Veronica Mars 2.04 'Green Eyed Monster'

Something about ‘Green Eyed Monster’ felt more like the type of series we’re used to. Though it still lacked a certain something, it felt a lot more cohesive than ‘Cheatty Cheatty...’ in that we got to see Veronica tackle something that takes her a little closer to home. Though the episode’s theme of jealousy leads to some damaging characterisation on Veronica’s part, it was still a well-crafted episode with more than a few points of poignancy.

In ‘Green Eyed Monster’ Veronica helps a woman investigate her future fiancée when she suspects him of cheating on her. Veronica discovers Duncan has been seeing Meg. Alisha comes to Keith for help. Wallace receives a shocking piece of news.

Seeing Veronica back at her old desk is slightly comforting. I’m all for her trying to find a bit of normalcy, but it was way more fun seeing her heavily involved in all the Mars Investigation’s stuff. The case we see here doesn’t really go for anything too groundbreaking, but the huge amount of humour thrown in make a lot more palpable than it should have been. And then there’s the epicness of that seduction: “Whipped cream fight at the sorority house!”.

Veronica and Duncan’s relationship was always going to be affected by what happened to Meg. Duncan’s sense of morality is something Veronica never should have questioned, but she still can’t help herself. True genius on the writers’ part comes into play when we see the overall theme of this week’s episode rear itself when she has to tear herself apart in order to stay off of Meg’s files. Slightly off topic, but it was great to see what Meg’s parents were actually like, and how much of a hold they have on their daughters. This is explored a lot deeper in a few episodes time, but the writers cleverly introduce the bones of the story now.

Obviously this and the following episode are where Wallace’s major story comes into play. The episode seems to be diddly daddling around the truth for a while, but Wallace’s discovery comes at the most opportune time in order to really make his future letdown believable. His life is starting to unravel, and all the cattiness is just pushing him further and further away.

I still feel like there was more that this episode could have done to give it a bit more of an edge, but it’s a serious improvement over the last. I always reiterate this, abut a slightly disappointing episode by this show's standards, is pretty great by any other's. What sophomore slump?

8/10