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viktor_haagSeason Three of Veronica Mars is, I think, almost completely off the rails. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we end up with a short season and the show getting cancelled. I have secret thoughts about Rob Thomas' high-concept project on narrative point of view being spun here, but more and more I'm forced to come back to reality and admit that I think the writing staff has lost their way and are fumbling around in the dark.
This season's episodes have been unfocussed, muddy, and unevenly paced. In the last couple episodes the once-razor sharp rapport between Bell and Colantoni has devolved into self-righteous-know-it-all teenager versus aw-shucks-confused-and-unsure dad.
I still hope my musings about Thomas' project are accurate (that the entire show is deeply immersed in Veronica's point of view, and so the depictions of events, characters, and their responses to each other and situations are vivid reflections of her own state of mind), but I have strong doubts that, with writing as weak as we've seen this season, VM will make it past mid-season let alone get renewed.
One big beef I've had with this season is the inept handling of the minor characters as Wallace, Dick, Mac, and Weevil seem little more than remote pawns flung in for plot device but having no central impact on the main thrust of the show. Even Logan has, more often than not, been reduced to a one-note purpose. Half of me says, "Of course! That's exactly what happens to your emotional landscape when you move from highschool to university: you struggle with that tension knowing that your 'friends for life' from highschool just aren't that vital or meaningful to your life any more; you drift away from most of them, inevitably, and find new people to fill the emotional nooks and crannies of your college years."
The other half says, "You idiots: you've spent two years building up audience expectations about these characters and Veronica's relationship to them. Now, in a season where you need to hit all the notes as well as provide strong stories if you have any hope of getting a full slate of episodes, you throw away all those expectations."
Sure you have a grand narrative project in the works, but the audience is starting to yawn and turn away in droves.
Oh well. Some shows just live past their useful lifespan, and Veronica Mars seems to be on life-support at the moment.
[Edit -- apparently, the network has ordered seven more episodes of Veronica Mars, so it will have a longer run at the ramp.]
This season's episodes have been unfocussed, muddy, and unevenly paced. In the last couple episodes the once-razor sharp rapport between Bell and Colantoni has devolved into self-righteous-know-it-all teenager versus aw-shucks-confused-and-unsure dad.
I still hope my musings about Thomas' project are accurate (that the entire show is deeply immersed in Veronica's point of view, and so the depictions of events, characters, and their responses to each other and situations are vivid reflections of her own state of mind), but I have strong doubts that, with writing as weak as we've seen this season, VM will make it past mid-season let alone get renewed.
One big beef I've had with this season is the inept handling of the minor characters as Wallace, Dick, Mac, and Weevil seem little more than remote pawns flung in for plot device but having no central impact on the main thrust of the show. Even Logan has, more often than not, been reduced to a one-note purpose. Half of me says, "Of course! That's exactly what happens to your emotional landscape when you move from highschool to university: you struggle with that tension knowing that your 'friends for life' from highschool just aren't that vital or meaningful to your life any more; you drift away from most of them, inevitably, and find new people to fill the emotional nooks and crannies of your college years."
The other half says, "You idiots: you've spent two years building up audience expectations about these characters and Veronica's relationship to them. Now, in a season where you need to hit all the notes as well as provide strong stories if you have any hope of getting a full slate of episodes, you throw away all those expectations."
Sure you have a grand narrative project in the works, but the audience is starting to yawn and turn away in droves.
Oh well. Some shows just live past their useful lifespan, and Veronica Mars seems to be on life-support at the moment.
[Edit -- apparently, the network has ordered seven more episodes of Veronica Mars, so it will have a longer run at the ramp.]
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Date: 2006-11-15 14:11 (UTC)I guess it helps I have no investment in the relationships she has with the other characters.
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Date: 2006-11-15 16:08 (UTC)Doesn't help that my favourite character is Mac. Here she finally gets billing in the credits, and has she been given any love by the writers in weeks? Nope. Bah!
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Date: 2006-11-19 20:23 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-23 14:42 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-23 15:30 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-24 14:17 (UTC)