Joss Whedon

SPOILER WARNING, IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE!!!

Veronica Mars

I know Clarence Weidman isn’t technically bad, but I still wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alley. But actually I wouldn’t want to run into Keith Mars in a dark alley either, if I had done anything to his daughter. He’s so the dad of the year in Neptune... not that the sadly still-not-sheriff has much competition. Parental units are rapidly disappearing or becoming a thing of the past in this town. Veronica’s mom skipped town, Logan’s mom allegedly killed herself and his dad’s in the slammer, Duncan’s parents are hiding out away from the whole Lilly scandal, and now Dick and the Beav’s dad has taken off to parts unknown. And while the Beav was thrown for a loop by his step mom’s philandering with Logan, Dick had a totally different outlook. "Dude, my step mom? Better you than the cable guy." Oh, Gia’s got a seemingly good dad but she’s set on becoming a wild child. "I thought I’d go more Bush-twin style. Public drunkenness, sluttiness and minor scandals," she tells V when asked about her dad’s mayoral position. While Gia (who I keep wanting to call Amelie - I think it’s the haircut) is sowing her wild oats, original wild child Logan gets an impromptu family reunion with his dear old dad. Love Harry Hamlin, but Aaron Echolls trying to claim that he didn’t kill Lilly or try to off Veronica? So not buying it. Another random father figure of the night was Abel Koontz, who wants to make sure his little girl is happy and taken care of. Sure she’s fine if you consider having a boy toy extort her cash in Ibiza - "You mean like Tara Reid-passed-out-on-the-beach Ibiza?" asked Veronica - and then bump her off and dump her in a freezer being fine. And Veronica got to do some of her investigations - which she’s so good at even sans Wallace - and got to flirt a bit with self-proclaimed big fan Buffy creator Joss Whedon, who played a nerdy car-rental manager. Again, great use of a guest star without becoming Will & Grace. Oh, two more little things: Could anyone else tell what Keith was looking at on the bus? I just couldn’t make it out, but something tells me it can’t be good. And did anyone try e-mailing Veronica or the "knotty" guy at the motel? Did they write back? - Bettina Charles

It looked like a dead rat to me. The title was "Rat Saw God", so it kinda fits. The animal was taped down at the underside of the seat or something.