UPN’s teen cult show finale is tonight, and a second season is in the offing

Veronica Mars is the pariah of Neptune High.

Once upon a time, she was in with the in-crowd. But then her best friend, Lilly Kane, was murdered. Veronica’s father, Neptune’s sheriff, was tossed out of office when he accused Lilly’s billionaire dad of the crime. Her mom, folding under the pressure, deserted her. Her boyfriend, Lilly’s brother Duncan, dumped her. Rex C. Murray: For the Chronicle The cast of Veronica Mars (played by Kristen Bell, center) includes Francis Capra, left, Enrico Colantoni and Jason Dohring, right.

In a desperate attempt to hold her head high among former friends, Veronica crashed an end-of-the-year rager, where she was roofied and date-raped.

If that sounds like a lot of drama, well, it all occurred before the series Veronica Mars even began. And for those who have tuned in to one of the year’s best sleepers all season, tonight promises a big payoff.

Teen TV has several strong shows in regular rotation, but it has been quietly dominated by melodrama (7th Heaven), preciousness (Gilmore Girls), earnestness (Everwood) and self-awareness (The O.C.). Smart, sharp, dark and funny, Veronica Mars is a multifaceted standout.

With Veronica, creator Rob Thomas avoided the typical teen-drama elements and invented his own genre: teen noir. Like pulp mystery writer Jim Thompson, he relies on the tweaking of expectations: Things are not as they seem. Every character has richness and depth. Every story line a hidden meaning. Every nuance a payoff.

Thomas cites the Village Voice’s description of the show as his favorite. "They called it the first show to fuse Heathers and Chinatown," he says proudly.

The cast of characters is anchored by its charming titular heroine.

Veronica is portrayed with a rare combination of toughness and vulnerability by gifted newcomer Kristen Bell. Her character is a tangle of contradictions: cute but hard, cocky but insecure, angry but sad, scornful but lonely.

Veronica channels her emotions into solving the mysteries of and around her life, big and small. She uses skills acquired from working in her father’s private-investigation firm to earn cash off her rich classmates, who hire her to crack cases involving fake IDs, scummy boyfriends and computer scams.

Close to the vest Unlike her chattier television counterparts who express every feeling that pops into their attractive heads (say The O.C.’s Seth Cohen or Gilmore’s Rory Gilmore), Veronica holds her cards close. Classic gumshoe elements like voiceovers and flashbacks clue in the viewers to some of her inner thoughts as she tries to uncover by any means necessary who killed her friend, why her mother left and what led to her rape.

In doing so, Veronica strikes unlikely alliances with her classmates: the new-kid outcast Wallace (Percy Daggs III), tattooed biker thug Weevil (Francis Capra), bratty rich kid Logan (the wildly charismatic Jason Dohring). But she never allows these relationships to distract her from the business at hand.

"She’s strong and intense but also beautiful and witty and sarcastic," Bell says while killing time with fellow cast members before a fan meet-and-greet in Dallas last weekend. "I wish I’d had a role model like Veronica."

Transforming roles Similarly, Weevil and Logan avoid stereotypes.

A child actor, Capra had untough credits like Free Willy 2 and Kazaam on his résumé before, as he puts it, "I started doing gangster (expletive) as soon as I started getting facial hair."

Capra’s Weevil is rough and manipulative, but a surprising sensitivity surfaces, a duality that could have roots in his real life. "I had to get real hard," he says. "Being the kid from Free Willy 2, but coming home to the lights being turned off and being evicted from many homes. I know what it’s like when Weevil has to put up that wall, when he feels like he’s getting too soft, getting too close to somebody."

Dohring’s character also has been transformed, after starting the season as a predictably spoiled rich kid. "There’s an intensity that I like," he says of Logan. "If he wants something, he gets it, by whatever means it takes. I like the charm he has when he’s cutting people apart."

His relationship with Veronica flowered into something unexpected by season’s end as he flitted between unlikely ally and someone she can’t trust.

As the series heads into tonight’s climactic season finale, it brings with it a rabidly loyal (if modestly sized) following. When a show defies convenient categorization, its success relies on word of mouth. A teen drama involving such weighty issues will always be a tough sell.

"The network was worried about having a teen show where the protagonist has been raped, her friend murdered, her dad a pariah, her mom disappeared," Thomas admits. "How are you going to be able to handle it and have a degree of humor and warmth?"

Charms the cynics

The allure of Veronica Mars is difficult to convey to those who have not converted. A thumbnail summary for the show is as tough a pitch as a story line involving a high school girl who slays vampires.

But like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars has that special alchemy attributable to cast, chemistry and story. Even cynics have been warmed by Veronica’s charms.

The writers and forum members of TelevisionWith-outPity.com, a heavily trafficked Web site full of snide television commentary (slogan: "spare the snark, spoil the networks"), have rallied around Veronica Mars since the pilot, a fact that has not escaped Thomas’ attention. "It’s like having a free, huge focus group each week," he says.

In spite of Veronica’s middling ratings, UPN announced last month that the show will return for a second season, news Thomas broke on TWoP. Fans, who had started a promotional mail campaign to combat possible cancellation, rejoiced. But those involved in the show exude a confidence in spite of the numbers.

"I wasn’t shocked at all," Bell says. "There are some things that you just know. I knew it when I read for the pilot."

Season 2?

Had UPN dumped Veronica, it certainly wouldn’t have been the first quality young-adult show to face untimely death. (See Freaks and Geeks, My So-Called Life and Wonderfalls). But the underdog network is banking that a growing cult following combined with summer reruns and a first-season DVD set aimed for a September release will boost the numbers for an anticipated Season 2.

And it’s not just kids who tune in. Veteran actor Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars, Veronica’s dad), best known for his role as Elliot in Just Shoot Me, says he’s gotten positive feedback from some elderly fans. "I was on a plane sitting next to a 90-year-old lady," he recounts. "All of a sudden she leans over and says, ’I love Veronica Mars! You’re not going to tell me who killed Lilly, are you?’ "

That mystery will be solved tonight. But the biggest mystery is whether UPN’s commendable patience and dedication to this outstanding program will set an example that quality television should be judged by more than just Nielsen ratings.

A second season whodunit suggests hope.