Veronica Mars Recap: The Welcome Wagon

And here we are…the first recap of Veronica Mars Season 3. I hope you all watched, and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. Especially if you are a VM newbie who watched the show for the first time last night.

The recap is pretty long, and you may find a few typos since I really haven’t had the chance to read it through, but I think it will do its job. Enjoy, and let chat about the show, shall we?

Title: Welcome Wagon
Original Airdate: 10/3/2006
“Here it is. First day of college. Whadya say Veronica? New school. Fresh start. How about you try to not piss anyone off this time around?” Ambitious thoughts coming from Ms. Mars. Best of luck to you Veronica. Welcome to Hearst College.

Ironic that Veronica’s first college class is “Intro to Criminology”, a class that she could easily teach. Something tells me she might just ace this one. A few minutes into class and the professor gives the students a mini case to solve during the remainder of the class. Clues are given and the students are milling around, interviewing each other in hopes of finding out whodunit.

Meanwhile, Roni flips through a magazine without a care in the world. The TA approaches her and smugly suggests that Early Education might be a better course for her since magazine reading is probably allowed there. Veronica returns the smugness with a bit of her own and informs the TA –(ok I’ve got to stop here. Yes he is the TA but he’s also Lucky, Neptune’s High janitor who went on a shooting spree last year in the courtyard only to end of dead himself. Sorry but I’m a die hard VM fans, and a BAD wig, a beard and some glasses aren’t going to fool me…maybe I should take Intro to Criminology…hmmm)…anyway, Veronica tells that TA she knows who did it.

The clearly annoyed TA calls over the professor and in turn Veronica explains how she figured it out. Seems this case was based on a board game from back in the day. Veronica went all Blue’s Clues on their asses and used her handy dandy notebook (aka laptop) to jump online and check out old message boards where people discussed the game. She avoided all the “spoiler alerts” which she admits is kind of “douche baggy” of her, but she found the thread that solved the crime. Oh, and she now holds the record for solving the mystery – 6 minutes. Take that Lucky!! And that’s how it’s done in Veronica’s world.

In between classes, Veronica manages to share a bench with the hottest Freshman at Hearst, lucky for her it’s her boyfriend, Logan Echolls. They share in some classic Logan/Veronica banter as they walk to class. Logan tells Veronica that he happen to run into his BFF Dick on campus. Seems that Dick’s Mom married someone who works with Schwarzenegger, and the Governor made a few calls. Which let’s face it, is a bit of a stretch, but no more so than assuming Dick got into a college like Hearst on his own. Anyway, Logan has heard that Dick has been kind of a mess since his brother Cassidy committed suicide (yeah he threw himself off a hotel roof after he killed a bunch of kids in a bus crash, and blew up a small plane – he had issues). Since Logan and Veronica were on the roof when Cassidy jumped.

Back at Hearst, Veronica’s best friend Wallace meets his new roommate Piz for the first time. As Piz is bringing stuff up to his dorm, someone seizes the opportunity swipe all his worldly possessions from his car. Not a good way to kick of your college experience. Lucky for Piz, Wallace just happens to know someone who might be able to help. Piz is a bit skeptical, as you might expect, but once glance at Veronica and he’s willing to let her help.

Piz shares all the pertinent facts. He was moving in, a heavy set girl said she was part of the Heart Welcome Wagon Committee and she would watch his stuff while he went up to his dorm room. He came back a few minutes later and his stuff was gone.

The boys join Veronica as they inspect the car. No telling clues were left behind, although someone did manage to write “unwashed” on the dirty exterior. As Wallace says, writing “clean me” is so 2005. Time to move on…the three head to talk to the dorm’s RA. Maybe he has some light to shed. He doesn’t, but he does offer perhaps the best exchange of the entire episode:

RA: All your stuff? Frak! That blows.
Veronica: Ques qu c’est, frak?
RA: No Battlestar Galactica fans in the mix I see? Frak is the profanity of the future. I’m trying not to swear.
Veronica: It’s very enlightened of you Mo. So what the frak’s up with this first Welcome Wagon committee?

