Veronica Mars-"Meet John Smith"

SPOILER! on "Veronica Mars"
Credit: WBTV

Here's my delayed continuation of my look back at Veronica Mars with the episode "Meet John Smith" after the jump.

This was definitely an episode of Veronica Mars which I didn't expect to come this early in the season. When I first watched this episode, it seemed weird that we would get an episode that focused less on Veronica and her relationship with Lily and her mother and more on Duncan and the case of the week. The balance in this episode was not something for which I was prepared. Honestly, the surprise was a little on the negative side because I'm a little worried about how they're going to pace out the story arc, but it made for a better episode then episode 2.

The self-contained storyline was actually brilliant. There needs to be something interesting for me to actually care about one of the procedural storylines. It started out pretty bland. Veronica is stuck finding the father of a high school kid who is dead. He's just trying to get in her pants. What the plotline does right is it adds a twist, the father isn't dead! And then later, he's a woman! That was what made the plotline as brilliant as it was. I would never have guessed that when we met John Smith, the character would actually be Jane Smith. (That's why the caption on the post is "Spoiler!," I didn't want to ruin the surprise.) This was just a well crafted plotline.

What I wasn't so keen on at first was the material involving Duncan. I'm glad that he's being developed, but I'm just not sure why he's getting this type of plotline this early. I just don't want them to do all of this great insight into his character and his view of Lily's murder and then have it be stagnant for a few episodes. That's my only worry. Otherwise I did enjoy the plotline. Seeing how Duncan lives and how going of antidepressants affected his life were two very interesting experiences that the plotline provided. We find out more about his life and we actually make him a character. We also find out that he may still have feelings for Veronica. That could be something that brings the overall arc to an interesting place, with Veronica and Duncan trying to regain the relationship they have while secrets of Lily's murder are being revealed.

Some other thoughts:

• Mr. Mars has a girlfriend. If the show takes this anywhere, it could be very interesting to watch. Her being Veronica's guidance counselor could be something that causes some tension between Veronica and her father.
• Veronica also has her romantic fling. She's going out with one of the rich white kids, Troy to be specific. This isn't doing a lot for me now, but it could be an interesting place for the future.
• Logan and Wallace have a lower profile in this episode then in past episodes and Weevil doesn't appear at all. Interesting choices by the showrunners on this one.
• The way the episode showed the pill drop into the sink each time Duncan didn't take it was a very cool visual.

Overall, this episode took the characters (specifically Duncan) to a place where I wasn't expecting the show to go. 

What did everyone else think?

Next Up: I begin doubling up on episodes in order to finish 22 episodes by September. The next two episodes that will be reviewed next week are "The Wrath of Con" and "You Think You Know Somebody." Prepare for a delay in the review because of Veronica Mars expiring on Netflix, but I will hopefully be able to watch them before they're pulled.

For more information about the Old TV Watch Project and an archive of previous Veronica Mars reviews, please go to the home of the project right here.