Veronica Mars: Season 3

Warning! Spoilers littered throughout this review!Note: I'll rewrite the following paragraph soon (pressing matters keeps me from doing more right now) but we now know from reliable sources that Veronica is not going to be back in any way. She will not be back as a college student and she will not be back as an FBI agent in a reworked format. The only reason the CW hasn't already made the announcement, according to Kristin of Eonline.com, is that they are afraid of the anger fans will heap on them. They will deserve that anger! For me the CW will always be the network that made room for a mother-daughter beauty pageant, a second season of the Pussycat Doll show, and THE FARMER TAKES A WIFE. It had room for absolutely miserable excuses for shows like these, but couldn't find room on its schedule for VERONICA MARS. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about the CW.I will revise this first paragraph as soon as we know for certain, but it is not true, as has been almost universally reported, that VERONICA MARS has been cancelled. As of today this is what we know for certain: it has not yet been placed on the fall schedule. The head of the CW, Dawn Ostroff, says that while the VERONICA MARS of the past three seasons is gone, she is working with Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell on a possible future project, which most believe means the widely reported successor series to VERONICA MARS, in which the plot would shoot to the future, to deal with Veronica Mars as a FBI agent. This would be accompanied with a completely new supporting cast and perhaps even a title change in the show. Numerous sources have reported and Dawn Ostroff herself has stated that she has until June 15, 2007 to make a decision on whether to pick this new series up. To be honest, not many insiders are offering fans much hope that this series will be picked up. But as the old expression goes, "The opera ain't over until the fat lady sings." Well, she isn't singing yet, but she might be warming up. We'll have to keep our fingers crossed that the next three weeks will bring some good news.Certainly we need not fear for the long term future of Kristen Bell. One of the most talented actresses on TV, she is not only lovely but a gifted actress, singer, and dancer all in one diminutive package. The question is not whether she will be involved in some project in the future, but which one. Most immediately it appears that she will be the narrator for GOSSIP GIRL (this might not happen if she plays VERONICA MARS in some way, but even if she does, it might be possible for her to serve as narrator--she did do the narration for the pilot that critics saw at the Upfront in New York).If VERONICA MARS is cancelled and we see no more of our pint-sized but large-spirited teen detective, we can, in a way, be grateful that we got three full seasons. I fell in love with this show immediately and watched it religiously through its entire run. When UPN inexplicably scheduled it opposite one of my other favorite shows, LOST, I recorded LOST and watched VERONICA MARS live. Veronica was when she debuted the latest in a string of strong female characters to have arisen in the wake of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER making TV safe for such creatures. She was, in fact, the heroine who most resembled Buffy. The first two seasons were simply glorious, two utterly perfect seasons that topped almost everything else on television. Season Three, unfortunately, represented something of a slip for the show. (I refuse it give it less than five stars, however, simply because it was still better than most else on television.) Many people have felt this and have speculated on why. My own belief is that VERONICA MARS suffered from network interference. Both Season One and Season Two were driven by deep emotional needs in Veronica to solve major mysteries. Season Three had no such deep mystery (though there were two lesser ones) and as a result lacked the emotional intensity of the previous seasons. No doubt a lot of this was the result of the network putting pressure on the show to make it accessible to new viewers. We've seen this take place again and again over the years with various shows and the brute fact is: it doesn't work. Mainly such an approach wins no new viewers and alienates many of the viewers the show already has. I spent all of Season Three with a mild feeling of disappointment, yearning for the intensity to return. Yet, sometimes it did. "Spit and Eggs," which resolved the campus rape mystery, was as stressful and as wonderful as the best Season One and Two episodes, but it turned out to be the exception and the rules.My own thinking on the "how to win new fans" issue with series is that watering down the show never works. Instead, I think the way to go is to rely on online streaming and DVD to get potential fans caught up. I didn't, for instance, start watching FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS last fall when it debuted. But I was able to catch up by watching it on NBC.com. The CW put up a few episodes for streaming, but only a few. What they needed to do was place the entire season online for its shows, much like NBC does. Serial dramas like VERONICA MARS can attract and build up a fanatically devoted fanbase, but you keep that fanbase by continuing to produce a high quality serial drama, not by forcing it to become more and more episodic. The truth is that networks almost always complicate rather than improve a series through their meddling.Another perplexing problem with Season Three was the near disappearance of several supporting characters. At times I wondered if Wallace was still part of the show. And Weevil played less and less of a role as the season went along. My understanding is that Francis Capra, who plays Weevil, had some health problems during the season (and that medication he was taking led to a rather startling weight gain early in the year with accompanying skin problems--these seem to be on the way to clearing up by season end). Mac became an opening credits character, but she didn't seem to play any more important role than she had in the past.Still, some things remained really great about the show. Veronica and her father continued to have one of the most satisfying, if not the most satisfying, father-daughter relationship on TV. Veronica continued to impress and overwhelm all those disposed to doubt her. And as a huge BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fan she made the best frakkin' BSG references on all TV (though Dwight Schruette of THE OFFICE and Seth Cohen of THE O.C. gave her a run for her money), even helping one client find a woman she met at the BSG session at Comicon. But a lot of the passion of the previous years was gone. TV critics noticed. For its first two seasons, VERONICA MARS was probably one of the five most critically praised shows on TV. In Season Three it probably dropped out of the top ten to somewhere in the 10-15 spot. I blame this entirely on network interference.The most heartbreaking part of the season came with the finale, which left several plot lines unresolved. This was not entirely the network's fault. Rob Thomas obstinately refused to do a "just in case" ending for the season. He apparently wanted to increase the pressure on the network to renew the show. That is one philosophy, but I prefer Joss Whedon's when he was on BUFFY. His idea was that you never knew whether you would get cancelled (fortunately BUFFY never did, though both ANGEL and FIREFLY would be), so you leave the end of each season in a place where it could both lead into something if you get renewed, but it would be satisfying to the fans if you don't. EVERWOOD filmed two versions of its Season Three finale in case it didn't get renewed. It didn't, but thankfully a finale existed that wrapped up the show Now, unless the FBI Agent Veronica Mars series materializes, we are left with a dangling show. Moreover, it will dangle most likely regardless, since a time shift to several years in the future will take the show well past the subsequent events on the show. Networks should do a better job of ending serial drams with dedicated fanbases, but the executive producers need to take some responsibility as well. I can understand Rob Thomas's reluctance to not go gentle into that good night, but I wish he had filmed an episode that did a better job of wrapping up the series. As it is, we are left wondering whether the homicidal nutjob Logan beat up got his revenge, whether Jake Kane was once again a part of the show's story, and whether Vinnie Van Low was the new sheriff of Neptune.Television is going to miss this show. Although NBC debuts THE BIONIC WOMAN in the fall of 2007 (with a crackerjack production staff, a strong cast, and some very good writers, making this look like a more like one of the more promising series of 2007-2008), television is lacking somewhat right now in strong female characters. In fact, only BATTLESTAR GALACTICA with characters like Laura Roslin, Sharon Agathon, and Starbuck has much in the way of strong women. I'm delighted that we got to see Kristen Bell portray Veronica for three wonderful years, but I'm still going to miss her mightily.

