Oscar-winning A-list actor and is the main antagonist during the season 1 finale. At the beginning of the series, Aaron is married to his second wife Lynn, with whom he has a son Logan. He adopted his daughter Trina while married to his previous wife. Aaron has numerous female fans, due to his impressive physique and good looks. Aaron cheats on his wife, and easily angered, he physically abuses Logan, but tolerates Trina. Aaron quits acting when Lynn commits suicide, and tries to reconcile with Logan and Trina. Upon learning that Trina is being physically abused by her boyfriend, he beats the boy, threatening more if the boy ever returned. When Veronica exposes him as the man who killed Lilly, Aaron is indicted and held without bail. Logan visits his father in a holding cell after new evidence implicates Logan in a murder case. Aaron claims that he is innocent, and tries to convince his son that he had been wrongfully accused. Logan, who despises his father, does not believe Aaron's story, but recognizes that the evidence against Aaron is circumstantial at best. Later, Kendall visits Aaron in prison, and he agrees to invest in Phoenix Land Trust if she gets some of Duncan's hair. Aaron uses the hair to plant false evidence implying Duncan committed the crime, and Aaron is acquitted. He goes to the Neptune Grand and has sex with Kendall. While she is in the shower, Clarence Wiedman appears and kills Aaron with a silenced pistol on the orders of Duncan. Lisa Rinna portrays Lynn Echolls, Logan's mother and Trina's stepmother. Lynn was a famous movie star who was married to Aaron Echolls, an even bigger movie star. Lynn tried to ignore Aaron's abuse of Logan by turning to alcohol and pills. After Aaron received several threatening letters, Lynn turned to Keith in an effort to discover who was behind them. It turned out to be a caterer who had seen Aaron having an affair at a party, and he had her fired. At the Echolls's Christmas party, the caterer knifed Aaron in the gut. Aaron recovered, and hired Keith to find out who was leaking stories of his many infidelities to the press, only to discover it was Lynn. When Aaron confronted Lynn, she said that she wanted to hurt him like he hurt her, and went back to her car, took some pills, and drove away. Her car was found abandoned on the Coronado Bridge. Apparently, she had jumped, but no body was found. Even after the funeral, Logan refused to believe that his mother was dead. He believed she left him clues that she was still alive (ex: leaving behind a lighter that was engraved with "Free At Last" that she always kept in her purse), and that she was faking her death to get away from Aaron. Logan hired Veronica to prove his mother was alive; however, a video filmed by a freshman and his friends who were making a movie showed jumping from the bridge in the background, the exact time it was believed Lynn had jumped. Logan finally realizes that she's gone due to the evidence in the video and after discovering that Trina was the one using his mother's credit cards. With all hope gone of his mother being alive, he breaks down crying in Veronica's arms. Later, when Lynn's will was read, it was discovered she had cut Aaron out completely, left nothing to Trina, and given Logan everything she had.

Mercer Hayes

80

Alyson Hannigan plays Trina Echolls, Logan's adopted sister and a struggling actress. She is first mentioned by Aaron in "Clash of the Tritons", who says that she is the only one who will talk to him. Logan asks Veronica to investigate his mother's death, and they discover Trina is staying at the Neptune Grand. The film Trina had been shooting in Australia had not worked out, and she had decided to return home. Trina moves back into the house, and gets into trouble with money after borrowing money from her boyfriend, Dylan. She asks Logan for a loan; however, he does not give her any money. Because Trina can't pay Dylan, he ends up beating her to which Logan finds out about after seeing her limp and has a black eye. Once Dylan arrives to talk to Aaron about starring in his movie, Aaron confronts him and beats him. In "My Mother, the Fiend", Trina returns to Neptune as the "Special Celebrity Director" of the school play. During this time, Veronica investigates the case of a Rob Thomas said that it was hard to baby left in the bathroom of Neptune High during the prom of 1980. She believes write an episode featuring Hannigan because of her busy schedule. Celeste Kane is the mother and wants her to own up to abandoning the child. Veronica eventually discovers Trina was the prom baby, and tells Trina the truth, who is excited at the thought of inheriting some of Celeste's wealth. The next day at school, Veronica and Trina are talking when Mary, the deaf lunch lady, begins pointing to herself and then to Trina. Veronica eventually deciphers her sign language: Mary is Trina's biological mother. It turns out then-student Mary had an affair with a teacher, and she left baby Trina at his doorstep. He then left the baby in the bathroom at the prom, knowing they would think it belonged to a student. It turned out the teacher was the current principal, Alan Moorehead. Trina busts him in the middle of a staff meeting, in front of all the other teachers, and he is fired. As a result of Hannigan's busy schedule, several of her storylines had to be swapped between episodes. Thomas said that he "loved having Alyson in the show", and had "a lot of fun with her". Erica Gimpel portrays Alicia Fennel, Wallace's mother; dated Keith Mars at the end of season one and the beginning of season two. Kyle Secor recurs as Jake Kane, Lilly and Duncan's father, a software billionaire. He is Lianne Mars' sweetheart in high school and was having an affair with her at the start of season one. Jake invented streaming video, making him one of the most influential men in Neptune, California via his software company, Kane Software. When Veronica interviews Abel Koontz, he suggests that Veronica is actually Jake's biological daughter rather than Keith's because Jake and Lianne once dated while in high school. Keith later has a paternity test and is proved to be Veronica's biological father. Jake returns in the series finale as a member of the secret society "The Castle". Lisa Thornhill acts as Celeste Kane, Lilly and Duncan's mother. Celeste loathed Veronica because of her husband's affair with Veronica's mother. She disapproved of Veronica and Duncan's relationship, and told Duncan that Veronica could have been his half-sister, because of Jake's affair with Lianne. This caused Duncan to break up with Veronica. Before Lilly died, Celeste had shown some resentment towards her daughters' way of life, and blamed every problem her family faced on Lilly. In her last appearance, in Donut Run, she hired Vinnie Van Lowe to find Duncan.

Mercer Hayes

81

Amanda Seyfried portrays Lilly Kane, Duncan's older sister, Veronica's best friend, and Logan's girlfriend. Lilly was the daughter of Jake and Celeste Kane. She was murdered roughly eight months prior to the time of the show's first episode. Abel Koontz, a disgruntled employee fired from Jake's firm, confessed to the crime and was awaiting execution. Lilly is seen on the show throughout a series of flashbacks and Veronica's daydreams, which portray her as a fun, wild, and stylish teenage girl. She was best friend to Veronica, who was dating Lilly's brother, Duncan. Prior to her death, Lilly had been dating Logan, but had also been in a relationship with Eli "Weevil" Navarro, as Lilly did not like to be tied down. Lilly's murder changes Veronica's life completely, being the catalyst for a series of events that include Veronica's father Keith losing his job, Veronica's mother Lianne leaving town, and all of Veronica's friends abandoning her. Through the first season, Veronica investigates Lilly's murder, and finds that nothing is what it seems. All three of the Kanes falsified their alibis, and Lilly's time of death was three hours off. Clarence Wiedman, the head of security for Kane Software, called in the tip that got Abel Koontz arrested.

Thomas felt that Seyfried was so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned.

In the episode, "Leave It to Beaver", Veronica and Duncan discover several video tapes in Lilly's bedroom. They show Lilly in bed with Aaron, Logan's father. Veronica realizes that Aaron killed Lilly to get the tapes back. When Duncan found her body, he went into a catatonic state. When his parents discovered him reeling over Lilly's dead body they assumed he had killed Lilly in an epileptic fit. To protect their son, they began an elaborate cover-up of the murder. However, before Veronica is able to take the tapes to the police, Aaron tries to kill her. After a chase, Keith arrives and he manages to subdue Aaron, and he is arrested. Later that night, Veronica has a dream about Lilly. The two of them are floating in a lily-covered pool. Leaning back and smiling, Veronica declared this was the way things were supposed to be, and how they were going to be from now on. Lilly smiles sadly and replies, "You know how things are going to be from now on, don't you? You have to know." She then asks Veronica not to forget about her and Veronica turns to see that Lilly has disappeared and she is alone in the pool. Veronica promises that she could never forget her best friend. Lilly also appears as a hallucination in the season two premiere, "Normal Is the Watchword". Distracted by seeing Lilly, Veronica misses the bus and has to ride with Weevil back to town instead; the bus later crashes, and all aboard eventually die. Lilly returns for one last dream sequence in "Not Pictured", wherein Veronica's subconscious suggests that Lilly would have attended Vassar, had she lived. As high-spirited as ever, Lilly brags over her sexual experiments and promises Veronica will understand once she goes to college. A painting of Lilly is seen in the final episode, as an homage to the character. Thomas described Seyfried as "the biggest surprise of the year". When casting Lilly Kane, who would only appear occasionally as "the dead girl", Thomas did not receive the same level of actors who auditioned for the role of a series regular. Thomas said that he had "never had a more cut and dry audition" than he did with Seyfried. He said that she was "about 100 times better than anyone else that we saw, she was just spectacular". He said that she ended up being so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned. Corinne Bohrer recurs as Lianne Mars, Veronica's estranged and alcoholic mother. Lianne was the high school sweetheart of Jake Kane, who she believed was Veronica's father. At Neptune High, Lianne was credited to being a gossip and a friend to the deaf girl, Mary, who was later revealed to be the biological mother of Trina Echolls. Lianne later marries Keith, however she has an affair with Jake. After the Lilly Kane murder is made public, Lianne develops a drinking problem and leaves town. When she returns, claiming to want to fix her problems, Veronica spends all of her college savings to enter her mother into rehab. Lianne returns to stay, seemingly sober, however Veronica finds out that Lianne did not finish rehab. Veronica asks Lianne to leave, who steals the $50,000 settlement Veronica received from the Kanes. Lianne reappeared in Veronica's dream, where Lilly was never murdered and Lianne is the perfect mother.

Mercer Hayes

82

Ryan Eggold guest stars as Charlie Stone, Logan's half-brother and Aaron's son. When Logan asks Veronica to investigate his rapidly declining trust fund, she uncovers the fact that Logan's father, movie star Aaron, had an illegitimate child. In order to keep this fact a secret from the tabloids, Aaron arranged for his accountant to deposit $10,000 a month from the Echolls estate into a fake charity set up to funnel the money to his son. After learning this information, Logan reaches out to his half-brother, finding a confidante and potential friend. Veronica continues her investigation to discover that the person Logan believes to be his half-brother (Matt Czuchry) is actually a writer for Vanity Fair who posed as Charlie Stone in order to get Logan to share personal details about growing up in the Echolls home. The real Charlie Stone refused to answer the reporter's questions, preferring to remain anonymous. Logan, believing that Ryan Eggold played Logan's real Charlie set up the reporter, reveals his brother's identity on Larry King Live in an half-brother. attempt to scoop the magazine profile. After Veronica informs him that the real Charlie had nothing to do with the reporter, Logan tearfully contacts his half-brother again. Cress Williams appears as Nathan Woods, Wallace's biological father with a shady past as an undercover cop.

Residents of Neptune
Richard Grieco portrays Steve Batando, a struggling actor and drug addict as well as Mindy O'Dell's ex-husband. Killed Lamb with a bat then was shot and killed by Sacks. Laura San Giacomo recurs as Harmony Chase, a married woman with whom Keith becomes romantically involved. Max Greenfield recurs as Leo D'Amato, introduced as the new Sheriff's Deputy, who Veronica befriends. Without his consent, Veronica steals a recording of an anonymous tip implicating Abel Koontz in the death of Lilly Kane from the evidence room. Leo is shortly suspended for the break-in, and when Veronica attempts to apologize, he is reluctant to forgive her. When Veronica admits she has fallen for him, he dismisses the claim, however they Richard Grieco portrays Steve Batando kiss during her school dance. When Veronica secretly begins to date Logan, she confesses the affair to Leo and ends the relationship. The pair manage to remain on good terms, and Leo assists Veronica in breaking-up a dognapping ring the same night she breaks up with him. To get enough money to send his little sister with Down syndrome to a private school, Leo steals and sells the Aaron Echolls and Lilly Kane sex tapes to Logan. Logan promptly destroys the tapes due to the traumatic nature of them, however he inadvertently compromises the pending case against Aaron. Keith discovers Leo's participation in the theft, however, he covers for him by stating that the tapes were stolen because Leo was not at his post. Leo is promptly fired from the sheriff's department, but is able to keep the money that Logan paid him and help his sister. Leo begins working for a private security company, and finds himself working for Woody Goodman's daughter Gia. Leo contacts Keith when he is concerned that his security company's warehouse is about to be robbed. Leo loses his job for involving Keith, although Keith asks him to return as a deputy. Rodney Rowland plays Liam Fitzpatrick, a formidable Irish-Catholic gangster and drug dealer. Liam Fitzpatrick is in charge of the Fitzpatrick mafia family, also known as the Fighting Fitzpatricks. He shoots his brother, Cormac Fitzpatrick, in cold blood, after Cormac fails to retrieve an original Van Gogh painting. It has been hinted that he and his family are helping Vinnie Van Lowe win the election for Sherriff. Liam tells Keith that if Vinnie does not win the election, or if Keith does anything to hurt Vinnie's campaign, he will kill Veronica.

Mercer Hayes Steve Guttenberg portrays Woody Goodman, the owner of the Sharks baseball team and Balboa County Executive. More commonly known as the "Mayor of Neptune", although the position is actually "County Supervisor." Revealed at the end of season two to have molested boys through his involvement with Little League baseball teams. Woody was killed when his private plane was blown up by explosives planted by Cassidy Casablancas. Rick Peters plays Tom Griffith, a plastic surgeon and coke-addict who was asked by the Fitzpatricks to testify that Logan killed Felix. Logan retaliated by dating his daughter Hannah until he dropped his charges. Christian Clemenson plays Abel Koontz, Lilly Kane's falsely confessed murderer. Koontz was the person at Kane software who perfected streaming media, but was cheated out of the patent. He then tried to invent a technology that "would put Kane out of business", though he failed and his wife walked out on him. Three months after Lilly's murder, Koontz confessed to murdering her. Lamb found Lilly's backpack and shoes while searching Abel's houseboat, backing up Koontz's confession. Until this point, Keith's investigation was squarely focused on the Kane family as suspects. It was Keith's failure to investigate Koontz that led to his eventual ousting as Neptune's Sheriff. A year later, when Veronica started to conduct her own investigation of Lilly's murder, she visited Koontz on death row twice. During their first visit, Koontz quickly recognizes Veronica and reveals that Jake Kane may be her real father. She was suspicious of Koontz's confession because he fired his attorney while on death row and she discovered that the same shoes that were found in Koontz houseboat were in Lilly's room at the time of the murder. Veronica sneaked into Koontz's doctor's office, and stole both his and Duncan's medical files. She found out that Duncan had type-4 epilepsy, whose symptoms included violent outbursts and seizures. For the first time, Veronica realized that Duncan was a possible suspect in Lilly's murder. She also found out that Abel Koontz had stomach cancer, and that he was dying. She concluded that Jake Kane paid Koontz to confess to the murder, even though he was not the perpetrator so that Keith Mars' investigation into the Kane family would end. Koontz accepted the offer because he knew he was dying and intended to give the money to his daughter, Amelia DeLongpr, who he had neglected in the past. Veronica locates Abel's daughter in order to help prove that he is innocent, but Clarence Wiedman, head of Kane security, bribes her with three million dollars in exchange for her silence. During Veronica's second visit to Koontz, she told him that she knew that he was dying, and that he was paid to confess to the murder. Koontz's innocence was further solidified when Keith went to Las Vegas to talk to a prostitute that was with Koontz at the time of Lilly's murder. Koontz's final appearance was in the second season episode "Rat Saw God". After being cleared of all murder charges and released from prison, he asks Veronica to help locate Amelia before he dies. While investigating, Veronica discovers that Amelia was killed by her boyfriend after they blackmailed Clarence Wiedman for more money. Instead of telling him the truth, Veronica says that his daughter was happily living in Aspen, and that she could not fly down yet because of the weather. He then dies at the end of the episode, but it is not shown. Daran Norris recurs as Cliff McCormack, a Public Defender and Mars family friend. Cliff is a public defender in Neptune who has served as an ally to Keith and Veronica Mars, as well as a steady client of Mars Investigations. Although rarely a key player in the series, he has had some notable and memorable appearances. In "The Rapes of Graff", Cliff was seduced by an escort hired by Aaron Echolls to steal Cliff's briefcase, which contained the Logan Echolls murder case files and keys to the storage locker containing Aaron's personal belongings, including an Oscar statue. Jaime Ray Newman appears as Mindy O'Dell, Dean O'Dell's wife. Mindy and Cyrus share no children of their own, but parent Cyrus' adolescent son from a previous marriage and Mindy's younger son by her first husband, Steven Batando. In "President Evil", the O'Dells hire Keith to find Steven in the hopes that his bone marrow would be a match to that of his biological son, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Keith locates Steven, who refuses to donate his marrow. When Batando later disappears, Keith suspects that the O'Dells kidnapped him and took the marrow donation against his will, but looks the other way. In "Hi, Infidelity", Veronica finds Mindy sharing a hotel room with Hank, her criminology professor at Hearst College, and an employee of Cyrus'. Keith puts Mindy under surveillance after Cyrus hired him to find out if she's having an affair. Keith discovers no affair, but Veronica reveals

83

Mercer Hayes the affair with Landry to her father, Keith, who reveals it to Cyrus. Cyrus confides in Keith, saying that Mindy was too young and too beautiful, and their marriage had been doomed to fail. Mindy is preparing to leave Landry in the Neptune Grand hotel room they shared when Cyrus enters and confronts them both about the affair, brandishing a loaded pistol. When Cyrus is found shot to death in his office, the insurance company rules his death a suicide, leaving the O'Dell family with no compensation for the loss of income, in "Spit & Eggs". Mindy returns to Keith Mars and hires him to prove that Cyrus was murdered, in "Show Me the Monkey". Mindy finally gets the insurance money from her husband's murder, buys a boat and leaves town after being questioned by Acting Sheriff Keith Mars. Hank Landry catches up with Mindy on her boat and he later confesses to accidentally killing her the night before being found, in "Papa's Cabin". Ken Marino recurs as Vinnie Van Lowe, Keith's rival private investigator. Announced his intentions to run for Sheriff against Keith in the special election. Vinnie Van Lowe is a private investigator in Neptune, California and is the main competition for Keith and Veronica. Vinnie has rather lax moral standards and is often willing to take on cases that the Mars Investigation team would refuse. It is because of this that he has a much larger caseload than the Mars family. The cases that Vinnie Van Lowe takes on have sometimes helped the Mars family, but sometimes his work has been in opposition to the cases of Mars Investigations. In "Kanes and Abel's", Veronica is attempting to find out who has been harassing Sabrina Fuller, the School Board President's daughter, and one of the top candidates for the Kane Scholarship. The Kane Scholarship is a full scholarship named in honor of Lilly, awarded to the valedictorian of Neptune High. In her investigation, Veronica discovers that one of the cars that was used during a harassment was owned by Vinnie Van Lowe's ex-wife, Debra Villareal. From this she was able to figure out that Vinnie Van Lowe was the person hired to harass Sabrina. In "Donut Run" Van Lowe was hired by Celeste Kane to watch Veronica because Celeste suspected that Veronica knew where Duncan took the kidnapped baby. Veronica was able to take advantage of Vinnie's willingness to change clients if he is offered a better deal. Veronica had Duncan offer Vinnie more money to drive the Manning baby and a Veronica look-alike over the Mexican border and to pick Duncan up in Mexico. It was because of this that Duncan was able to successfully escape authorities with the kidnapped baby. In "Not Pictured", Vinnie and Keith team up to catch Woody Goodman. Vinnie had broken into the Goodman house and stole all their records. Vinnie was arrested, but got away with the records. Using his one phone call, he meets with Keith to get him to split the bounty. Vinnie gives the records and Keith gets the man. In "Welcome Wagon", he almost gets Keith killed while working for Liam Fitzpatrick. However, in "Of Vice and Men", Vinnie rescued Veronica and Meryl from serious danger from the Fitzpatricks when the two girls wander into the River Stix searching for Meryl's missing boyfriend. Christopher B. Duncan recurs as Clarence Wiedman, the Head of Security at Kane Software. He kills Aaron Echolls at the end of season two on Duncan's orders. As Head of Security for Kane Software, Wiedman is known to do the less-than-savory jobs that Jake Kane needs done. It is known that Jake Kane called Wiedman before he reported his daughter's murder and Veronica speculates that he assisted in the cover-up of Lilly's true time of death by lowering the temperature of her body. It is known that Wiedman paid Amelia deLongpre so that her father, Abel Koontz, would falsely confess to the murder of Lilly. When Veronica found Amelia and tried to convince her to reveal the existence of the payoff money, Wiedman got to her first and gave her even more money so that she would leave Neptune, in "Kanes and Abel's". Wiedman also called in the anonymous tip that got Abel Koontz arrested and took photos of Veronica that were sent to Lianne Mars in "You Think You Know Somebody". Unfortunately, Amelia DeLongpre didn't stay away long. When Abel tried to get Veronica to find his daughter, Veronica found out that she had called Kane Software from a payphone across the street and confronted Wiedman about it. Later on, when Veronica found her body, Clarence was there and confessed to her that Amelia had asked for more money. As it turned out, it was Amelia's new boyfriend, Carlos Mercado, who had wanted the money and after he got it, he killed Amelia. Wiedman traced the money to Las Vegas and it was implied that he killed Carlos in "Rat Saw God". Wiedman made another appearance when Aaron was acquitted. In "Not Pictured", Aaron's hotel room, Clarence assassinated him with two bullets. Afterwards, he called Duncan in Australia, who asked "CW?" Wiedman responded, "It's a done deal".

84

Mercer Hayes

85

Neptune High
John Bennett Perry plays Alan Moorehead, the Principal of Neptune High. When Moorehead was a teacher, he had an affair with then-student Mary, and she left their baby Trina Echolls at his doorstep. He then left the baby in the bathroom at the prom, knowing they would think it belonged to a student. Many years later, when Veronica discovers that he is Trina's father, Moorehead is fired as principal. Duane Daniels plays Van Clemmons, the Vice Principal turned Principal of Neptune High. During high school, Veronica constantly John Bennett Perry played Alan Moorehead gets into trouble and as a result regularly meets with Clemmons. Occasionally, Van Clemmons asks Veronica for help, once asking her to locate the missing school mascot. Clemmons is the one who instructs Veronica to organize some old files, which led to her discovering Moorehead as Trina Echolls' father. When Moorehead is fired as principal, Veronica realizes that it was Clemmons' plan all along to become principal. When Veronica graduates, Clemmons says that he cannot decide if his life will be easier or more difficult with her gone. Clemmons reappears in "Un-American Graffiti", where he is caught on tape being shot with a paintball gun by several Neptune High students. Adam Hendershott portrays Vincent "Butters" Clemmons, a student at Neptune High and Van Clemmons' son. When he was a freshman, Vincent was pantsed by a bully and given the nickname "Butters". Vincent vowed revenge and that following fall, the jock who had humiliated him and those who did nothing to save him, found themselves having failed mandatory drug tests, essentially barring them from playing sports in their final year of high school. Veronica believed Butters to be behind the crime; however, she discovered the real culprits were a conclave of parents who rigged the drug tests so that their children could gain the spots opened up in the wake of the mass suspension of athletes. Later, when Butters' only friend Marcos Oliveres was killed in the bus crash and his parents sued the school, Veronica thought Butters was targeting the family, leaving them reminders of their son to torment the parents. She discovers that Butters and Marcos secretly ran the local pirate radio station, "Ahoy, Mateys!", which was infamous for its vicious slandering of the popular cliques at school. Butters tells Veronica that he had little contact with Marcos since the summer, when he came back from summer camp and quit the radio show without telling Butters why. Veronica later found out summer camp was an antigay camp he was sent to, and that the real culprit was Marcos' friend Ryan, who had a crush on Marcos and who sought to make the Oliveres suffer the same way they made their son suffer in regards to his potential homosexuality. Butters develops a crush on Mac, much to her disgust, and she is forced to attend Logan's "anti-prom" with him. James Jordan acts as Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic, the deceased former janitor at Neptune High. He previously acted as a bat boy for Woody Goodman's baseball team, the Sharks. Jonathan Chesner portrays Douglas "Corny", a Stoner, occasional ally of Veronica's. Corny is in the same graduation class as Veronica. Corny makes the bong that Veronica plants in Logan's locker in "Pilot". Resident stoner of Neptune High. Works at Cho's Pizza as a deliveryman. When he is mugged and tasered in "Versatile Toppings" he helps Veronica find the culprit. He appears to have somewhat of a crush on Veronica as seen in "Blast from the Past" when he nominates her for Neptune High's Homecoming Queen. He was the DJ in between the Faders's sets at the Homecoming dance his senior year. He's very proud of his brownie recipe claiming that "it's all in the butter." He appears to go to Logan's Alterna-Prom alone. Krysten Ritter portrays Gia Goodman, the daughter of the influential Neptune citizen and professional baseball team owner Woody Goodman, and a student at Neptune High. Gia starts attending Neptune High after she transfers from a private boarding school. She attends the class field trip to Shark Field and meets Dick Casablancas, his brother Cassidy, Duncan Kane and Veronica for the first time. Gia rides the school bus on the way to the stadium,

Mercer Hayes however she opts to ride in Dick Casablancas' limo with the other "09ers" on the way back. The bus crashes and all of the passengers die, except for Meg Manning. Later in the year, Gia invites Veronica to her slumber party. Veronica attends, however she has an ulterior motive and is investigating families that Meg babysat for. When Gia is sent footage of herself at her brother's soccer game, she hires Veronica to find the sender. Gia and Veronica's friendship is broken when a feud erupts between their fathers, and she fires Veronica from the case. When Veronica realizes that Gia's stalker is Neptune High's janitor Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic, she rushes to her aid. Lucky is arrested, but he is let go when the Mannings pay for his bail. He comes to school the next day with a gun looking for Gia; however he is shot and killed by school security. Jessy Schram plays Hannah Griffith, an "09er" high-school sophomore student at Neptune High. Hannah meets Logan at the school carnival, and is surprised when he asks her out. Logan reveals to Hannah that her father, plastic surgeon Dr. Thomas Griffith, is a cocaine user. He tells her that he is protecting his dealers, the Fitzpatricks, and has falsely testified against Logan in a murder trial. Hannah decides that she cannot trust Logan, because he is only dating her to get to her father, but she is quick to forgive him. When her father catches her being undressed by Logan, he sends Hannah to a boarding school in Vermont. Kari Coleman portrays Deborah Hauser, a divorced sex education teacher with a bitter approach to her students, disliking all non-09ers and kissing ass to the 09ers. Veronica baby-sits her demonic son in order to find out if he is being abused. It is also revealed she was friends with Lianne Mars when they attended Neptune High as teenagers, and were suspended together for spreading a "false and malicious rumour". Mrs Hauser maintained that Lianne told her a rumour knowing it was false and Deborah passing it on unknowingly, however Veronica found out the real story. Lianne's friend had an affair with a teacher at the school and became pregnant, and not knowing how to help, confided in Deborah, who passed the gossip around. This baby would end up being Trina Echolls. Mrs Hauser makes another appearance during the Winter Carnival at school where she steals money from the cashbox and tries to blame Veronica and Jackie. However, she is caught and deservedly fired. Paula Marshall acts as Rebecca James, the school guidance counsellor and briefly dated Keith Mars. Paula had previously worked with series creator Rob Thomas on his earlier series, Cupid. Veronica does not approve of their relationship and digs up information on her to change Keith's mind - information being Ms. James was arrested for passing bad cheques when she was 21. Ms. James and Veronica's relationship is strained because of this, although she does try to help Veronica discover the meaning of her haunting dreams in the second season. Alona Tal recurs as Meg Manning, an "09er" cheerleader and the daughter of mentally abusive fundamentalist Christian parents. She initially appears when Veronica is the victim of a nasty prank and lends her clothes, and sticks up for her when other 09ers start insulting her. When an online purity test posts all the participants results, Meg's is faked to be unusually low and she gets a reputation as a slut. Veronica finds the person responsible for making this up about Meg (in "Like a Virgin"). When Meg asks Veronica to help find her secret admirer, she is keen to help, until she finds out that her secret admirer is Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend. Eventually, Veronica accepts Meg and Duncan's relationship. ("Ruskie Business") After finding out that he is not Veronica's half-brother, Duncan breaks up with Meg, who blames Veronica. Afterward, Meg's attitude towards Veronica is openly hostile. On the way back from a field trip to a baseball ground, while Veronica was talking to Weevil during a rest stop, Meg deliberately implied that Veronica had returned to the bus, causing it to leave without her. However, the bus subsequently careened off a cliff and into the ocean. ("Normal Is the Watchword")

86

Alona Tal auditioned for the role of Veronica Mars, and was Rob Thomas' second choice. Thomas created the recurring role of Meg Manning specifically for her.[citation
needed]

Mercer Hayes Meg was the only survivor, but she remained in a coma for much of the second season. Meg has two younger sisters, Lizzie and Grace. While Meg was in a coma, Lizzie brought Duncan Meg's laptop, asking him to remove Meg's personal files from the system before her parents were able to check them. Duncan and Veronica found that Meg had compiled information about a child whom she often babysat. The young boy was being abused by his parents. Soon, the two uncovered that the abused child (who was referred to by Meg as a boy) was actually Meg's youngest sister Grace. Meg's parents are religious zealots who lock Grace in a closet when they are out, and make her fill out exercise book after exercise book with the phrase: "The path of God is paved with righteousness." Duncan and Veronica found dozens of these books in Grace's room. Veronica visited Meg in the hospital and discovered that Meg was pregnant, this being the reason she was so mad at Veronica. Shortly after she left, Meg awoke from her coma. ("My Mother, the Fiend") Meg apologized to Veronica for her harsh treatment and then asked Veronica to make sure that her baby wouldn't fall into her parents' hands should anything happen to Meg. Later that same episode, Meg died of a blood clot to the heart, but not before giving birth to her daughter Faith, who was later renamed Lilly by the child's father Duncan Kane. ("One Angry Veronica") Duncan flees to Australia with her to escape Meg's parents. James Molina plays Eduardo "Thumper" Orozco, a PCH biker who betrays Weevil and starts dealing for the Irish gang the Fitzpatricks. Murdered deliberately by the Fitzpatricks and indirectly by Weevil and inadvertently but directly by Logan. Leighton Meester plays Carrie Bishop, nicknamed the queen of gossip at Neptune High. She appeared in two episodes. She was known for faking an affair with a teacher who Veronica strongly thought was innocent. The teacher is found that he had in fact had a relationship with a previous student who had his baby, whom he denied and left. That student was the reason why Carrie had made these accusations. She also appeared in a later episode when Veronica is searching for the one responsible of raping her at Shelly Pomeroy's party. Carrie had told her that Duncan Kane was the one she saw with Veronica in the bedroom. Michael Kostroff portrays Samuel Pope, the teacher of Future Business Leaders of America and one of the few ethical people of Neptune. He plans to retire to a life of sailing during the second season, after making a small fortune from real estate investment in Big Dick Casablancas' firm. Veronica discovers that the company is defrauding the investors and encourages Mr. Pope to get rid of his stock before she reports it, but he sadly replies he cannot do this; to get rid of it, he would have to sell it to someone else, and they would pay they price. He sadly admits he cannot do that, and cannot retire as planned. It is assumed he continues teaching at Neptune High. Amanda Noret plays Madison Sinclair, Dick's ex-girlfriend and Neptune High's resident bitch. Shortly after Lilly's murder, at Shelly Pomeroy's party, Dick dosed Madison's drink with GHB to loosen her up; however, Madison spat in the drink, which she calls "A Trip to the Dentist", and gave it to Veronica. In turn, Veronica drank the soda, and later had sex with Duncan, who had also unknowingly ingested GHB (given to him by Logan). The following year, Madison rigged the school election in order to get Duncan Kane elected to student body president. Veronica exposed the plot which resulted in Madison losing her place on the student council and the special privileges granted by the position. Veronica discovers in Season One that Madison was switched at birth with Mac. It is shown that Madison constantly argues with her family, whereas Mac's parents have fully accepted Mac as their daughter, and have shown no signs of wanting anything to do with Madison. After breaking up with Dick, she is secretly involved with Sheriff Don Lamb ("The Rapes of Graff"). Veronica discovers this and mocks Madison about her relationship with Lamb in front of their classmates through innuendo that, while her classmates do not understand, had a meaning that was quite apparent to Madison. Madison, having gone off to college at USC, is absent from much of Veronica's life at Hearst, until she had several run-ins with her in Neptune in the episode "Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves". Veronica first sees Madison when she arrived unexpectedly at Neptune Grand Suite shared by Logan and Dick; thinking that Madison was simply looking up her ex, Veronica sent her on her way. Later, however, she ran into her again at a lingerie shop where Madison maliciously let slip that she had spent the night with Logan while in Aspen over Christmas break, when

87

Mercer Hayes Veronica and Logan were split up. In the following episode, Veronica, consumed by images of Madison's tryst with Logan, follows her and eventually plots with Weevil to have Madison's new car crushed and cubed. Veronica has a change of heart, however, and asks him to return it unscathed, save for a can of tuna in her air conditioning. Brad Bufanda acts as Felix Toombs, Weevil's former right-hand man. Killed supposedly by Logan, but actually by Thumper, a fellow PCHer. Bufanda originally tried out for the role of Weevil. Throughout season 1, Felix was known as a PCH bike gang member and Weevil's (PCH leader) best friend. At the end of season 1 someone knocked on Veronica's door and she smiled saying "I was hoping it would be you." Fans were on the edge of their seat trying to find out who it was. As many fans suspected and hoped it was Logan Echolls. Once there, a beaten Logan told Veronica the story of how he got that way. The PCH gang members beat the living hell out of Logan because: 1. They thought he killed Lilly Kane (Weevil's lover) 2. Logan knocked Weevil out cold. After Logan woke up from the beating he discovered that Felix had been stabbed and bled to death. During season 2 Weevil was on a mission to solve the murder of Felix Toombs. First Weevil suspected Logan, but later on he found out it wasn't Logan so he enlisted Logan's help to try to solve this case. During that time he found out the PCHers had been dealing drugs with the Fitzpatricks. Felix was secretly dating Molly Fitzpatrick (Liam Fitzpatrick's niece). Liam got Thumper (who at the time was Liam's lackey) to stab Felix. Weevil knew that Thumper did it but couldn't prove it. So, Weevil set up Thumper to look like he was stealing drugs and money from the Fitzpatricks. Liam and cousin Danny Boyd locked Thumper in "Shark Stadium" which was blown up by Logan (directly) and Woody Goodman (indirectly) with Thumper and his bike inside. Thus, finally resolving the murder of Felix Toombs. Aaron Ashmore portrays Troy Vandegraff, the childhood friend of Duncan's; Veronica's boyfriend for the early stretch of season one. He betrays Veronica and leaves town, but he is somewhat reformed by the time they meet again later in the series. Troy and Veronica dated for a short time in Season One, but their relationship didnt last long because Troy involved an unwitting Veronica in a plot to smuggle steroids from Mexico into the US. Veronica managed to find out his intentions before he was able to successfully complete his plan and run away with his real girlfriend. He later comes back in the episode The Rapes of Graff in Season 2 where he is accused of raping and shaving the head of a girl at Hearst College. Veronica ends up clearing Troy's name but doesn't find out who the real rapist is until the third season. Ashmore thought that Veronica Mars was a "great show", and loved the character of Troy.[2] Valorie Curry plays Jane Kuhne, student athlete at Neptune High and Wallace's girlfriend after he returns from Chicago. She is introduced in Season 1 while Wallace is pursuing Jackie as a distant admirer of Wallace who has been ignored. After Wallace returns from Chicago, he takes up with Jane. She is features in the episode "The Quick and the Wed" when her older sister disappears following a bachelorette party, and Veronica investigates the disappearance.
Ashmore enjoyed his reappearance in the second season, saying "it was kinda nice coming back and being the good guy and not the bad guy for [1] once".

