Veronica Mars 3.20: The Bitch is Back

It would be unfair of me to judge ‘The Bitch is Back’ as a series finale, given the circumstances, but there was so much about this episode that could have proven otherwise. Not only did it feel like it could have turned the series around, and gone back to the oh so memorable themes of its first season, but it managed to bring together characters, old and new, that we’d gotten to meet over the years, and tie each of them into the story in separate but believable ways; something that a lot of series finales fail to do. As an old fashion season finale, stories that arose during the season were tied up wonderfully, and the series looked set to head in an ambitious direction in its fourth year.

Veronica Mars seems to work better when she herself is a bit of a social pariah, out to prove herself. After the big switch from high school to college this year, it felt like that aspect of the series had been lost slightly, given the new surroundings, but this episode not only gave her something to prove, it raised the stakes in a way that it hadn’t ever before.

All of our favourite characters managed to get involved. Wallace faced the Castle for Veronica; Weevil helped Veronica assert some justice; Mac provided some technical assistance, and her trademark nerdy advice; and Parker’s time on the series came to a sudden, but fitting end. One of the main issues when this season first aired was how little the old characters were being fitted into the series alongside the new ones, but seeing the series closer together, Mac’s six episode absence aside, it really wasn’t too noticeable. This episode, though, got everyone in for one last look before we had to bid them farewell, and I appreciated that.

All of the call backs to past stories, like Lilly and Duncan, provided a nice reminder of where we started out three years ago. Bringing Jake Kane back again was sort of an outsider’s view of how much and how little Veronica had changed. His exasperation speaks volumes about the colossal pain in the ass she’s been to so many people during the 64 episodes of the series, and I wouldn’t want her any other way. Seeing her out on a rampage in this episode was kind of amazing, and hinted at some pretty great action that could have emerged in the following season, especially with Ronnie and Logan meeting their match in the creepily connected Goroya.

I think one of the toughest parts of this episode was watching Keith sacrifice his future for his daughter. We've seen him give up the world countless times over for his daughter, but here it stung just a little bit more. Veronica couldn't explain why she broke the law, and Keith couldn't find a way to save them both. The fact that he seemed to ignore what went down in front of Veronica after he destroyed the evidence of her break in makes me hope that he did forgive her for doing what she did. I just wish that we knew, in no uncertain terms, that Keith and Veronica were solid when the credits rolled.

‘The Bitch is Back’ marked the end of a slightly messy, but still great, third season and set things up well for what could have been Veronica Mars season four. As a series finale, it doesn’t work quite as well, but it paid testament to each of the characters, Keith and Veronica’s ever unbreakable bond, and the bad-ass teen detective who captured our hearts for three seasons of incredible television. 

Obviously Rob Thomas was determined to make their cancellation as difficult as possible, hence the lack of a perfect ending, but as great as solid conclusions are, it should never be to the detriment of the series. Regardless of the network meddling over the past few episodes, Veronica Mars went out with its integrity and dignity still intact, remaining true to the series it used to be, and loyal to the one it had grown into. God, I really am a marshmallow.

9/10