That was a gripe of mine with the movie as well (and Gilmore Girls did the same kind of thing) – everybody moved on except for the main character. They are still basically stuck in the same ruts as always with little growth. In the VM movie she basically threw away an Ivy League law degree, high powered job prospect, and committed relationship to help her ex out of a jam. I mean how hard would it have been to call her new employer and say, “I’ve got an emergency situation back home – can we move my hire date ahead a couple of weeks so I can get my affairs in order here?” No, she just ignores their calls until they think she’s a flake and fire her before she even starts. That level of irresponsibility seemed extremely out of character for me – especially after she had worked so hard to get where she was and put the past behind her.
And as for Season 4, makes the ending all the more frustrating is the last 10 minutes or so could have been just as dark – without, you know, killing off Veronica’s new husband for the shock value of it. I think this is what causes the most frustration: just remove that one part of the ending, and the epilogue still just as dark, still holds up, and still make sense. Penn still becomes a criminal celebrity, the rich still “win” in the end, the undesirables are still driven out of town, Neptune still becomes a gentrified and sanitized playground for the rich, Keith still recovers, Veronica finally goes to therapy, she still leaves town for greener pastures, and Matty still becomes NuVeronica at Mars Investigations. That’s a pretty damn dark, but it doesn’t actively piss off almost the entire fanbase just to be edgelordy grimdark because “shock value”.
Yes, that did irk the fuck out of me in the film. I was so glad when Weevil called her out on that privileged bullshit.
You know what else bothers me?
The conceit that Keith and Veronica Mars are old seasoned pros at the detective biz, but they still don’t ever regularly scan their offices for surveillance equipment, they trust known suspects/culprits, and when pursuing someone who’s dodging them, they don’t disable the perp’s vehicle (like Mattie’s scooter.)
And don’t even get me started on completely illogical behavior and choices: like Veronica, who was a victim of roofie rape in S1, unwisely leaving her food/drink unattended in a public place while a serial rapist who drugged his victims was on the loose in S3.
I absolutely agree that the reboot could have still been dark and gritty without that sadistic ending; which to me, just shows how limited Thomas’ storytelling skills really are.
And one more thing, that makes me think I’m really done with Rob Thomas for good:
There’s an ongoing undercurrent of subconscious defeatism in his shows, maybe with a dash of masochism added for flavor.
The corrupt, evil, obscenely wealthy people ‘win’ like 90% of the time in his universe; while the protagonists’ virtues are often weaponized against them, and the best they ever really get to do is spit in the bullies’ eyes.
(Real life is already like that, WAY too fucking often, so I don’t need to have an ongoing ‘theme’ in my chosen forms of escapism.)
Take the last season of Izombie for instance; if the antagonist Blaine doesfinally get his comeuppance, 5 will get you 10 that whatever it is, it still wont be be nearly proportionate to all the damage that character has caused and all the lives he’s destroyed on that show.
I loved Weevil’s character. He has a true growth arc that was really interesting, and by the movie he seemed to finally have his shit together. Which just made it all the more heartbreaking when he lost it all by the end of the movie because he stuck his neck out for Veronica out of a sense of loyalty.
I’m amazed at these episodes, each one telling a little bit about one type of Taco. And how there are tacos! Although Televisa soap operas and Chavo Del Ocho are very popular here, I know almost nothing about Mexico, só this series was a nice surprise.
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette on Netflix. Don’t even know how I happened across it. Technically a comedy special, but it’s so much deeper than that. Highly recommend.
I saw Nanette when it first came out, because folks here were raving about it.
It really is quite good.
And if you haven’t already seen it yet Rape Jokes by Cameron Esposito is another good ‘conscious’ stand-up that’s both funny and a little heart-breaking.
After reading Rob Thomas’ rationale for the ending I’m even more pissed. What kind of misogynist bullshit is this, “she can’t carry on with detective adventures if she has a companion” justification? Just put have Logan’s CO put him on a bus to Parts Unknown. Problem solved.
I’ve been watching this and just noticed a nod to another show set in Boston…
Look familiar?
Does this name ring a bell?
ETA Tom Fontana involved in both series. Also read that there’s a hospital scene where Drs. Wesphall and Fiscus and Nurse Papandreau were paged in the background on the hospital’s PA system.
I’ve been watching Voyager and it took 5 seasons to notice Janeway is Red from OITNB. I only noticed because a alien w similar mannerisns to Lolly turned out to be the same actress and went on a Wikipedia walk. Can’t unsee Janeway as red now
Also while plotwise I find Voyager lacking I think Janeway is the best captain- more professional then Picard or Sisko. Sisko had heart but sometimes needed to be by book. Picard was good at job but sometimes lacked personal touch.
I’ve been watching AT with my youngest (now Mr 14) since the beginning, and this feels like the end of both an era and a stage in Mr 14’s life. The fact that Finn has aged with him, but a few years ahead has meant that sometimes it’s felt almost like it was written for him.
Between AT and the wonderful (and @markfrauenfelder recommended) “Gravity Falls”, I suspect he’ll never know how lucky he’s been with the cartoons made in the window of his cartoon-viewing age. On the other hand, his older siblings were of the “Ren and Stimpy”/“Powerpuff Girls”/“Cow and Chicken”/“Pinky and the Brain” era, so they did alright.