88

Hearst College
Matt McKenzie plays Tom Barry, Wallace's basketball coach and father of Josh Barry. He is allegedly murdered the night after a basketball game during which he fights with Josh and the team loses the game. Josh is believed to be his killer due to the argument and the fact that Mason drove past the area where Coach Barry died and saw someone who appeared to be Josh with him. It is revealed that he was dying of an incurable brain disease that would be slow, painful, humiliating and costly. He arranged for his suicide to appear as a carjacking so that his family would be paid life insurance (which they would not in the case of a suicide) and take care of them financially. David Tom plays Chip Diller, the President of the Pi Sig frat house. He first appears in season two when Veronica visits Hearst, and she accuses him of raping a student. While it turns out he is not a rapist, he is shown to be still a

Mercer Hayes horrible person. He is attacked by a group of campus feminists, head shaved and an egg shoved into his rectum on the anniversary of Patrice Pitrelli's attempted suicide for his part in it. During the episode "Spit & Eggs", Veronica points out to Chip that the beer coasters provided by the Pi Sig's were not effective, since they were supposed to be used for drug testing, but he does not care. Chip is one of the main perpetrators in spreading the sex video of Veronica and Piz, however did not have anything to do with its creation. James Jordan appears as Tim Foyle, a teaching assistant for Professor Hank Landry at Hearst College. Tim seems to dislike Veronica, possibly because Landry seems to prefer her over him. In the first session of Landry's criminology class (in Welcome Wagon), he has his students play a detective game, "Murder on the Riverboat Queen". Veronica beats Tim's record time for solving the mystery by ten minutes, then embarrasses and annoys him by saying "There is one thing I can't figure out: what did you do with the extra ten minutes?" In Hi, Infidelity, Tim accuses Veronica of plagiarizing her mid-term paper and gives her three days to clear herself. After Veronica figures out what happened, she accuses Tim of setting her up just so that she would discover that Landry was having an affair with Mindy O'Dell, the Dean's wife, but Tim does not explicitly deny it; instead he says that if he HAD set the whole thing up, it would have been to show Veronica what Landry was really like before she became his protege. Tim is also the boyfriend of Bonnie Capistrano, Dick's fling, and is presumably the father of her miscarried baby. While investigating the truth behind Bonnie's miscarriage, she discovers that Tim was very supportive over her decision to have the baby. And that he even asked Bonnie to marry him in order to please her religious parents. In Papa's Cabin, Tim and Veronica team up in an attempt to clear Dr. Landry of the murder of Hearst College's Dean of Students, Cyrus O'Dell. At the end of the episode, however, it is revealed that Tim himself murdered Cyrus O'Dell to take revenge on Landry for ruining his chances at a job at (a fictional version of) Pepperdine University, by giving an unfavorable reference to the prospective employer. Tim's name is, in fact, a joke by the writers. His character was created as a foil for Veronica, and was referred to as "FOIL" during the early drafts. According to Rob Thomas on the DVD extras, they eventually decided to call him Foyle anyway, and Tim as his first name as a play on "tin foil". Adam Rose portrays Max, a geeky student who provides test answers for cash. While he started out as a one time guest star, turned into a recurring character due to his likability. He makes quite a profit with his business, and does not care when he is expelled from Hearst, planning to make his living from it anyway. Max comes to Veronica with the task of finding his dream girl whom he met at ComiCon and had an instant connection with, who left telling him she'd left her details in his hotel room, for him to return and find the hotel cleaners had already been and it had disappeared. It turned out that this girl was actually a hooker hired by his friends so that Max could lose his virginity; he decides to continue trying to find her even when he finds this out. Max convinced Chelsea to leave the prostitution business for him, and he pays off her $10,000 debt to her pimp. However things are not the same when her past keeps being brought up; he finally asks whether she actually left her information and Chelsea is heartbroken when he realises she didn't - "But I really wish I had." She leaves but promises to pay him back - it is implied that she is making her money by stripping. Max comes back into the series as Mac's new boyfriend after she breaks up with Bronson for him. Ryan Devlin recurs as Mercer Hayes, a friend of Logan and Dick, who runs an illegal casino out of his dorm room called the Benetian. Parker suspects him of being the rapist due to him wearing the same cologne she smelled the night she was raped, and Veronica investigates and finds he owns an electric razor too. She reports this to Lamb, who agrees with her for once, due to finding the same date rape drugs inside Mercer's money box. However Logan provides Mercer with an incriminating alibi - they accidentally burnt down a Tijuana motel the night of one of the rapes - but Veronica finds other proof that he didn't do it (his live, call in radio show being on at the time of one of the rapes). However when at the Pi Sig party she hears his show being played and recognises electronic distortion and skipping, she realises he IS the rapist, the shows being able to be recorded. She prevents him from raping a 5th girl and stabs him with a ceramic unicorn horn, and eventually Keith arrests Moe and Mercer. He is last seen in a jail cell, with Logan (who smashed a police cruiser to get arrested, get put into a cell with Mercer and get revenge on him for what he did to Veronica and the other girls).

89

Mercer Hayes Patrick Fabian portrays Hank Landry, Veronica's Criminology professor and admirer. He is having an affair with Dean O'Dell's wife Mindy O'Dell and accidentally kills her when framed by his TA Tim Foyle for the murder of the Dean. Hank Landry is Veronica's Intro to Criminology professor. Although Veronica has yet to decide on a major, Prof. Landry has been advocating criminal investigations as a career choice for her. Prof. Landry is joined in his Intro to Criminology class by his teaching assistant Tim Foyle. Veronica first impressed Prof. Landry by solving the murder mystery he presented on the first day of class in record time. Later, she impresses him by being the sole person to write an "A" caliber paper on his "Perfect Murder" assignment. After reading the paper, he talks to Veronica about her potential and offers to be her faculty adviser. While Veronica is considering Prof. Landry's offer, she is manipulated by Tim Foyle into finding out one of Landry's secrets: he has been having an affair with Mindy O'Dell, the wife of the Dean of Hearst College. Shortly after this incident, Prof Landry announces his end-of-term research paper: to plan the perfect murder. He then meets with Veronica and tells her that he is going to recommend her for a summer internship with the FBI and that he will accept her application essay for the position as a replacement for the end-of-term assignment. Veronica assumed that Prof. Landry was attempting to buy her silence about Landry's affair with Mindy and turned down the offer. Upon telling this to Prof. Landry, he explained that the internship offer had nothing to do with what she knew about him, but Veronica still opted to write the end-of-term paper. Veronica received one of the three "A"s that Prof. Landry gave out for this paper. When Veronica finds out that her father is investigating whether Dean O'Dell's wife is having an affair she tells Keith what she knows about Prof. Landry and Mindy. Keith tells the Dean who takes a loaded revolver and visits Prof. Landry and Mindy O'Dell in the middle of one of their rendezvous. It is as of now unknown what transpired in the room that night. When Keith takes the Dean O'Dell case, he finds Prof. Landry at a local bar and attempts to entice a confession out of Landry over some drinks. This does not work, however, as Landry informs Keith that he read Keith's book and he knows that Keith is a private investigator. Krista Kalmus plays Claire Nordhouse, a feminist and member of Lillith house, friends with Nish and Fern. She is one of the protestors who made a front page newspaper picture, of many topless women holding a banner reading "We go to Hearst, go ahead and rape us!" Claire is very attractive, with long blonde hair, making her the target of the rival newspaper's response (topless men holding a banner saying "No thanks! (except maybe the blonde in the middle)"). The three use this response in order to have the Pi Sig house shut down as well as the rival newspaper run by them by faking Claire's rape. However Veronica finds out that it was not real and exposes this - ATM photos showing the guy with her before her rape, who took her home, was actually Claire's boyfriend who helped set it up. She is then expelled from Hearst as a result. She was Patrice Pitrelli's best friend in their freshman year, and was the original source of information about the Theta Beta two-way mirror.

90

Mercer Hayes

91

Ed Begley, Jr. portrays Cyrus O'Dell, the Dean of Hearst College. Initially Veronica's adversary, gradually becoming her ally and gaining her respect, and vice versa. Married to much younger Mindy, he suspects her of having an affair, which Keith later proves to be with Hank Landry. He confronts the two, threatening to leave her broke and ruin Landry's career. He is killed by Tim Foyle during the ninth episode in the style of Veronica's Plan a Perfect Murder paper (a fake suicide). After his death it is revealed that he wrote her a referral to the FBI, a statement of what a brilliant student she was and how he had not encountered a student with more talent in all his years in academia. His body is found by Weevil, who is rather gutted, having grown quite fond of the dean while working at Hearst. Michael Mitchell plays Bronson Pope, an animal rights activist and Mac's first post-Cassidy boyfriend. He is shown to be extremely outdoorsy, encouraging Mac to play Ultimate Frisbee and take early morning hikes. She loses her virginity to him on Valentine's Day, but breaks up with him not much later after falling for Max.

Ed Begley, Jr. played Cyrus O'Dell.

Andrew McClain acts as Moe Slater, the R.A. of the Hearst College dorms. He is very earnest and is always offering oolong tea to everyone - implied to be how he drugs people. He is Mercer's partner, who helped him rape the girls as he was the Safe Ride Home driver. He would take drunk girls home (it is still not clear whether he drugged them at the party or drugged them once they were in their dorms) and then tell Mercer which room, and provide him the keys to get in. The relationship between him and Mercer is implied to be a result of the prison warden experiment that Logan and Wallace underwent, as he keeps a photo of the two of them in their uniforms. Moe was the prisoner and Mercer the warden, who mentally dominated him and controlled him into helping him rape. It was Moe that drugged Veronica and tried to shave her head, in order to give Mercer an alibi. Chastity Dotson portrays Nish Sweeney, the former Editor of the Hearst Free Press and feminist of Lillith House. She and Veronica are initially friends when she gives Veronica the assignment to go undercover and infiltrate the Theta Beta sorority house. Veronica is supposed to find proof of a two-way mirror in which Theta Betas would make the rushes undress in front of for the Pi Sigs enjoyment. However Nish publishes the article that Veronica asked her not to that she wrote about a cannabis farm at the sorority house, and they become enemies. Nish helps Claire fake the rape, and eggs Dean O'Dell's window the night he was murdered. By the end of the semester, Nish and Veronica are on good terms, as Veronica gives her a list of names of members of the secret fraternity the Castle.

Other characters
The following is a supplementary list of recurring or one-time guest stars, which includes characters that appear briefly in multiple episodes, but have little to no real world content to justify an entire section covering their in-universe histories. Steve Rankin acts as Lloyd Blankenship, a newspaper reporter and ally of Keith. Taylor Sheridan plays Danny Boyd, Liam Fitzpatrick's dim-witted cousin and accomplice. Brandon Hillock plays Jerry Sacks, Sheriff Lamb's right-hand man. Annie Campbell plays Molly Fitzpatrick, a member of the Fitzpatrick family and Felix's girlfriend until his death. Kevin Sheridan plays Sean Friedrich, an "09er" with a penchant for thievery and drug dealing. Cher Ferreyra portrays Fern Delgado, a disgruntled feminist and member of the "Take Back the Night" program. She lives in Lillith house with Nish and Claire, and dislikes Veronica for proving the Pi Sigs weren't rapists. Veronica initially suspects her in the disappearance of Selma Hearst Rose

Mercer Hayes Robert Ri'Chard plays Mason, a hot-tempered basketball jock and Wallace's new friend. He encourages Wallace to skip studying to hang out with him, and instead puts him in contact with Max to cheat. He is the one who mistakes Josh as being the person out on the overlook with Coach Barry before he is killed. Joss Whedon plays Douglas, a clueless car-rental salesman who inadvertently helps Veronica track down Abel Koontz' daughter Amelia Delongpre in the episode "Rat Saw God".

92

References
[1] http:/ / www. ifmagazine. com/ feature. asp?article=1612 [2] http:/ / www. kryptonsite. com/ ashmoretca. htm

External links
Complete Episode, Soundtrack, and Character Information (http://marsinvestigations.net/index.php) Veronica Mars CWiki on CWTV.com (http://cwiki.cwtv.com) Veronica Mars on Warnerbros.com (http://www2.warnerbros.com/television/tvShows/veronicamars/) Veronica Mars (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412253/) at the Internet Movie Database Veronica Mars (http://www.tv.com/shows/veronica-mars/) at TV.com

Duncan Kane

93

Duncan Kane
Duncan Kane
First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Pilot" "Not Pictured" Rob Thomas Teddy Dunn Information Gender Occupation Family Male Student Celeste Kane (mother) Jake Kane (father) Lilly Kane (sister, deceased) Veronica Mars Meg Manning (deceased)

Significant other(s) Children

Lilly Kane/Faith Manning

Duncan Kane is a fictional character on UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars, which debuted during the fall 2004 season on UPN. He was a series regular during seasons one and two. He is portrayed by Teddy Dunn. He is Veronica's ex-boyfriend, and the brother to her dead best friend, Lilly Kane. His best friend is Logan Echolls. His father, Jake Kane, perfected streaming video.

Background
Duncan is the good son to Lilly's wild child. Duncan is his mother's favourite and his father hopes that he will end up becoming a diplomat or politician. However, he has a medical condition that causes him to black out and lose control. Medication controls the condition but it can still be trigged by stress or emotional trauma. When he discovered Lilly's body by the pool, he went into shock, rocking Lilly's body back and forth, covering his clothes with her blood. His parents discovered them and assumed from Duncan's almost catatonic state that he had murdered Lilly during one of his black outs. This then led to the elaborate cover up which eventually led to Keith Mars being deposed as Sheriff. In "The Girl Next Door", it was confirmed that Duncan had broken up with Veronica before his sister died. Previously, some viewers had speculated that the breakup occurred after Lilly's death. The end of "Like a Virgin" included a statement by Abel Koontz that Veronica's father might actually be Jake Kane. Since then, many people speculated that Duncan may have broken up with Veronica because he believed her to be his sister. This statement was confirmed during "A Trip to the Dentist" when he tells Veronica that his mother had told him that Veronica's real father is Jake Kane (a statement which is later discovered to be false). In this episode Duncan had slept with Veronica after each had unknowingly consumed a drink laced with GHB. In Season 2, Veronica and Duncan start dating again after Duncan gives Veronica a fortune cookie that says "True Love Stories Never Have Endings." They date for the first half of the season, until his ex-girlfriend Meg dies, as a result of a blood clot which she sustained after surviving the bus crash which occurs in "Normal Is the Watchword". Their relationship leads to a rift between Logan and Duncan - Logan is not only upset because Duncan is dating Veronica, for whom he still has feelings, but because Duncan had been away all summer while he had to deal with being accused of the murder of Felix. Likewise, Duncan is upset with Logan mainly for him being so mad about Veronica, but he also harbors resentment over the fact that his dad killed Lilly, even though he knows that Logan and Aaron hate each other. However, they end up reconciling and remain best friends.

Duncan Kane It is revealed that Meg had been carrying Duncan's child, which is delivered shortly after her death. In "Donut Run" Duncan and Veronica come up with an elaborate plan for Duncan to kidnap the baby girl (whom he renames Lilly) and take her to Mexico instead of allowing Meg's abusive parents to have custody. The farewell scene between Veronica and Duncan still leave some untied ends; prior to Duncan escaping to Mexico they kiss and Duncan declares: "I love you, Veronica. I always have, and I always will". At the very end of the episode Veronica is in her room reading the fortune cookie message that Duncan gave her before: "True love stories never have endings," this is also more proof that Duncan and Veronica will still have a place for each other in their hearts. Some time after fleeing Neptune, Duncan appears in Veronica's graduation dream. In the same episode, he later appears in Mollymook, Australia talking on the phone with Kane Software security chief Clarence Wiedman, moments after Wiedman has completed Duncan's ordered execution of Lilly's killer and Logan's abusive father Aaron Echolls. A painting of Duncan is seen in "The Bitch Is Back", as a homage to the character. In the first two seasons, most people see Duncan as the 'golden boy' of the school (in contrast to his bad-boy friend, Logan), but while he is indeed kind and has a sense of honor, he also has a tendency to ignore anything that upsets or displeases him. Instead of telling Veronica that she might be his half-sister, for example, he broke up with her for no reason and wouldn't even acknowledge her presence in the school corridors. When he stops taking the pills his mother leaves him every morning, which are supposed to be for depression, he begins to have visions of Lilly much like Veronica. Lilly tells him that he knows there is more to her murder than meets the eye, that he should open his eyes and wake up. Unlike Veronica, Duncan is too disturbed by the visions to follow through and starts taking the drugs again instead. It is also implied that Duncan is attracted to Meg because she is like Veronica used to be. Although he quickly makes his move once Veronica and Logan break up, it is implied in a dream sequence that he is threatened by the hard edge Veronica has acquired. In the dream, Meg sits on a chair in a simple white dress asking him if he ever loved her, if he remembers all the times they had together. Veronica appears, dressed in tight black trousers and a see-through top with her belly showing, totally opposite to Meg. She states that she has heard enough. When Meg asks what Veronica has that she doesn't, the dream Veronica puts a black gag over her mouth and states "Well, I'm conscious... and that's just for starters." She then turns to address the camera (Duncan) and asks him if this is what he really wants, something innocent and sweet. She then says he should grow up and get over it, before lashing out with a slap. The dream shows the dichotomy of Duncan's mind (casting Meg as the virgin and Veronica as the whore) and the turmoil he is in over the two girls.

94

References
Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.

Don Lamb

95

Don Lamb
Don Lamb
Michael Muhney as Don Lamb First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Pilot" "Mars, Bars" Rob Thomas Michael Muhney

Information Gender Occupation Male Sheriff

Significant other(s) Madison Sinclair

Sheriff of Balboa County Don Lamb is a fictional character played by Michael Muhney on the UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars, which debuted during the fall 2004 season on UPN. The character, considered by many to be the character fans "love to hate", is one of Veronica's main enemies, and one of the most prominent adult characters, after Keith Mars. He was a recurring character during the first two seasons, and was promoted to series regular status for the third season.

Background
Very little is known about the background of Sheriff Don Lamb. Due to cryptic comments about his father said by Lamb himself, it seems that he was emotionally and/or physically abused by him. Lamb went to college in Texas where he played ball, but had to drop out after a knee injury. On his office wall was a wooden United States Marine Corps Eagle, Globe and Anchor plaque, suggesting that Lamb once served as a Marine. Lamb is 34, a Cancer and his hometown is Neptune, California.

Relationship with Keith Mars


What is known is that Lamb joined the Balboa County Sheriff's Department and quickly rose through the ranks through the patronage of then Sheriff Keith Mars. As one of Keith's deputies, Lamb looked at Keith as his mentor, but the two had a rather violent falling out over Keith Mars accusing software mogul Jake Kane of murdering his daughter Lilly. When Keith Mars was forced out of office due to an emergency recall election, Lamb quickly maneuvered himself into the job as Sheriff with the support of various members of the 09er community, who felt that Lamb would be a much more controllable figure than Keith Mars.

Arrest of Abel Koontz


Lamb's tenure as Sheriff was quickly solidified when he arrested Abel Koontz, a disgruntled former employee of Jake Kane, for the murder of Lilly. Unknown to Lamb at the time, the arrest was secretly manipulated by the Kane family themselves, as they believed that Lilly's younger brother Duncan had murdered Lilly. The Kane family paid Abel to confess to the crime, planted evidence at his home (evidence that would later be revealed to have been photographed to look like it was inside Lilly's room the night of her death), and had their head of security Clarence Wiedman anonymously call in the information regarding Abel Koontz being the murderer, information that was crucial in leading the oblivious Sheriff Lamb directly to the Kane family's patsy and his arrest.

Don Lamb The arrest of Koontz helped raise Lamb's profile and standing in the community as Keith Mars' reputation fell drastically. It also caused Lamb to develop an oversized ego. His relationship with Keith Mars further worsened, with Lamb taunting Keith over how he caught the man who murdered Lilly Kane.

96

The Incident
But Lamb's biggest action of controversy would be several months after the arrest of Abel Koontz, when Keith's daughter Veronica arrived one morning at the sheriff's office. Veronica had been drugged and raped and sought to report the crime. Sheriff Lamb agreed to take Veronica's statement personally regarding her rape, but Veronica quickly found that Lamb had ulterior motives, in what has become one of the most controversial scenes in the series: Lamb: [sarcastically] Is there anyone in particular you'd like me to arrest, or should I just round up the sons of the most important families in town? [Cut to Veronica, who's absolutely speechless.] Lamb: [dead seriously] I've got not a shred of evidence to work with here, but that really doesn't matter to your family, now does it? [Veronica starts to cry.] Lamb: [mockingly] Look at this! She cries! I'll tell you what, Veronica Mars why don't you go see the Wizard. Ask for a little backbone. Veronica was then forced to leave.

Tenure as Sheriff
Portrayed as a stereotypical bureaucrat, Lamb is shown to care more about the fact that he is Sheriff of Balboa County than he does with actually carrying out his responsibilities as sheriff. His actual competence as sheriff is generally very poor because Lamb is a firm believer in the notion that, in any criminal matter, the obvious suspect is always the person who committed the crime. Whenever an obvious suspect appears, Sheriff Lamb will quickly arrest the suspect with little to no effort spent trying to confirm said suspect's alibi. Indeed, it has been implied on numerous occasions that his record at solving crimes without the aid of Keith and Veronica Mars is rather abysmal. However, it has been argued that statistically, crime has dropped in Neptune since Lamb assumed the position of Sheriff. While Lamb himself was the one who made that statement, it was not refuted by his chief critics Veronica and Keith Mars. In spite of his flaws, Lamb does at his core attempt to be a good police officer. This was made most evident at the end of season one, when, without any arm-twisting from the Mars family, Lamb arrested Jake Kane for obstruction of justice after it was revealed that his manipulation of Lamb regarding Abel Koontz allowed the true murderer, Aaron Echolls, to avoid arrest. Another example was the situation involving the Manning family and their abuse of their daughter, Grace. When Veronica Mars and Duncan Kane were caught in the Manning family home, after discovering the hidden prison cell that the Mannings locked their youngest daughter Grace in to punish her, Lamb was called in to arrest the two. As Lamb dragged the two out of the house, Veronica pleaded with her arch-rival to listen to her as she described the location of the hidden prison cell. After placing the two in his police vehicle, Lamb returned to the Manning home and following Veronica's information, discovered the cell. As he walked out, Lamb responded coldly towards Mr. Manning's claims of being a victim of Veronica and Duncan and left the house again. He then gets into his vehicle and after driving several blocks down the road, silently pulls over to the sidewalk and releases Veronica and Duncan from the car. Returning to the Manning family's home, he parks his car and watches the house, to let the Mannings know their secret is out. This, as he was powerless to officially arrest them for child abuse, due to Veronica and Duncan's involvement tainting any sort of investigation.

Don Lamb

97

'09er connection
A large amount of Sheriff Lamb's power base comes from the wealthy '09er community, who arranged for his rise to power after Keith Mars was forced out of office. As such, Lamb shows favoritism towards the wealthy citizens of Neptune and is often reluctant to arrest people of power and wealth without concrete evidence and even then will only do so under public pressure. Lamb does privately harbor a great deal of contempt for the wealthy 09er community. In season one it was shown that Lamb was prone to breaking up parties thrown by teenage members of the 09er community, confiscating the kegs of beer from the party which Lamb would then serve to his fellow police officers via impromptu parties he would throw at his place. In season two, Lamb's relationship with the 09er community took a more complex turn. Lamb was revealed to be carrying on a secret relationship with the barely legal 09er Madison Sinclair, an affair that both Veronica and Keith Mars ultimately discovered. It was also shown that Lamb had blackmailed Terrence Cook, a retired '09er baseball player, who had thrown an ALCS game to help pay off a rather large gambling debt he had owed.

The Wizard
With regards to Sheriff Lamb's general disdain for the people of Neptune, the Sheriff's anger is most visible when dealing with those who Lamb feels are cowardly, weak-willed, or who generally wallow in a sense of victimization in terms of being unwilling to stand up for themselves. This was established in the pilot episode, through the establishment of the catchphrase "You need to go see the Wizard..." (a reference to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). The phrase was used by Lamb to show his contempt for those who he feels wallows in their own helplessness and self-pity. In some ways, this may help explain his seemingly paradoxical vehemence in preventing child abuse while, at the same time evincing enormous callousness for adult (or near adult) rape victims. Evidently he feels that, while children can't protect or defend themselves, older people are contemptible if they cannot. In the third season episode "Mars, Bars", Wallace reminds Lamb of a time when Lamb told Wallace to ask the Wizard for courage. Wallace replies that the Wizard considers Lamb the only true Friend of Dorothy.

Relationship with Veronica Mars


Out of all of the characters of the series, Sheriff Lamb is one of the few characters whose relationship with Veronica Mars is firmly planted on the side of rivalry. Lamb's public displays of contempt for her father and his treatment of her when she tried to report being raped has resulted in Veronica hating Lamb with a passion unmatched by any of her other enemies on the show. Sheriff Lamb meanwhile sees Veronica as a troublemaker of the highest order and while he won't openly admit to it, is one of the few people in Neptune who recognizes the depth of her skill as an investigator. Indeed, Lamb considers Veronica to be a continuous threat towards him and his standing as Sheriff of Balboa County though he is not above taking credit for Veronica's investigation work if he can. In spite of their hatred for each other, their sparring is kept on a strictly verbal level. Veronica often taunts Lamb by mocking his inability to close big cases and the foolish way that he jumps upon the first suspect he sees in an investigation as the guilty party. Lamb meanwhile often responds by verbally attacking Veronica's father or Veronica's friends (all of which Lamb has had run-ins with in his capacity as Sheriff). However, their rivalry does serve its purpose, as it was Sheriff Lamb who was responsible for saving Veronica's beloved father from a violent death at the hands of Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas. In the season 2 finale, Beaver blew up the plane containing Keith Mars and the pedophilic Woody Goodman as it flew over Neptune during his final confrontation with Veronica. It wasn't until the next morning, when Veronica awoke to find her father alive and well in their home that she learned how he was alive. Before take-off, Sheriff Lamb had arranged for Keith Mars to be taken off the plane transporting Woody Goodman back to Neptune, so as to keep the media from giving full credit

Don Lamb for the arrest to Keith. As a result, Lamb's act of pettiness towards his rival inadvertently saved Keith's life. Also in the second season when, at one point, Lamb had Veronica in custody for a very serious charge of breaking and entering and was clearly looking forward to booking her for it, he came to the realization that to pursue it would serve the purposes of a pair of child abusers. At which point he very grudgingly released her and her companion so that he could return to deal with the child abusers off the record, so to speak (at which point it was revealed that in his youth he, perhaps unsurprisingly, had also been a victim of child abuse). Ironically, the central issue of why the two characters hate each other (Lamb's refusal to believe Veronica when she attempted to report being raped) has generally been sidestepped in their verbal sparring. During seasons one and two, Lamb does not bring up Veronica's sexual assault claims in attacking her, but, with season three, Lamb cruelly mocked Veronica when she called the police when a new friend of hers from college fell victim to the serial rapist that was terrorizing Hearst College. Lamb villainously asked if Veronica was the rape victim in question and further twisted the knife by implying Veronica "cried wolf" when she told Lamb that she had been raped in the pilot. While Veronica showed no visible reaction to Lamb's taunting, she did break down in front of Lamb when she confessed that she had walked in on her friend while she was being raped and could have stopped the rapist had she fully realized what was happening inside the darkened room.

98

Death
In the episode "Mars, Bars", Lamb and Deputy Sacks answered a domestic disturbance call at the home of Mindy O'Dell. Lamb confronted Mindy's former husband and suspect in the Dean O'Dell murder case Steve Botando, who attacked him by hitting him in the head with a baseball bat and who was in turn shot by Sacks. The county commissioner informed Keith Mars that Lamb had died in the hospital from the severe trauma to his head and had asked for Keith to become interim sheriff. Lamb's last known words were "I smell bread." This is a quote from a fatally wounded soldier (just before he died) in an episode of the television series M*A*S*H. As Lamb could very reasonably be assumed to be a fan of that show, its use here is a strong indication that Lamb knew he was seconds away from death and could not be saved but still wanted to be, as the actor phrased it, snarky.

Interests
Lamb enjoyed hitting the gym, weight training and "Wild Wednesdays at El Torito". His favorite musicians were Devo, Guns N' Roses, Duran Duran and Judas Priest. His favorite films were Dirty Harry, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Terminator and Terminator 2. He enjoyed watching 24 and COPS. His favorite books were Sports Illustrated and his hero was Clint Eastwood.

Quotes
"Is there anyone in particular you'd like me to arrest or should I just round up the sons of the most important families in town?" (to Veronica, after her rape) "So, what, this is blackmail? She's 18. That's legal." (upon being caught with Madison) "Before we go in there, you should probably know something about Veronica Mars. We need to be careful with this one. She's...slippery." "Veronica Mars is.....smarter than me." (after reading aloud what Veronica asked him to read what she had written on a $50 bill she used to help catch the guy who framed her for selling fake IDs)

Don Lamb

99

Appearances
Season 1
1x01 Pilot 1x02 Credit Where Credit's Due 1x11 Silence of the Lamb 1x12 Clash of the Tritons 1x22 Leave It to Beaver

Season 2
2x02 Driver Ed 2x03 Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang 2x04 Green-Eyed Monster 2x05 Blast from the Past 2x06 Rat Saw God 2x07 Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner 2x10 One Angry Veronica 2x11 Donut Run 2x12 Rashard and Wallace Go to White Castle 2x14 Versatile Toppings 2x15 The Quick and the Wed 2x16 The Rapes of Graff 2x17 Plan B 2x20 Look Whos Stalking 2x21 Happy Go Lucky 2x22 Not Pictured

Season 3
3x02 My Big Fat Greek Rush Week 3x05 President Evil 3x06 Hi, Infidelity 3x07 Of Vice and Men 3x08 Lord of the Pis 3x11 Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves 3x13 Postgame Mortem 3x14 Mars, Bars

References
Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.

Parker Lee

100

Parker Lee
Parker Lee
First appearance "Welcome Wagon" Last appearance "The Bitch Is Back" Created by Portrayed by Rob Thomas Julie Gonzalo

Information Gender Occupation Female Student

Parker Lee is a fictional character on UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars. She is portrayed by Julie Gonzalo.