Veronica Mars. Short. Blonde. Petite. Sassy. Detective? A young incapable looking girl is a tough, action figure private detective in a town full of sin.In the show's third season it adopted a new format. Instead of the season long mystery it had three mysteries that played out one after the other along with each episodes 'mini-mystery'.The season starts out with Logan and Veronica finally together, letting the audience see what they really are like as a couple. Giving a good majority of the fans (self proclaimed LoVe shippers) exactly what they wanted: their favorite diminutive detective together with their favorite abused bad boy. The relationship, as always, is rocky and doesn't last. Logan is depicted as the ever accomadating boyfriend, only wanting to please his oblivious girlfriend. Veronica starts off in the good girlfriend role, attentive to a point and loving to a point, but eventually succumbs to her fear of commitment (something that seems to only happen when she's with Logan) and her inability to fully trust him (even though he saved her life and risked his own only a few short months earlier on the roof of the hotel he calls home). The relationship ends but is briefly revisited before Veronica learns that Logan has slept with her arch-nemesis: Madison Sinclair. She ends it this time and adds that she'll never forgive him.The first mystery is the 'Hearst Rapist' story arch, which was introduced in the second season with the reappearance of Troy Vandergraff (the drug dealer Veronica briefly dated in season one). The Rapist terrorizes campus, and Mac's roommate (and Veronica's new friend) falls victim to him. The rapists' attack on the women of campus remind Veronica of her own rape and spurs her into action, along with getting vengeance for new friend Parker. The rapist goes after her and is basically the cause of Logan's breaking up with her (other than the fact that she completely pulls away). She catches the rapist and is nearly raped herself in the process. Sadly it turns out to be another associate of Logan's, making me wonder exactly why the writers want him surrounded by the dreges of humanity.The second mystery is the murder of the dean, which is introduced in the same episode as the first mystery is concluded. During this mystery, Veronica loses her new mentor, her crimenology professor, when he is accused of the murder due to the fact that he was having an affair with the dean's wife. The reveal is shocking and comes after the framing of another character. Also, Veronica's father, Keith, is reinstated as temporary sheriff after Sheriff Lamb is killed in action.The third mystery arch, well, there wasn't really a mystery that spanned the final episodes of the season/series. It was filled with mini-mysteries and romantic entanglements as Logan starts dating Parker and Veronica begins dating Wallace's roommate, Piz (yeah, that's the name they gave him).It comes full circle in the last episode with Jake Kane and Clarence Weidman return. And you see huge oil painting portraits of both Lilly and Duncan Kane.I loved this season as well as the first two and wish that it hadn't been cancelled. There was so much more they could have done with it. It reminded me of my previous favorite show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and surpassed it in it's three short seasons. Sadly the ratings weren't there, most likely because it was pitted against American Idol for most of its run. Some argue that the monstrosity that they aired during VM's hiatus, The Pussy Cat Dolls, did better in the ratings in the time slot, but that also coincided with the American Idol hiatus too. Sadly it was not enough to save a show that many people loved.There is, however, talk of a Veronica Mars Movie.

For any fan of Veronica Mars Series 1 and 2 this one is no let down. It combines the sharp wit and humour with interesting cases which can often keep you guessing. This season loses nothing for the fact that it is in a different setting (having graduated from Neptune High). Even the new characters add more interest into a very well oiled cast: see as university (USA-college) changes and reinforces some of the main attributes of the characters with both happy and devastating results!!!The only downfall is that this is the last season of Veronica Mars and therefore it leaves you wanting even more.

I loved this series. I wish there was more series/episodes. Well worth a watch very enjoyable.

I had bought series 1 & 2 (region 1 but playable on my region 2 dvd player) so was relieved to find a region 2 dvd of series 3. What I hadn't considered or realised when purchased, was that all the set's written description is in German which is a bit of a pain. Other than that it was delivered on time and as promised.

I love Veronica Mars! And I can not wait for the film! I thought I'd catch up on the series before that came out. VMars is funny, sassy and very talented young sleuth! A very enjoyable TV show!

Excellent condition. What a brilliant series. Excellently written, full of sassy characters. Kristen Bell is brilliant. I love this series