Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Season 4 (not 1 as advertised) was a shell of its former self and very disappointing. Veronica herself was callous and cruel. She was dismissive and mean to her friends, boyfriend, and at times, even her father. She was unapologetic for her behavior except one very badly executed, half-hearted apology. It was baffling as to why people put up with her. Veronica has never been a great friend, but she used to acknowledge it and show kindness and makes strides to sublimate her bad behavior. Had her famous “marshmallow” center. Not in this season. All softness was gone and even in her few moments of vulnerability, she was riddled with a relentless bitterness. She no longer felt like the girl I used to love and root for. Most confusingly, the show didn’t explain how Veronica became this person. Last time we saw her in movie/books, Neptune, being a PI, and Logan were all things she actively chose because they made her feel like her true self. Gave her a sense of purpose, self possession, and contentment in a difficult world. In S4, she’s unhappy and its never explained as to why this shift occurred. Veronica, touted as a “preternaturally gifted” detective, was barely even shown detecting. In fact, she relied on the detective skills of Keith/Logan/Matty/Vinny/The Murderheads and barely picked up any clues on her own. She rarely outwitted or outsmarted anyone and in one particularly unnerving instance, casually threatened a lower class youth with death or prison. Even Veronica’s jokes/wittiness regularly came off as petty and spiteful, and frequently, not all that funny. Without any explanation, Veronica’s also now someone who takes drugs (drops E taken from a stranger no less), even though she’s been drugged 3 times in the past and raped and almost killed because of it. Watching Veronica shoot her gun with her untrained friend while they were both high (this time weed), was so strange and upsetting. I felt like I didn’t know this girl or how she became this person. There was no character continuity from the film and the books that directly proceeded this season in canon. (They also had Logan take E when he’s an active naval intelligence officer and has been to rehab for multiple ODs. It made no sense.) Beloved secondary characters were completely marginalized. Wallace was given 5 minutes of mostly background screen time without plot purpose and was treated horribly. His life, his child, his time, and his friendship where all looked down upon and dismissed by Veronica. Weevil was given 15 minutes of screen time and was again treated horribly by Veronica, this time with disturbing racist overtones. (The enduring rift between Veronica/Weevil was also something retconned from the books, where they had fallen out, but started to make peace.) Her father, Keith, had obvious issues with failing health (both mental and physical) and Veronica just didn't notice and didn't notice, even though they were blatantly obvious. She also acted like it made complete sense he was still walking with a cane 5 years after his car accident with no progress and made a dig about him not being able to get up stairs when she should have been looking for a ticking bomb. It no longer felt like Veronica was remotely deserving of these kind, loyal people in her life. Logan, Veronica’s longtime love, was particularly mistreated as she raked him over the coals again and again by belittling his efforts at therapy and trying to achieve mental health as a victim of abuse and an active soldier with PTSD. This was especially strange considering Veronica holds a psychology degree from Stanford, yet another thing that seems to have been forgotten by this revival out of convenience to tell the story that it wanted to tell. Veronica also rewarded Logan sexually for violence she grossly courted — something that was the complete antithesis to their character dynamic before and felt reductive and detrimental and upsetting, particularly because the incident was called out as incredibly upsetting by Logan, but then was never addressed again. Veronica begins the season turning down a marriage proposal by Logan, something that felt in character because of her history as a PI watching couples fall apart, but then they never explore that reasoning or any other concerns further. In the books she wanted forever with him and children and worried his job was too dangerous and would take him away from that potential future. In S4, she’s seemingly anti-children, it's unclear if she wants forever, and she never expresses how his job or her job could affect her decision. Instead of actually exploring Veronica’s thought process or fears, they simply show her as having a sudden desire to cheat with Leo before giving her an equally sudden, magical epiphany that she *does* want to marry Logan after a life threatening situation — having never discussed anything. Yet another love triangle and another revelation that “Veronica loves Logan and wants only him” is something the audience didn’t need because it had been established time and time again in the previous seasons/movie/books. In fact, the temptation by the attraction/convenience of Leo, only to decide that 'Logan is the person she loves more than anything and she would never want to risk her future with him', was the *exact same story* told with the *exact same characters* in the second book. The recycling of storylines felt unimaginative and boring and not well executed. It also felt cruel to the audience who had waited 15 years to see these characters in a relationship together. The creator, Rob Thomas, and the cast had crowdsourced the Veronica Mars Movie on backs of beloved secondary characters and relationships, particularly Logan and particularly