Background
Parker Lee is Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie's roommate at Hearst College. She is a Capricorn and her hometown is in Denver, Colorado.[1] Parker is immediately welcoming to Mac, and wants to be good friends. When she meets Mac's Veronica, she says, "Mac's friends are my friends!" and welcomes her with open arms. She enjoys partying and having a "good time", so when Veronica discovers Mac sitting outside her dorm room and Mac tells her that Parker is with a guy inside, Veronica has no reason to disbelieve her. Since their movie tickets are also inside the room, Veronica goes inside, trying her best to avoid interrupting Parker's "activities", gets the tickets, and leaves. That night, she stays in Mac's dorm room as she is too drunk to drive. They awake the next morning to Parker's screams as she looks at her own bald image in the mirror. Parker becomes the next victim of the Hearst College rapist, who drugs female coeds, attacks them, and shaves their heads afterwards. Veronica felt extremely guilty, as she had been in the room when Parker was raped and did nothing to stop it, although she had no way of knowing that it was a rape, due to Parker being drugged. Parker was, at first, extremely angry at Veronica because of this, but later become friends with her upon learning of Veronica's own rape at the hands of Cassidy Casablancas. Parker's parents immediately arrive to take her home, stating that they knew this would happen and that Parker is not fit to live on her own as an adult. Both Mac and Veronica are taken aback by their negative attitude in general and especially the lack of sympathy they demonstrate over their daughter's rape and the visual humiliation of her shaved head. Mac tells Parker that she should stay, as she can see that going back home is not a good idea in this case. Parker is touched, as before this Mac has not responded much to her overtures of friendship, and decides to stay. In episode 3.6, Parker went bowling with Veronica, Logan and Piz, and began to become attracted to Piz. However, when they went to visit Piz at his radio show, Parker met Mercer, the head of the gambling club which had been robbed in the previous episode, and realized that his cologne smelled just like the cologne she had smelled on her rapist. Veronica investigates further and finds a razor in Mercer's drawers...leading us to believe that perhaps Mercer is the Hearst College rapist. In the final episode of the first "arc" of Season 3, a Pi Sig party is held because Dean O'Dell reinstated the Greek houses. The Hearst rapist announces via the college paper that he will choose his next victim at the party. Trying to help out her classmates, Parker hands out special coasters that allow girls to see if her drink was spiked or not, and "rape whistles" to blow in case there's an attempted attack. Later that night, Veronica finds out that Mercer is the rapist. Although she manages to hide the prospective victim in the closet, Mercer discovers her hiding under the bed covers. They fight and Veronica escapes from the room and falls down at Wallace and Piz's door. As Wallace and

Parker Lee Piz are both at the party, trying to keep an eye out for the rapist, they cannot help her. Instead, she is found by Moe, who takes her to his dorm room. She then realises that Moe, who is in cahoots with Mercer, has drugged her tea. She crawls into the closet and tries to call her father but gets no answer. Veronica blows her whistle which brings Parker out of her room, shaken to hear the sound of the whistle. She then sees Mercer (the rapist) heading back to the room in which he and Moe are keeping Veronica, and immediately screams "RAPE! RAPE! RAPE!" This brings a dozen or so students into the hall to investigate, and Mercer runs away, followed by Moe. Parker runs into the room and finds Veronica on the floor, and calls for help. Therefore, had it not been for Parker and her "rape whistles", Veronica probably would have been the next rape victim, and the Hearst rapist would still be on the loose. Parker also had a brief romantic relationship with Logan Echolls, whom she hit it off with at a Valentine's Day scavenger hunt she participated in with Mac and her boyfriend. Although Logan was roped into it, he and Parker had a good time; they were then seen eating together in the cafeteria. In "Papa's Cabin", both Logan and Parker, at separate times, ask Veronica for permission to date each other. However, the relationship soon runs into difficulties as Parker finds it difficult to understand Logan's moods and reasons for doing things. She asks Veronica for advice and Veronica does her best to help her. Parker and Logan plan to go away for the summer, which means that Parker will not have to spend the holidays with her controlling and overprotective parents. However, in "The Bitch is Back", Parker sees from Logan's intense reaction to Veronica and Piz's sextape that he still has feelings for Veronica. She breaks up with him, leaving her single, miserable and under her parents' thumb once more.

101

Interests
Parker enjoys hanging out with friends, going out, basketball, dating, movies, hot tubs, Hearst, volunteering and fashion. Her favorite musicians are The Black Eyed Peas, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake and the Dave Matthews Band. Her favorite films are Titanic, Good Will Hunting, Almost Famous and Moulin Rouge!. She enjoys watching America's Next Top Model, American Idol, Gilmore Girls, E! True Hollywood Story, Extreme Makeover, Project Runway, The O.C., Queer Eye and Grey's Anatomy. Her favorite book is Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, while her favorite author is Jane Austen and her hero is Madonna. She'd most like to meet Colin Farrell, Matthew McConaughey and Josh Hartnett.[1]

Appearances
Season 3 3x01 Welcome Wagon 3x02 My Big Fat Greek Rush Week 3x04 Charlie Don't Surf 3x06 Hi, Infidelity 3x09 Spit & Eggs 3x10 Show Me the Monkey 3x14 Mars, Bars 3x15 Papa's Cabin 3x16 Un-American Graffiti 3x18 I Know What You'll Do Next Summer 3x20 The Bitch Is Back

Parker Lee

102

References
[1] http:/ / www. myspace. com/ vmarsparker

Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie


Cindy Mackenzie
Screenshot of "Mac" Mackenzie from Veronica Mars First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Like a Virgin" "The Bitch Is Back" Rob Thomas Tina Majorino Information Nickname(s) Gender Occupation Family Mac Female Student Natalie Mackenzie (legal mother) Sam Mackenzie (legal father) Ryan Mackenzie (legal brother) Mrs. Sinclair (biological mother) Mr. Sinclair (biological father) Lauren Sinclair (biological sister)

Significant other(s) Max Bronson Pope Cassidy Casablancas (deceased)

Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie is a fictional character on UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars, and portrayed by Tina Majorino. She was a recurring character during the first two seasons, and was promoted to regular status for the third season. Mac uses her computer hacking and cracking skills to help Veronica with her cases; the two joke that she is a kind of Q to Veronica's James Bond. Whether coincidentally or not, Mac (a common nickname for "Mackenzie") has also shown a decided preference for Apple Macintosh computers, which share her nickname.

Background
True to the show's spirit of moral grey areas, in the episode where Mac is introduced, "Like a Virgin", she helps Veronica find out who has stolen her password and has created a false score under her name on a purity test that had become a brief fad at Neptune High. Mac, although a friend of Veronica's, is the person who created the test in the first place, thus making it possible for the "sex crazed 09ers" to access other people's purity tests - and thus is also responsible for the chaos which is the focus of this episode. Veronica however harbors no resentment towards Mac for this, only caring about those that took tests for others. Mac has always felt like an outsider in her family, having completely different tastes and views to them. While digging for dirt on Mac's parents, Veronica discovers that Mac was switched at birth with Madison Sinclair(Silence of the Lamb). Since the mistake was uncovered four years after the births, the parents decided to keep the children. Each family received a handsome cash settlement from the hospital. While Madison's family invested and flourished, Mac's started a business and went bankrupt. Interestingly, Mac's biological mother shows some longing to know

Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie Mac, while Madison's biological family have no interest in getting to know Madison. She formerly dated Cassidy Casablancas, but the relationship ends when Cassidy balks at becoming sexually intimate with Mac (Plan B). In "Not Pictured", they are back together in time for graduation. In the same episode, however, Veronica discovers that Cassidy had been responsible for (among other things) the bus crash that occurred in "Normal Is the Watchword". Cassidy, intercepting Veronica's message, robs and abandons Mac while she is in the shower, leaving her without clothes. He then attempts to kill Veronica, and, later that night, commits suicide. Mac attends Hearst College along with Veronica and she initially is uncomfortable with male attention (Welcome Wagon). A series of rapes on campus bring up bad memories. However, she is eventually able to move on and have successful relationships. Though she at first feels uncomfortable with her new roommate, Parker Lee, Parker's rape helps Mac to see her as vulnerable. When Parker's parents come to take her home, Mac tells her that she should stay, ensuring Parker's presence for the rest of the series (My Big Fat Greek Rush Week). It is thanks to Mac that Parker and Logan get together on the treasure hunt.Wikipedia:Citing sources At Hearst, Mac falls for and dates an animal-rights activist named Bronson Pope.{Show me the Monkey} They date for a few episodes until Mac meets Max, a student who sells copies of exams.Wikipedia:Citing sources After the two connect, Mac breaks up with Bronson and begins dating Max, who she is with at the end of the series.

103

Appearances
Season 1
1x08 Like a Virgin 1x11 Silence of the Lamb 1x18 Weapons of Class Destruction 1x20 M.A.D.

Season 2
2x04 Green-Eyed Monster 2x08 Ahoy, Mateys! 2x09 My Mother, the Fiend 2x13 Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough 2x14 Versatile Toppings 2x17 Plan B 2x19 Nevermind the Buttocks 2x20 Look Whos Stalking 2x21 Happy Go Lucky 2x22 Not Pictured

Season 3
3x01 Welcome Wagon 3x02 My Big Fat Greek Rush Week 3x09 Spit & Eggs 3x10 Show Me the Monkey 3x14 Mars, Bars 3x16 Un-American Graffiti

3x17 Debasement Tapes 3x18 I Know What You'll Do Next Summer 3x19 Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down

Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie 3x20 The Bitch Is Back Majorino filmed scenes for 3x04 Charlie Don't Surf, but they were deleted.

104

References
Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.

Keith Mars

105

Keith Mars
Keith Mars
Enrico Colantoni as Keith Mars First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Pilot" "The Bitch Is Back" Rob Thomas Enrico Colantoni Information Gender Occupation Title Spouse(s) Male Private Investigator/ Sheriff Sheriff Lianne Mars

Significant other(s) Alicia Fennel Rebecca James Harmony Chase Children Veronica Mars

Keith Mars is a fictional character on UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars, which debuted during the fall 2004 season on UPN. He is portrayed by Enrico Colantoni. Keith is the father of Veronica Mars. They have a very close relationship, and he is very protective of her. Keith was formerly the sheriff of the fictional Balboa County and later operated as a private investigator.

Background
After going after popular billionaire Jake Kane for the murder of Jake's daughter Lilly, an emergency recall election removed him from office. His credibility was hurt even more after Abel Koontz confessed to the crime. Shortly thereafter, his daughter, Veronica, became a social outcast for siding with her dad and his wife, Lianne, left them. However, he refused to leave town and instead became a private investigator under the name Mars Investigations. Veronica does most of her sleuthing through Keith's numerous contacts and resources. At the end of "Like a Virgin," Abel Koontz implied that Veronica was the biological daughter of Jake Kane. Veronica had a chance to find out who her father was in the next episode, "Drinking the Kool-Aid," but she shredded the paternity test. In "Hot Dogs," Keith sent in his own paternity test, which proved that Veronica is his biological daughter. Since Veronica's mother, Lianne, left the family, Keith has been in three romantic relationships: one with Veronica's guidance counselor, Rebecca James, one with Wallace Fennel's mother, Alicia Fennel, and another with a client, Harmony Chase. His relationship with Rebecca was short-lived, because Veronica was uncomfortable with her father's dating, as she felt he should be looking for Lianne. He dated Alicia for several months, but they broke up in "Blast from the Past," after he confronted her about her lying to Wallace about his biological father, and, in the ensuing argument, Alicia questioned Keith's parenting skills. Keith began an affair with Harmony Chase after she hired him to find out whether her husband was cheating on her. Though Keith had strong feelings for Harmony, Veronica convinced Keith that it was a huge moral failing to be involved with a married woman, and Keith ended the affair in "Of Vice and Men."

Keith Mars After the revelation at the end of Season One that Aaron Echolls murdered Lilly, he ran for Sheriff against incumbent Don Lamb in Season Two. He lost by a narrow margin after Lamb accused Keith of being indirectly responsible for the bus crash that killed several Neptune High students. Several years earlier, Keith had pulled bus driver Ed Doyle for DUI but had not charged him. Ed Doyle was the driver in a bus crash which killed several students, and many, Sheriff Lamb among them, believed that Doyle crashed intentionally as a suicide attempt. He said after the election that "we'll get 'em in 2010," so, barring another recall election, Lamb's position appeared safe for another four years. After Sheriff Lamb's death in "Mars, Bars", he is asked by the County Commissioner to return as acting sheriff. In the final episode, he is up for election for the post he once held, and the series ends without clarity as to whether he won.

106

Interests
Keith enjoys Italian food, spending time with Veronica, jazz music and "noir flicks". His favorite musicians are The Beatles, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Aretha Franklin, The Beach Boys, The Everly Brothers, Blue yster Cult and Fleetwood Mac. His favorite films are The Big Chill, Slap Shot, Rear Window and Blazing Saddles. He enjoys watching anything on the Food Network, Austin City Limits and Charlie Rose. His favorite book is his own Big Murder, Small Town and his heroes are his daughter and Humphrey Bogart [1]. He also is quite fond of sports, especially baseball.

Appearances
Keith has appeared in every Veronica Mars episode to date, and is the only character aside from Veronica to do so.

Notable skills
As a private investigator and former sheriff, Keith possesses certain sleuth skills, which include the following: Surveillance Photography Tailing cars Training in handgun usage Tracking/Bounty Hunting Performing thorough background checks

Trivia
Keith got a 97 on his private investigator test.

Quotes
"You know what, this is important. You remember this: I used to be cool." "Sorry, sweetheart. You can't buy love. Bored wives of the wealthy, however, can." "Did you watch House of Wax again? You know that Hilton girl gives you nightmares." "And, Veronica, when you go after Jake Kane, you take Backup." "Honey, it's fine. Chicks dig scars." "Part of me is proud...and let's just leave it at that." "Who's your daddy?"

Keith Mars

107

References
Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.

References
[1] http:/ / www. myspace. com/ vmarskeith

Veronica Mars

108

Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars

Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Pilot" "The Bitch Is Back" Rob Thomas Kristen Bell Information Gender Occupation Female Student Barista at Java The Hut Journalist for the Hearst Free Press Private Detective FBI Intern Volunteer at Hearst Library Keith Mars (father) Lianne Mars (mother)

Family

Significant other(s) Logan Echolls Stosh "Piz" Piznarski Duncan Kane Leo D'Amato Troy Vandegraff

Veronica Mars is a fictional character in UPN/The CW the television series, Veronica Mars, which aired on the UPN and CW networks from 2004 to 2007. She is portrayed by Kristen Bell. The character was well received as it appeared on several best lists.

Character history
Background and details of plot
At the beginning of the series, Veronica is a 17-year-old junior at Neptune High in her hometown of Neptune, California. According to series creator Rob Thomas, Veronica's birthday is in August. Veronica has an after-school part-time job working for her father, private investigator Keith Mars, the former sheriff of Balboa County, California. At this time in her life, Veronica does not have any friends until she meets and helps Wallace Fennel, who quickly becomes her best friend.

Veronica Mars

109

Back-story to season one


Veronica's story is told via voice-overs and flashbacks fitted into the main story. We learn that a year before the series picks up, Veronica had been a popular teen at Neptune High. Her best friend was popular junior Lilly Kane. Veronica was dating Lilly's brother, Duncan Kane and Lilly was dating Logan Echolls, Duncan's good friend. The four were at the forefront of the school's wealthy and popular "09er" clique (named after the 90909 zip code, a wealthy area of Neptune) that dominated Neptune High's social scene. Though Veronica did not meet the economic status of the other 09ers, she was accepted into the clique because she was dating Duncan, and because of her father's influence as sheriff. One day, Duncan stopped talking to Veronica and broke up with her with no explanation. Lilly refused to explain to Veronica what the problem was. Shortly afterwards, Lilly was found murdered at the side of her family's pool. Sheriff Keith Mars accused Lilly's father, popular software entrepreneur Jake Kane, of involvement in the murder. The citizens of Neptune were horrified and Keith quickly found himself voted out of office and turned into a pariah by the wealthy 09er community. Keith's credibility took another blow when his replacement as Sheriff, former Deputy Sheriff Don Lamb, arrested disgruntled former Kane Software employee Abel Koontz, who confessed to Lilly's murder. The shock and loss of income destroyed the Mars family. Veronica's mother started drinking heavily and abandoned the family several months later. Veronica sealed her fate as an outsider when she refused to denounce her father. Duncan stopped speaking to Veronica, and the rest of the 09ers followed suit. Veronica found herself banished from the exclusive 09er social scene and friends. Two months after Lilly's death, Veronica crashed an 09er party, thrown by Shelley Pomroy, to prove to her ex-friends that she did not care what they said about her. At the party, Veronica's drink is spiked with GHB and she awakens the next morning in a guest bedroom without any recollection of the night before and without any underwear. To her horror, she realizes she had been raped. When she reports the crime to Sheriff Lamb, he calls her a liar and throws her out of his office. These events change Veronica. She became cynical, filled with contempt and disgust towards her classmates and Neptune's wealthy elite. A pariah like her father, she funneled her time and energy into helping him in his own detective agency. But when a chance encounter with a new transfer student Wallace Fennel led to her gaining a new friend, she begin to use her investigation talents to help her fellow students and to go head to head with the 09'ers. Veronica slowly begins to outgrow her cynicism, with the help of new friends Wallace Fennel, Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, and Meg Manning. Prior to Lilly's death Veronica is portrayed as carefree, girly, sweet and young, with long hair. It is suggested that Veronica cut her hair because it reminded her too much of Lilly. The transition to a sharp-witted, cynical, edgy outcast was quick.

Detective
After being ousted from the Sheriff's Department Keith Mars opens Mars Investigations, a PI agency, Veronica gains had an after-school job as his secretary. Though she is often forbidden to handle certain cases, she often oversteps her boundaries and sometimes even completely solves the case before her father. She is also the small-time private investigator for Neptune High tracking down computer crackers, digging up dirt on parents, finding out who stole the school's mascot, and the like. She keeps one step ahead of her father and Vice-Principal Van Clemmons through the occasional help of her best friend Wallace Watson to her Holmes and classmate Eli "Weevil" Navarro, the leader of the PCH Biker Gang. Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), once a close friend, had helped organize the blacklisting of Veronica from the 09er clique. The two crossed swords on several occasions before Logan sought Veronica's help in finding out if his

Veronica Mars mother, Lynn, might have faked her death when she jumped into the ocean. Still reeling from the abandonment of her own mother, Veronica empathized with Logan's pain, and the two reconciled most of their differences. Towards the end of the third season of the series, Veronica successfully completes her California state examination to receive official license as a detective in her own right. Veronica scored a 95 on her private investigator test.

110

Romantic relationships
Duncan Kane
Veronica dated Duncan Kane until approximately September 2005. Both Veronica's mother Lianne Mars and Duncan's mother Celeste Kane were against their relationship, though Veronica did not find out why until much later. Some time prior to Lilly's death, Celeste revealed to Duncan that his father, Jake, had had an affair with Lianne, and that Veronica might be his half-sister. Duncan broke up with Veronica because of this, but did not explain his reasons for doing so. Keith Mars later has a paternity test which proved that he is her father, not Jake Kane. Veronica did not speak to Duncan for nearly two years. She did confront him, however, when she believed he had raped her. The issue was eventually resolved when the fact that both parties were under the influence of GHB came to light. In the summer between the first and second seasons Veronica and Duncan got back together on her 18th birthday. They stayed together until roughly the middle of the second season. Unbeknownst to Duncan, his previous girlfriend Meg Manning was pregnant before they broke up. Meg was on the bus that crashed at the beginning of the season, but survived comatose. She later died of a blood clot shortly after coming out of a coma. Their daughter was born just before she died. In order to prevent Meg's abusive parents from getting custody of his baby, Duncan decided to kidnap her and run away. Veronica helped him to do so, bidding him a tearful farewell before he left.

Troy Vandegraff
Troy Vandegraff was a childhood friend of Duncan Kane who attended Neptune High for a short period early in the first season. Despite the bad rumors about Veronica circulating around the school, Troy took a liking to her. Veronica was reluctant to date him at first, but warmed to him when she realized his good intentions toward her. In the fifth episode though, Troy deceives her into unwittingly helping him escape being sent to boarding school so he can run away with an old girlfriend. Veronica realizes his plan and double-crosses him. Veronica does not meet Troy again until the second season episode "The Rapes of Graff" when they both go to visit Hearst College. Though she is at first cold toward him, Troy insists that he's changed. He also tells her that his feelings toward her were real when they dated and apologizes for how he treated her. When he is suspected of raping a student and shaving her head after a party, Veronica helps to prove his innocence and they part amicably.

Veronica Mars

111

Leo D'Amato
Leo DAmato is a deputy at the Neptune Sheriff Department whom Veronica dated for a short time in the middle of the first season. At first, Veronica merely went to him for help in getting access to classified evidence or files in the police station, but she soon fell for him. Veronica broke up with Leo after she and Logan Echolls kissed and she didn't want to keep dating Leo while she figured out her feelings.

Logan Echolls
Veronica began to date Logan Echolls at the end of the first season. While she was going out with Leo DAmato, she kissed Logan in thanks for saving her from a would-be kidnapper, who actually turned out to be an ATF agent. Their kiss turned into something more when Logan pulled her into a passionate embrace. They begin to secretly date. Their relationship quickly ran into trouble when it was revealed Logan was the one who supplied the GHB that would end up leading to Veronica being drugged and raped at Shelly Pomroy's party. For a time, Veronica even suspected that Logan was her rapist. When she discovered that he wasnt, she resolved everything with him. Their relationship was revealed to Logan's 09er friends at a party. At the same party, Veronica discovered cameras trained on the bed in Logan's pool house and flees. Soon after, Veronica found out that Logan had no alibi the day Lilly was murdered and feared that he had killed her. Veronica found out that the cameras in the pool house had been set up by Logan's father, Aaron Echolls, and discovered that he was the one who killed Lilly after she stole the tapes he made of them having sex. The night Aaron was arrested for Lilly's murder, Logan turned up at Veronica's house, after having been severely beaten by the PCHers. Veronica stood by him when he was accused of murdering one of them, Felix Toombs. Though he was acquitted, Logan's behavior became erratic over that summer, because of his trial and because of the revelation that his father had been having an affair with Lilly and had killed her. He and the 09ers began a vicious turf war with the PCHers. Veronica breaks up with Logan soon after, telling him that he was out of control and that he enjoyed participating in the violence too much. Late in the season though, he drunkenly revealed to Veronica that he still had deep feelings for her and thought that their love was epic. Veronica visits him the next morning to tell him that she felt the same, only to find out that he had no memory of what hed said and had slept with old flame Kendall Casablancas the night before. But during her stand-off with Cassidy Casablancas, on the roof of the Neptune Grand, it was Logan that Veronica phoned for help. Logan tackled Cassidy to stop him from shooting Veronica. He then talked Veronica out of shooting Cassidy and comforts her when she thinks her father was blown-up on Woody Goodman's plane. Afterwards, they resume their relationship and become closer over the summer. At the beginning of the third season, they begin attending Hearst College. Their relationship is as heated and loving as before, but Veronica has developed severe trust issues over the last few years. She constantly struggles against her instincts to track him and verify everything he says and does, while Logan resents the expectations she places on him and her inability to admit that she might be wrong. Though she spurns him when he reveals that he and Mercer left a motel in Tijuana in flames without helping people to escape, she realizes her feelings for him when he comes to her aid after she is drugged and attacked by the Hearst rapist. Unable to deal with Veronica being in constant danger, Logan tries to convince her to drop her investigation into the rapes and even has a bodyguard tail her without her knowledge, infuriating Veronica when she finds out. Though they fight out their problems and both admit that they love one another, Logan breaks up with Veronica in the ninth episode. He says that they can both see that they arent working out because neither of them can change their ways (Veronica with her trust issues and Logan with his need to protect her despite her wishes) and that he would rather a little pain now than a lot later. He tells her he will always be there for her. Veronica is deeply upset and breaks down when she gets home. Although Logan tries to help Veronica find out who the rapist is, he is still elsewhere when she is attacked by Mercer and Moe. When he learns that Mercer was the one who attacked Veronica, he purposely gets

Veronica Mars himself arrested so he can be in the same cell as him for revenge. They spent the next six weeks apart. During the break-up, Dick tried to help Logan move on by bringing him to the beach, later meeting up with a group of girls. Later, Veronica showed up at Logan's place and they shared a passionate kiss, realizing that they had missed each other, and became a couple again. In the next episode, Logan told Veronica that he had hooked up with someone else who "meant less than nothing to him" over their 6 week break, but didn't elaborate on who it was. It turns out that Logan had slept with Madison Sinclair in Aspen, which Veronica considered one of the worst insults (though Logan didn't know this). This time, sexual jealousy and an unwillingness to forgive and forget ends their relationship. Logan moved on to Parker Lee, while Veronica did the same with Stosh "Piz" Piznarski. Veronica vows never to speak to Logan again after he violently beats up Piz, believing Piz emailed a racy video of himself and Veronica all over Hearst. However, the series ended with Logan and Veronica sharing one last ambiguous look, leaving their relationship unresolved. In a later interview, show creator Rob Thomas says that the look was supposed to be one which shows the intense connection between these two characters, and that "it will always be Veronica and Logan."

112

Stosh "Piz" Piznarski


Veronica met Piz on her first day at Hearst College when Wallace (who is Piz's roommate) requested her help to find Piz's missing things in 'Welcome Wagon." When they first meet, Piz seems momentarily stunned by Veronica, and develops a crush on her, which she doesn't return at the time as she is going out with Logan Echolls. Although she ignored his romantic feelings, a steady friendship developed between them. Veronica shared her thoughts with him about her problems with Logan, and after Piz unknowingly gave her the advice she needed, Veronica and Logan reunited (much to Piz's internal disappointment). Piz and Veronica seem quite happy together, and stand by each other when a racy video of them is emailed around Hearst. When Logan attacks Piz after jumping to the conclusion that Piz made the video, Veronica vows never to speak to him again, and Logan's new girlfriend, Parker, breaks up with him because she realizes that his feelings for Veronica. After finding out who sent the video, Piz and Veronica are eating lunch when the culprit walks in. Veronica threatens him but he is unapologetic, taunting her about what he can do. Piz holds Veronica back, advising her to drop it and walk away. She reluctantly obeys. The next day Veronica is approached by the student who bugged Piz's dorm room. He is very insulting to Veronica, who ignores it and warns Logan that the boy is connected to the Mafia. Logan remarks that he wondered why Veronica was so forgiving and then beats the culprit up with much passion (as he does not have anything left to lose). When the student, lying on the floor, threatens "whoever you are, you're going to die," Logan answers flippantly "yeah, someday," then shares a look with Veronica who gives a hint of a smile. Logan then apologizes to Piz for attacking him, as Veronica earlier advised him to do, and leaves the scene without turning back, with Veronica still staring at him. Piz's eyes go from Veronica to Logan, and to Veronica again. Sighing, he expresses a look of realization that he may never have the connection with Veronica that Logan has as she guiltily looks down.

Veronica Mars

113

Reception
AOL included her in its list of TV's Smartest Detectives. The same website named her the 8th Most Memorable Female TV Character. She was featured in UGO.com's 50 Top TV Characters, ranked at No. 17. She was ranked No. 14 in AfterEllen.com's Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters.

References External links


Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774. Veronica Mars (character) (http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0012936/) at the Internet Movie Database Official character MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/veronicamarscw)

Eli "Weevil" Navarro

114

Eli "Weevil" Navarro


Eli Navarro
Francis Capra as Eli "Weevil" Navarro First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Pilot" "The Bitch Is Back" Rob Thomas Francis Capra Information Gender Occupation Family Male Neptune High student, Hearst College janitor Leticia Navarro (grandmother) Chardo (cousin) Ofelia (niece)

Significant other(s) Lilly Kane (deceased)

Eli (Elas) "Weevil" Navarro is a fictional character on the UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars, which debuted during the fall 2004 season on UPN. Portrayed by Francis Capra, Weevil was the head of the local PCH biker gang and ally of the show's title character.

Background
A member of Neptune, California's underclass, Weevil lives with his grandmother and younger siblings and for a time, his cousin. Weevil's grandmother was a maid who worked for the Echolls family; as a result, Logan Echolls delights in tormenting him. Weevil is 20 at the time of the final episode, a Gemini and his hometown is Neptune. (Weevil's age is in question here, though, since in the beginning of the first season Mrs. Navarro mentioned that Weevil was 17, though the series closed two years, both onscreen and in the series progression, after it is revealed in season 1 episode 19: Hot Dogs that he was 18). As leader of the PCH Biker Gang, Weevil is often in trouble with the law. This led to his introduction in the series when he has the new transfer student Wallace Fennel duct-taped to the flag pole after Wallace reluctantly turned over a security camera tape showing several members of the PCH Biker Gang stealing from the mini-mart where Wallace worked. Vowing further punishment for Wallace, it was only the intervention of Veronica Mars who saved Wallace. She arranged for the video tape to be switched with a tape of a Neptune deputy receiving oral sex from an escort. The case against Weevil's underlings was subsequently dropped, and Weevil agreed to seek no further revenge against Wallace. Weevil wants to make his grandmother proud and receives tutoring in order for her to be able to see him graduate. However during the second season finale, Weevil is arrested for Thumper's death during the graduation ceremony. The third season begins with Weevil released early from jail on parole, on the condition that he get and keep a job which proves to be difficult for a man of his temperament. With Veronica's help Weevil is able to get a job working as a maintenance man at Hearst College. He was the primary suspect in a robbery of an on-campus underground casino, but Veronica was able to prove that he did not commit the crime. Weevil endeavors to stay on the straight and narrow but is asked by Veronica to steal Madison Sinclair's car (in exchange for a tidy fee), and to arrange a meeting between her and the new leader of the PCHers. He agrees to both, despite the fact that, if caught, either offence would result in his parole being revoked. In the series' penultimate

Eli "Weevil" Navarro episode, he is accused of selling illegally manufactured Hearst student cards worth $1000 to students for $100. Veronica clears his name, but not before tipping him off to the location of a third machine that would manufacture the student cards. Weevil takes the machine, but it is uncertain whether he uses it or not.

115

Relationships
Veronica Mars
The relationship between Weevil and Veronica Mars is a complicated one. Weevil is often willing to help Veronica out when she needs it but is always quick to remind Veronica that, in spite of her fall from grace, he still considers her an '09er and that she'll never be a true "outsider" like him. He occasionally refers to Veronica as "V" and "Mars". It's shown that Weevil does consider Veronica a good friend when he takes deep offense to her accusing him of a crime in "President Evil". However, Veronica eventually cleared his name and has remained loyal towards Weevil. She is one of the few people who has seen Weevil's softer side. In the third season Veronica helps Weevil stay on parole (and therefore out of prison) by landing him jobs. First with her father's detective agency, and, after he loses that job, as a repairman at her college. He even risks a return to prison by stealing Madison Sinclair's car for Veronica to cube, though he does charge Veronica's own going rate $500.

Keith Mars
Despite the fact that Keith Mars no longer holds the position of Sheriff, Weevil still calls him that whenever they meet. And despite having arrested him several times in the past when he actually was sheriff, Keith is reluctantly persuaded by Veronica into giving Weevil a job so he can stay out of jail. Keith finds Weevil to be a good detective and hard worker, but is forced to fire him after Weevil assaults a suspect he saw beat a child.

Logan Echolls
Originally the two were sworn enemies due to the class warfare that existed throughout Neptune; Weevil's legal guardian, his grandmother, worked for Logan's family and was constantly taunted by Logan over this fact. The feud between the two escalated when Weevil befriended Veronica and came to her aid when Logan began smashing her car up with a crowbar as payback for Veronica planting a bong inside his locker (which caused him to have his father take his car away from him as punishment). The conflict between the two intensified when Logan's family fired Weevil's grandmother as their maid and had her arrested for obtaining credit cards in the Echolls family name and using them online. While the police believed that Weevil was the true culprit, his cousin was really behind the credit card fraud as part of a bid to steal Logan's girlfriend away from him. Weevil agreed to plead guilty to the fraud to save his grandmother in exchange for a four month stint in juvenile hall, but Veronica uncovered the truth and cleared Weevil's name. Weevil then expelled his cousin from the PCH Biker Gang and had him beaten for betraying both Weevil and their grandmother, a punishment that Logan agreed to let Weevil carry out. The relationship would reach a turning point when the two were forced to serve a lengthy detention sentence together. When Weevil convinced Logan to destroy the car of the teacher who put them into detention, Weevil was expelled. But to Logan's shock, Weevil refused to incriminate Logan for his part in the destruction of the car. As a result, Logan confessed to his part of the crime and with bribery (in the form of a pair of his father's boots, to be sold at auction to benefit the school) Logan was able to get Weevil reinstated. As a result of this, the two teens agreed to a truce, though both still took pleasure in the occasional sarcastic jibe. However, in spite of the truce between them, Weevil had a dark secret: Weevil had a brief fling with Logan's former girlfriend, Lilly Kane, during one of the periods when Logan and Lilly had broken up. Weevil continued to love Lilly, (even getting a tattoo of her name) but reluctantly kept their brief relationship a secret so Lilly could save face

Eli "Weevil" Navarro with her fellow '09ers. Ultimately this would lead towards a complicated series of events, where a disgruntled member of the PCH Biker gang named Thumper used the friendship between Weevil and Logan to usurp Weevil's control over the PCH Biker gang. Thumper murdered Felix, a PCH Biker who was Weevil's second-in-command and framed Logan for the murder. At first, the incident sparks off a bitter feud between Logan and Weevil, but eventually Weevil realizes that Logan may have been framed by members of his own group when Veronica Mars provides information that several members of the PCH Biker Gang had begun to sell drugs for the Irish mob. Ultimately, Weevil and Logan joined forces to find the real killer, but Thumper exposed their alliance and used it to oust Weevil from the gang. Ultimately Weevil would get his revenge, arranging for Thumper's Irish mob backers to turn against Thumper and lock him in the bathroom of a local sports stadium that was scheduled to be destroyed. In an ironic twist, Logan (who Thumper had framed for murder) had won a contest that allowed him to be the one who pushed the button destroying the stadium. As a result, Logan kills Thumper (unknowingly) and allows Weevil to avenge his friend's death.

116

Appearances
Season 1
1x01 Pilot 1x02 Credit Where Credit's Due 1x04 The Wrath of Con 1x05 You Think You Know Somebody 1x06 Return of the Kane 1x07 The Girl Next Door 1x09 Drinking the Kool-Aid 1x10 An Echolls Family Christmas 1x11 Silence of the Lamb 1x12 Clash of the Tritons 1x14 Mars vs. Mars 1x16 Betty and Veronica 1x17 Kanes and Abel's 1x19 Hot Dogs 1x20 M.A.D. 1x21 A Trip to the Dentist 1x22 Leave It to Beaver

Season 2
2x01 Normal Is the Watchword 2x04 Green-Eyed Monster 2x06 Rat Saw God 2x08 Ahoy, Mateys! 2x09 My Mother, the Fiend 2x11 Donut Run 2x12 Rashard and Wallace Go to White Castle 2x13 Aint No Magic Mountain High Enough 2x17 Plan B

2x19 Nevermind the Buttocks 2x21 Happy Go Lucky

Eli "Weevil" Navarro 2x22 Not Pictured

117

Season 3
3x03 Witchita Linebacker 3x05 President Evil 3x09 Spit & Eggs 3x10 Show Me the Monkey 3x11 Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves 3x12 There's Got to be a Morning After Pill 3x13 Postgame Mortem 3x14 Mars, Bars 3x19 Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down 3x20 The Bitch Is Back

References
Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.

