Veronica Mars 3.04: Charlie Don't Surf

The Echolls melo-drama was such a trademark during the first two seasons, but the idea of Logan discovering more secrets about his family irked me. Haven’t we been through this already? Shouldn’t Logan be able to move on from his father’s past, the loss of his mother, and his sister’s general flooziness? This episode felt like it grew more on these plots, not that it dredged them up just to find steady dramatic ground.

With his parents both dead, and Triona long and forgotten, Logan’s been alone in the world. Veronica aside, he doesn’t have a connection with anyone that fosters genuine feelings. He’s got Dick, but is he someone you could ever confide in? Norman’s meddling may have ruined Logan’s chance at that kind of a bond, at least for a while, but now he knows there’s an Echolls out there who isn’t out for himself; there’s a side to his family that isn’t all trust funds and back-stabbing.

The rape arc was always constantly moving during the opening 9 episodes of this season, and this one felt like the first that started to really make some head-way with it. Veronica and Parker’s shared experience was briefly touched upon, and though I felt it could have been milked a bit more, I still like that there’s been a concerted effort to help them build bridges between one another. There was some great fun with Dick during this episode too and though I enjoy his contribution to the series, I still feel like his break-down in the premiere has been largely ignored and we’ve yet to see any major change in him so far.

I’m not one who goes crazy over a few stunt casts but I did enjoy the addition of Laura San Giacomo from Enrico’s Just Shot Me days. Keith rarely gets a chance to come out and play, and his stories this season really take advantage of the shows noir setting to give us some straight up detective-ing. There was amazing chemistry between the two of them from the get-go, and it came off in spades here as the two plotted on how best to trap Harmony’s straight-laced husband. If only he wasn’t so straight, things might have started differently for these two.

Charlie Dont Surf moved past Veronica’s new digs, at least partially, as we drove back into the seedy side of Neptune. If there’s one thing this show has always mastered, it’s the art of constructing an absorbing world for its characters, and Neptune has always been that, midnight rendezvous and all.

7/10

Plus

One of the benefits of watching this series back on DVD, are the sometimes amazing deleted scenes. There were some great ones here that actually featured Mac and Wallace which explored the strange effect that her incident with Beaver in Not Pictured has been having on her. Rob Thomas decided to keep them out for some understandable reasons, but I think the idea of seeing Mac and Wallace together, however awkward, would have been nice to have seen make it to air. The effects of major emotional events are things that I’d like to see explored too, and Mac’s general weirdness after Beaver was approached well, but these scenes were the the first to hint at a much deeper impact thank we saw on-screen before.