the Veronica/Logan relationship. This season all felt like huge middle finger to audience who have championed the show in the 12 years it was off the air. Who had given $6 million dollars to fund a continuation 5 years ago, who had that loyalty leveraged to renew the show now, and then had what they loved about the show obliterated. And when I say obliterated, I mean *obliterated*. Most callous and cruel of all was the season’s ending that literally destroyed the show as fans knew it with zero reverence. After 15 years they unceremoniously killed Logan, off-screen, 5 minutes before the season ended faulting Veronica’s negligence and had Veronica renounce what had been sold as her hero's journey. They gave Logan and Veronica a schlocky wedding, and orchestrated a series of nonsensical contrivances by dumbing down the characters, just so they could blow him up while Veronica and Logan are still in their wedding clothes. Then the show immediately jumps forward a year, doesn’t let Veronica or the audience grieve, and shows Veronica shedding a single tear from behind sunglasses as she heads out of town to abandon her former life. It was pure, hackneyed soap opera. Plinking music and a voicemail from Logan from beyond the grave tells the audience Veronica will be fine because she’s “tough”. Even though, as this season exemplified, she always repressed and never dealt with her numerous previous traumas and has no plans to try to now. (She finally goes to one therapy session where she admits to not talking about herself before leaving town.) It was all ham-fisted and odd and a disservice to the show, the characters, and the audience. Particularly to Jason Dohring and Logan, who have arguably always been the show’s strongest actor (certainly this season where Bell often fell flat) and its most complex and evolved character respectively. Logan was interesting and carried storylines on his own, not just in relation to Veronica. Dohring's talent drove the show’s enduring legacy as much as Kristen Bell. The actor himself is beloved by cast and crew and didn’t want to leave, so exiting him is a baffling decision to make, made infuriating by the supposed reasoning... Logan’s death is explained by the creator Rob Thomas as “necessary” because he “can’t picture a 35 year old detective with a boyfriend or husband”, that he needs her “sexually available” moving forward, and that Veronica is “most interesting” when “traumatized” and in pain. The reasoning is so misogynistic and glorifying of trauma, it’s horrifying. Especially considering his desire to showcase Veronica as a feminist icon when the reasoning is so decidedly anti-feminist. And considering how it undermines Veronica and Logan’s cultural and personal significance to people as trauma and abuse survivors. It changes the story from one of hope to exemplify nihilism. Moving forward, Thomas wants to reboot the show, shed all secondary characters and the town of Neptune, and abandon everything about the show that made it beloved. It will just be a starring vehicle for Kristen Bell with Veronica at her least likable, alone in the world driving from place to place. He wants a “purely detective show”. He believes it’s “the only way” the show can survive. It doesn’t make sense. That’s not what got Veronica Mars this far and if you have to betray your loyal fan base of 15 years to execute it, it isn’t a good idea. People don’t turn in to season 5 of a show when they’ve never watched before to see it completely retooled. (Especially in this day and age where streaming means people binge a show by going back to the beginning.) If you’re an established fan, you’ll be disappointed. And if you tried the show before and didn’t enjoy it, it’s unlikely you’d ever give it a second chance now. The motivations lack logic. It’s especially strange Thomas says he wants to solely focus on mystery when he readily admits he’s not a good mystery writer in interviews. The Veronica Mars mysteries have always been riddled with plot holes and illogical contrivances that were only forgiven by audience because they served as a vehicle to spend time with their favorite characters. That option for exchange is now off the table. This season’s mystery was somehow both endlessly predictable (an obviously guilty party), while also nonsensical in its motives and overall execution (the bomber’s motivation is because of one specific group and yet they target multiple others in the bombings, was suddenly able to source parts for and perfectly execute many different types of bombs, set them about town and created an alibi even though bomber was in custody and had no accomplice). To say that the mystery aspect of the storytelling is what should have more weight thrown behind it and will drive the audience is misguided at best. I used to love this show and thought the cast and creators understood why it lived on in the hearts and minds of people for 15 years - the characters, the relationships, the depiction of hope for people who had experienced trauma. That it appreciated its audience. That’s no longer true. It’s now a story about how if you try to become healthier, you’re uninteresting and expendable. If you’re emotionally stunted, repress everything, and are continually traumatized, it’s to be celebrated. If you strive towards health and what makes you happy, it’s useless because all you should really expect is more trauma. And that if you believed in loyalty and a respectful, symbiotic show/audience relationship, you were a fool. This is a sad and honestly heartbreaking turn of events for the Veronica Mars story. Veronica is no longer someone I want to spent time with and considering she's the only character who will be featured moving forward, I will definitely be saying goodbye.