Cyrus O'Dell
Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during UPN's last two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Balancing murder mystery, high-school and college drama, the series features social commentary with sarcasm and off-beat humor in a style often compared to film noir. Set in the fictional town of Neptune, the series starred Kristen Bell as the title character, a student who progressed from high school to college during the series while moonlighting as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father. The first season had seven regular characters. As Thomas had conceived the show as a one-year mystery, he decided to introduce and Kristen Bell on the set of Veronica Mars eliminate several characters in order to create an "equally fascinating mystery" for the series' second season. Thomas needed "new blood" since he felt unable to bring back the Kanes and the Echolls and "have them all involved in a new mystery". The third season features a cast of ten actors who receive billing, an increase from the nine actors in the second. Three of the regulars in the second season are written out of the series, two new characters are introduced and two others are upgraded from recurring roles.

Main characters

Cyrus O'Dell

118

Actor

Character 1

Seasons 2 Main Main Main Main Main Main Main Main Recurring Main Starring Starring Starring Starring Starring 3 film Starring

Kristen Bell Teddy Dunn Jason Dohring Percy Daggs III Francis Capra Enrico Colantoni

Veronica Mars Duncan Kane Logan Echolls Wallace Fennel Eli "Weevil" Navarro Keith Mars

Sydney Tamiia Poitier Mallory Dent Tessa Thompson Ryan Hansen Kyle Gallner Tina Majorino Julie Gonzalo Chris Lowell Michael Muhney Jackie Cook Dick Casablancas

Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas Recurring Main Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie Parker Lee Stosh "Piz" Piznarski Don Lamb Recurring Recurring Main Starring Main Main Starring Main

Kristen Bell portrayed the titular Veronica Mars, a high school junior and skilled private detective. Bell was chosen to play Veronica Mars from more than 500 women who auditioned for the role. Bell felt that it was "just luck" that Rob Thomas saw that "I have some sass to me, and that's exactly what he wanted". Bell thought that it was her cheerleader looks and an outsider's attitude that set her apart from the other women who auditioned. Teddy Dunn portrayed Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend and Lilly's brother. Dunn originally auditioned for Logan, but ended up portraying Duncan Kane. Dunn left the series midway through the second season because Thomas felt that the Logan-Veronica-Duncan love triangle had run its course. He needed to put "other guys in her life" to keep the series fresh and attributed Dunn's removal to fan interest dominating the Logan-Veronica relationship, saying "it became clear that one suitor won out".

Teddy Dunn, who portrayed Duncan, originally auditioned for the role of Logan.

Jason Dohring played Logan Echolls, the "bad-boy" 09er son of an A-list actor. Dohring originally auditioned for the role of Duncan Kane. After his audition, the producers asked Dohring to audition for the character of Logan, who at the time was only going to be a guest star in the pilot. Dohring felt that his audition for Duncan "was a little dark", and was told by the producers that it was "not really right". The producers then asked Dohring to read for the role of Logan. The audition process for Logan was originally Duncan, and Dohring acted one scene from the pilot; bashing the headlights of a car in with a crowbar. During the final auditions, Dohring read two times with Bell,

Jason Dohring's character Logan was originally a guest star in the pilot.

Cyrus O'Dell and met with the studio and the network. When reading with Bell, Dohring acted the whole scene as if he had raped her, and tried to give the character an evil and fun feel. Percy Daggs III portrayed Wallace Fennel, Veronica's best friend and frequent partner in mystery solving. Percy Daggs III auditioned for the role of Wallace Fennel two times before being cast, and had to go through three tests with the studio and network executives. During his first audition, Daggs read four scenes from the pilot. Just before his studio test, Daggs read with Bell and had "a great conversation". He said that she "made me feel comfortable about auditioning", and was a big reason why he became more comfortable playing Wallace as the season went on. Francis Capra portrayed Eli "Weevil" Navarro, the leader of the PCH Biker gang and Veronica's friend. Enrico Colantoni played Veronica's father Keith Mars, a private investigator and former Balboa County Sheriff. Sydney Tamiia Poitier played Mallory Dent, Veronica's journalism teacher at Neptune High through the first season's first half. Ms. Dent, as she was commonly referred to, was the only teacher who took Veronica at face value, not based on prejudices. Together with Veronica, she was responsible for uncovering the voting scam that led to Duncan winning the school elections illegally. Ms. Dent left her job after becoming pregnant. Although she was given series regular billing, Poitier appeared in only four episodes, but was given credit for seven. Poitier's removal from the series was rumored to be due to budget issues. Tessa Thompson portrays Jackie Cook in the second season as a romantic interest of Wallace and the daughter of a famous baseball player. Fan reaction to the character was generally negative, after Veronica witnessed Jackie talking to a guy while dating Wallace. Thomas blamed the character's reception on his error in judgment: he had hoped fans would question whether it was Jackie or Poitier was given series regular Veronica in the wrong, however the audience automatically assumed that it was billing, but appeared in only a total of four episodes. Jackie. Thomas decided not to change the story arc he had planned for Jackie, as he believed Thompson was "a fantastic actress and she's got more to play." He said that whether fans end up liking Jackie is "up in the air", but he hoped that they did because "she's really, really good". Jackie was subsequently written out of the series at the end of the second season. Ryan Hansen portrayed Dick Casablancas, an 09er friend of Logan, a womanizer and former high-school bully turned frat boy. Dick was a recurring character in the first season, but was upgraded to a series regular in the second season. Kyle Gallner acted as Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas, Dick's introverted younger brother. Cassidy was a recurring character in the first season, but was upgraded to a series regular in the second season. Tina Majorino portrayed Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, a computer expert befriended by Veronica. Mac was a recurring character in the first two seasons, but was upgraded to a series regular in the third. Julie Gonzalo portrayed Parker Lee, Mac's extroverted roommate at Hearst College, described by Thomas as "everything that Mac is not". Parker was introduced in the third season as a series regular. Chris Lowell played Stosh "Piz" Piznarski, Wallace's roommate at Hearst College and a music lover with his own campus radio show. Piz was introduced in the third season as a series regular, and was named after the director of the pilot, Mark Piznarski. The character's role was to have another male friend for Veronica who was middle-class, and not upper-class. Thomas used the radio show as a narrative device to capture the mood of the university. Michael Muhney portrayed Don Lamb, the Balboa County Sheriff who won the office from Keith in the recall election spearheaded by Jake Kane. Lamb was a recurring character in the first two seasons, but was upgraded to a series regular in the third.

119

Cyrus O'Dell

120

Recurring characters
Family
Charisma Carpenter portrays Kendall Casablancas (Kendall Lacey Shifflet, a fake real name; really Priscilla Banks), Cassidy and Dick's gold-digging stepmother. Kendall first appears in the second season premiere, having married real estate magnate Richard Casablancas, seemingly for his vast wealth. She becomes the stepmother of Dick and Cassidy, and begins an affair with their friend, Logan. Cassidy hires Veronica to investigate his stepmother, and she discovers that she helped Richard commit real estate fraud. Veronica told Cassidy and gave the information to the Securities and Exchange Commission; however, Richard fled the country before he could be arrested. Richard's lawyers told Kendall that while the boys both had trust funds, essentially she had nothing. Kendall became desperate for money, and began selling Richard's belongings, and turned to Logan and Duncan, but to no avail. Cassidy, who had started a real estate company called Phoenix Land Trust, needed Kendall to be his CEO for Charisma Carpenter appeared in 11 business purposes, because of his underage status. Although Kendall and Cassidy episodes as Kendall Casablancas. admitted their mutual dislike of each other, the prospect of the salary eventually made Kendall come around. The business continued, though most people assumed Richard was behind Phoenix Land Trust, not Cassidy. When Cassidy informs Kendall they need to acquire more land, she goes and visits the incarcerated Aaron. She makes a deal with him: he will buy into Phoenix Land Trust if she goes to Duncan and Logan's suite and gets something for him. Kendall goes to the suite, and removes some of Duncan's hair from the shower drain. Aaron later uses the hair to plant false evidence implying Duncan committed the crime for which he was on trial, and Aaron was acquitted. When Keith discovers that Kendall is the beneficiary of the life insurance policies on her stepsons, who could have been killed in the bus crash that claimed the lives of several people, he began investigating. He and Veronica discover that everything they know about Kendall is a lie; she is not a dumb trophy wife, rather a con artist named Priscilla Banks. She had been working with the Fitzpatrick crime family, and spent time in jail to protect her lover, Cormac Fitzpatrick (Jason Beghe). Keith breaks into Kendall's home, which leads to a dangerous confrontation with Kendall and Liam Fitzpatrick. When Cormac is released from prison, Keith reunites the two, who are trying to escape from Liam Fitzpatrick with the money Kendall received from Phoenix Land Trust. As Keith leaves the two, Cormac shoots and kills Kendall and tries to shoot Keith, who escapes. Keith believes he got Kendall killed, and feels guilty since he and Kendall had formed a cordial relationship while he was working for her. He goes back to the crime scene with the police, but neither the body of Kendall or Cormac are found, who is believed to have been killed by Liam for not giving up the money. David Starzyk portrays Richard Casablancas, Cassidy and Dick's father. Richard marries Kendall for her to be a trophy wife, and openly favors Dick over Cassidy. When Veronica discovers that he has committed real estate fraud and tells the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Richard flees the country before he can be arrested. Jeffrey Sams acts as Terrence Cook, an ex-major-league baseball player, gambler, and Jackie's formerly estranged father.

Cyrus O'Dell

121

Harry Hamlin (left) and Lisa Rinna (right) are married in the series and in real life.

Harry Hamlin plays Aaron Echolls, an Oscar-winning A-list actor and is the main antagonist during the season 1 finale. At the beginning of the series, Aaron is married to his second wife Lynn, with whom he has a son Logan. He adopted his daughter Trina while married to his previous wife. Aaron has numerous female fans, due to his impressive physique and good looks. Aaron cheats on his wife, and easily angered, he physically abuses Logan, but tolerates Trina. Aaron quits acting when Lynn commits suicide, and tries to reconcile with Logan and Trina. Upon learning that Trina is being physically abused by her boyfriend, he beats the boy, threatening more if the boy ever returned. When Veronica exposes him as the man who killed Lilly, Aaron is indicted and held without bail. Logan visits his father in a holding cell after new evidence implicates Logan in a murder case. Aaron claims that he is innocent, and tries to convince his son that he had been wrongfully accused. Logan, who despises his father, does not believe Aaron's story, but recognizes that the evidence against Aaron is circumstantial at best. Later, Kendall visits Aaron in prison, and he agrees to invest in Phoenix Land Trust if she gets some of Duncan's hair. Aaron uses the hair to plant false evidence implying Duncan committed the crime, and Aaron is acquitted. He goes to the Neptune Grand and has sex with Kendall. While she is in the shower, Clarence Wiedman appears and kills Aaron with a silenced pistol on the orders of Duncan. Lisa Rinna portrays Lynn Echolls, Logan's mother and Trina's stepmother. Lynn was a famous movie star who was married to Aaron Echolls, an even bigger movie star. Lynn tried to ignore Aaron's abuse of Logan by turning to alcohol and pills. After Aaron received several threatening letters, Lynn turned to Keith in an effort to discover who was behind them. It turned out to be a caterer who had seen Aaron having an affair at a party, and he had her fired. At the Echolls's Christmas party, the caterer knifed Aaron in the gut. Aaron recovered, and hired Keith to find out who was leaking stories of his many infidelities to the press, only to discover it was Lynn. When Aaron confronted Lynn, she said that she wanted to hurt him like he hurt her, and went back to her car, took some pills, and drove away. Her car was found abandoned on the Coronado Bridge. Apparently, she had jumped, but no body was found. Even after the funeral, Logan refused to believe that his mother was dead. He believed she left him clues that she was still alive (ex: leaving behind a lighter that was engraved with "Free At Last" that she always kept in her purse), and that she was faking her death to get away from Aaron. Logan hired Veronica to prove his mother was alive; however, a video filmed by a freshman and his friends who were making a movie showed jumping from the bridge in the background, the exact time it was believed Lynn had jumped. Logan finally realizes that she's gone due to the evidence in the video and after discovering that Trina was the one using his mother's credit cards. With all hope gone of his mother being alive, he breaks down crying in Veronica's arms. Later, when Lynn's will was read, it was discovered she had cut Aaron out completely, left nothing to Trina, and given Logan everything she had.

Cyrus O'Dell

122

Alyson Hannigan plays Trina Echolls, Logan's adopted sister and a struggling actress. She is first mentioned by Aaron in "Clash of the Tritons", who says that she is the only one who will talk to him. Logan asks Veronica to investigate his mother's death, and they discover Trina is staying at the Neptune Grand. The film Trina had been shooting in Australia had not worked out, and she had decided to return home. Trina moves back into the house, and gets into trouble with money after borrowing money from her boyfriend, Dylan. She asks Logan for a loan; however, he does not give her any money. Because Trina can't pay Dylan, he ends up beating her to which Logan finds out about after seeing her limp and has a black eye. Once Dylan arrives to talk to Aaron about starring in his movie, Aaron confronts him and beats him. In "My Mother, the Fiend", Trina returns to Neptune as the "Special Celebrity Director" of the school play. During this time, Veronica investigates the case of a Rob Thomas said that it was hard to baby left in the bathroom of Neptune High during the prom of 1980. She believes write an episode featuring Hannigan because of her busy schedule. Celeste Kane is the mother and wants her to own up to abandoning the child. Veronica eventually discovers Trina was the prom baby, and tells Trina the truth, who is excited at the thought of inheriting some of Celeste's wealth. The next day at school, Veronica and Trina are talking when Mary, the deaf lunch lady, begins pointing to herself and then to Trina. Veronica eventually deciphers her sign language: Mary is Trina's biological mother. It turns out then-student Mary had an affair with a teacher, and she left baby Trina at his doorstep. He then left the baby in the bathroom at the prom, knowing they would think it belonged to a student. It turned out the teacher was the current principal, Alan Moorehead. Trina busts him in the middle of a staff meeting, in front of all the other teachers, and he is fired. As a result of Hannigan's busy schedule, several of her storylines had to be swapped between episodes. Thomas said that he "loved having Alyson in the show", and had "a lot of fun with her". Erica Gimpel portrays Alicia Fennel, Wallace's mother; dated Keith Mars at the end of season one and the beginning of season two. Kyle Secor recurs as Jake Kane, Lilly and Duncan's father, a software billionaire. He is Lianne Mars' sweetheart in high school and was having an affair with her at the start of season one. Jake invented streaming video, making him one of the most influential men in Neptune, California via his software company, Kane Software. When Veronica interviews Abel Koontz, he suggests that Veronica is actually Jake's biological daughter rather than Keith's because Jake and Lianne once dated while in high school. Keith later has a paternity test and is proved to be Veronica's biological father. Jake returns in the series finale as a member of the secret society "The Castle". Lisa Thornhill acts as Celeste Kane, Lilly and Duncan's mother. Celeste loathed Veronica because of her husband's affair with Veronica's mother. She disapproved of Veronica and Duncan's relationship, and told Duncan that Veronica could have been his half-sister, because of Jake's affair with Lianne. This caused Duncan to break up with Veronica. Before Lilly died, Celeste had shown some resentment towards her daughters' way of life, and blamed every problem her family faced on Lilly. In her last appearance, in Donut Run, she hired Vinnie Van Lowe to find Duncan.

Cyrus O'Dell

123

Amanda Seyfried portrays Lilly Kane, Duncan's older sister, Veronica's best friend, and Logan's girlfriend. Lilly was the daughter of Jake and Celeste Kane. She was murdered roughly eight months prior to the time of the show's first episode. Abel Koontz, a disgruntled employee fired from Jake's firm, confessed to the crime and was awaiting execution. Lilly is seen on the show throughout a series of flashbacks and Veronica's daydreams, which portray her as a fun, wild, and stylish teenage girl. She was best friend to Veronica, who was dating Lilly's brother, Duncan. Prior to her death, Lilly had been dating Logan, but had also been in a relationship with Eli "Weevil" Navarro, as Lilly did not like to be tied down. Lilly's murder changes Veronica's life completely, being the catalyst for a series of events that include Veronica's father Keith losing his job, Veronica's mother Lianne leaving town, and all of Veronica's friends abandoning her. Through the first season, Veronica investigates Lilly's murder, and finds that nothing is what it seems. All three of the Kanes falsified their alibis, and Lilly's time of death was three hours off. Clarence Wiedman, the head of security for Kane Software, called in the tip that got Abel Koontz arrested.

Thomas felt that Seyfried was so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned.

In the episode, "Leave It to Beaver", Veronica and Duncan discover several video tapes in Lilly's bedroom. They show Lilly in bed with Aaron, Logan's father. Veronica realizes that Aaron killed Lilly to get the tapes back. When Duncan found her body, he went into a catatonic state. When his parents discovered him reeling over Lilly's dead body they assumed he had killed Lilly in an epileptic fit. To protect their son, they began an elaborate cover-up of the murder. However, before Veronica is able to take the tapes to the police, Aaron tries to kill her. After a chase, Keith arrives and he manages to subdue Aaron, and he is arrested. Later that night, Veronica has a dream about Lilly. The two of them are floating in a lily-covered pool. Leaning back and smiling, Veronica declared this was the way things were supposed to be, and how they were going to be from now on. Lilly smiles sadly and replies, "You know how things are going to be from now on, don't you? You have to know." She then asks Veronica not to forget about her and Veronica turns to see that Lilly has disappeared and she is alone in the pool. Veronica promises that she could never forget her best friend. Lilly also appears as a hallucination in the season two premiere, "Normal Is the Watchword". Distracted by seeing Lilly, Veronica misses the bus and has to ride with Weevil back to town instead; the bus later crashes, and all aboard eventually die. Lilly returns for one last dream sequence in "Not Pictured", wherein Veronica's subconscious suggests that Lilly would have attended Vassar, had she lived. As high-spirited as ever, Lilly brags over her sexual experiments and promises Veronica will understand once she goes to college. A painting of Lilly is seen in the final episode, as an homage to the character. Thomas described Seyfried as "the biggest surprise of the year". When casting Lilly Kane, who would only appear occasionally as "the dead girl", Thomas did not receive the same level of actors who auditioned for the role of a series regular. Thomas said that he had "never had a more cut and dry audition" than he did with Seyfried. He said that she was "about 100 times better than anyone else that we saw, she was just spectacular". He said that she ended up being so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned. Corinne Bohrer recurs as Lianne Mars, Veronica's estranged and alcoholic mother. Lianne was the high school sweetheart of Jake Kane, who she believed was Veronica's father. At Neptune High, Lianne was credited to being a gossip and a friend to the deaf girl, Mary, who was later revealed to be the biological mother of Trina Echolls. Lianne later marries Keith, however she has an affair with Jake. After the Lilly Kane murder is made public, Lianne develops a drinking problem and leaves town. When she returns, claiming to want to fix her problems, Veronica spends all of her college savings to enter her mother into rehab. Lianne returns to stay, seemingly sober, however Veronica finds out that Lianne did not finish rehab. Veronica asks Lianne to leave, who steals the $50,000 settlement Veronica received from the Kanes. Lianne reappeared in Veronica's dream, where Lilly was never murdered and Lianne is the perfect mother.

Cyrus O'Dell

124

Ryan Eggold guest stars as Charlie Stone, Logan's half-brother and Aaron's son. When Logan asks Veronica to investigate his rapidly declining trust fund, she uncovers the fact that Logan's father, movie star Aaron, had an illegitimate child. In order to keep this fact a secret from the tabloids, Aaron arranged for his accountant to deposit $10,000 a month from the Echolls estate into a fake charity set up to funnel the money to his son. After learning this information, Logan reaches out to his half-brother, finding a confidante and potential friend. Veronica continues her investigation to discover that the person Logan believes to be his half-brother (Matt Czuchry) is actually a writer for Vanity Fair who posed as Charlie Stone in order to get Logan to share personal details about growing up in the Echolls home. The real Charlie Stone refused to answer the reporter's questions, preferring to remain anonymous. Logan, believing that Ryan Eggold played Logan's real Charlie set up the reporter, reveals his brother's identity on Larry King Live in an half-brother. attempt to scoop the magazine profile. After Veronica informs him that the real Charlie had nothing to do with the reporter, Logan tearfully contacts his half-brother again. Cress Williams appears as Nathan Woods, Wallace's biological father with a shady past as an undercover cop.

Residents of Neptune
Richard Grieco portrays Steve Batando, a struggling actor and drug addict as well as Mindy O'Dell's ex-husband. Killed Lamb with a bat then was shot and killed by Sacks. Laura San Giacomo recurs as Harmony Chase, a married woman with whom Keith becomes romantically involved. Max Greenfield recurs as Leo D'Amato, introduced as the new Sheriff's Deputy, who Veronica befriends. Without his consent, Veronica steals a recording of an anonymous tip implicating Abel Koontz in the death of Lilly Kane from the evidence room. Leo is shortly suspended for the break-in, and when Veronica attempts to apologize, he is reluctant to forgive her. When Veronica admits she has fallen for him, he dismisses the claim, however they Richard Grieco portrays Steve Batando kiss during her school dance. When Veronica secretly begins to date Logan, she confesses the affair to Leo and ends the relationship. The pair manage to remain on good terms, and Leo assists Veronica in breaking-up a dognapping ring the same night she breaks up with him. To get enough money to send his little sister with Down syndrome to a private school, Leo steals and sells the Aaron Echolls and Lilly Kane sex tapes to Logan. Logan promptly destroys the tapes due to the traumatic nature of them, however he inadvertently compromises the pending case against Aaron. Keith discovers Leo's participation in the theft, however, he covers for him by stating that the tapes were stolen because Leo was not at his post. Leo is promptly fired from the sheriff's department, but is able to keep the money that Logan paid him and help his sister. Leo begins working for a private security company, and finds himself working for Woody Goodman's daughter Gia. Leo contacts Keith when he is concerned that his security company's warehouse is about to be robbed. Leo loses his job for involving Keith, although Keith asks him to return as a deputy. Rodney Rowland plays Liam Fitzpatrick, a formidable Irish-Catholic gangster and drug dealer. Liam Fitzpatrick is in charge of the Fitzpatrick mafia family, also known as the Fighting Fitzpatricks. He shoots his brother, Cormac Fitzpatrick, in cold blood, after Cormac fails to retrieve an original Van Gogh painting. It has been hinted that he and his family are helping Vinnie Van Lowe win the election for Sherriff. Liam tells Keith that if Vinnie does not win the election, or if Keith does anything to hurt Vinnie's campaign, he will kill Veronica.

Cyrus O'Dell Steve Guttenberg portrays Woody Goodman, the owner of the Sharks baseball team and Balboa County Executive. More commonly known as the "Mayor of Neptune", although the position is actually "County Supervisor." Revealed at the end of season two to have molested boys through his involvement with Little League baseball teams. Woody was killed when his private plane was blown up by explosives planted by Cassidy Casablancas. Rick Peters plays Tom Griffith, a plastic surgeon and coke-addict who was asked by the Fitzpatricks to testify that Logan killed Felix. Logan retaliated by dating his daughter Hannah until he dropped his charges. Christian Clemenson plays Abel Koontz, Lilly Kane's falsely confessed murderer. Koontz was the person at Kane software who perfected streaming media, but was cheated out of the patent. He then tried to invent a technology that "would put Kane out of business", though he failed and his wife walked out on him. Three months after Lilly's murder, Koontz confessed to murdering her. Lamb found Lilly's backpack and shoes while searching Abel's houseboat, backing up Koontz's confession. Until this point, Keith's investigation was squarely focused on the Kane family as suspects. It was Keith's failure to investigate Koontz that led to his eventual ousting as Neptune's Sheriff. A year later, when Veronica started to conduct her own investigation of Lilly's murder, she visited Koontz on death row twice. During their first visit, Koontz quickly recognizes Veronica and reveals that Jake Kane may be her real father. She was suspicious of Koontz's confession because he fired his attorney while on death row and she discovered that the same shoes that were found in Koontz houseboat were in Lilly's room at the time of the murder. Veronica sneaked into Koontz's doctor's office, and stole both his and Duncan's medical files. She found out that Duncan had type-4 epilepsy, whose symptoms included violent outbursts and seizures. For the first time, Veronica realized that Duncan was a possible suspect in Lilly's murder. She also found out that Abel Koontz had stomach cancer, and that he was dying. She concluded that Jake Kane paid Koontz to confess to the murder, even though he was not the perpetrator so that Keith Mars' investigation into the Kane family would end. Koontz accepted the offer because he knew he was dying and intended to give the money to his daughter, Amelia DeLongpr, who he had neglected in the past. Veronica locates Abel's daughter in order to help prove that he is innocent, but Clarence Wiedman, head of Kane security, bribes her with three million dollars in exchange for her silence. During Veronica's second visit to Koontz, she told him that she knew that he was dying, and that he was paid to confess to the murder. Koontz's innocence was further solidified when Keith went to Las Vegas to talk to a prostitute that was with Koontz at the time of Lilly's murder. Koontz's final appearance was in the second season episode "Rat Saw God". After being cleared of all murder charges and released from prison, he asks Veronica to help locate Amelia before he dies. While investigating, Veronica discovers that Amelia was killed by her boyfriend after they blackmailed Clarence Wiedman for more money. Instead of telling him the truth, Veronica says that his daughter was happily living in Aspen, and that she could not fly down yet because of the weather. He then dies at the end of the episode, but it is not shown. Daran Norris recurs as Cliff McCormack, a Public Defender and Mars family friend. Cliff is a public defender in Neptune who has served as an ally to Keith and Veronica Mars, as well as a steady client of Mars Investigations. Although rarely a key player in the series, he has had some notable and memorable appearances. In "The Rapes of Graff", Cliff was seduced by an escort hired by Aaron Echolls to steal Cliff's briefcase, which contained the Logan Echolls murder case files and keys to the storage locker containing Aaron's personal belongings, including an Oscar statue. Jaime Ray Newman appears as Mindy O'Dell, Dean O'Dell's wife. Mindy and Cyrus share no children of their own, but parent Cyrus' adolescent son from a previous marriage and Mindy's younger son by her first husband, Steven Batando. In "President Evil", the O'Dells hire Keith to find Steven in the hopes that his bone marrow would be a match to that of his biological son, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Keith locates Steven, who refuses to donate his marrow. When Batando later disappears, Keith suspects that the O'Dells kidnapped him and took the marrow donation against his will, but looks the other way. In "Hi, Infidelity", Veronica finds Mindy sharing a hotel room with Hank, her criminology professor at Hearst College, and an employee of Cyrus'. Keith puts Mindy under surveillance after Cyrus hired him to find out if she's having an affair. Keith discovers no affair, but Veronica reveals

125

Cyrus O'Dell the affair with Landry to her father, Keith, who reveals it to Cyrus. Cyrus confides in Keith, saying that Mindy was too young and too beautiful, and their marriage had been doomed to fail. Mindy is preparing to leave Landry in the Neptune Grand hotel room they shared when Cyrus enters and confronts them both about the affair, brandishing a loaded pistol. When Cyrus is found shot to death in his office, the insurance company rules his death a suicide, leaving the O'Dell family with no compensation for the loss of income, in "Spit & Eggs". Mindy returns to Keith Mars and hires him to prove that Cyrus was murdered, in "Show Me the Monkey". Mindy finally gets the insurance money from her husband's murder, buys a boat and leaves town after being questioned by Acting Sheriff Keith Mars. Hank Landry catches up with Mindy on her boat and he later confesses to accidentally killing her the night before being found, in "Papa's Cabin". Ken Marino recurs as Vinnie Van Lowe, Keith's rival private investigator. Announced his intentions to run for Sheriff against Keith in the special election. Vinnie Van Lowe is a private investigator in Neptune, California and is the main competition for Keith and Veronica. Vinnie has rather lax moral standards and is often willing to take on cases that the Mars Investigation team would refuse. It is because of this that he has a much larger caseload than the Mars family. The cases that Vinnie Van Lowe takes on have sometimes helped the Mars family, but sometimes his work has been in opposition to the cases of Mars Investigations. In "Kanes and Abel's", Veronica is attempting to find out who has been harassing Sabrina Fuller, the School Board President's daughter, and one of the top candidates for the Kane Scholarship. The Kane Scholarship is a full scholarship named in honor of Lilly, awarded to the valedictorian of Neptune High. In her investigation, Veronica discovers that one of the cars that was used during a harassment was owned by Vinnie Van Lowe's ex-wife, Debra Villareal. From this she was able to figure out that Vinnie Van Lowe was the person hired to harass Sabrina. In "Donut Run" Van Lowe was hired by Celeste Kane to watch Veronica because Celeste suspected that Veronica knew where Duncan took the kidnapped baby. Veronica was able to take advantage of Vinnie's willingness to change clients if he is offered a better deal. Veronica had Duncan offer Vinnie more money to drive the Manning baby and a Veronica look-alike over the Mexican border and to pick Duncan up in Mexico. It was because of this that Duncan was able to successfully escape authorities with the kidnapped baby. In "Not Pictured", Vinnie and Keith team up to catch Woody Goodman. Vinnie had broken into the Goodman house and stole all their records. Vinnie was arrested, but got away with the records. Using his one phone call, he meets with Keith to get him to split the bounty. Vinnie gives the records and Keith gets the man. In "Welcome Wagon", he almost gets Keith killed while working for Liam Fitzpatrick. However, in "Of Vice and Men", Vinnie rescued Veronica and Meryl from serious danger from the Fitzpatricks when the two girls wander into the River Stix searching for Meryl's missing boyfriend. Christopher B. Duncan recurs as Clarence Wiedman, the Head of Security at Kane Software. He kills Aaron Echolls at the end of season two on Duncan's orders. As Head of Security for Kane Software, Wiedman is known to do the less-than-savory jobs that Jake Kane needs done. It is known that Jake Kane called Wiedman before he reported his daughter's murder and Veronica speculates that he assisted in the cover-up of Lilly's true time of death by lowering the temperature of her body. It is known that Wiedman paid Amelia deLongpre so that her father, Abel Koontz, would falsely confess to the murder of Lilly. When Veronica found Amelia and tried to convince her to reveal the existence of the payoff money, Wiedman got to her first and gave her even more money so that she would leave Neptune, in "Kanes and Abel's". Wiedman also called in the anonymous tip that got Abel Koontz arrested and took photos of Veronica that were sent to Lianne Mars in "You Think You Know Somebody". Unfortunately, Amelia DeLongpre didn't stay away long. When Abel tried to get Veronica to find his daughter, Veronica found out that she had called Kane Software from a payphone across the street and confronted Wiedman about it. Later on, when Veronica found her body, Clarence was there and confessed to her that Amelia had asked for more money. As it turned out, it was Amelia's new boyfriend, Carlos Mercado, who had wanted the money and after he got it, he killed Amelia. Wiedman traced the money to Las Vegas and it was implied that he killed Carlos in "Rat Saw God". Wiedman made another appearance when Aaron was acquitted. In "Not Pictured", Aaron's hotel room, Clarence assassinated him with two bullets. Afterwards, he called Duncan in Australia, who asked "CW?" Wiedman responded, "It's a done deal".

