Veronica Mars 2.22 Not Pictured

Just like Leave it to Beaver, Not Pictured is an inescapable hit of adrenaline, excitement, big reveals and emotionally crippling performances. Last season it was obvious we were after the wrong guy, but did anyone see this one coming? Season One was very linear, and a lot less expansive than season two was, yet Not Pictured is just as successful in tying up a year’s worth of plots that were, for lack of a better term, all over the place. It still manages to set up a third season incredibly well, though. It’s one of the show’s best efforts, and given how frequently the show hit the top of the amazing scale, that’s saying a lot.

Not Pictured takes a lot of our preconceived notions apart. Woody Goodman is still a creepy, child abusing freak, but he’s not a creepy, child abusing, killing freak. Cassidy isn’t just a shy, intellectually capable and sexually incapable 16 year old boy; he’s also a mass murderer. Oh, and Veronica is, in actual fact, a rape victim. Save for that last one, they were notions I really enjoyed being dismantled.

What made Aaron Echolls’s role as teenage murderer so believable was that the writers never avoided the idea of building him as a character. He wasn’t just some secret only evil at night guy, he was a sick man, who abused his son, physically and mentally, slept with countless women behind his wife’s back, eventually driving her to suicide, and was a constant presence all season long. Cassidy’s reveal as super-villain is a lot different, but its success is all thanks to the hints and personality traits that he was given, particularly his intelligence and his strange avoidance of Mac’s sexual advances.

You instantly buy into him being this supreme mastermind behind the deaths of all these young teenagers, and that he’s someone who values keeping his secret well above the safety of his own peers. He’s been abused all his life, been beaten down by his father and brother, and was scarred from an emotionally traumatising past. His eventual death was the right path for the character to take. Killing Marcos and Peter was a cowards way out but it didn’t keep a lid on his embarrassing secret, and he’s always given himself very little self worth. With no reason for him to stay, he took the coward’s way out, yet again, and jumped off the Neptune Grande.

Sometimes big twists can be necessary. I’m not somebody to shy away from shows that play around with the shock factor, but in one instance in Not Pictured, I felt like one twist took things a little too far. Did Veronica really need to be a rape victim after all? Wasn’t the emotional conclusion to that secret in A Trip to the Dentist enough to satisfy that story? Having Cassidy being responsible for taking something special from Ronnie was a little too much, and not at all paramount to the episode’s intensity. We already knew he’d killed 8 high schoolers, an innocent witness and, later on, our favourite TV dad (supposedly) did Cassidy really need to be a rapist too?

You’ve got to love that rooftop scene though. So many emotional blows took place there. It’s one of those moments when you see just how special Veronica Mars really is. It’s a cutting edge, sometimes twisted, emotional roller coaster. Bell, Dohring and Gallner all nailed their roles, even if Cassidy seemed a little zany, and though it all reaches a devastating finish, it was the right note to end this season’s biggest arc.

I also enjoyed Mac’s involvement, as well. Her relationship with Cassidy was imperative to the power of his unmasking. And, of course, it gives the show something to work with when she comes back as series regular next season. Seeing her completely exposed and alone in that hotel room is another moment when the show exposes the hard truth behind devastating sexual encounters, just as it did when Veronica woke up after Shelley Pomroy’s party, searching for her underwear, and her last shred of dignity. It’s dark, heavy and incredibly moving and I love that the show doesn’t shy away from stories like that.

On top of all that, we’ve still got plenty of other stuff going on. Most importantly, Duncan’s whereabouts are confirmed, and Aaron finally got what he deserved. That’s another scene that deserves some love. His blood splattering on his own image was too clever to forget about, not to mention Clarence Weidman’s surprise appearance. Jackie and Wallace’s story concludes nicely too, but it did both the character’s positions justice, and made sense of what they had gone through this past year. Weevil’s arrest is sad to watch, but felt right given what he had taken part in. Next season he becomes one of the neglected characters, but he’s always written well, no matter what is involvement. The second season was when his story was given the most attention though, and when his place in Neptune was perfectly defined.

Another small thing I liked was that opening dream sequence. It was such a strange parallel to see, and in some ways you’d think that maybe Veronica’s life isn’t as bad as she thinks it is. Despite all the awful things that had happened to her she still found a true friend in Wallace, and grew into a strong, intelligent young woman, who doesn’t take shit from anyone; a person to aspire to in a lot of ways. It was cool seeing the end of the episode tie in with this, too ("I smell bacon"). It's one of the multitude of examples of incredibly strong writing this week.

A lot of series do finales right, but Not Pictured is one that hits a serious amount of highs. It’s something the show achieves again come Spit and Eggs, but Not Pictured still remains one of the show’s strongest moments. But, what's in that briefcase?

Overall, season 2 wasn't as strong as it's predecessor, but there's only a marginal dip in quality, and in some ways, the show evolved, particularly with it's humor and scripting. Though I'm anticipating a bigger fall come season 3, I still doubt the show becomes the suckfest that a lot of fans claim it to be, even if I remember some of it that way myself. For now, I'm glad to see Veronica's high school years being closed out on such a strong note and remember, don't tape all your passwords to the bottom of your staplers.

10/10