Veronica Mars 3.06: Hi, Infidelity

One of the major themes of the first season was Veronica defending her own name. That idea of proving everyone wrong is one that instantly pulls in an audience, the only people who ever know the whole truth. Hi Infidelity reiterates that theme, but it also raises some interesting questions about the strange immoral things our characters seem to be finding themselves getting involved in, whether it’s finding redemption or giving into temptation.

Keith has been fighting every urge he’s been feeling for Harmony. As a PI he meets so many desperate spouses who fear their partners are cheating on them, that the ones they love may not reciprocate the same feelings they have for them. Now that he sees what it’s like on the other side, he knows that not every situation is what it seems; hat unfaithful person may just be an unhappy person who has found something better elsewhere. Even so, I think Keith knows what he’s been doing is wrong, regardless of what the signs have been pointing at.

Nobody ever gets away with bringing Ronnie down, and Jeff Ratner learned that the hard way. Sometimes you’d wonder why she does what she does, when all she seems to find is the bad in people. Take professor Landry who fell off the high pedestal she had him on, to a disloyal cheater. Why would you keep searching for the truth when it almost always ends in tragedy? Now she has to set out to prove someone else’s innocence, even though doing that will almost certainly ruin what she has with Logan, and those two are already in hot water.

Part of me kind of wishes that the writers should have really gone all out on a Wallace gone bad story, with him getting himself into an even bigger mess after a while just to make it more interesting than it actually was, but then again that would go against everything that he stands for. It took getting caught for him to realise what he’d done; even Veronica’s defence of his actions doesn’t sooth his guilt. You gotta admire him; he always takes the ‘right’ way out, here in particular when he gives up what he loves so he can focus on his future.

Elsewhere, Veronica pulls some a few names out of the running for campus rapist. It must be incredibly frustrating to have people interfere with something like this, when all you’ve been doing is trying to get to the bottom of it. Claire forgot that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and her desperation to bring the campus sleaze down may cause another girl to get hurt.

Hi, Infidelity brings some interesting themes and ideas to the table, but it also puts these characters into some really compelling positions. It’s great that the show tests these guys, and gives the viewers the chance to see them screw up. It’s believable, but it’s also incredibly engaging.

7/10 

Plus

That whole Parker/Piz set up felt like an excuse to throw random cast members together, until it led to that whole Mercer revelation. Could he really be who Ronnie's looking for? The clues definitely seem to point that way.