126

Cyrus O'Dell

127

Neptune High
John Bennett Perry plays Alan Moorehead, the Principal of Neptune High. When Moorehead was a teacher, he had an affair with then-student Mary, and she left their baby Trina Echolls at his doorstep. He then left the baby in the bathroom at the prom, knowing they would think it belonged to a student. Many years later, when Veronica discovers that he is Trina's father, Moorehead is fired as principal. Duane Daniels plays Van Clemmons, the Vice Principal turned Principal of Neptune High. During high school, Veronica constantly John Bennett Perry played Alan Moorehead gets into trouble and as a result regularly meets with Clemmons. Occasionally, Van Clemmons asks Veronica for help, once asking her to locate the missing school mascot. Clemmons is the one who instructs Veronica to organize some old files, which led to her discovering Moorehead as Trina Echolls' father. When Moorehead is fired as principal, Veronica realizes that it was Clemmons' plan all along to become principal. When Veronica graduates, Clemmons says that he cannot decide if his life will be easier or more difficult with her gone. Clemmons reappears in "Un-American Graffiti", where he is caught on tape being shot with a paintball gun by several Neptune High students. Adam Hendershott portrays Vincent "Butters" Clemmons, a student at Neptune High and Van Clemmons' son. When he was a freshman, Vincent was pantsed by a bully and given the nickname "Butters". Vincent vowed revenge and that following fall, the jock who had humiliated him and those who did nothing to save him, found themselves having failed mandatory drug tests, essentially barring them from playing sports in their final year of high school. Veronica believed Butters to be behind the crime; however, she discovered the real culprits were a conclave of parents who rigged the drug tests so that their children could gain the spots opened up in the wake of the mass suspension of athletes. Later, when Butters' only friend Marcos Oliveres was killed in the bus crash and his parents sued the school, Veronica thought Butters was targeting the family, leaving them reminders of their son to torment the parents. She discovers that Butters and Marcos secretly ran the local pirate radio station, "Ahoy, Mateys!", which was infamous for its vicious slandering of the popular cliques at school. Butters tells Veronica that he had little contact with Marcos since the summer, when he came back from summer camp and quit the radio show without telling Butters why. Veronica later found out summer camp was an antigay camp he was sent to, and that the real culprit was Marcos' friend Ryan, who had a crush on Marcos and who sought to make the Oliveres suffer the same way they made their son suffer in regards to his potential homosexuality. Butters develops a crush on Mac, much to her disgust, and she is forced to attend Logan's "anti-prom" with him. James Jordan acts as Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic, the deceased former janitor at Neptune High. He previously acted as a bat boy for Woody Goodman's baseball team, the Sharks. Jonathan Chesner portrays Douglas "Corny", a Stoner, occasional ally of Veronica's. Corny is in the same graduation class as Veronica. Corny makes the bong that Veronica plants in Logan's locker in "Pilot". Resident stoner of Neptune High. Works at Cho's Pizza as a deliveryman. When he is mugged and tasered in "Versatile Toppings" he helps Veronica find the culprit. He appears to have somewhat of a crush on Veronica as seen in "Blast from the Past" when he nominates her for Neptune High's Homecoming Queen. He was the DJ in between the Faders's sets at the Homecoming dance his senior year. He's very proud of his brownie recipe claiming that "it's all in the butter." He appears to go to Logan's Alterna-Prom alone. Krysten Ritter portrays Gia Goodman, the daughter of the influential Neptune citizen and professional baseball team owner Woody Goodman, and a student at Neptune High. Gia starts attending Neptune High after she transfers from a private boarding school. She attends the class field trip to Shark Field and meets Dick Casablancas, his brother Cassidy, Duncan Kane and Veronica for the first time. Gia rides the school bus on the way to the stadium,

Cyrus O'Dell however she opts to ride in Dick Casablancas' limo with the other "09ers" on the way back. The bus crashes and all of the passengers die, except for Meg Manning. Later in the year, Gia invites Veronica to her slumber party. Veronica attends, however she has an ulterior motive and is investigating families that Meg babysat for. When Gia is sent footage of herself at her brother's soccer game, she hires Veronica to find the sender. Gia and Veronica's friendship is broken when a feud erupts between their fathers, and she fires Veronica from the case. When Veronica realizes that Gia's stalker is Neptune High's janitor Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic, she rushes to her aid. Lucky is arrested, but he is let go when the Mannings pay for his bail. He comes to school the next day with a gun looking for Gia; however he is shot and killed by school security. Jessy Schram plays Hannah Griffith, an "09er" high-school sophomore student at Neptune High. Hannah meets Logan at the school carnival, and is surprised when he asks her out. Logan reveals to Hannah that her father, plastic surgeon Dr. Thomas Griffith, is a cocaine user. He tells her that he is protecting his dealers, the Fitzpatricks, and has falsely testified against Logan in a murder trial. Hannah decides that she cannot trust Logan, because he is only dating her to get to her father, but she is quick to forgive him. When her father catches her being undressed by Logan, he sends Hannah to a boarding school in Vermont. Kari Coleman portrays Deborah Hauser, a divorced sex education teacher with a bitter approach to her students, disliking all non-09ers and kissing ass to the 09ers. Veronica baby-sits her demonic son in order to find out if he is being abused. It is also revealed she was friends with Lianne Mars when they attended Neptune High as teenagers, and were suspended together for spreading a "false and malicious rumour". Mrs Hauser maintained that Lianne told her a rumour knowing it was false and Deborah passing it on unknowingly, however Veronica found out the real story. Lianne's friend had an affair with a teacher at the school and became pregnant, and not knowing how to help, confided in Deborah, who passed the gossip around. This baby would end up being Trina Echolls. Mrs Hauser makes another appearance during the Winter Carnival at school where she steals money from the cashbox and tries to blame Veronica and Jackie. However, she is caught and deservedly fired. Paula Marshall acts as Rebecca James, the school guidance counsellor and briefly dated Keith Mars. Paula had previously worked with series creator Rob Thomas on his earlier series, Cupid. Veronica does not approve of their relationship and digs up information on her to change Keith's mind - information being Ms. James was arrested for passing bad cheques when she was 21. Ms. James and Veronica's relationship is strained because of this, although she does try to help Veronica discover the meaning of her haunting dreams in the second season. Alona Tal recurs as Meg Manning, an "09er" cheerleader and the daughter of mentally abusive fundamentalist Christian parents. She initially appears when Veronica is the victim of a nasty prank and lends her clothes, and sticks up for her when other 09ers start insulting her. When an online purity test posts all the participants results, Meg's is faked to be unusually low and she gets a reputation as a slut. Veronica finds the person responsible for making this up about Meg (in "Like a Virgin"). When Meg asks Veronica to help find her secret admirer, she is keen to help, until she finds out that her secret admirer is Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend. Eventually, Veronica accepts Meg and Duncan's relationship. ("Ruskie Business") After finding out that he is not Veronica's half-brother, Duncan breaks up with Meg, who blames Veronica. Afterward, Meg's attitude towards Veronica is openly hostile. On the way back from a field trip to a baseball ground, while Veronica was talking to Weevil during a rest stop, Meg deliberately implied that Veronica had returned to the bus, causing it to leave without her. However, the bus subsequently careened off a cliff and into the ocean. ("Normal Is the Watchword")

128

Alona Tal auditioned for the role of Veronica Mars, and was Rob Thomas' second choice. Thomas created the recurring role of Meg Manning specifically for her.[citation
needed]

Cyrus O'Dell Meg was the only survivor, but she remained in a coma for much of the second season. Meg has two younger sisters, Lizzie and Grace. While Meg was in a coma, Lizzie brought Duncan Meg's laptop, asking him to remove Meg's personal files from the system before her parents were able to check them. Duncan and Veronica found that Meg had compiled information about a child whom she often babysat. The young boy was being abused by his parents. Soon, the two uncovered that the abused child (who was referred to by Meg as a boy) was actually Meg's youngest sister Grace. Meg's parents are religious zealots who lock Grace in a closet when they are out, and make her fill out exercise book after exercise book with the phrase: "The path of God is paved with righteousness." Duncan and Veronica found dozens of these books in Grace's room. Veronica visited Meg in the hospital and discovered that Meg was pregnant, this being the reason she was so mad at Veronica. Shortly after she left, Meg awoke from her coma. ("My Mother, the Fiend") Meg apologized to Veronica for her harsh treatment and then asked Veronica to make sure that her baby wouldn't fall into her parents' hands should anything happen to Meg. Later that same episode, Meg died of a blood clot to the heart, but not before giving birth to her daughter Faith, who was later renamed Lilly by the child's father Duncan Kane. ("One Angry Veronica") Duncan flees to Australia with her to escape Meg's parents. James Molina plays Eduardo "Thumper" Orozco, a PCH biker who betrays Weevil and starts dealing for the Irish gang the Fitzpatricks. Murdered deliberately by the Fitzpatricks and indirectly by Weevil and inadvertently but directly by Logan. Leighton Meester plays Carrie Bishop, nicknamed the queen of gossip at Neptune High. She appeared in two episodes. She was known for faking an affair with a teacher who Veronica strongly thought was innocent. The teacher is found that he had in fact had a relationship with a previous student who had his baby, whom he denied and left. That student was the reason why Carrie had made these accusations. She also appeared in a later episode when Veronica is searching for the one responsible of raping her at Shelly Pomeroy's party. Carrie had told her that Duncan Kane was the one she saw with Veronica in the bedroom. Michael Kostroff portrays Samuel Pope, the teacher of Future Business Leaders of America and one of the few ethical people of Neptune. He plans to retire to a life of sailing during the second season, after making a small fortune from real estate investment in Big Dick Casablancas' firm. Veronica discovers that the company is defrauding the investors and encourages Mr. Pope to get rid of his stock before she reports it, but he sadly replies he cannot do this; to get rid of it, he would have to sell it to someone else, and they would pay they price. He sadly admits he cannot do that, and cannot retire as planned. It is assumed he continues teaching at Neptune High. Amanda Noret plays Madison Sinclair, Dick's ex-girlfriend and Neptune High's resident bitch. Shortly after Lilly's murder, at Shelly Pomeroy's party, Dick dosed Madison's drink with GHB to loosen her up; however, Madison spat in the drink, which she calls "A Trip to the Dentist", and gave it to Veronica. In turn, Veronica drank the soda, and later had sex with Duncan, who had also unknowingly ingested GHB (given to him by Logan). The following year, Madison rigged the school election in order to get Duncan Kane elected to student body president. Veronica exposed the plot which resulted in Madison losing her place on the student council and the special privileges granted by the position. Veronica discovers in Season One that Madison was switched at birth with Mac. It is shown that Madison constantly argues with her family, whereas Mac's parents have fully accepted Mac as their daughter, and have shown no signs of wanting anything to do with Madison. After breaking up with Dick, she is secretly involved with Sheriff Don Lamb ("The Rapes of Graff"). Veronica discovers this and mocks Madison about her relationship with Lamb in front of their classmates through innuendo that, while her classmates do not understand, had a meaning that was quite apparent to Madison. Madison, having gone off to college at USC, is absent from much of Veronica's life at Hearst, until she had several run-ins with her in Neptune in the episode "Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves". Veronica first sees Madison when she arrived unexpectedly at Neptune Grand Suite shared by Logan and Dick; thinking that Madison was simply looking up her ex, Veronica sent her on her way. Later, however, she ran into her again at a lingerie shop where Madison maliciously let slip that she had spent the night with Logan while in Aspen over Christmas break, when

129

Cyrus O'Dell Veronica and Logan were split up. In the following episode, Veronica, consumed by images of Madison's tryst with Logan, follows her and eventually plots with Weevil to have Madison's new car crushed and cubed. Veronica has a change of heart, however, and asks him to return it unscathed, save for a can of tuna in her air conditioning. Brad Bufanda acts as Felix Toombs, Weevil's former right-hand man. Killed supposedly by Logan, but actually by Thumper, a fellow PCHer. Bufanda originally tried out for the role of Weevil. Throughout season 1, Felix was known as a PCH bike gang member and Weevil's (PCH leader) best friend. At the end of season 1 someone knocked on Veronica's door and she smiled saying "I was hoping it would be you." Fans were on the edge of their seat trying to find out who it was. As many fans suspected and hoped it was Logan Echolls. Once there, a beaten Logan told Veronica the story of how he got that way. The PCH gang members beat the living hell out of Logan because: 1. They thought he killed Lilly Kane (Weevil's lover) 2. Logan knocked Weevil out cold. After Logan woke up from the beating he discovered that Felix had been stabbed and bled to death. During season 2 Weevil was on a mission to solve the murder of Felix Toombs. First Weevil suspected Logan, but later on he found out it wasn't Logan so he enlisted Logan's help to try to solve this case. During that time he found out the PCHers had been dealing drugs with the Fitzpatricks. Felix was secretly dating Molly Fitzpatrick (Liam Fitzpatrick's niece). Liam got Thumper (who at the time was Liam's lackey) to stab Felix. Weevil knew that Thumper did it but couldn't prove it. So, Weevil set up Thumper to look like he was stealing drugs and money from the Fitzpatricks. Liam and cousin Danny Boyd locked Thumper in "Shark Stadium" which was blown up by Logan (directly) and Woody Goodman (indirectly) with Thumper and his bike inside. Thus, finally resolving the murder of Felix Toombs. Aaron Ashmore portrays Troy Vandegraff, the childhood friend of Duncan's; Veronica's boyfriend for the early stretch of season one. He betrays Veronica and leaves town, but he is somewhat reformed by the time they meet again later in the series. Troy and Veronica dated for a short time in Season One, but their relationship didnt last long because Troy involved an unwitting Veronica in a plot to smuggle steroids from Mexico into the US. Veronica managed to find out his intentions before he was able to successfully complete his plan and run away with his real girlfriend. He later comes back in the episode The Rapes of Graff in Season 2 where he is accused of raping and shaving the head of a girl at Hearst College. Veronica ends up clearing Troy's name but doesn't find out who the real rapist is until the third season. Ashmore thought that Veronica Mars was a "great show", and loved the character of Troy.[2] Valorie Curry plays Jane Kuhne, student athlete at Neptune High and Wallace's girlfriend after he returns from Chicago. She is introduced in Season 1 while Wallace is pursuing Jackie as a distant admirer of Wallace who has been ignored. After Wallace returns from Chicago, he takes up with Jane. She is features in the episode "The Quick and the Wed" when her older sister disappears following a bachelorette party, and Veronica investigates the disappearance.
Ashmore enjoyed his reappearance in the second season, saying "it was kinda nice coming back and being the good guy and not the bad guy for [1] once".

130

Hearst College
Matt McKenzie plays Tom Barry, Wallace's basketball coach and father of Josh Barry. He is allegedly murdered the night after a basketball game during which he fights with Josh and the team loses the game. Josh is believed to be his killer due to the argument and the fact that Mason drove past the area where Coach Barry died and saw someone who appeared to be Josh with him. It is revealed that he was dying of an incurable brain disease that would be slow, painful, humiliating and costly. He arranged for his suicide to appear as a carjacking so that his family would be paid life insurance (which they would not in the case of a suicide) and take care of them financially. David Tom plays Chip Diller, the President of the Pi Sig frat house. He first appears in season two when Veronica visits Hearst, and she accuses him of raping a student. While it turns out he is not a rapist, he is shown to be still a

Cyrus O'Dell horrible person. He is attacked by a group of campus feminists, head shaved and an egg shoved into his rectum on the anniversary of Patrice Pitrelli's attempted suicide for his part in it. During the episode "Spit & Eggs", Veronica points out to Chip that the beer coasters provided by the Pi Sig's were not effective, since they were supposed to be used for drug testing, but he does not care. Chip is one of the main perpetrators in spreading the sex video of Veronica and Piz, however did not have anything to do with its creation. James Jordan appears as Tim Foyle, a teaching assistant for Professor Hank Landry at Hearst College. Tim seems to dislike Veronica, possibly because Landry seems to prefer her over him. In the first session of Landry's criminology class (in Welcome Wagon), he has his students play a detective game, "Murder on the Riverboat Queen". Veronica beats Tim's record time for solving the mystery by ten minutes, then embarrasses and annoys him by saying "There is one thing I can't figure out: what did you do with the extra ten minutes?" In Hi, Infidelity, Tim accuses Veronica of plagiarizing her mid-term paper and gives her three days to clear herself. After Veronica figures out what happened, she accuses Tim of setting her up just so that she would discover that Landry was having an affair with Mindy O'Dell, the Dean's wife, but Tim does not explicitly deny it; instead he says that if he HAD set the whole thing up, it would have been to show Veronica what Landry was really like before she became his protege. Tim is also the boyfriend of Bonnie Capistrano, Dick's fling, and is presumably the father of her miscarried baby. While investigating the truth behind Bonnie's miscarriage, she discovers that Tim was very supportive over her decision to have the baby. And that he even asked Bonnie to marry him in order to please her religious parents. In Papa's Cabin, Tim and Veronica team up in an attempt to clear Dr. Landry of the murder of Hearst College's Dean of Students, Cyrus O'Dell. At the end of the episode, however, it is revealed that Tim himself murdered Cyrus O'Dell to take revenge on Landry for ruining his chances at a job at (a fictional version of) Pepperdine University, by giving an unfavorable reference to the prospective employer. Tim's name is, in fact, a joke by the writers. His character was created as a foil for Veronica, and was referred to as "FOIL" during the early drafts. According to Rob Thomas on the DVD extras, they eventually decided to call him Foyle anyway, and Tim as his first name as a play on "tin foil". Adam Rose portrays Max, a geeky student who provides test answers for cash. While he started out as a one time guest star, turned into a recurring character due to his likability. He makes quite a profit with his business, and does not care when he is expelled from Hearst, planning to make his living from it anyway. Max comes to Veronica with the task of finding his dream girl whom he met at ComiCon and had an instant connection with, who left telling him she'd left her details in his hotel room, for him to return and find the hotel cleaners had already been and it had disappeared. It turned out that this girl was actually a hooker hired by his friends so that Max could lose his virginity; he decides to continue trying to find her even when he finds this out. Max convinced Chelsea to leave the prostitution business for him, and he pays off her $10,000 debt to her pimp. However things are not the same when her past keeps being brought up; he finally asks whether she actually left her information and Chelsea is heartbroken when he realises she didn't - "But I really wish I had." She leaves but promises to pay him back - it is implied that she is making her money by stripping. Max comes back into the series as Mac's new boyfriend after she breaks up with Bronson for him. Ryan Devlin recurs as Mercer Hayes, a friend of Logan and Dick, who runs an illegal casino out of his dorm room called the Benetian. Parker suspects him of being the rapist due to him wearing the same cologne she smelled the night she was raped, and Veronica investigates and finds he owns an electric razor too. She reports this to Lamb, who agrees with her for once, due to finding the same date rape drugs inside Mercer's money box. However Logan provides Mercer with an incriminating alibi - they accidentally burnt down a Tijuana motel the night of one of the rapes - but Veronica finds other proof that he didn't do it (his live, call in radio show being on at the time of one of the rapes). However when at the Pi Sig party she hears his show being played and recognises electronic distortion and skipping, she realises he IS the rapist, the shows being able to be recorded. She prevents him from raping a 5th girl and stabs him with a ceramic unicorn horn, and eventually Keith arrests Moe and Mercer. He is last seen in a jail cell, with Logan (who smashed a police cruiser to get arrested, get put into a cell with Mercer and get revenge on him for what he did to Veronica and the other girls).

131

Cyrus O'Dell Patrick Fabian portrays Hank Landry, Veronica's Criminology professor and admirer. He is having an affair with Dean O'Dell's wife Mindy O'Dell and accidentally kills her when framed by his TA Tim Foyle for the murder of the Dean. Hank Landry is Veronica's Intro to Criminology professor. Although Veronica has yet to decide on a major, Prof. Landry has been advocating criminal investigations as a career choice for her. Prof. Landry is joined in his Intro to Criminology class by his teaching assistant Tim Foyle. Veronica first impressed Prof. Landry by solving the murder mystery he presented on the first day of class in record time. Later, she impresses him by being the sole person to write an "A" caliber paper on his "Perfect Murder" assignment. After reading the paper, he talks to Veronica about her potential and offers to be her faculty adviser. While Veronica is considering Prof. Landry's offer, she is manipulated by Tim Foyle into finding out one of Landry's secrets: he has been having an affair with Mindy O'Dell, the wife of the Dean of Hearst College. Shortly after this incident, Prof Landry announces his end-of-term research paper: to plan the perfect murder. He then meets with Veronica and tells her that he is going to recommend her for a summer internship with the FBI and that he will accept her application essay for the position as a replacement for the end-of-term assignment. Veronica assumed that Prof. Landry was attempting to buy her silence about Landry's affair with Mindy and turned down the offer. Upon telling this to Prof. Landry, he explained that the internship offer had nothing to do with what she knew about him, but Veronica still opted to write the end-of-term paper. Veronica received one of the three "A"s that Prof. Landry gave out for this paper. When Veronica finds out that her father is investigating whether Dean O'Dell's wife is having an affair she tells Keith what she knows about Prof. Landry and Mindy. Keith tells the Dean who takes a loaded revolver and visits Prof. Landry and Mindy O'Dell in the middle of one of their rendezvous. It is as of now unknown what transpired in the room that night. When Keith takes the Dean O'Dell case, he finds Prof. Landry at a local bar and attempts to entice a confession out of Landry over some drinks. This does not work, however, as Landry informs Keith that he read Keith's book and he knows that Keith is a private investigator. Krista Kalmus plays Claire Nordhouse, a feminist and member of Lillith house, friends with Nish and Fern. She is one of the protestors who made a front page newspaper picture, of many topless women holding a banner reading "We go to Hearst, go ahead and rape us!" Claire is very attractive, with long blonde hair, making her the target of the rival newspaper's response (topless men holding a banner saying "No thanks! (except maybe the blonde in the middle)"). The three use this response in order to have the Pi Sig house shut down as well as the rival newspaper run by them by faking Claire's rape. However Veronica finds out that it was not real and exposes this - ATM photos showing the guy with her before her rape, who took her home, was actually Claire's boyfriend who helped set it up. She is then expelled from Hearst as a result. She was Patrice Pitrelli's best friend in their freshman year, and was the original source of information about the Theta Beta two-way mirror.

132

Cyrus O'Dell

133

Ed Begley, Jr. portrays Cyrus O'Dell, the Dean of Hearst College. Initially Veronica's adversary, gradually becoming her ally and gaining her respect, and vice versa. Married to much younger Mindy, he suspects her of having an affair, which Keith later proves to be with Hank Landry. He confronts the two, threatening to leave her broke and ruin Landry's career. He is killed by Tim Foyle during the ninth episode in the style of Veronica's Plan a Perfect Murder paper (a fake suicide). After his death it is revealed that he wrote her a referral to the FBI, a statement of what a brilliant student she was and how he had not encountered a student with more talent in all his years in academia. His body is found by Weevil, who is rather gutted, having grown quite fond of the dean while working at Hearst. Michael Mitchell plays Bronson Pope, an animal rights activist and Mac's first post-Cassidy boyfriend. He is shown to be extremely outdoorsy, encouraging Mac to play Ultimate Frisbee and take early morning hikes. She loses her virginity to him on Valentine's Day, but breaks up with him not much later after falling for Max.

Ed Begley, Jr. played Cyrus O'Dell.

Andrew McClain acts as Moe Slater, the R.A. of the Hearst College dorms. He is very earnest and is always offering oolong tea to everyone - implied to be how he drugs people. He is Mercer's partner, who helped him rape the girls as he was the Safe Ride Home driver. He would take drunk girls home (it is still not clear whether he drugged them at the party or drugged them once they were in their dorms) and then tell Mercer which room, and provide him the keys to get in. The relationship between him and Mercer is implied to be a result of the prison warden experiment that Logan and Wallace underwent, as he keeps a photo of the two of them in their uniforms. Moe was the prisoner and Mercer the warden, who mentally dominated him and controlled him into helping him rape. It was Moe that drugged Veronica and tried to shave her head, in order to give Mercer an alibi. Chastity Dotson portrays Nish Sweeney, the former Editor of the Hearst Free Press and feminist of Lillith House. She and Veronica are initially friends when she gives Veronica the assignment to go undercover and infiltrate the Theta Beta sorority house. Veronica is supposed to find proof of a two-way mirror in which Theta Betas would make the rushes undress in front of for the Pi Sigs enjoyment. However Nish publishes the article that Veronica asked her not to that she wrote about a cannabis farm at the sorority house, and they become enemies. Nish helps Claire fake the rape, and eggs Dean O'Dell's window the night he was murdered. By the end of the semester, Nish and Veronica are on good terms, as Veronica gives her a list of names of members of the secret fraternity the Castle.

Other characters
The following is a supplementary list of recurring or one-time guest stars, which includes characters that appear briefly in multiple episodes, but have little to no real world content to justify an entire section covering their in-universe histories. Steve Rankin acts as Lloyd Blankenship, a newspaper reporter and ally of Keith. Taylor Sheridan plays Danny Boyd, Liam Fitzpatrick's dim-witted cousin and accomplice. Brandon Hillock plays Jerry Sacks, Sheriff Lamb's right-hand man. Annie Campbell plays Molly Fitzpatrick, a member of the Fitzpatrick family and Felix's girlfriend until his death. Kevin Sheridan plays Sean Friedrich, an "09er" with a penchant for thievery and drug dealing. Cher Ferreyra portrays Fern Delgado, a disgruntled feminist and member of the "Take Back the Night" program. She lives in Lillith house with Nish and Claire, and dislikes Veronica for proving the Pi Sigs weren't rapists. Veronica initially suspects her in the disappearance of Selma Hearst Rose

Cyrus O'Dell Robert Ri'Chard plays Mason, a hot-tempered basketball jock and Wallace's new friend. He encourages Wallace to skip studying to hang out with him, and instead puts him in contact with Max to cheat. He is the one who mistakes Josh as being the person out on the overlook with Coach Barry before he is killed. Joss Whedon plays Douglas, a clueless car-rental salesman who inadvertently helps Veronica track down Abel Koontz' daughter Amelia Delongpre in the episode "Rat Saw God".

134

References
[1] http:/ / www. ifmagazine. com/ feature. asp?article=1612 [2] http:/ / www. kryptonsite. com/ ashmoretca. htm

External links
Complete Episode, Soundtrack, and Character Information (http://marsinvestigations.net/index.php) Veronica Mars CWiki on CWTV.com (http://cwiki.cwtv.com) Veronica Mars on Warnerbros.com (http://www2.warnerbros.com/television/tvShows/veronicamars/) Veronica Mars (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412253/) at the Internet Movie Database Veronica Mars (http://www.tv.com/shows/veronica-mars/) at TV.com

Stosh "Piz" Piznarski

135

Stosh "Piz" Piznarski


Stosh Piznarski
First appearance Last appearance Created by Portrayed by "Welcome Wagon" "The Bitch Is Back" Rob Thomas Chris Lowell Information Nickname(s) Gender Occupation Piz Male Student

Significant other(s) Veronica Mars [1] [2] Miranda Apfel (portrayed by Monica Allegeier )

Stosh "Piz" Piznarski is a fictional character on the UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars. He is portrayed by Chris Lowell. The character's name is a tribute to Mark Piznarski, who directed the first two episodes of the series.[3]

Background
Piz is Wallace Fennel's roommate at Hearst College. He is an eighteen-year-old Libra from Beaverton, Oregon.[4] He met fellow Hearst attendee Veronica Mars through his roommate, Wallace, who persuaded her to help Piz discover who had stolen his belongings when he was first moving into his dorm room. Soon afterward, he developed a crush on Veronica.

Quotes
"I rarely wear clothes indoors; I hope that's cool." "I don't wanna be one of those mumbly college radio, emo rocker guys who just, all they wanna do is play their band's demo, you know? Though, uh, I-I should mention that my band really is quite good. We're-we're called Black Licorice, which is really cool 'cause it's dark and moody, but at the same time, it's candy, you know?" "Hey, Veronica. Cool shirt. I-I went for the, uh, post-ironic route." "Portland. Or, well, just outside of Portland: this little suburb called Beaverton. Real salt-of-the earth people, you know. Minivan in every driveway. Chicken in every pot." (on his hometown) "Hey, gang. What's the word? Is it "avuncular?" ...No? Just a shot in the dark." "Yes, this fine example of American automotive engineering is mine!" "And don't call me that; call me Piz."

Stosh "Piz" Piznarski

136

Appearances
Season 3
3x01 Welcome Wagon 3x03 Witchita Linebacker 3x06 Hi, Infidelity 3x07 Of Vice and Men 3x09 Spit & Eggs 3x10 Show Me the Monkey 3x16 Un-American Graffiti 3x17 Debasement Tapes 3x18 I Know What You'll Do Next Summer 3x19 Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down 3x20 The Bitch Is Back

References
[1] http:/ / tviv. org/ Veronica_Mars/ Un-American_Graffiti [2] http:/ / www. imdb. com/ name/ nm1179717/ [3] Rob Thomas interview on EW.com (http:/ / www. ew. com/ ew/ article/ 0,,1549635,00. html) [4] Rob Thomas interview on EW.com (http:/ / www. ew. com/ ew/ article/ 0,,1549635,00. html)

137

Season and Episodes


Season 1
Veronica Mars (season 1)
DVD cover art
Country of origin United States No. of episodes 22 Broadcast Original channel Original run UPN September22,2004 May10,2005 Home video release DVD release Region 1 October11,2005 Season chronology Previous Next Season 2 List of Veronica Mars episodes

The first season of Veronica Mars, an American drama television series created by Rob Thomas, premiered on the United Paramount Network in the United States on September 22, 2004. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Television, Silver Pictures Television and Rob Thomas Productions, and Joel Silver and Thomas served as the executive producers. The season revolves around Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), a high school student and private investigator in the fictional Southern California seaside town of Neptune. When Veronica's best friend, Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried), is murdered, her life falls apart. Her father, County Sheriff Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni), accuses Lilly's father of being involved in the murder. This provokes Neptune's wrath and Keith's ousting as sheriff in a recall election. Veronica's mother, Lianne (Corinne Bohrer), develops a drinking problem and leaves town. Veronica's "09er" friendswealthy students from the fictional 90909 ZIP codeforce her to choose between them and her father; she chooses her father. Keith opens a private investigation agency, Mars Investigations, where Veronica works part-time. The series was critically acclaimed, and appeared on several fall television best lists. The first season garnered an average of 2.5million viewers per all 22 episodes in the US. Out of all regular primetime programming that aired during the 20042005 American television season, Veronica Mars ranked #148 out of #156, according to the Nielsen ratings system. The pilot was watched by 2.49million viewers, while the finale was watched by 2.99million viewers.

Season 1

138

Cast
The first season features a cast of seven actors who receive star billing. Kristen Bell portrays the titular Veronica Mars, a high school junior and skilled private detective. Teddy Dunn plays Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend and Lilly's brother. Jason Dohring plays Logan Echolls, the "bad-boy" 09er son of an A-list actor. Percy Daggs III portrays Wallace Fennel, Veronica's best friend and frequent partner in solving mysteries. Francis Capra portrays Eli "Weevil" Navarro, the leader of the PCH Biker gang and Veronica's friend. Enrico Colantoni plays Veronica's father Keith Mars, a private investigator and former Balboa County Sheriff. Sydney Tamiia Poitier plays Mallory Dent, Veronica's journalism teacher at Neptune High. Although she was given series regular billing, Poitier appeared in only four episodes, but was given credit for seven. Kristen Bell was chosen to play Veronica Mars from more than 500 women who auditioned for the role. Bell felt that it was "just luck" that Rob Thomas saw that "I have some sass to me, and that's exactly what he wanted". Bell thought that it was her cheerleader looks and an outsider's attitude that set her apart from the other women who auditioned. Jason Dohring, who played Logan Echolls, originally auditioned for the role of Duncan Kane. Teddy Dunn originally auditioned for Logan, but ended up portraying Duncan Kane. Dohring felt that his audition for Duncan "was a little dark", and he was told by the producers that it was "not really right". The producers asked Dohring to read for the role of Logan, which involved reading Duncan's lines. Dohring acted one scene from the pilot, in which he shattered the headlights of a car with a crowbar. During the final auditions, Dohring read two times with Bell and met with the studio and the network. When reading with Bell, Dohring acted the whole scene as if he had raped her, and tried to give the character an evil and fun feel. At the time of Dohring's audition for Logan, the character was only going to be a guest star in the pilot. Thomas described Amanda Seyfried, who portrayed the murdered Lilly Kane, as "the biggest surprise of the year". When casting a series regular, he was able to see all the best actors in town, mainly because they all wanted to be a series regular. When casting Lilly Kane, who would only appear from time-to-time as "the dead girl", Thomas did not receive the same standard of actors. Thomas said that he had "never had a more cut and dry audition" than he did with Seyfried. He said that she was "about 100 times better than anyone else that we saw, she was just spectacular". He continued by saying that she ended up being so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned.

Release
Critical reception
Metacritic gave the season a Metascorea weighted average based on the impressions of a select nine critical reviewsof 82, signifying "universal acclaim". James Poniewozik of Time labeled the series as one of the six best dramas on television. He praised Bell as "a captivating star," and said that the series "uses its pulp premise to dramatize a universal teen experience: that growing up means sleuthing out the mystery of who you really are." Kay McFadden of The Seattle Times called Veronica Mars an update to the "classic California film noir". She felt that Veronica Mars was the best new series on UPN, and that the title character was potentially "this season's most interesting character creation". McFadden described the series as "Alias in its attitude, Raymond Chandler in its writing and The O.C. in its class-consciousness." James South of Paste praised the "crisp, clever writing", and noted the supporting characters were more than just plot devices. He commended Bell's portrayal of Veronica as "simultaneously smart, vulnerable, tough and injured", and found the guest stars were well-utilized. South wrote the remaining cast was "uniformly good", but gave Dohring a special mention for his acting. Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com praised the first season finale for being "just the sort of satisfying capper you look for in a series that, week after week, keeps you asking questions". Robert Abele of LA Weekly said that "in this smart, engaging series about a former popular girl turned crime-solving high school outcast, the hard-boiled dialogue comes from its teen protagonist's mouth in a way that stabs any

Season 1 potential cutesiness in the heart with an ice pick." Joy Press of The Village Voice saw the series as "a sharp teen noir in the making", "[pulsing] with promise". However, Press felt that the series paled somewhat compared to the television series Wonderfalls. Filip Vukcevic of IGN gave the season a positive review, particularly praising the amount of audience participation. However, the reviewer felt that several of the main characters were undeveloped, and that Daggs III and Dunn, as well as their respective characters, were "boring". Vukcevic wrote that while the ultimate resolution to the murder was satisfying, it was not "world-shattering".

139

Awards
The first season was nominated for seven awards, winning one. In 2005, Veronica Mars received the American Film Institute Award for Television Programs of the Year, and was nominated for the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Show, and the Television Critics Association Awards for Outstanding New Program of the Year. Kristen Bell was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Television Actress, the Satellite Award for Outstanding Actress in a Series, Drama, the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Performance, Female, and the Television Critics Association Awards for Individual Achievement in Drama.

Distribution
The CTV Television Network began airing Veronica Mars in Canada as a mid-season replacement on May 30, 2005. Living began showing the series in the United Kingdom in October 2005, averaging 50,000 viewers per episode for its first season. Veronica Mars premiered in Australia by Network Ten on November 28, 2005, where the series saw erratic airings. TV2 began showing the series in New Zealand on July 15, 2005. The first season of Veronica Mars was released in the US under the title Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season as a widescreen six-disc Region 1 DVD box set on October11, 2005. In addition to all the episodes that had been aired, DVD extras included an extended "Pilot" episode, over 20 minutes of unaired scenes and an unaired opening sequence. The same set was released on May 16, 2008 in Region 2, and on June4, 2008 in Region 4. Ben Fritz of Variety criticized the DVD for a lack of special features, but noted that the producers were forced to release the set early to attract more viewers. Fritz believed that Warner Bros. owed fans a better DVD set "chock full of commentaries, interviews and deleted scenes in context". Likewise, Anita Srikamswaren of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was surprised by the minimal amount of extras. Srikamswaren pointed out that despite the early release, it was still two weeks after the second season premiere.