He he. I too am loving the profanity of the future. In addition to introducing Veronica and Piz to the world of BSG, Mo also tells them there is no Welcome Wagon Committee at Hearst…it doesn’t exist. Wah wah.

Veronica meets up on campus with Mac at a “Take Back the Night” rally. Women are protesting that the school isn’t doing enough to stop the rapes that have been occurring on campus. Things are going well until it’s interrupted by a dancing fool sporting nothing but a ski mask and a speedo. He’s quickly pulled off the stage and attacked by some of the girls. The ski masked it ripped off to reveal the prankster to be none other than Dick Casablancas. Hm, I thought I recognized those abs from somewhere. Way to be a college man, Dick.

Meanwhile, Keith is escorting a con out of prison. It’s none other than Cormac Fitzpatrick. We soon learn that Cormac is involved with Kendall, whom Keith help “disappear” with her millions. It seems that Liam Fitzpatrick has some unfinished business with both of them. Keith and Cormac drive through the desert on their way to find Kendall.

While Daddy’s away Veronica will play…with Logan. It seems that Veronica now gets to share in what most women of Neptune have had a taste of at some point…Logan. Damn! It’s about time!!

Somehow Veronica finds a way to leave Logan’s bed (where does she find the strength?) and gets back on the case of Piz’s stolen goods. She talks with a few of the other students who had their stuff swiped. But no new leads until she walks by a posted flyer for a band playing in town that night. The band just happens to be called “The Unwashed”. 2+2= a big clue for Veronica.

Veronica heads to Mac’s room only to find her perky roommate Parker, whom we have learned is nice but not too discerning when it comes to inviting boys back to her dorm. Parker is damn bubbly and very girly. Take Veronica’s personality, turn it inside out and you get Parker. She seems harmless enough, and quickly invites herself to see the band with Mac, Veronica, Wallace and Piz.

OK, ok, I hate to do this, but in the interest of not boring you have to death, I’m going to cut to chase and let you know what went down with Piz’s stolen belongings.

So, at the concert, Veronica takes the stage and asks if anyone has any info of the theft. She’s approached by three shady teenagers that have info to share. They saw the heavy set blonde chick, except she wasn’t heavy set…they saw her whip off a few layers of clothing and reveal she was rather svelte. The next day, she finds Piz’s stolen guitar on Craiglist. As it turns out, the guy selling it bought it the day before at a flea market from a girl with a rockin’ bod. Before leaving his apartment, Veronica spies a picture of the guy with a heavy set blonde girl. As it turns out, the guy and the chubby girl were in on the scam. And the three hoodlum teenagers were kids he mentored. Looks like he’s not getting ‘Mentor of the Year’. The teens were in on the heist, and tried to feed Roni the wrong information about the girl. The same information they then fed back to their mentor. Yeah, it’s all a bit confusing, but it played out better on TV. In the end, Veronica called in the police and she and Piz sat by and watched as the guy got busted. Piz got his stuff back and Veronica got her $500. Nice way to start off the school year Veronica.Keith and Cormac find the remote house where Kendall in living. The two lovebirds reunite, and Keith heads to the car to get some paperwork. It’s soon thereafter when he hears gun shots. He assumes Liam has found them, but it’s actually Cormac who is doing the shooting. Looks like he was the one after Kendall’s money and used Keith to get to her. Keith runs and hides. Cormac leaves him out there to be tended to by the animals that will surely find him during the night. Is Kendall dead? We don’t know…no one sees the body.

Over at the Neptune Grand, Logan is brushing his teeth when he gets a knock on the door. He opens it to find Dick a drunk mess. Dick says he screwed up and he has no where else to go. Logan says he can stay there. Dick breaks down and cries while Logan consoles him. Um, Logan, I’m a little emotional too…can I have a hug.

Mac and Veronica are planning on heading to a late night movie, but the tickets are in Mac’s dorm room, and Parker is in there…and not alone. Veronica head into the dark room, hears Parker enjoying herself, grabs the tickets and heads out. Later that night Mac and a drunk Ms. Mars head back to Mac’s room to sleep. They are woken early the next morning by the sickening screams of Parker. Her head shaved….she was raped.