Veronica Mars 2.01 'Normal is the Watchword'

Given the fact that Veronica had now lost the chip on her shoulder that she’d had until she found out who killed Lilly it was obvious that the tone of the series would change. That new vibe is evident fairly quickly, but while the series did feel quite different, it still had the trademark wit and intrigue that it always had. A lot of this episode is very exposition heavy, with most of it forming one big flashback, but an episode like that is needed if a lot goes down during a long hiatus. Though it’s a fairly typical ‘start of the new year’ opener, it closes with a shocking game-changer that proves the series can still continue on, even without the familiarity of the first season’s stories.

In the season 2 premiere ‘Normal is the Watchword’, Veronica starts her senior year with a clean slate, but when Wallace is kicked off the basketball team for failing a mandatory drug test, she sets out to prove that the results were faked.

With the big “who killed Lilly?” case now behind her, Veronica could finally move on and find the closure she had always wanted. Since the series revolves around our favourite detective, any major change in her persona would indirectly change the series too. This new approach to life that Veronica adopts is easy to see not only in the way she interacts with those around her, but in her attitude towards an opportunity to do some good hard sleuthing. Obviously she would be forced back into it again, since that’s why we’re watching the series in the first place, but there’s a definite sense of a new attitude to her.

The witty dialogue and intelligent script is still as good as it’s ever been. In fact, during the second season it really is the best it ever was, and the comfort the writers had found with, not only the characters but the interactions between them was fairly obvious. The small case Veronica tackles is filled with the fun, snarky comebacks she always possessed.

We spend a lot of this episode playing a big game of “fill-in-the-blanks” with a lot of flashbacks taking up the hour. This kind of thing is necessary since trying to catch the viewer up with all that had happened through a few brief comments would be quite difficult, but Veronica’s well established voice-over allows for quite a bit of lee-way in that respect. The big reveal of Veronica’s reunion with Duncan was well-played though, with all the clues being dropped during the first 20 minutes giving nothing away.

This episode cleverly switches up the major social divides that we had seen frequently during the first season with Veronica changing sides, alienating her from Weevil and the group she used to be a part of. There’s a huge amount of political themes flying around during the second season, but it’s always approached in a clever way and always ties in with all the other major plots that are on-going at the same time.

Without a major story to latch on to, a lot of this episode felt quite lost. Felix’s murder is one of the smaller mysteries that takes place during the second season, and though that’s introduced early on in the episode, without that major emotional connection for Veronica we’re still left without something to fuel the series, especially given how mystery driven the first season was. The bus crash, though obviously not as emotional as Lilly’s murder, was the perfect event to get the series back to familiar ground, and the big moment is one of the darkest the show has ever had.

Watching back now, there are a few sweet moments thrown in throughout the episode. One thing I loved was Veronica’s ghostly vision of Lilly saving her from getting on to the bus, and leading her to Weevil; weird but cool. The final 10 minutes also implicate quite a few people in the big accident, leading to another long season of questioning people’s motives and alibis.

Meg’s presence on the bus is the motivation Veronica needs to make the crash a major priority for her. Something as powerful as her best friend’s murder could never really be touched on again, but given all the options the writers were faced with, this was a smart move and brilliant way of rejuvenating the series. There is a bit too much going on during this premiere though, with all of the stories feeling a little disjointed and messy; maybe a two-parter would have been best? As it stands though, it was still very decent if a little bit disappointing.

7.5/10