Episodes
When Veronica discovers new evidence that suggests that Lilly's convicted killer is innocent, she decides to investigate the case. As Veronica delves deeper into the murder, she also works on other investigations, seeks her mother's whereabouts and deals with the aftermath of being drugged and raped during an 09er party. Veronica, no longer part of the school's wealthy in-crowd, makes some new friends: Wallace, Neptune High basketball star; Weevil, leader of the PCHers, a Latino biker gang; and Mac, Neptune High's resident computer genius. Using her friends' resources, as well as those provided by her father and his contacts, Veronica gains a reputation for sleuthing and finds her skills in increasingly high demand at her school. Things get more complicated when Veronica falls into a relationship with Lilly's ex-boyfriend Logan, who for a time held Veronica partly responsible for Lilly's death and went out of his way to harass her.

Season 1

140

No.

Title

Directed by

Written by

Original air date

Production code 475258

U.S. viewers (million) 2.49

"Pilot"

Mark Piznarski

Rob Thomas

September22,2004

Veronica starts her junior year at Neptune High by freeing new student Wallace Fennel, who had been duct-taped to the school flag pole as retribution for calling the police on two PCH bikers shoplifting alcohol. Celeste Kane hires Keith to follow her husband Jake, and Veronica stakes out a seedy motel, where she photographs Jake meeting an unseen woman. Flashbacks depict last year's murder of Veronica's best friend, Lilly Kane, and Veronica's date rape at an 09er party. 2 2 "Credit Where Credit's Due" Mark Piznarski Rob Thomas September28,2004 2T5701 2.21

When Weevil is accused of credit card fraud, Veronica sets out to prove him innocent. At school, Veronica is put into Ms. Dent's journalism class, and finds she has a flat tire after class. Veronica accepts a car ride with her ex-boyfriend Duncan, which turns out to be very awkward. Troy Vandegraff arrives in town and enrolls in Neptune High. Veronica also discovers that a red light camera picture proves Lilly was alive hours after her official time of death. Paris Hilton guest stars as Catlin Ford, Logan's girlfriend. 3 3 "Meet John Smith" Harry Winer Jed Seidel October12,2004 2T5702 2.71

A student hires Veronica to find his father, whom he believes is dead. Veronica and Troy's relationship deepens, Keith meets Veronica's guidance counselor, Rebecca James, and Veronica begins looking for her mother. Duncan temporarily stops taking his antidepressants, and hallucinates about his dead sister, Lilly, telling him that her secret will be revealed. 4 4 "The Wrath of Con" Michael Fields Diane Ruggiero October19,2004 2T5703 3.21

Veronica helps Wallace's new girlfriend, Georgia, after she is cheated out of $6,000 by a couple of college students running a Nigerian scam. Veronica and her friends defeat the students technology-heavy security system and hold their data hostage to force the return of Georgia's money. Logan assembles what is supposed to be a serious video memorial of Lilly, but includes some wilder footage Veronica provided. Logan's compilation is well received by the students at the dedication of Lilly's fountain on the Neptune High grounds. 5 5 "You Think You Know Somebody" Nick Gomez Dayna Lynne North October26,2004 2T5704 2.73

Troy's father's car is stolen and Veronica has only a limited amount of time to find it before Troy is shipped off to a Catholic boarding school. Veronica finds a set of photographs in her mother's safe deposit box which depict Veronica centered in telescopic sights. Lianne calls Veronica and says that she is fine, and that everything will make sense when the time is right. 6 6 "Return of the Kane" Sarah Pia Anderson Story by: Rob Thomas Teleplay by: Phil Klemmer November2,2004 2T5705 2.86

Logan pressures Duncan to run for class president against Wanda Varner's anti-09er platform. Duncan wins, but Veronica suspects that the election was rigged. Logan's father, A-list movie star Aaron Echolls, catches his son organizing Bumfights-like street fights. Abel Koontz fires his public defender, and Veronica discovers that Lilly's shoes, which were in her room after her murder, were found on Abel's houseboat. 7 7 "The Girl Next Door" Nick Marck Story by: Jed Seidel Teleplay by: Jed Seidel & Diane Ruggiero November9,2004 2T5706 2.74

When her pregnant neighbor Sarah disappears, Veronica tries to find out if Sarah's boyfriend killed her. Logan and Weevil get detention together, and Logan discovers that Lilly was secretly seeing Weevil before her death. Veronica learns that her mom and Jake Kane were dating in high school, and a flashback shows Veronica trying find out why Duncan broke up with her. 8 8 "Like a Virgin" Guy Bee Aury Wallington November23,2004 2T5707 2.76

A purity test circulating around Neptune High has a negative impact on both Meg Manning, Veronica's last 09er friend, and Veronica herself. Veronica recruits Mac, a computer genius, to figure out who is publishing the fake purity tests. Abel Koontz tells Veronica that Jake Kane is probably her biological father. Keith helps out Mrs. Fennell, who is having doubts about Wallace hanging out with Veronica.

Season 1

141
9 "Drinking the Kool-Aid" Marcos Siega Story by: Rob Thomas Teleplay by: Russell Smith November30,2004 2T5708 2.40

Veronica investigates Clarence Wiedman, the head of Kane Security who took pictures of her and sent them to her mother, on her own initiative. Concurrently, she investigates the Moon Calf Collective, a peace-loving cult that 09er Casey joined. Veronica takes a DNA test to find out if Keith is actually her biological father, but she destroys the results without looking at them. 10 10 "An Echolls Family Christmas" Nick Marck Diane Ruggiero December14,2004 2T5710 1.90

When the money from a poker game between Logan, Weevil, and others disappears, Veronica is called in to investigate. Keith investigates a mysterious stalker whom Aaron fears will ruin his Christmas party. When Aaron is stabbed by his former lover, his wife Lynn learns of his infidelity. 11 11 "Silence of the Lamb" John Kretchmer Jed Seidel & Dayna Lynne North January4,2005 2T5709 2.84

Students hire Veronica to dig up dirt on their parents, and she discovers that Mac was switched at birth with 09er Madison Sinclair, who was among those at the party where Veronica was raped. Keith and Sheriff Lamb work together to solve the E-String Strangler case. 12 12 "Clash of the Tritons" David Barrett Phil Klemmer & Aury Wallington January11,2005 2T5711 2.91

When Veronica is arrested for selling fake IDs, she tries to find out who framed her, suspecting members of a secret society at Neptune High. Aaron hires Keith to find out who is causing him bad publicity. Weevil confesses during a grief counseling session that he had secretly dated Lilly, but she had gone back to Logan. Aaron threatens Lynn with a divorce, and her car is later shown abandoned on the Coronado Bridge. 13 13 "Lord of the Bling" Steve Gomer John Enbom February8,2005 2T5712 2.97

Yolanda, an old friend of Veronica's, is kidnapped. Yolanda's father, rap producer Percy "Bone" Hamilton, hires Keith to find her. Aaron tries to grieve after Lynn's suicide, but Logan thinks that he is faking, and that she is still alive. Logan asks Veronica to help find his mother. 14 14 "Mars vs. Mars" Marcos Siega Story by: Rob Thomas Teleplay by: Jed Seidel & Diane Ruggiero February15,2005 2T5713 2.70

When 09er gossip queen Carrie Bishop claims she had an affair with Mr. Rooks, Veronica's favorite teacher, Veronica sets out to prove his innocence. Keith, however, has been hired to prove Mr. Rooks' guilt. Veronica finds a video that shows Lynn plunging into the river from the bridge, and learns that Abel Koontz is terminally ill. 15 15 "Ruskie Business" Guy Bee Phil Klemmer & John Enbom February22,2005 2T5714 2.34

Veronica is hired by a Russian Internet order bride to find the groom that she abandoned. Meg and Veronica uncover the identity of Meg's secret admirer, who turns out to be Duncan. Logan discovers that his sister Trina is back in town, and Veronica finds her mother in a bar. 16 16 "Betty and Veronica" Michael Fields Diane Ruggiero March29,2005 2T5715 2.33

When someone steals Neptune High's mascot, Polly the Parrot, Veronica goes undercover at Neptune High's rival school, Pan High. Veronica checks her mother into an inpatient alcohol rehabilitation program, using her college savings to fund the cost. Lianne admits that she does not know whether Veronica's father is Keith or Jake. 17 17 "Kanes and Abel's" Nick Marck Carolyn Murray April5,2005 2T5716 2.78

Veronica finds Abel Koontz's daughter, Amelia DeLongpre, and searches for evidence that Jake Kane paid Abel to falsely confess to Lilly's murder before Clarence Wiedman gets to Amelia. Veronica is hired to find out who is mysteriously harassing a classmate. 18 18 "Weapons of Class Destruction" John Kretchmer Jed Seidel April12,2005 2T5717 2.30

Season 1

142

Veronica discovers that Neptune High has been receiving bomb threats, and is kidnapped by a suspect while investigating the case. Logan intervenes to save Veronica, and they end up kissing. Duncan learns that Veronica is still investigating Lilly's death, and leaves town. 19 19 "Hot Dogs" Nick Marck Dayna Lynne North April19,2005 2T5718 2.48

When Mandy's dog vanishes, Veronica agrees to investigate and ventures into Neptune's seedy underbelly of dognapping rings. Weevil breaks into Lilly's room to steal a pink "spy pen", which she used to hold secret messages. Keith secretly takes hair samples from Veronica and sends them in for a DNA test. Veronica and Logan begin secretly dating. 20 20 "M.A.D." John Kretchmer Phil Klemmer & John Enbom April26,2005 2T5719 3.04

When Carmen's boyfriend Tad blackmails her using a compromising video, Carmen turns to Veronica for help. Veronica devises a logical way to solve Carmen's problem, but Tad is functioning on emotion rather than logic. Tad admits to Veronica that he used GHB on Carmen, and that he received the drug from Logan. Veronica is shocked, as it was the same drug used on her before her rape at Shelly Pomroy's party. 21 21 "A Trip to the Dentist" Marcos Siega Diane Ruggiero May3,2005 2T5720 2.85

New information gives Veronica a lead on what happened to her the night of Shelly Pomroy's party, where she was drugged and raped. Veronica's mother returns to town, and Logan's 09er friends find out that he is dating Veronica. Flashbacks reveal that Duncan dumped Veronica because his mother told him that Veronica was his half-sister. 22 22 "Leave It to Beaver" Michael Fields Story by: Rob Thomas Teleplay by: Rob Thomas & Diane Ruggiero May10,2005 2T5721 2.99

Dick's brother Cassidy admits Logan's whereabouts the day of Lilly's murder to Veronica, and her investigation concludes. Keith receives the DNA test results and tells Veronica that he is definitely her father. Veronica discovers that her mother left the alcohol rehabilitation program and asks her to leave town. Lianne does so, but steals Veronica's settlement checkwhich would have replaced the college funds she spent on Lianne's rehabon her way out.

References
General Veronica Mars: Season 1 [1] at IGN Veronica Mars The Complete 1st Season [2] at TVShowsOnDVD.com Specific
[1] http:/ / tv. ign. com/ objects/ 820/ 820556. html [2] http:/ / www. tvshowsondvd. com/ releases/ Veronica-Mars-Complete-1st-Season/ 4993

External links
List of Veronica Mars episodes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412253/episodes) at the Internet Movie Database List of Veronica Mars season 1 episodes (http://www.tv.com/veronica-mars/show/24272/episode. html?season=1) at TV.com Veronica Mars (http://epguides.com/VeronicaMars) at epguides.com Veronica Mars (http://www.thewb.com/shows/veronica-mars/) at The WB (U.S. only) Mars Investigations (http://marsinvestigations.net/index.php)

Season 2

143

Season 2
Veronica Mars (season 2)
DVD cover art
Country of origin United States No. of episodes 22 Broadcast Original channel Original run UPN September28,2005 May9,2006 Home video release DVD release Region 1 August22,2006 Season chronology Previous Season 1 Next Season 3 List of Veronica Mars episodes

The second season of Veronica Mars, an American drama television series created by Rob Thomas, premiered on the United Paramount Network in the United States on September 28, 2005. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Television, Silver Pictures Television and Rob Thomas Productions, and Joel Silver and Thomas served as the executive producers. The season begins with the introduction of two new cases: when a school bus full of Neptune High students plunges off a cliff, killing almost everyone on board, Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) makes it her mission to discover why the bus crashed. Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) is accused of killing a Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) biker gang member after drunkenly picking a fight with Eli "Weevil" Navarro (Francis Capra) and the PCHers. The series was critically acclaimed, and appeared on several fall television best lists. The second season garnered an average of 2.3million viewers per all 22 episodes in the US. Out of all regular primetime programming that aired during the 20052006 American television season, Veronica Mars ranked 145th out of 156, according to the Nielsen ratings system. The premiere was watched by 3.30million viewers, while the finale was watched by 2.42million viewers.

Cast and crew


The second season was produced by Warner Bros. Television, Silver Pictures Television and Rob Thomas Productions. Joel Silver and Thomas served as the executive producers, and Jennifer Gwartz, Danielle Stokdyk and Diane Ruggiero served as co-executive producers. The season's crew also included producers Howard Grisby and Dan Etheridge, co-producer Stacy Fields, head writer Dayna Lynne North, and casting director Deedee Bradley. The second season features a cast of nine actors who receive star billing, six of whom were regulars in the first season. Kristen Bell portrays the titular Veronica Mars, a high school senior and skilled private detective. Teddy Dunn plays Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend and Lilly's brother. Jason Dohring plays Logan Echolls, the "bad-boy" son of an A-list actor and an "09er", a group of wealthy students from the fictional 90909 ZIP code. Percy Daggs III portrays Wallace Fennel, Veronica's best friend and frequent partner in solving mysteries. Francis Capra

Season 2 portrays Eli "Weevil" Navarro, the leader of the PCH Biker gang and Veronica's friend. Enrico Colantoni plays Veronica's father Keith Mars, a private investigator and former Balboa County Sheriff. Thomas, who said that he "conceive[d] the show as a one-year mystery", decided that he needed to introduce and eliminate several characters to be able to create an "equally fascinating mystery" for the series' second season. Thomas felt that he could not bring back the Kanes and the Echolls and "have them all involved in a new mystery"; he needed "new blood". The second season saw the introduction of Tessa Thompson as Jackie Cook, a romantic interest of Wallace and daughter of a famous baseball player. Previous recurring characters Dick Casablancas and Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas were upgraded to series regulars. Dick, played by Ryan Hansen, was an 09er friend of Logan, a womanizer and former high-school bully turned frat boy. Kyle Gallner portrayed "Beaver", Dick's introverted younger brother. Dunn, who played Duncan Kane, left the series midway through the season. Thomas explained that the LoganVeronicaDuncan love triangle had run its course, and to keep the series fresh, there would need to be "other guys in her life". He attributed Dunn's removal to fan interest dominating the LoganVeronica relationship, saying "it became clear that one suitor won out".

144

Release
Critical reception
Brian Raftery of Entertainment Weekly praised the cast as ingenious, in particular Bell and Colantoni, who he thought kept the season "humming along". Raftery found their characters' "sweet-natured, genuine father-daughter friendship remains the show's rock-hard axis". Eric Goldman of IGN wrote that the season was "entertaining start to finish", with "great" returning characters and a "wonderful array of guest stars". Goldman criticized the main mysteries for not having the "same personal touchstone for Veronica or for the audience", but found the pace pick[ed] up considerably in the final episodes". The reviewer called Bell's performance "Emmy-worthy", showing "an amazing amount of different emotions throughout the season, while maintaining Veronica's trademark wit and cleverness". Jeff Swindoll of Monsters and Critics found that the focus was less on Veronica than in the first season. Swindoll wrote that although the ongoing bus crash mystery lacked the personal touch of season one, other characters were given more screen time and the narrative was still interesting and enjoyable. Reviewers for UGO Networks declared the second season "much more captivating than its freshman predecessor". Despite the positive reviews, numerous critics were frustrated with the complexity of the second season. Entertainment Weekly thought that the season contained "way-too-ancillary characters and red-herring subplots so extraneous that even the most ardent followers needed a Wikipedic memory to keep track of things". Robert Bianco of USA Today felt that the season was "lost in an overly complex plot".

Awards
The second season was nominated for nine awards, winning two. Kristen Bell and Enrico Colantoni were awarded with the Family Television Award for Favorite Father/Daughter. The series was nominated for the International Cinematographers Guild Publicists Award for The Maxwell Weinberg Publicist Showmanship Award for Television, and the Saturn Award for Best Network Television Series. Kristen Bell won the Saturn Award for Best Television Actress, was nominated for the Satellite Award for Actress in a Drama Series, and the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress: Drama/Action Adventure. Percy Daggs III and Enrico Colantoni were respectively nominated for the Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Sidekick and Choice TV Parental Unit. Rob Thomas was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Drama for his work on "Normal Is the Watchword".

Season 2

145

Distribution
The second season was released in the US under the title Veronica Mars: The Complete Second Season as a widescreen six-disc Region 1 DVD box set on August 22, 2006, Region 2 on August 15, 2008, and Region 4 on September 8, 2008. In addition to all of the aired episodes, DVD extras included a gag reel, a promo trailer for the third season, deleted and additional scenes, including an alternate ending to "My Mother, the Fiend", and two featurettes: "A Day on the Set with Veronica Mars" and "Veronica Mars: Not Your Average Teen Detective". IGN's Goldman was displeased with the minimal amount of extras, and criticized the crew for the lack of commentaries. The reviewer felt that although the DVD was worth the episodes alone, the few extras made the set a disappointment. Contrastingly, reviewers for UGO Networks wrote that the DVD box set was as engaging as the season's episodes. The CTV Television Network, which began airing the first season in Canada in May 2005, decided not to pick up the second season. Instead, Sun TV began broadcasting the season on July 18, 2006. Living began airing the second season in the United Kingdom on June 8, 2006, airing one episode per week rather than showing one every night as they did in the first season. Despite "underwhelming" ratings, Living picked up the series' third season. Network Ten broadcast the second season in Australia on Fridays in 2007.

Episodes
The season begins with Veronica's life returning to the way it was before Lilly's death: having broken up with Logan during the summer, she reunites with Duncan and is somewhat accepted by the 09ers. However, her tough personality and work as a private investigator keep her from being truly assimilated back into the rich crowd. 09ers Dick and Cassidy are abandoned by their father, who flees the country while under investigation for real estate fraud. The brothers are forced to deal with their stepmother, Kendall (Charisma Carpenter), who is only interested in their father's money. Wallace discovers that his biological father is alive and takes a romantic interest in Jackie.
No. # Title Directed by Written by Original air date Production code 2T7201 U.S. viewers (million) 3.30

23

"Normal Is the Watchword"

John Kretchmer

Rob Thomas

September28,2005

After breaking up with Logan during the summer and resuming dating Duncan, Veronica tries to rebuild a normal life. When several athletesincluding Wallace and Megfail their drug tests, Veronica uncovers who faked the results. Logan is accused of murdering PCH biker gang member Felix Toombs, however the charges are dropped because of a lack of evidence. While on a school tour of the home ground of the professional baseball team Neptune Sharks, Veronica meets Woody Goodman, the team's owner. Veronica is thrust into a larger mystery when the school bus that she had just missed mysteriously plunges off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean. 24 2 "Driver Ed" Nick Marck Diane Ruggiero October5,2005 2T7202 3.07

Veronica discovers that Meg is the only survivor from the bus crash, but is in a coma. When the bus driver is blamed for the crash, his daughter Jessie asks Veronica to clear his name. Wallace meets the new rich girl Jackie Cook, and tries to impress her. Woody is running for the position of Balboa County Supervisor, more commonly known as the "Mayor of Neptune". He asks Keith to run for Sheriff, and Keith accepts after seeing Sheriff Lamb's investigation of the bus crash case. Kevin Smith guest stars as Duane Anders. 25 3 "Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang" John Kretchmer Phil Klemmer & John Enbom October12,2005 2T7203 3.00

Cassidy hires Veronica to prove that his stepmother, Kendall, is cheating on his father Richard. During the investigation, Veronica discovers that Richard is stealing money entrusted to his real estate company. She decides to go expose Richard's crime, which forces him to flee the country before the SEC can arrest him. Keith and Alicia, Wallace's mother, spend the weekend in Chicago, where Alicia runs into a man from her past. 26 4 "Green-Eyed Monster" Jason Bloom Dayna Lynne North October19,2005 2T7204 3.10

Veronica investigates a woman's fianc, but finds that the only secret he has been concealing is that he is independently wealthy. Meg's sister asks Duncan to help retrieve information from Meg's laptop before her parents find it. The man who Alicia met in Chicago comes to Neptune, and Keith finds out that he is Alicia's former husband and Wallace's father.

Season 2

146
5 "Blast from the Past" Harry Winer Phil Klemmer & Cathy Belben October26,2005 2T7205 3.58

27

Wallace confronts his mother about his father, Nathan Woods. Wallace confides in Veronica, but she is preoccupied with the crash and helping Jackie find out who stole her credit card. Wallace decides to leave with his father for Chicago. Veronica learns that Terrence Cook, Jackie's father, has a large gambling debt. Terrence tells Veronica that he is being blackmailed by Sheriff Lamb, who has threatened to reveal Terrence's address to the men he owes money to. Veronica later finds a voice mail message left by a student on the bus, which suggests that an explosion immediately preceded the crash. When she plays the message for Keith, he gives it to Sheriff Lamb rather than revealing it to the public. 28 6 "Rat Saw God" Kevin Bray John Enbom & Phil Klemmer November9,2005 2T7206 3.10

Keith loses the election for Sheriff to Lamb, and Logan is arrested for Felix's murder after a witness testifies that Logan was on the bridge. Abel Koontz reappears and asks Veronica to track down his daughter Amelia so he can see her before he dies. Keith breaks into the area where the bus is kept and finds a rat taped under one of the seats. Joss Whedon guest stars as a rental car supervisor. 29 7 "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" Nick Marck Diane Ruggiero November16,2005 2T7207 2.94

When Duncan learns from Meg's emails that she had been babysitting an abused child, Veronica takes on a series of babysitting jobs to help Duncan try to find the victim. Logan asks Veronica to prove that the witness to Felix's murder, Dr. Tom Griffith, is lying and that he was not on the bridge the night of the killing. Woody wins the election and is named the Balboa County Supervisor. He tells Keith of his plan to incorporate the wealthy part of Neptune, which would widen the gap between the rich and the poor. Woody promises Keith that if his plan for incorporation passes, he will make Keith the Chief of Police. 30 8 "Ahoy, Mateys!" Steve Gomer John Enbom & Cathy Belben November23,2005 2T7208 2.50

Veronica and Keith try to uncover who is tormenting the Oliveres family, whose son Marcos died in the crash. Veronica learns that the witness who saw Logan on the bridge, Dr. Griffith, has ties to the "Fighting Fitzpatricks", a Neptune crime family. Thumper, one of the PCHers, tells Weevil that the last people on the bridge with Felix were Hector and Bootsy. 31 9 "My Mother, the Fiend" Nick Marck Phil Klemmer & Dayna Lynne North November30,2005 2T7209 3.00

After reading her mother's high school permanent record, Veronica investigates her mother's suspension for spreading "malicious lies" and a possible relation to Neptune High's mute cafeteria lady. Weevil tells Logan that he no longer believes that Logan killed Felix, and they agree to work together in secret while publicly continuing their feud. Cassidy uses his trust fund money to start a real estate holding company, Phoenix Land Trust, with Kendall as the figurehead CEO. Veronica surreptitiously visits Meg in the hospital and discovers her still comatose and visibly pregnant. 32 10 "One Angry Veronica" John Kretchmer Russell Smith December7,2005 2T7210 3.42

Veronica is selected to be a juror for a case between two 09er boys and a poor Hispanic woman, and Keith investigates the disappearance of sex tapes from the evidence locker in the police station. Meg awakes from her coma and tells Veronica that she does not want her parents to receive custody of her baby. She apologizes to Veronica for her attitude towards her after Duncan dumped her, and although she dies shortly afterwards, her baby survives. Wallace returns from Chicago. 33 11 "Donut Run" Rob Thomas Rob Thomas January25,2006 2T7211 1.62

Veronica helps Duncan, who kidnapped his daughter, escape the country under the noses of Sheriff Lamb and the FBI. Logan and Weevil, working together in secret to avoid the wrath of the PCHers, try to figure out which PCHer is working with the Fitzpatricks. Wallace reveals that he left Chicago because he was in the car when his teammate Rashard Rucker accidentally ran over a drunken homeless person. 34 12 "Rashard and Wallace Go to White Castle" John Kretchmer John Enbom February1,2006 2T7212 2.12

When Wallace reveals Rashard's hit-and-run, Rashard and his uncle turn the tables by producing witnesses who will testify that Wallace was the driver. Weevil investigates the Fitzpatricks with Veronica's help, and finds out that it was Thumper who was working with them. However, Thumper organizes a coup against Weevil, and the PCHers beat him and throw his motorcycle into the ocean. Veronica discovers that Woody told his daughter Gia not to ride the school bus the day of the bus crash. 35 13 "Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough" Guy Bee Diane Ruggiero February8,2006 2T7213 2.05

Season 2

147

At the winter carnival, the cash box with the money for the senior class trip is stolen and Veronica must find it to clear her name. Logan flirts with Hannah, the sophomore daughter of the bridge witness Dr. Griffith. Terrence is accused by Sheriff Lamb of planting the explosive device on the bus and detonating it with a cell phone. He hires Keith to prove his innocence, and reveals that he is a gambling addict. 36 14 "Versatile Toppings" Sarah Pia Anderson Phil Klemmer March15,2006 2T7214 2.73

Veronica is hired to capture two criminals; a person stealing from pizza boys and another who blackmails gay students at Neptune High. Logan uses his relationship with Hannah to put pressure on her father to drop his testimony against Logan. Keith finds out that Terrence was at a casino at the time of the bus crash, and could not have used his cell phone. Keith uses this information as an alibi and Terrence is released, but Lamb refuses to drop the charges. Veronica finds explosives and detonators in the garage where Terrence keeps his cars. 37 15 "The Quick and the Wed" Rick Rosenthal John Serge March22,2006 2T7215 2.34

Veronica must find a missing bride-to-be who disappeared after her bachelorette party. Dr. Griffith agrees to drop his testimony after Logan stops seeing Hannah. Sheriff Lamb issues a warrant for Terrance's arrest, charging him with eight counts of murder. Kendall visits Aaron in prison, and she asks him to invest in Phoenix Land Trust. Aaron agrees to give her money if she can retrieve some of Duncan's hair. 38 16 "The Rapes of Graff" Michael Fields John Enbom March29,2006 2T7216 2.15

On a visit to Hearst College, Veronica runs into ex-boyfriend and drug dealer Troy Vandergraff, who claims to have reformed from his old life. The very next day, Troy is charged with a brutal date-rape and asks Veronica to help prove his innocence. Despite achieving his goals through the relationship, Logan feels guilty for hurting Hannah. 39 17 "Plan B" John Kretchmer Dayna Lynne North April5,2006 2T7217 2.78

Weevil, Veronica and Logan try to prove that Thumper killed Felix. Woody receives a video of the inside of his own home, and asks Keith to investigate. When they discover it was filmed months before Woody announced his controversial incorporation plan, he asks Keith to stop searching for the stalker. Veronica and Logan contact the real caller from the bridge, and Veronica convinces him to tell Sheriff Lamb what he saw on the bridge. Weevil believes that the Fitzpatricks ordered Felix's murder because they found out about his relationship with Molly Fitzpatrick, and that Thumper was the one who killed him. 40 18 "I Am God" Martha Mitchell Diane Ruggiero & Cathy Belben April11,2006 2T7218 1.76

The victims of the bus crash and a mysterious phrase haunt Veronica's dreams as she continues to search for the person responsible for the crash. Veronica finds out that Meg's parents had been trying to set her up with a Neptune High janitor named Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic. Keith discovers that the family of a bus crash victim won two million dollars from a secret settlement with Woody. Richard took out an insurance policy on his sons a few days after his marriage to Kendall, which makes them worth more dead than they are alive. 41 19 "Nevermind the Buttocks" Jason Bloom Phil Klemmer April18,2006 2T7219 1.91

Veronica tries to discover who is responsible for a hit-and-run that killed a classmate's dog. Veronica and Keith find out that Kendall was Cormac Fitzpatrick's partner-in-crime, and that if Cassidy and Dick die simultaneously, she stands to receive more than ten million dollars. Desperate to be free of the brutal Fitzpatricks, the PCHers come to Weevil for help. Construction workers find one of Aaron Echolls' Oscars buried on Kane property, covered with Lilly's blood and Duncan's hair. 42 20 "Look Who's Stalking" Michael Fields John Enbom April25,2006 2T7220 1.85

Gia asks Veronica to discover who is stalking her after she receives a video of her brother's soccer game, which is similar to the one received by Woody. The video turns out to be from Lucky, the janitor at Neptune High who used to be the batboy for the Neptune Sharks. Although he is arrested, his bail is paid by the Mannings. Woody enlists Keith to help cover up an unconscious hooker that was in a hotel room with him. 43 21 "Happy Go Lucky" Steve Gomer Diane Ruggiero May2,2006 2T7221 2.09

Aaron finally goes to trial for his crimes, and Veronica and Logan are the key witnesses. Keith and Veronica discover that Woody molested two boys who died in the bus crash. Jackie's father Terrence is cleared as a suspect, but must work off his casino debt. Lucky shows up at Neptune High and threatens Gia Goodman, and is killed by security. Sheriff Lamb tries to arrest Goodman, and Aaron is acquitted at his trial.

Season 2

148
22 "Not Pictured" John Kretchmer Story by: Rob Thomas Teleplay by: Rob Thomas & John Enbom May9,2006 2T7222 2.42

44

It is Graduation Day for Veronica and her classmates, but Sheriff Lamb arrests Weevil during the ceremony for his involvement in Thumper's murder. Veronica continues to seek Woody's third victim, who she identifies as the bus bomber and a Neptune High student. Keith searches for Woody himself with the help of Vinnie Van Lowe. Aaron is assassinated by Clarence Wiedman, on orders from Duncan, who is shown relaxing on a beach in Australia. Veronica and Logan resume their romantic relationship.

References
General "Veronica Mars: Season 2" [1]. IGN. Retrieved March 30, 2009. "Veronica Mars The Complete 2nd Season" [2]. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved March 30, 2009. Specific
[1] http:/ / tv. ign. com/ objects/ 820/ 820557. html [2] http:/ / www. tvshowsondvd. com/ releases/ Veronica-Mars-Complete-2nd-Season/ 5856

External links
List of Veronica Mars episodes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412253/episodes) at the Internet Movie Database List of Veronica Mars season 2 episodes (http://www.tv.com/veronica-mars/show/24272/episode. html?season=2) at TV.com Veronica Mars (http://epguides.com/VeronicaMars) at epguides.com Veronica Mars (http://www.thewb.com/shows/veronica-mars/) at The WB (U.S. only) Mars Investigations (http://marsinvestigations.net/index.php)

Season 3

149

Season 3
Veronica Mars (season 3)
DVD cover art
Country of origin United States No. of episodes 20 Broadcast Original channel Original run The CW October3,2006 May22,2007 Home video release DVD release Region 1 October23,2007 Season chronology Previous Season 2 Next List of Veronica Mars episodes

The third and final season of Veronica Mars, an American drama television series created by Rob Thomas, began airing on The CW Television Network in the United States on October 3, 2006. The season was produced by Warner Bros. Television, Silver Pictures Television, Stu Segall Productions, Inc and Rob Thomas Productions, and Joel Silver, Diane Ruggiero and Thomas served as executive producers. The third season comprises 20 episodes and concluded its initial airing on May 22, 2007. The season continues the story of Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), now a freshman studying at Hearst College while moonlighting as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father. The first mystery is established when her friend Parker Lee (Julie Gonzalo) becomes the latest victim of the Hearst serial rapist in a storyline begun in a second-season episode. Feeling guilty for not helping her, Veronica sets herself to catching the rapist. The next mystery, a murder, commences in the same episode that the identity of the rapist is discovered. To increase viewership, the third season format was changed to include two separate mysteries that would be introduced and resolved in a series of non-overlapping story arcs. Three of the regulars in the second season were written out of the series, two new characters were introduced and two others were upgraded from recurring roles. The third season received generally mixed critical reviews compared to previous seasons; at least one reviewer expressed disappointment with the series finale, mainly because it did not provide closure for the storylines and characters.

Cast
The third season features a cast of ten actors who receive billing, an increase from the nine actors in the second. Kristen Bell portrays the titular Veronica Mars, a college student and skilled private detective. Jason Dohring plays Logan Echolls, Veronica's love interest. Ryan Hansen plays Logan's obnoxious friend Dick Casablancas. Percy Daggs III portrays Wallace Fennel, Veronica's best friend and frequent partner in solving mysteries. Francis Capra portrays Eli "Weevil" Navarro, the previous leader of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) biker gang and Veronica's friend. Enrico Colantoni plays Veronica's father Keith Mars, a private investigator and former Balboa County

Season 3 Sheriff. Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie and Don Lamb, recurring characters in the first two seasons, were upgraded to series regulars in the third. Mac, portrayed by Tina Majorino, was a computer expert befriended by Veronica. Lamb, portrayed by Michael Muhney, was the Balboa County Sheriff who won the office from Keith in the recall election. The third season introduces two new series regulars, Julie Gonzalo portrays Parker Lee and Chris Lowell plays Stosh "Piz" Piznarski. Piz, named after the director of the pilot, Mark Piznarski, was created so that Veronica could have a male friend of middle-class status rather than of upper-class. He is Wallace's roommate and a friend of Veronica, and his campus radio show serves as a narrative device to capture the mood of the university. Parker is Mac's extroverted roommate at Hearst College and "everything that [she] is not", according to Thomas. Regular characters who did not return for the third season were Duncan Kane (played by Teddy Dunn), who left the country with his daughter midway through the second season, Jackie Cook (Tessa Thompson), who returned to New York, and Cassidy Casablancas (Kyle Gallner), who committed suicide in the season two finale.

150

Release
Critical reception
Reviews of the third season were mixed compared to the previous two seasons. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune praised Bell's performance, who she said deserved the "truckload of glowing press notices for her work as the tightly wound, emotionally resilient young detective". Ryan thought Veronica's relationship with Keith was "one of the best, if not the best, parent-child relationship on television", and described Logan and Veronica's on-screen chemistry as "sizzling". Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com felt that although the third season "wasn't the strongest", it did show that Veronica Mars "could not only survive but continue to find ways to reinvigorate itself". Zacharek liked newcomer Piz, and realized how much she was going to miss the character Dick. Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer felt that Veronica Mars "easily has a few more seasons left in it", and described the writing as "unfailingly hysterical and clever". McFarland praised the cast as "without a doubt one of the most likable on television", and called Dohring "the most beloved of the bunch". Keith McDuffee of TV Squad deemed the season "disappointing", mainly because the episodes offered nothing new: "most fans of Veronica Mars felt that season three was clearly its weakest". Eric Goldman of IGN said that the main issue was the shift in the overall tone, with a lighter feeling than the previous seasons. Goldman believed that Logan had been most affected by the tone change; he was robbed of his darker aspects and changed into an "increasingly extraneous character". The reviewer felt that despite the concerns over the final five episodes, the series ended with "three very strong episodes, with lots of strong dialogue". Goldman concluded that although third season "was very choppy", it still had "plenty of witty dialogue and a continually engaging performance by Kristen Bell as the title character". The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opined that Veronica Mars had taken a dive "creatively", from "the mopier version of its theme song to stalled storylines". The reviewer felt that "the arcing mysteries had grown less convincing and compelling as time went on and were too drawn out". Fox News Channel's Bridget Byrne pointed out that Veronica had "gone from punky todare we saypreppy" in the third season.

Ratings and awards


The third season premiere was watched by 3.36million American viewers, an increase from the 2.42million viewers who viewed the second season finale. Ratings remained stable for the first ten episodes, and the ninth episode featured the most viewers of the season with 3.44million. Beginning with the eleventh episode, ratings dropped to a consistent viewership of a mid-2million per episode, and the final episode before the hiatus was watched by 2.66million viewers. When the series returned from its hiatus, viewers had decreased to 2.35million, and the final two episodes garnered only 1.78and 2.15million viewers respectively.

Season 3 The third season averaged 2.5million viewers for all 20 episodes. Out of all regular primetime programming that aired during the 20062007 American television season, Veronica Mars ranked 138th out of 142, according to the Nielsen ratings system. The third season was nominated for two awards: Kristen Bell was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television, and the series was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for On-Air Promotion (Radio or Television).

151

Distribution
The first two seasons of Veronica Mars aired on UPN; however, in 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. decided to merge UPN and The WB into The CW. Paul Maguire, the spokesman for The CW, said that the series was picked up because "the critics are behind it and our research has consistently shown that Gilmore shared more audience commonality with Veronica than with any other show from UPN, except Top Model". The third season was released in the US under the title Veronica Mars: The Complete Third Season as a widescreen six-disc Region 1 DVD box set on October 23, 2007, Region 2 on December 12, 2008, and Region 4 on February 11, 2009. In addition to all of the aired episodes, DVD extras included unaired scenes with introductions by Rob Thomas, a gag reel, and a webisode gallery with cast interviews and various set tours. Also included were the featurettes, "Going Undercover with Rob Thomas" commentary and "Pitching Season 4", an interview with Thomas discussing a new direction for the series that picks up years later, with Veronica as a rookie FBI agent. The third season was simulcast in Canada by Fox 44. The series had previously been broadcast in Canada by the CTV Television Network and Sun TV. Despite airing the series to low ratings in the previous seasons, the United Kingdom's Living decided to air the series' third season. Network Ten began airing the third season in Australia on March 30, 2007. The series went on hiatus after the fourth episode on April 20, 2007, and resumed on the newly created Ten HD in 2008. The finale was aired on April 8, 2008. The third season was broadcast in New Zealand by TV2.

Cancellation and future


At the 2007 CW Upfront, Ostroff announced that Veronica Mars was not part of the new primetime lineup and was "not coming back". When asked if the series could continue with the FBI concept, Ostroff said that the series was completely gone "in any form". Upon the cancellation of the series, a group of fans calling themselves the "Cloud Watchers" sent more than 10,000 Mars bars to the CW, hoping that the network would reverse its decision and renew the series. Thomas stated that he was interested in writing a feature film based on the series, in the interest of providing closure to the storylines and character arcs. In September 2008, Thomas told Entertainment Weekly that "I thought I had the idea broken, but I've hit a wall in the final act that I haven't quite figured out". Thomas explained that he was very busy writing for Cupid and Party Down, both of which he created. In January 2009, TV Guide reported that the film was Thomas' first priority after Cupid. Thomas noted that as well as writing the script, someone would need to pay for the film, but indicated that producer Joel Silver was ready to green-light the film. In late March, Thomas stated that although the film was not green-lit by the studio, the possibility was still there. Thomas revealed that the film would take place before Veronica's graduation, and feature Wallace, Logan, Mac and Weevil. A film continuation, to be released in early 2014, was confirmed after a successful Kickstarter campaign launched by Rob Thomas which raised over $5.7 million.

Season 3

152

Episodes
Veronica is still living at home with her father Keith, and Piz and Parker are introduced as the respective roommates of Veronica's friends Wallace and Mac. Weevil takes a job at Hearst as a maintenance man, while Lamb continues to serve as Sheriff. During the season, Keith begins an affair with a married client, Wallace struggles to balance academics and sports, Mac begins dating again after previous failed relationships, and Dick has a breakdown and appeals to Logan for help. The season chronicles Veronica and Logan's failing attempts to maintain their relationship in the face of Veronica's mistrust.
No. # Title Directed by Written by Original air date Production code 3T5801 U.S. viewers (million) 3.36

45

"Welcome Wagon"

John Kretchmer

Rob Thomas

October3,2006

The fall term at Hearst College starts and Veronica and Logan are dating. Veronica is still living at home, and Mac and Wallace each have roommates. Wallace's roommate Piz asks Veronica to recover his stolen possessions. Veronica sneaks into Parker and Mac's darkened room to retrieve an item, and successfully avoids disturbing what she thinks is consensual sex. Parker later awakens from her drugged stupor to find her head shavedVeronica had missed the serial rapist in the act. 46 2 "My Big Fat Greek Rush Week" John Kretchmer Diane Ruggiero October10,2006 3T5802 2.96

Guilty over not having helped Parker, Veronica pursues the Hearst serial rapist by going undercover at the Theta Beta sorority during rush week. Parker's parents arrive, intending to take her home. Wallace and Logan participate in a guard/prisoner experiment for sociology class. On the night she was raped, Parker was taken back to her dorm room by a resident assistant because she was too intoxicated to get back herself. Veronica also learns that someone from Theta Beta could have had access to the keys to Parker's dorm room. 47 3 "Wichita Linebacker" Harry Winer Phil Klemmer & John Enbom October17,2006 3T5803 3.12

To help Weevil stay out of prison, Veronica convinces her father to give him a job at Mars Investigations. A Hearst football player loses the team playbook and hires Veronica to find it. Veronica fights with Logan after she discovers that he chose to gamble with his friends instead of spending time with her. The Dean of Hearst threatens to expel Veronica unless she reveals her sources for a sorority article she wrote. Claire, one of the girls of Lilith House, a den of feminist activism, is raped. 48 4 "Charlie Don't Surf" Jason Bloom Diane Ruggiero & Jason Elen October24,2006 3T5804 3.33

Logan asks Veronica and Keith to discover why his trust fund money is disappearing. With a court hearing approaching, Dick and the Pi-Sigs hire Veronica to prove their innocence, to the chagrin of Parker and the other rape victims. Keith's friend Harmony hires him to prove her husband is cheating, and the two grow close. Veronica investigates Claire's rape, and learns that she was with a man the night that she was raped. 49 5 "President Evil" Nick Marck Jonathan Moskin & David Mulei October31,2006 3T5805 2.70

Veronica attends Mercer's Halloween party at the campus casino, but before Logan arrives, the party is robbed by armed men wearing masks modeled after past United States presidents. Weevil is arrested for the crime, but Veronica suspects he has been framed when it is revealed that the loot was dumped and the guns were not real. Keith looks for the ex-husband of the Dean's wife as a possible bone marrow donor for her critically ill son. Veronica finds out that the man Claire was with the night of her rape is her boyfriend; however, she claims that she does not know him. 50 6 "Hi, Infidelity" Michael Fields John Enbom November7,2006 3T5806 2.75

Veronica is accused of plagiarizing her criminology research paper. Seeking to clear herself, she discovers that Professor Landry is having an affair with Dean O'Dell's wife. Wallace is pardoned by the Dean for cheating on his exam, but resigns from the basketball team to focus on his studies. Piz invites Veronica to a night of bowling and she decides to bring Logan and Parker, unaware Piz wanted the evening to be more of a date. Veronica learns that the Lilith House rape was faked, and no hair or DNA from the rapist had been found at the crime scenes. Mercer is arrested after Parker recognizes his cologne to be the rapist's, and Veronica finds clippers in his room. 51 7 "Of Vice and Men" Harry Winer Phil Klemmer November14,2006 3T5807 2.69

Increasingly frustrated by what she sees as dishonesty by Keith, Logan, and Professor Landry, Veronica withdraws from all of them. While staying at Wallace and Piz's dorm room, she meets a girl trying to locate her missing boyfriend. Professor Landry offers Veronica an internship with the FBI, Keith breaks up with Harmony after being blackmailed by Vinnie Van Lowe, and Mercer is cleared of being the rapist by providing an alibi. After being drugged at the food court, Veronica almost becomes the rapist's latest victim, but he is frightened off at the last minute.

Season 3

153
8 "Lord of the Pi's" Steve Gomer Diane Ruggiero November21,2006 3T5808 2.57

52

Keith and Veronica are hired to find the missing grand-daughter of the founder of Hearst College. They learn that the grand-daughter's swing vote could spell the end of fraternities and sororities at Hearst. Logan fears for Veronica's safety as she continues to investigate the campus rapes. Veronica discovers that Claire's rape was faked by the girls in Lilith House. The girls explain that they used Claire's rape to help shut down the Greek houses on campus, which they believed were responsible for the real rapes. Patty Hearst guest stars as a Hearst College trustee. 53 9 "Spit & Eggs" Rob Thomas Rob Thomas November28,2006 3T5809 3.44

Logan offers Veronica a choice, but neither option is beneficial for their relationship. To salvage their friendship, Logan dumps Veronica as a girlfriend. Under pressure, Dean O'Dell reinstates the Greek system. Veronica discovers the identity of the Hearst rapist after a Pi Sig fraternity party, but also finds herself in trouble. Keith tells Dean O'Dell about his wife's affair, and Weevil finds him dead hours later from a gunshot wound. 54 10 "Show Me the Monkey" Nick Marck Story by: John Enbom Teleplay by: John Enbom & Robert Hull January23,2007 3T5810 3.23

Six weeks later, Dean O'Dell's death has been ruled a suicide. Mindy O'Dell asks Keith to investigate the Dean's death because his insurance policy does not cover suicide. Mac and Veronica go undercover as animal rights activists to find a missing lab monkey. Veronica talks to Piz about not letting things slip by, not realizing that he is trying to ask her out. Logan is upset after breaking up with Veronica, and the pair decide to get back together. 55 11 "Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves" John Kretchmer Diane Ruggiero January30,2007 3T5811 2.69

A classmate asks Veronica to locate the woman he loves; she is later revealed to be a hooker. Keith continues his investigation of Dean O'Dell's murder by visiting the Lilith House girls. Veronica asks Logan some difficult relationship questions, and learns he had sex with someone else while they were split up. Keith learns that three of the Lilith House girls were in the area of the Dean's office around the time of his murder, which was egged by unknown assailants. 56 12 "There's Got to Be a Morning After Pill" Tricia Brock Story by: Jonathan Moskin & David Mulei Teleplay by: Jonathan Moskin & Phil Klemmer & John Enbom February6,2007 3T5812 2.40

A student asks Veronica to find out who slipped her RU-486, which caused a miscarriage. While searching through Tim Foyle's computer, Veronica discovers that he is also investigating Dean O'Dell's murder, which took place at around 2:20 am. Upon learning that Logan slept with Madison Sinclair after their first break up, Veronica breaks up with him. Keith discovers that Mindy's car was egged on the night of the Dean's murder, which suggests that she was lying about her whereabouts at the time. 57 13 "Postgame Mortem" John Kretchmer Joe Voci February13,2007 3T5813 2.37

Logan is upset after Veronica breaks up with him, so Dick invites two girls over to cheer him up, but Logan has to babysit an eleven-year-old girl instead. Keith and Veronica discover that the alibis given by Mindy O'Dell and Professor Landry do not match. Wallace rejoins the Hearst basketball team right before the coach is found dead. His widow hires Keith to investigate the murder and clear her son Josh. When Josh escapes from prison, Veronica is arrested for allegedly being his accomplice. 58 14 "Mars, Bars" Harry Winer Story by: Phil Klemmer & John Enbom & Joe Voci Teleplay by: Phil Klemmer & John Enbom February20,2007 3T5814 2.27

Season 3

154

Without any evidence to hold her, Sheriff Lamb releases Veronica from jail. Keith learns that the coach's wife hired Vinnie Van Lowe to find out if her husband was having an affair, while Josh makes contact with Veronica and insists that he is being framed for his father's murder. Logan joins Mac and Parker on a Valentine's Day scavenger hunt, and draws closer to Parker. Lamb attempts to apprehend a suspect without waiting for backup, and is killed. 59 15 "Papa's Cabin" Michael Fields John Enbom February27,2007 3T5815 2.66

Keith, again appointed sheriff after Lamb's death, interrogates Mindy O'Dell, who reveals that the third man in her hotel room the night of the Dean's murder was Dean O'Dell himself. Veronica and Tim set out to prove Professor Landry's innocence, and Veronica ends up uncovering the real murderer. 60 16 "Un-American Graffiti" John Kretchmer Robert Hull May1,2007 3T5816 2.35

Veronica is hired by a Middle Eastern restaurant owner to find out who has been vandalizing his family business. When a drunken teenager stumbles from a bar and gets hit by a car, Keith orders his deputies to conduct surprise ID checks. While doing his own surprise search, Keith catches Piz and Wallace using fake ID's provided by Veronica. Logan decides to throw a birthday party for Parker, where Veronica and Piz kiss. 61 17 "Debasement Tapes" Dan Etheridge John Enbom May8,2007 3T5817 1.85

Piz escorts aging rock star Desmond Fellows before a benefit concert for the radio station. When Fellows' irreplaceable backing tapes go missing, Piz recruits Veronica to locate them. Vinnie Van Lowe files to oppose Keith in the special election for sheriff. 62 18 "I Know What You'll Do Next Summer" Nick Marck Jonathan Moskin & David Mulei May15,2007 3T5818 2.10

Veronica passes the Private Investigator license exam, while Piz interviews Apollo Bukenya, an African student at Hearst who wrote a book about his years as an orphan child-soldier. Veronica is hired by an African man to help prove that he is Apollo's father, but her investigation risks exposing Apollo as a fraud. Meanwhile, as the election nears, Keith fights a crime spree in Neptune. Parker consults Veronica for advice about Logan. 63 19 "Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down" Jason Bloom Phil Klemmer May22,2007 3T5819 1.78

Weevil is arrested for selling fake debit cards, but claims he is being framed and asks Veronica for help. On Piz's radio show, Keith debates Vinnie Van Lowe about the upcoming election, while Dick drunkenly apologizes to Mac for the way he has treated her. Veronica and Piz make up after their argument, and a sex tape of them is posted on the internet. 64 20 "The Bitch Is Back" Michael Fields Rob Thomas & Diane Ruggiero May22,2007 3T5820 2.15

Angry that Logan attacked Piz, Veronica tells him to leave her alone. Parker confronts Logan about his continuing feelings for Veronica, while Piz assures Veronica that he had nothing to do with the sex video. Veronica, with Weevil's help, investigates how the tape originated and discovers Jake Kane is linked to The Castle and pays him a visit.

References
General "Veronica Mars: Season 3" [1]. IGN. Retrieved April 5, 2009. "Veronica Mars The Complete 3rd Season" [2]. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved April 5, 2009. Specific
[1] http:/ / tv. ign. com/ objects/ 830/ 830470. html [2] http:/ / www. tvshowsondvd. com/ releases/ Veronica-Mars-Complete-3rd-Season/ 6851

Season 3

155

External links
List of Veronica Mars episodes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412253/episodes) at the Internet Movie Database List of Veronica Mars season 3 episodes (http://www.tv.com/veronica-mars/show/24272/episode. html?season=3) at TV.com Veronica Mars (http://epguides.com/VeronicaMars) at epguides.com Veronica Mars (http://www.thewb.com/shows/veronica-mars/) at The WB (U.S. only) Mars Investigations (http://marsinvestigations.net/index.php)

List of episodes
Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series ran for three seasons; it premiered on September 22, 2004, during UPN's last two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW. The series balances murder mystery, high school and college drama, featuring social commentary with sarcasm and off-beat humor in a style often compared to film noir. Set in the fictional town of Neptune, Veronica Mars starred Kristen Bell as the title character, a student who progressed from high school to college during the series while moonlighting as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father. Episodes have a distinct structure: Veronica solves a different "case of the week" while continually trying to solve a season-long mystery. The first two seasons of the series have a season-long mystery arc, in which the conflict is introduced in the first episode of the season and resolved in the finale. The third season takes on a different format, focusing on smaller mystery arcs that last the course of several episodes. The first season's run of 22episodes garnered an average of 2.5million viewers per episode in the United States. The second season decreased to an average of 2.3million viewers; however, it included the series' highest rated episode with 3.6million viewers. The third and final season saw an increase to an average of 2.5million viewers.[1] Veronica Mars appeared on a number of fall television best lists, and garnered a number of awards and nominations. At the 2007 CW Upfront, Ostroff announced that Veronica Mars was not part of the new primetime lineup, and in June 2007, TV Guide writer Michael Ausiello confirmed that the cancellation of Veronica Mars was official.

Series overview

List of episodes

156

Season Episodes

Originally aired Season premiere Season finale Region 1

DVD release date Region 2 May16,2008 August15,2008 Region 4 June4,2008 September10,2008 February11,2009

1 2 3

22 22 20

September22,2004 May10,2005 October11,2005 September28,2005 October3,2006 May9,2006 August22,2006

May22,2007 October23,2007 December12,2008

Episode list
Season 1 (200405)
The first season revolves around Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), a high school student and private investigator in the fictional coastal Southern California town of Neptune. As the daughter of well-respected County Sheriff Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni), the biggest problem in Veronica's life was getting dumped by her boyfriend, Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn). But when her best friend Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried) is murdered, Veronica's life falls apart. Veronica's father accuses Lilly's father, popular software billionaire Jake Kane (Kyle Secor), of being involved in the murder. This provokes Neptune's wrath, and Keith is ousted and replaced by the new sheriff Don Lamb (Michael Muhney) in a recall election. Veronica's mother, Lianne Mars (Corinne Bohrer), develops a drinking problem and leaves town. When Veronica's "09er" friendswealthy students from the fictional 90909 ZIP codeforce her to choose between them and her father, Veronica decides to work part-time in her father's newly opened private investigation agency, Mars Investigations. She helps her father solve cases and conducts her own investigations on behalf of friends and acquaintances at school. Veronica discovers new evidence which suggests that Abel Koontz (Christian Clemenson), the man imprisoned after confessing to Lilly's murder, is innocent. As Veronica delves deeper into the murder case, she also works on other investigations, seeks her mother's whereabouts and deals with the aftermath of being drugged and raped during an "09er" party. Veronica, no longer part of the school's wealthy in-crowd, makes some new friends: Wallace Fennel (Percy Daggs III), Neptune High basketball star; Eli "Weevil" Navarro (Francis Capra), leader of the PCHers, a Latino biker gang named after the Pacific Coast Highway; and Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie (Tina Majorino), Neptune High's resident computer genius. Using her friends' resources, as well as those provided by her father and his contacts, Veronica gains a reputation for sleuthing and finds her skills in increasingly high demand at her school. Things get more complicated when Veronica falls into a relationship with Lilly's ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), who for a time held Veronica partly responsible for Lilly's death and went out of his way to harass her.
No. # Title Directed by Written by Original air date Production code U.S. viewers (million) 2.49 2.21 2.71 3.21 2.73

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

"Pilot" "Credit Where Credit's Due" "Meet John Smith" "The Wrath of Con" "You Think You Know Somebody" "Return of the Kane"

Mark Piznarski Mark Piznarski Harry Winer Michael Fields Nick Gomez

Rob Thomas Rob Thomas Jed Seidel Diane Ruggiero Dayna Lynne North

September22,2004 September28,2004 October12,2004 October19,2004 October26,2004

475258 2T5701 2T5702 2T5703 2T5704

Sarah Pia Anderson Nick Marck

Story by: Rob Thomas Teleplay by: Phil Klemmer Story by: Jed Seidel Teleplay by: Jed Seidel & Diane Ruggiero

November2,2004

2T5705

2.86

"The Girl Next Door"

November9,2004

2T5706

2.74

List of episodes

157
Guy Bee Marcos Siega Aury Wallington Story by: Rob Thomas Teleplay by: Russell Smith Diane Ruggiero November23,2004 November30,2004 2T5707 2T5708 2.76 2.40

8 9

8 9

"Like a Virgin" "Drinking the Kool-Aid"

10 10 "An Echolls Family Christmas" 11 11 "Silence of the Lamb" 12 12 "Clash of the Tritons" 13 13 "Lord of the Bling" 14 14 "Mars vs. Mars"

Nick Marck

December14,2004

2T5710

1.90

John Kretchmer David Barrett Steve Gomer Marcos Siega

Jed Seidel & Dayna Lynne North Phil Klemmer & Aury Wallington John Enbom Story by: Rob Thomas Teleplay by: Jed Seidel & Diane Ruggiero Phil Klemmer & John Enbom Diane Ruggiero Carolyn Murray Jed Seidel

January4,2005 January11,2005 February8,2005 February15,2005

2T5709 2T5711 2T5712 2T5713

2.84 2.91 2.97 2.70

15 15 "Ruskie Business" 16 16 "Betty and Veronica" 17 17 "Kanes and Abel's" 18 18 "Weapons of Class Destruction" 19 19 "Hot Dogs" 20 20 "M.A.D." 21 21 "A Trip to the Dentist" 22 22 "Leave It to Beaver"

Guy Bee Michael Fields Nick Marck John Kretchmer

February22,2005 March29,2005 April5,2005 April12,2005

2T5714 2T5715 2T5716 2T5717

2.34 2.33 2.78 2.30

Nick Marck John Kretchmer Marcos Siega Michael Fields

Dayna Lynne North Phil Klemmer & John Enbom Diane Ruggiero Story by: Rob Thomas Teleplay by: Rob Thomas & Diane Ruggiero

April19,2005 April26,2005 May3,2005 May10,2005

2T5718 2T5719 2T5720 2T5721

2.48 3.04 2.85 2.99

Season 2 (200506)
The second season adds three regular cast members: new character Jackie Cook (Tessa Thompson), and first season recurring characters Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen) and Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas (Kyle Gallner). The season begins with the introduction of two new cases: When a school bus full of Neptune High students plunges off a cliff, killing almost everyone on board, Veronica makes it her mission to discover why the bus crashed. Meanwhile, Logan is accused of killing PCH biker gang member Felix Toombs after drunkenly picking a fight with Weevil and the PCHers. Partway through the season, Weevil becomes convinced of Logan's innocence and they team up to find the real killer. Veronica's life returns to much the way it was before Lilly's death: having broken up with Logan during the summer, she reunites with Duncan and is somewhat accepted by the "09ers". However, her private-eye sideline and tough persona keep her from being truly assimilated back into the rich crowd. "09ers" Dick and Cassidy deal with a gold-digging stepmother, Kendall Casablancas (Charisma Carpenter), with whom they are left when their father flees the country while under investigation for real estate fraud. Wallace discovers that his biological father is alive and takes a romantic interest in Jackie. The mystery involving Logan and Weevil was the producers' attempt to give Bell some time off after the taxing first season. Thomas later considered the mystery arcs of the second season to have had "way too many suspects, way too many red herrings", necessitating a change for the third season. As Thomas had conceived the show as a one-year mystery, he decided to introduce and eliminate several characters in order to create an "equally fascinating mystery" for the series' second season. Thomas needed "new blood" since he felt unable to bring back the Kanes and the Echolls and "have them all involved in a new mystery". Teddy Dunn, who portrayed Duncan Kane, left the series midway through the season because Thomas felt that the Logan-Veronica-Duncan love triangle had run its course. He needed to put "other guys in her life" to keep the series fresh and attributed Dunn's removal to fan interest dominating the Logan-Veronica relationship, saying "it became clear that one suitor won out".

List of episodes

158

No.

Title

Directed by

Written by

Original air date

Production code

U.S. viewers (million) 3.30 3.07 3.00 3.10 3.58 3.10 2.94 2.50 3.00

23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

"Normal Is the Watchword" "Driver Ed" "Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang" "Green-Eyed Monster" "Blast from the Past" "Rat Saw God" "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" "Ahoy, Mateys!" "My Mother, the Fiend"

John Kretchmer Nick Marck John Kretchmer Jason Bloom Harry Winer Kevin Bray Nick Marck Steve Gomer Nick Marck

Rob Thomas Diane Ruggiero Phil Klemmer & John Enbom Dayna Lynne North Phil Klemmer & Cathy Belben John Enbom & Phil Klemmer Diane Ruggiero John Enbom & Cathy Belben Phil Klemmer & Dayna Lynne North Russell Smith Rob Thomas John Enbom

September28,2005 October5,2005 October12,2005 October19,2005 October26,2005 November9,2005 November16,2005 November23,2005 November30,2005

2T7201 2T7202 2T7203 2T7204 2T7205 2T7206 2T7207 2T7208 2T7209

32 10 "One Angry Veronica" 33 11 "Donut Run" 34 12 "Rashard and Wallace Go to White Castle" 35 13 "Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough" 36 14 "Versatile Toppings"

John Kretchmer Rob Thomas John Kretchmer

December7,2005 January25,2006 February1,2006

2T7210 2T7211 2T7212

3.42 1.62 2.12

Guy Bee

Diane Ruggiero

February8,2006

2T7213

2.05

Sarah Pia Anderson Rick Rosenthal Michael Fields John Kretchmer Martha Mitchell Jason Bloom Michael Fields Steve Gomer John Kretchmer

Phil Klemmer

March15,2006

2T7214

2.73

37 15 "The Quick and the Wed" 38 16 "The Rapes of Graff" 39 17 "Plan B" 40 18 "I Am God" 41 19 "Nevermind the Buttocks" 42 20 "Look Who's Stalking" 43 21 "Happy Go Lucky" 44 22 "Not Pictured"

John Serge John Enbom Dayna Lynne North Diane Ruggiero & Cathy Belben Phil Klemmer John Enbom Diane Ruggiero Story by: Rob Thomas Teleplay by: Rob Thomas & John Enbom

March22,2006 March29,2006 April5,2006 April11,2006 April18,2006 April25,2006 May2,2006 May9,2006

2T7215 2T7216 2T7217 2T7218 2T7219 2T7220 2T7221 2T7222

2.34 2.15 2.78 1.76 1.91 1.85 2.09 2.42

Season 3 (200607)
The third season introduces two new series regulars, Parker Lee (Julie Gonzalo) and Stosh "Piz" Piznarski (Chris Lowell). Piz was created so that Veronica could have a male friend of middle-class status rather than of upper-class, and his campus radio show serves as a narrative device to capture the mood of the university. Don Lamb and Mac, recurring characters in the first two seasons, are upgraded to series regulars. The season begins with Veronica, Logan, Wallace, Mac and Dick as freshmen at Hearst College. Piz and Parker are introduced as the respective roommates of Wallace and Mac. The first mystery is established when Parker becomes the latest victim of the Hearst serial rapist, a storyline begun in a second season episode. Veronica sets out to catch the rapist, partially motivated by guilt from failing to help Parker. The next mystery, a murder, commences in the same episode the rapist is discovered. During the season, Keith begins an affair with a married client, Wallace struggles to balance academics and sports, Mac begins dating again after previous failed relationships, and Dick has a breakdown and appeals to

List of episodes Logan for help. The season also chronicles Veronica and Logan's failing attempts to maintain their relationship in the face of Veronica's mistrust. The couple breaks up several times throughout the season, and Logan begins dating Parker while Veronica goes out with Piz. Keith is challenged in the sheriff's election by longtime rival P.I. Vinnie Van Lowe (Ken Marino), and faces charges after he destroys evidence incriminating Veronica. The third season was initially planned to include three separate mysteries that would be introduced and resolved in a series of non-overlapping story arcs. Dawn Ostroff pointed out that the original format may confuse viewers, and the new format would allow new viewers to start watching at any point in the season. Inspired by the improvised thriller Bubble, Thomas started laying "subtle" motives for the second mystery during the first one, so that fans would have "a theory on whodunit" when it occurred. The first mystery took place over the first nine episodes. Originally, the second mystery was to be seven episodes long and the third mystery was to occur over the last six episodes of the season. When The CW ordered a 20-episode season instead of the usual 22 episodes, the second mystery arc was shortened from seven episodes to six, and the third mystery was changed from a six episode arc to a five-episode arc. After an eight-week hiatus for the series was announced, the final mystery was changed to five stand-alone episodes designed to be friendlier to new viewers. For the third mystery, Thomas had wanted to present a new situation where Wallace and Mac could be fully involved, "key players [with] really interesting stuff to do". This was a departure from previous seasons where "nice characters" had always been absent from the big mystery because no one was going to believe them to be a suspect.
No. # Title Directed by Written by Original air date Production code U.S. viewers (million) 3.36

159

45

"Welcome Wagon"

John Kretchmer John Kretchmer Harry Winer Jason Bloom Nick Marck Michael Fields Harry Winer Steve Gomer Rob Thomas Nick Marck

Rob Thomas

October3,2006

3T5801

46

"My Big Fat Greek Rush Week"

Diane Ruggiero

October10,2006

3T5802

2.96

47 48 49 50

3 4 5 6

"Wichita Linebacker" "Charlie Don't Surf" "President Evil" "Hi, Infidelity"

Phil Klemmer & John Enbom Diane Ruggiero & Jason Elen Jonathan Moskin & David Mulei John Enbom

October17,2006 October24,2006 October31,2006 November7,2006

3T5803 3T5804 3T5805 3T5806

3.12 3.33 2.70 2.75

51 52 53

7 8 9

"Of Vice and Men" "Lord of the Pi's" "Spit & Eggs"

Phil Klemmer Diane Ruggiero Rob Thomas Story by: John Enbom Teleplay by: John Enbom & Robert Hull Diane Ruggiero

November14,2006 November21,2006 November28,2006 January23,2007

3T5807 3T5808 3T5809 3T5810

2.69 2.57 3.44 3.23

54 10 "Show Me the Monkey"

55 11 "Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves" 56 12 "There's Got to Be a Morning After Pill"

John Kretchmer Tricia Brock

January30,2007

3T5811

2.69

Story by: Jonathan Moskin & David Mulei Teleplay by: Jonathan Moskin & Phil Klemmer & John Enbom Joe Voci

February6,2007

3T5812

2.40

57 13 "Postgame Mortem"

John Kretchmer Harry Winer

February13,2007

3T5813

2.37

58 14 "Mars, Bars"

Story by: Phil Klemmer & John Enbom & Joe Voci Teleplay by: Phil Klemmer & John Enbom

February20,2007

3T5814

2.27

List of episodes

160
Michael Fields John Kretchmer Dan Etheridge Nick Marck John Enbom February27,2007 3T5815 2.66

59 15 "Papa's Cabin"

60 16 "Un-American Graffiti"

Robert Hull

May1,2007

3T5816

2.35

61 17 "Debasement Tapes"

John Enbom

May8,2007

3T5817

1.85

62 18 "I Know What You'll Do Next Summer" 63 19 "Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down" 64 20 "The Bitch Is Back"

Jonathan Moskin & David Mulei

May15,2007

3T5818

2.10

Jason Bloom

Phil Klemmer

May22,2007

3T5819

1.78

Michael Fields

Rob Thomas & Diane Ruggiero

May22,2007

3T5820

2.15

References
[1] (Registration required)

External links
List of Veronica Mars episodes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412253/episodes) at the Internet Movie Database List of Veronica Mars episodes (http://www.tv.com/veronica-mars/show/24272/episode.html?season=All) at TV.com Veronica Mars (http://epguides.com/VeronicaMars) at epguides.com Veronica Mars (http://www.thewb.com/shows/veronica-mars/) at The WB (U.S. only) Mars Investigations (http://marsinvestigations.net/index.php)

Article Sources and Contributors

161

Article Sources and Contributors


Veronica Mars Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=582346892 Contributors: 2012Olympian, 23skidoo, 7thheavenandvmars1105, 97198, ABCxyz, Acalamari, Acc78, AdamDeanHall, AdamDobay, Adrian90, Aecis, Aexia, Afed, Agemegos, Aitias, Aklw, Al4, AlexDeLarge655321, Algamarga, Ali, Alliterator, Amandaellis, Amorpheous, Andromeda, Andsorbuts, Andyjsmith, Andymease, Anoldtreeok, Antonio Lopez, Aprude, Aquaholic7, Arcayne, Areneeh, ArkansasTraveler, Armin76, Aurigas, AussieLegend2, Axem Titanium, AzaToth, Azazell0, Backup10, Bagatelle, BakerBaker, Baylink, BaylorBoy, Bearcat, Bearingbreaker92, Beetstra, Bellerophon, Belovedfreak, Benmars, Berserkerz Crit, Bignole, Billiedoux, Bjrice, Blindwaves, BlueStarz, Blur4760, Bmitchelf, Bobo192, Bovineboy2008, Bradley0110, Bradpeczka, Brendanmccabe, Bruguiea, Buttons to Push Buttons, Buzzbuzz258, CIS, CZeke, CalumH93, Canjth, Cap97, Captain Assassin!, Captain Quirk, CaptainGetts, Carioca, Carocat, CaveatLector, CeeNik, CennoxX, Chessguy, Chewy15, Chibiheart, Chickensheadless, Chlorinator101, Chocolateboy, Chowbok, ChrisGriswold, Chrisj8910, Citizensunshine, Ckatz, Colonies Chris, Commander Nemet, Connor Kent, Consumed Crustacean, Conuly, Cool Blue, CoolKatt number 99999, CopperSquare, Corey15, Cornucopia, Crazycomputers, Crestu, Crevaner, Crito2161, Crjeong, Crowbaaa, Cruel Irony, Crunch, Cubbysgussie, Cue the Strings, Curps, Cwgreece, Cxz111, CyberTrini, CygnusTM, Cyzor, DSatz, Dana boomer, Danhm, Danieliscious, Danielisfat, Danigro89, DannyZ, Danrok, Dark567, Darrenhusted, Darry2385, Datajosh, Davidschubert, Dawson Rose, Daydream believer2, Dayspassions91, DearPrudence, Debuskjt, Dechnique23, DerHexer, Devholyjoke, Dharmabum420, Dianeiscoolness, Diliff, Discospinster, Djungelurban, Dleav, Dmlandfair, Docu, Dominus, DoomsDay349, Doyn, DragonRules, Drbogdan, DropDeadGorgias, Drovethrughosts, Drunkenpeter99, EagleOne, Edward, Edwardtang, Elizabeth Darcy21, Elpablo69, Elwood00, EmmSeeMusic, Emurphy42, Enigmatic Affliction, Epbr123, Epenthesis, Erechtheus, Erianna, Ericalynnnn, Escape Orbit, Espresso Addict, Esurnir, Everyking, Explicit, Extraordinary Machine, Faded, Featherlane, Feelingscarfy, Finishedwithschool, FireyHot, FishPhileo, FiverFan65, Flamurai, Fleming60, Fourthords, Freakofnurture, Frecklegirl, FredR, Freemarket, Galactor213, Gareth, Garion96, Gary King, Geekroick, Getreadytojump, Ghouse, Ginko29, Girtman, Gonzalo84, Gougeaway, Gpie944, Gr8Writer, Greggwon, Grudknows, Gudlyf, Guroadrunner, Gkhan, Halmstad, Hannahcrazy, Harasegawa, Harland1, Harro5, Haseo9999, Hatramroany, Havarhen, Hayk, Haymaker, Heegoop, Hellolamppost, Herowlness, Hmains, Horkana, Hornoir, Hoytloosen, Huntster, HuskersRule, Hyacinth, I c u trippin, II MusLiM HyBRiD II, IRelayer, Illyria05, Imasleepviking, InfoMage, Ingolfson, Insanity Incarnate, Intertrem, Iorek85, ItzDaGMan, Iuhkjhk87y678, J.delanoy, JForget, JOGDH, JYi, Jake232, Jakejvmars, Janeanne, Janejellyroll, January, JasB, Jasmine 29, Jason.cinema, Jaymperr, Jcalderon86, Jclemens, Jeffq, Jeffreymcmanus, Jkay88, Jnmhorn, Jobokar, Joe hill, John Reaves, John of Reading, Jonahb52, Jordan Brown, Jpowell180, Jtalledo, Junkie84, Jusdafax, JustAGal, Jvsett, Katieh5584, Kaz2y, Kc12286, Kenb215, Khazar2, King jakob c 2, Kiwibee, Kjkolb, Kmeigs, Kmhkmh, Koavf, Koveras, Kuru, Kyorosuke, LMNtree, La hapalo, Ladydayelle, Lakers, Lamb, Lambertman, Lee w6, Left4Deadseries FAN, Leftofcentre, Leopardjferry, Lg16spears, Lgalvez71, Lid, LightPhoenix, Lindsey8417, Lkashat, Logical Fuzz, Lokioak, Lorelaig, Lotje, Lttl pggy, Luk, M Van Houten, MER-C, MK2, Madchester, Magicalboy, Magnet105, Magog the Ogre, Maladroitly.serious, Marcus Brute, Martin451, Marvin Monroe, Marysunshine, Matthew, Mcdreamy, Mel Etitis, Message From Xenu, MetsFan76, Michaelcollado, Michaelcox, Mikay, Mike6271, Miranda, MisfitToys, Missmollygarett, Misterstark, Mistyblue2, Mjacton, Mlf107, Modgrrl, Moonwatcher13, Mordicai, MosheZadka, Mratzloff, Mrschimpf, MsQuey, Muchness, Muffysofine, Mushroom, Musicpvm, NZScienceGeek361, Nabber00, Naddy, NatGertler, Nathan00, Naturellebella, Ndjl, NeevaN, NeilN, Nemokara, Nickcarr, Nigholith, Nihiltres, Nikki311, Niteshift36, NitroJason, Nixeagle, Nobodycantbeatme1, Noboyo, NotACow, Nova Prime, Nyago, Nymf, Ojeffery, Old Right, Olexandr Kravchuk, Onlychild13, Ophois, Orangemike, Otto4711, Ottoflippa, Oxymoron83, Padawan9188, Part of me 2, Patrick T. Wynne, Pazuzu567, PdmntPdl, Peacefrog4, Peachey88, Penwhale, Phil Boswell, Phil Sandifer, Philip Trueman, Picaroon, Pilotguy, Pinchofhope, Pinkadelica, Piz VM, Preisler, Princess221, Prudentius, PurplePlatypus, QuasyBoy, Quintote, RachelFaith, Radaar, RadzynFessenden, RalfiParpa, Randolph3, RandomEcho, Rapomon, Ratiocinate, Rawnwolf, RealGrayLogan, Red Director, ReignInTiki, Rettetast, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), RightHandofDoom, Rjo, Rjwilmsi, Robert Moore, Robinepowell, Robsinden, Rocketgoat, Rogue psyche, Ronhjones, RossMuD, Rror, Rtlong, Rvb strongbad, Ryan Utt, Ryan1890, Ryulong, Said Shirazi, Sainnomine, Salocin, Samanthalynn678912, Sarah Brand, Sarahjane10784, Saric, Saugart, Sbritt-07, Scarecroe, Sceptre, Scientizzle, Scohoust, Sdornan, Sean.comerford, Serein (renamed because of SUL), Sevinnyne6126, Shadowhillway, ShelfSkewed, Sherzo, Shikinluv, Shout-hana, SidP, SimpleSerenity, Six words, Skomorokh, Slipperyweasel, Smalljim, Smash, Smoshfan4, Snowolf, Sofffie7, SonicAD, Spanish lullaby, SplitGuy, Ss112, St.daniel, StalKalle, Star141, Staxringold, Steel Spider, SteinbDJ, Stephie1370, Steve, Steven J. Anderson, Stickeylabel, Stickguy, Stillstudying, Stoplookingatme, Streltzer, StuartBrewer, Suckers intl has gone public, Swarve, Sweetbizzybee, SydneyMcbeal, SympatheticIsolation, T3h 1337z0rz, TAnthony, TKK, TVXPert, Talonkarrde, Tamfang, Tangerineduel, Tarzan057, Tbhotch, Tchernomush, Terraflorin, Terrx, Th1rt3en, Thatdog, The JumpStation, TheDJ, TheMonkofDestiny, TheRealFennShysa, Themindset, Thespeakingcat, Thestorm115, ThomasK, Tide rolls, Tilthouse, TimBentley, Tobias Schmidbauer, Tony Sidaway, Tony1, TonyTheTiger, Transcendentalstate, Trukrypto15, Trusilver, Tsomo, Ttll213, Twintone, TyrS, Ultimo Fantastique, UnfriendlyFire, Unreal7, Vagary, Vandalet, Vary, Vectorferret, Vegfarandi, VeiledAbyss, Vermars, Vetsmith1, Vic.177, Vinjx, Vivere, Vivio Testarossa, Vkitty, Vmars0neptune, WAS 4.250, Warpozio, WeirdGuille, Welsh, Wenderella1, WhisperToMe, Whitneygh, Whomp, WikHead, WikiDao, WikiLaurent, Wikirocks, Willking1979, Witchwars, Wizardryo, Wmahan, Wordbuilder, Worlds YOUNGEST tv show creator EVER!, Wwoods, X tiffanyy, XPeeple, Xeworlebi, Xinoph, Xornok, Xoxojulie, Xxx1Kirstin1xxx, Yakuman, Yamla, Yangsta, Yasth, Ynglon, Z.E.R.O., ZPM, Zapvet, Zimshan, ZodoJats, Zootch, Zythe, , 1769 anonymous edits Locations Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=570919787 Contributors: Adrianwn, Albinomonkey81, BD2412, Catoushenka, Cornucopia, Derek R Bullamore, Fratrep, Hornoir, Hughtcool, Intrepidsfsu, Jclemens, Koavf, Mhef, Nabber00, Ncboy2010, R'n'B, SchuminWeb, Ylee, 19 anonymous edits List of characters Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=580844870 Contributors: Adavidw, Armageddon11, Caknuck, Cassiuscarr, Chris the speller, Cleogirl0816, CommonsDelinker, Cornucopia, Cyclonius, DanielDeibler, DarthPikachuShrimp, Dissolve, Drovethrughosts, Edward, Erpert, G.-M. Cupertino, Ground Zero, Heysolesis, Hornoir, IchiGhost, Ihardlythinkso, Iuhkjhk87y678, Jclemens, John of Reading, Kumagoro-42, LoveStreamFlow, LrdSlvrhnd, MADaboutforests, MSJapan, Magioladitis, McLar eng, Mentalman1369, Mikeo, Morshaw95, Nedgreiner, Otto4711, PdmntPdl, Peachey88, Psych2008, QuasyBoy, Rrburke, Sahrin, Salamurai, Sarahjane10784, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Seraph 31, ShaleZero, Spitfire19, TFunk, Tempodivalse, ThatFilmGuy92, The Man in Question, Treybien, Uncle Dick, Urbanus Secundus, Varlaam, Wikirocks, Woohookitty, Xeworlebi, ZPM, 85 anonymous edits Cassidy Casablancas Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=564263912 Contributors: Are You The Cow Of Pain?, ArkansasTraveler, BlairSummers, CaptainGetts, CharlotteWebb, Chris the speller, Cimon Avaro, Cruel Irony, Dimadozen, Doczilla, Drovethrughosts, Flipsidered, Franko1212, G.A.S, Ghepeu, Gilliam, Golbez, Gonzalo84, Grey's anatomy lover, Hornoir, Irishguy, Isionous, Koavf, Lid, Littlealien182, Littledk23, Lots42, Lwc, Matthew, Mild Bill Hiccup, Misza13, Natronomonas, Postdlf, Princess221, Promethean, Royalguard11, SHODAN, Sarahjane10784, SirGrant, Skyrocket, Smijes08, Squeegy beckinheim, Ss112, TK1, Tassedethe, ThatsNotFunny, The JumpStation, The wub, Treybien, Xnuala, Zythe, 82 anonymous edits Dick Casablancas Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=580086601 Contributors: ArkansasTraveler, Balloonguy, Canto2009, CaptainGetts, Chris the speller, ChrisGualtieri, Cruel Irony, CyberSkull, Cyzor, David Gerard, Debuskjt, Drovethrughosts, Duja, Epsilon60198, Floeticsoulchild, ForgottenStranger, Gonzalo84, Grandwazir, Grey's anatomy lover, Historyfeller, Hornoir, HuskersRule, Illyria05, Irishguy, Jeffq, John K, Lid, Madchester, Matthew, Mild Bill Hiccup, Moe Epsilon, Naturellebella, Phatom87, Phoenix-forgotten, Pinchofhope, R. fiend, R.Stratton, Radaar, Rvb strongbad, Salocin, Skyrocket, Slipperyweasel, Stealthound, TaytumnW, Treybien, Vectorferret, Vegaswikian, Vegaswikian1, Xeworlebi, Xinoph, Zythe, 61 anonymous edits Jackie Cook Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=544329228 Contributors: ArkansasTraveler, Canto2009, CaptainGetts, Cruel Irony, Cyzor, David Gerard, Debuskjt, Drovethrughosts, Hornoir, HuskersRule, Irishguy, Jcalderon86, Jeffq, John K, Kuralyov, Matthew, Princess221, Ratiocinate, Rvb strongbad, Salocin, Sarahjane10784, Skyrocket, Ss112, Stealthound, Tassedethe, Vectorferret, Witchbaby, Xinoph, Zythe, 51 anonymous edits Logan Echolls Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=582849868 Contributors: 17Drew, A emy, Alpha Quadrant, Andromeda, Antrophica, ArkansasTraveler, BakerBaker, Bearcat, Becoming, BlueStarz, Blur4760, Bmitchelf, Canto2009, CaptainGetts, Carbine222, Cinefille, Ckatz, Cruel Irony, CyberSkull, Cyzor, David Gerard, Debresser, Drovethrughosts, Dvavasour, Edward, Elipongo, Elmindreda, Elnajjo, EoGuy, Euchiasmus, Eurydice88, Fabrib, Fangirl3393, Flipsidered, Floeticsoulchild, Flyer22, Gaius Cornelius, Hairatick, Hornoir, HuskersRule, Irishguy, Iuhkjhk87y678, JYi, Jcalderon86, Jeffq, Jimmarci, Jimslayer, Jimthing, John, John K, Juliet a, KateCH, Knightw, Kookookaed, Ksofen666, Laefer, Littlealien182, Madchester, Magister Mathematicae, Marilyn1983, Marinatedpeach, Matthew, Mboverload, Mentalman1369, Merope, Misterstark, Mojo Hand, Mookie89, MrFish, Naturellebella, Nehrams2020, NiciVampireHeart, Padawan9188, Phydend, Pinchofhope, Princess221, Psych2008, Quibik, R.Stratton, Rakaha, Red Dalek, Reezerf, Rvb strongbad, Salocin, Shirley Ku, Skyrocket, Slipperyweasel, Smoshfan4, Stealthound, Surfeited, Tabercil, Tamfang, TexasAndroid, Tomdwyer, Treybien, Ukexpat, Vectorferret, Veronica45, Wikirocks, Woohookitty, Xeworlebi, Xfpisher, Xinoph, Xsweetiegirlx26, Zythe, 274 anonymous edits Wallace Fennel Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=542567496 Contributors: ABCxyz, Ace of Spades, Ams627, ArkansasTraveler, Bronzethumb, Cruel Irony, Crystallina, Cyzor, David Gerard, Debuskjt, Drovethrughosts, Floeticsoulchild, Hornoir, HuskersRule, Irishguy, Jasminebaggins, Jcalderon86, Jdavidb, Jeffq, Jimmarci, John K, Juliet a, Madchester, Matthew, MegX, Mikani, MosheZadka, Nikkimaria, Padawan9188, Patrick T. Wynne, Pinchofhope, Princess221, R. fiend, R.Stratton, Ratiocinate, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Rjwilmsi, Rl, Rvb strongbad, Salocin, Ss112, Tassedethe, TexasAndroid, That Guy, From That Show!, The JumpStation, TimBentley, Treybien, Vectorferret, Woohookitty, Xeworlebi, Xinoph, Zythe, 45 anonymous edits Woody Goodman Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=462211600 Contributors: Adavidw, Armageddon11, Caknuck, Cassiuscarr, Chris the speller, Cleogirl0816, CommonsDelinker, Cornucopia, Cyclonius, DanielDeibler, DarthPikachuShrimp, Dissolve, Drovethrughosts, Edward, Erpert, G.-M. Cupertino, Ground Zero, Heysolesis, Hornoir, IchiGhost, Ihardlythinkso, Iuhkjhk87y678, Jclemens, John of Reading, Kumagoro-42, LoveStreamFlow, LrdSlvrhnd, MADaboutforests, MSJapan, Magioladitis, McLar eng, Mentalman1369, Mikeo, Morshaw95, Nedgreiner, Otto4711, PdmntPdl, Peachey88, Psych2008, QuasyBoy, Rrburke, Sahrin, Salamurai, Sarahjane10784, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Seraph 31, ShaleZero, Spitfire19, TFunk, Tempodivalse, ThatFilmGuy92, The Man in Question, Treybien, Uncle Dick, Urbanus Secundus, Varlaam, Wikirocks, Woohookitty, Xeworlebi, ZPM, 85 anonymous edits Mercer Hayes Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=382805643 Contributors: Adavidw, Armageddon11, Caknuck, Cassiuscarr, Chris the speller, Cleogirl0816, CommonsDelinker, Cornucopia, Cyclonius, DanielDeibler, DarthPikachuShrimp, Dissolve, Drovethrughosts, Edward, Erpert, G.-M. Cupertino, Ground Zero, Heysolesis, Hornoir, IchiGhost,

Article Sources and Contributors


Ihardlythinkso, Iuhkjhk87y678, Jclemens, John of Reading, Kumagoro-42, LoveStreamFlow, LrdSlvrhnd, MADaboutforests, MSJapan, Magioladitis, McLar eng, Mentalman1369, Mikeo, Morshaw95, Nedgreiner, Otto4711, PdmntPdl, Peachey88, Psych2008, QuasyBoy, Rrburke, Sahrin, Salamurai, Sarahjane10784, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Seraph 31, ShaleZero, Spitfire19, TFunk, Tempodivalse, ThatFilmGuy92, The Man in Question, Treybien, Uncle Dick, Urbanus Secundus, Varlaam, Wikirocks, Woohookitty, Xeworlebi, ZPM, 85 anonymous edits Duncan Kane Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=544006688 Contributors: 5ptcalvinist, ArkansasTraveler, Astros18, Canto2009, CaptainGetts, Charmedee, Ckatz, Conuly, Cruel Irony, Cyzor, David Gerard, Debuskjt, DigitalLeonardo, Drovethrughosts, Edward, Floeticsoulchild, Gonzalo84, Hornoir, HuskersRule, Iamthat1guy, Irishguy, Jcalderon86, Jeffq, John K, JustAGal, Kc12286, Madchester, Mairi, Marvelknight616, Matthew, Mjacton, Princess221, Radaar, Rakaha, Randolph3, Ratiocinate, Redgolpe, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Rjwilmsi, Salocin, Sam Hocevar, Skyrocket, Spanish lullaby, Stealthound, TexasAndroid, The wub, Thinkorange127, Vectorferret, Xeworlebi, Xinoph, Zythe, 63 anonymous edits Don Lamb Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=570351300 Contributors: AKenjiB, Alai, AndreniW, Andromeda, Andymease, ArkansasTraveler, BakerBaker, Bobo192, BryanG, Buckeyes1186, Canto2009, CaptainGetts, ChrisCork, Chu.chris, Cruel Irony, Cyzor, David Gerard, Dizagaox, Drovethrughosts, Efutch, Elwood00, Flameninja311, Francs2000, Franko1212, Gaius Cornelius, Gongshow, Gonzalo84, Hornoir, HuskersRule, Imnotminkus, Incandescence, Irishguy, Jaxl, Jeffq, Jimmarci, John K, JustAGal, Kelly129, LMNtree, Lesmanalim, Lots42, Madchester, Matthew, MosheZadka, Nv8200p, Otto4711, Postdlf, Psych2008, Radaar, Rakaha, Ratiocinate, RobyWayne, Rvb strongbad, Salocin, Skyrocket, Slipperyweasel, Srikeit, Stealthound, Tassedethe, TexasAndroid, The JumpStation, Thesloth, Transcendentalstate, Treybien, Ucsajes, UltimatePyro, Vectorferret, Woohookitty, Xinoph, Zythe, 104 anonymous edits Parker Lee Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=575458889 Contributors: 7thheavenandvmars1105, Boogerpatrol, Canto2009, CaptainGetts, Cruel Irony, David Gerard, Drovethrughosts, East718, G.-M. Cupertino, Hornoir, HuskersRule, JamesAM, Jules2, Kc12286, Koavf, LilHelpa, Matthew, MegX, Morshaw95, NickW557, Open2universe, Pinchofhope, R. fiend, R.Stratton, Rayven91, Rvb strongbad, Skyrocket, Stealthound, Stepp-Wulf, Sun Creator, T smitts, The wub, VeiledAbyss, Xeworlebi, Zythe, 51 anonymous edits Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=580278002 Contributors: Alliterator, Andromeda, ArkansasTraveler, Baylink, Bmitchelf, Bonnie13J, Bronzethumb, Canonblack, CaptainGetts, ColdShine, Cruel Irony, Cyzor, David Gerard, Debuskjt, Dietcokeallday, DigitalLeonardo, Dismas, Dkueker, Drovethrughosts, Flipsidered, Fram, Grstain, Hornoir, HuskersRule, Illyria05, Irishguy, Jcalderon86, Jeffq, Jimmarci, Jogers, John K, JuneGloom07, Kc12286, Khaosworks, Krazoom, Kuralyov, Lachlan Foley, Madchester, Matthew, Meelar, MegX, Mister24hours, MosheZadka, Mrmoocow, Neelix, Nikkimaria, Ninevah, Pasi, Paul A, Pinchofhope, Princess221, PurplePlatypus, R. fiend, R.Stratton, Ratiocinate, Rvb strongbad, SF007, Salocin, SidP, Skyrocket, Ss112, Tassedethe, TexasAndroid, ThatFilmGuy92, The JPS, Tobias Schmidbauer, Treybien, Uncle G, Vectorferret, Violetriga, Warreed, WillZee, Willy on McWheels, Xinoph, Zythe, 74 anonymous edits Keith Mars Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=541194903 Contributors: Agnosticraccoon, ArkansasTraveler, Armor Nick, Bender235, Canto2009, Ckatz, Conuly, Cruel Irony, Cyzor, DarkAvenger280, David Gerard, Debuskjt, Dmlandfair, Drovethrughosts, Floeticsoulchild, Gonzalo84, Hornoir, HuskersRule, Ianblair23, Illyria05, Irishguy, Jeffq, John K, Kc12286, M-le-mot-dit, Madchester, Mairi, Matthew, Mike Selinker, OddMNilsen, Pacifistic Ibis, Paul A, Pinchofhope, R.Stratton, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Salander86, Salocin, Sarahjane10784, Scarecroe, Skyrocket, Stealthound, TexasAndroid, Thaf, The wub, Vectorferret, WestWingFan, Xeworlebi, Xinoph, Zythe, 39 anonymous edits Veronica Mars Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=576916884 Contributors: 1989Guardian, Adi4094, Agnosticraccoon, Alansohn, Alichat, Andromeda, Antrophica, ArkansasTraveler, BakerBaker, Blondielouise3, BlueStarz, Bokaal, CTVampSlayer, Canonblack, Canto2009, CaptainGetts, Carlton Bale, Chaotic Mind, Chasingamy, Colonies Chris, ContiAWB, Conuly, Cruel Irony, Cyzor, DJ BatWave, DarkAvenger280, David Gerard, Debuskjt, Disavian, Djdannyp, DreamGuy, Drmies, Drovethrughosts, Eric outdoors, Faradayplank, FateClub, Flyer22, Gbabywiki, Glump, GoPurpleNGold24, Gwernol, Hajatvrc, Herowlness, Histrion, Hornoir, Hungryweevils, HuskersRule, Illyria05, Irishguy, Jcalderon86, Jclemens, Jeffq, Jezhotwells, Jimmarci, Joshthek, Juliet a, JustAGal, Kchengliew, Kjoonlee, Kvaks, LMNtree, LeonMcNichol, Lgalvez71, Lid, LilHelpa, Lindsey8417, Litefantastic, Littlealien182, Littledk23, Lonelymiesarchie, Luna Whistler, Lwc, Macy, Madchester, Manticore, Marvelknight616, Matariel, Matthew, Mazhong, Mboverload, McSteamy, Mikani, MosheZadka, Mrmoocow, Nalvage, Naturellebella, Nightscream, NitroJason, NoCultureIcons, Nullasalus, Nymf, Overqualified, Pacific1982, Padawan9188, Patrick T. Wynne, Paul A, Peachey88, Pinchofhope, Princesslucky105, PurplePlatypus, Pypmannetjies, Quirozom, R.Stratton, Radaar, Randolph3, Redgolpe, Reminiscent, Rvb strongbad, Salocin, ShelfSkewed, Siblings Grimm, SimpleSerenity, Skyrocket, Slipperyweasel, Smijes08, Sofffie7, Spanish lullaby, Squiggy Dralion, Stealthound, Stoplookingatme, Tamfang, TexasAndroid, The Iconoclast, The Thing That Should Not Be, The wub, Thespeakingcat, Tomdwyer, Transcendentalstate, Treybien, Tslocum, Ulric1313, UltimatePyro, Vary, Vectorferret, Veinor, Vmars0neptune, Watch37264, WikHead, Wikiburns, Witchbaby, Xeworlebi, Xinoph, Yamla, Zantolak, Zekintha, Zythe, 307 anonymous edits Eli "Weevil" Navarro Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=558102914 Contributors: Adailton, Airconswitch, ArkansasTraveler, BakerBaker, Brianhe, Canto2009, CaptainGetts, Carioca, Cheeda777, Coolman13355, Cornucopia, Cruel Irony, Cyzor, DJ BatWave, DSatz, David Gerard, Deborah-jl, Debuskjt, Donmac, Drovethrughosts, Floeticsoulchild, Herowlness, Hornoir, HuskersRule, Irishguy, Jcalderon86, Jeffq, Jerodast, Jimmarci, John K, Juliet a, Lancini87, Madchester, Matthew, Mojo Hand, MosheZadka, NiciVampireHeart, Paxse, Pinchofhope, Rakaha, Ratiocinate, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Rvb strongbad, Rwiggum, SFK2, Salocin, ShelfSkewed, Skyrocket, Slipperyweasel, Stepp-Wulf, Tassedethe, TexasAndroid, The JumpStation, Treybien, Vectorferret, WhisperToMe, Xinoph, Zythe, 77 anonymous edits Cyrus O'Dell Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=382806127 Contributors: Adavidw, Armageddon11, Caknuck, Cassiuscarr, Chris the speller, Cleogirl0816, CommonsDelinker, Cornucopia, Cyclonius, DanielDeibler, DarthPikachuShrimp, Dissolve, Drovethrughosts, Edward, Erpert, G.-M. Cupertino, Ground Zero, Heysolesis, Hornoir, IchiGhost, Ihardlythinkso, Iuhkjhk87y678, Jclemens, John of Reading, Kumagoro-42, LoveStreamFlow, LrdSlvrhnd, MADaboutforests, MSJapan, Magioladitis, McLar eng, Mentalman1369, Mikeo, Morshaw95, Nedgreiner, Otto4711, PdmntPdl, Peachey88, Psych2008, QuasyBoy, Rrburke, Sahrin, Salamurai, Sarahjane10784, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Seraph 31, ShaleZero, Spitfire19, TFunk, Tempodivalse, ThatFilmGuy92, The Man in Question, Treybien, Uncle Dick, Urbanus Secundus, Varlaam, Wikirocks, Woohookitty, Xeworlebi, ZPM, 85 anonymous edits Stosh "Piz" Piznarski Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=566355978 Contributors: ArkansasTraveler, Bmitchelf, CaptainGetts, Colonies Chris, Cruel Irony, David Gerard, Drovethrughosts, Evanreyes, Fortdj33, Hmwith, Hornoir, HuskersRule, JerH, KidzProductions, KingMorpheus, Kowalmistrz, LeaHazel, Matthew, Mikani, Nehrams2020, Nova Prime, OS2Warp, Omghgomg, Pacifistic Ibis, Phydend, Pinchofhope, R.Stratton, Radon210, Rayven91, Rjwilmsi, Rvb strongbad, Sfan00 IMG, Shadowjams, Skyrocket, Smallq, Smoshfan4, Tamfang, Tobias Schmidbauer, Treybien, Violetriga, Warreed, Welladjusted84, Wine Guy, X tiffanyy, Zythe, 53 anonymous edits Season 1 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=572076762 Contributors: Barsoomian, Chowbok, Cornucopia, Dabomb87, Drovethrughosts, Edward, Jimboradley, MalikaZ, Matthewedwards, Montaraca, NuclearWarfare, QuasyBoy, Rambo's Revenge, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Sarah R Donaldson, Sweetlew13, TAnthony, TheFarix, TonyTheTiger, Urbanus Secundus, Waynekao, Xeworlebi, , 7 anonymous edits Season 2 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=572076787 Contributors: Chowbok, Cornucopia, Dabomb87, Drovethrughosts, Grafen, Krinkle, Matthewedwards, Mentalman1369, Nick Number, NuclearWarfare, QuasyBoy, StarryGrandma, Sweetlew13, TAnthony, Tassedethe, TheFarix, TonyTheTiger, Urbanus Secundus, Varlaam, Xeworlebi, , , 5 anonymous edits Season 3 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=572076801 Contributors: Cornucopia, Courcelles, Dabomb87, Dillmister, Drovethrughosts, FriendsFanUK, Hornoir, Jimboradley, Matthew R Dunn, Matthewedwards, Michael Devore, Mjacton, Nightstallion, Nova Prime, NuclearWarfare, Peachey88, PranaGrau, Psych2008, QuasyBoy, R. fiend, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Robina Fox, Sgeureka, Ss112, StarryGrandma, TAnthony, Tamfang, ThatFilmGuy92, TheFarix, TonyTheTiger, Urbanus Secundus, Varlaam, Xeworlebi, Yoenit, , 14 anonymous edits List of episodes Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=570675673 Contributors: 1david1, Alliterator, Archaeologist, ArkansasTraveler, BD2412, Becoming, Bignole, Bisbis, Brad, Bronzethumb, Cburnett, Chirchona, ChrisGriswold, Circeus, Cool Blue, Cornucopia, Crazycomputers, Cristan, Cyzor, Dabomb87, DarkProdigy, David Gerard, Davidschubert, Dewritech, Drovethrughosts, Elected, Extraordinary Machine, Gaius Cornelius, Geekroick, Getreadytojump, Golbez, Gregmce, Groggy Dice, Hornoir, Hostileca, Howcheng, HuskersRule, Illyria05, Jclemens, JeffW, Jeffq, Jimknut, Knows, Lid, Lixbeth, Manticore, Matthew, Matthew R Dunn, Mhiji, Mikay, Mr. Stabs, Nergaal, NuclearWarfare, Otto4711, Perfidia, Psychorider, R. fiend, Radaar, Rambo's Revenge, Ratiocinate, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), RossMuD, Rvb strongbad, Sarahjane10784, Sengkang, Sgeureka, Slipperyweasel, SsiMurder, Stig morten 93, TTN, Techsterks169, The Rogue Penguin, Tobias Schmidbauer, Tony1, UDScott, VCat, VeiledAbyss, WestWingFan, Wikipedical, Wikirocks, X tiffanyy, Xeworlebi, Xxpor, Zimbabweed, Zzedar, ^demon, 127 anonymous edits

162

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

163

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors


File:AmandaSeyfried09TIFF.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:AmandaSeyfried09TIFF.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: gdcgraphics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdcgraphics/ File:TeddyDunn.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:TeddyDunn.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Emily L File:Oceanside Beach Panorama.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Oceanside_Beach_Panorama.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: West Jones File:Enrico Colantoni 2007.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Enrico_Colantoni_2007.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Phil Konstantin File:Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars 2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kristen_Bell_as_Veronica_Mars_2.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Darekm135, EVula, Krinkle, Lindsey8417, Rafaelsilba, Spooky, 1 anonymous edits File:ComicCon 2005 Veronica Mars Panel Jason Dohring 01.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:ComicCon_2005_Veronica_Mars_Panel_Jason_Dohring_01.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Emily L from Los Angeles, CA, USA File:Sydney Tamiia Poitier.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sydney_Tamiia_Poitier.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Jeff Balke. ( Flickr profile). File:Charisma Carpenter by Stanley Lui.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Charisma_Carpenter_by_Stanley_Lui.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Stanley Lui from Waterloo, Canada Image:Harry Hamlin.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Harry_Hamlin.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Alan Light Image:Lisa Rinna6crop.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Lisa_Rinna6crop.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: The Heart Truth File:Alyson Hannigan.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Alyson_Hannigan.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Patrick Lee File:Amanda Seyfried at Jennifer's Body TIFF 2009.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Amanda_Seyfried_at_Jennifer's_Body_TIFF_2009.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Josh Jensen File:Ryan Eggold 2009.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ryan_Eggold_2009.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Kristin Dos Santos File:Richard Grieco.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Richard_Grieco.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Angel Schatz File:Jbperry-ojaievent-20080621.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Jbperry-ojaievent-20080621.jpg License: unknown Contributors: Aurax File:2009 CUN Award Party Alona Tal 011.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:2009_CUN_Award_Party_Alona_Tal_011.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Contributors: Ilya Haykinson File:Robin Wong TIFF Schmooze Aaron Ashmore.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Robin_Wong_TIFF_Schmooze_Aaron_Ashmore.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: RobinWong www.robinwong.ca File:EdBegleyJrAAFeb09.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:EdBegleyJrAAFeb09.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: Chrisa Hickey at http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisahickey/ Image:Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars 2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kristen_Bell_as_Veronica_Mars_2.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Darekm135, EVula, Krinkle, Lindsey8417, Rafaelsilba, Spooky, 1 anonymous edits File:Veronica Mars 2004 logo.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Veronica_Mars_2004_logo.svg License: Trademarked Contributors: User:Xeworlebi

License

164

License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You might also like