DVD Review: Veronica Mars – The Complete Second Season

By Jeff Swindoll Aug 22, 2006, 17:13 GMT

After her best friend is murdered and her father is removed as the town sheriff, Veronica Mars, dedicates her life to cracking the toughest mysteries in the affluent town of Neptune. ...more

The second season of the popular show Veronica Mars makes its way onto DVD thanks to Warner Brothers. 

Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) is the teen private eye of Neptune, California.  She lives with her ex-sheriff father Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni) who in Season 2 is running for his old post.  Keith is encouraged in this pursuit by mayoral candidate Woody Goodman (Steve Guttenberg).  Her current boyfriend is Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn) and her former boyfriend Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) is still hanging around. 

There is also her best friend Wallace Fennell (Percy Daggs III), Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen), Cassidy “Beaver” Casablancas (Kyle Gallner), Jackie Cook (Tessa Thompson), and trophy step-mom Kendall Casablancas (Charisma Carpenter). 

The town of Neptune is divided into the haves and have nots and the tension can be cut with a knife.  This tension is further heightened when a bus crash occurs and only the have nots are killed since the have kids decided to take a limo instead. 

Episode 1: Normal is the Watchword: Veronica swears off detecting, that is until Wallace is kicked off of the basketball team after flunking the drug test.  There’s a school trip to see the sports arena and the return trip results in a tragedy that Veronica barely misses being a victim of.

Episode 2: Driver Ed: The Bus driver is accused of committing suicide and taking the kids on the bus with him.  His daughter hires Veronica to prove that her dad didn’t commit suicide.  Kevin Smith cameos.

Don't get on that bus Veronica!

Episode 3: Cheaty Cheaty Bang Bang: Beaver hires Veronica to discover the identity of his sexy stepmother’s boy toy.  Wallace is bewitched by a arrogant beauty who has plenty of time for other boyfriends.

Episode 4: Green-Eyed Monster: Veronica poses as a hot-to-trot airhead to test the fidelity of a suspicious client’s fiancé. 

Episode 5: Blast from the Past: After 18 years, Wallace’s biological father shows up in Neptune.  Veronica helps Jackie find out who stole her credit card by going on a psychic television show.

Episode 6: Rat saw God: Veronica is contact by a dying Abel Koontz (Christian Clemensen) hires her to find his missing daughter.  Logan is arrested for murder and his new cellmate is his father, Aaron Echolls (Harry Hamlin).  Joss Whedon cameos.

Episode 7: Nobody puts Baby in a Corner: Veronica takes a babysitting job in order to track down an abused child.  Dick and Beaver are in control of the Casablanca fortune, which leaves their stepmother in a lurch.

Episode 8: Ahoy, Mateys!: Veronica’s quest for whoever is harassing the parents of a boy killed in the bus crash leads her to a pirate radio station. 

Episode 9: My Mother, the Fiend: Veronica has to tote around a plastic baby for her sex ed class, but finds her mother’s school record and begins to investigate her mother’s old friends.  Alyson Hannigan guest stars.

Episode 10: One Angry Veronica: Veronica has jury duty and the case sparks a confrontation in the jury room.

Episode 11: Donut Run: Duncan dumps Veronica and disappears with Meg’s newborn and an uncooperative Veronica has to deal with the FBI.  Meanwhile, Wallace returns and reveals the reason why he left in the first place.

Kevin Smith cameos as an oily convience store clerk

Episode 12: Rashard and Wallace go to White Castle: Logan is being framed for murder and Wallace for a hit and run in Chicago.  Veronica bugs a church confessional to smoke out a traitor and Keith gets the interrogation tapes from the bus crash.

Episode 13: Ain’t No Magic Mountain High Enough: The cash box containing the money for the senior trip is stolen from Veronica at the Winter carnival. 

Episode 14: Versatile Toppings: The user list from a gay teen bulletin board is stolen and the teens enlist Veronica’s services to find out who did it.  The teens are being blackmailed and will be outed unless they pay up.

Episode 15: Quick and the Wed: Veronica searches for a bride who disappeared after her bachelorette party.

Episode 16: The Rapes of Graff: Veronica’s ex-boyfriend Troy is accused of date rape and Veronica reluctantly agrees to help him.

Episode 17: Plan B: Veronica gathers clues in Felix’s murder and Logan wins an essay contest and gets to intern for a week with Mayor Goodman.

Episode 18: I am God: Victims of the bus crash drift in and out of Veronica’s dreams dropping clues to what happened.

Episode 19: Nevermind the Buttocks: A hit and run driver runs downs a student’s dog on purpose and Veronica is charged with the case and somehow the clues also lead to the bus crash.

Episode 20: Look Who’s Stalking: The mayor’s daughter is convinced she’s being stalked and asks Veronica for help against her dad’s wishes.  However, the mayor has troubles of his own when he wakes up with a stranger in his hotel room.

Episode 21: Happy Go Lucky: Aaron Echoll’s trial is on and Veronica, Keith and Logan are to take the witness stand.  Veronica and Keith discover emails that link Mayor Woody to an ugly secret.

Episode 22: Not Pictured: On her graduation day, Veronica learns who is responsible for the bus crash and why. 

Veronica Mars is a good show, but this season is somewhat different than the first since it chooses to take some of the focus off of Veronica.  The first season seemed to place the entire focus on Veronica and her trials and tribulations. 

The second season doesn’t abandon Veronica completely but other characters get quite a bit of screen time.  Even though Veronica is a near fatality of the bus crash, this ongoing mystery lacks the personal touch that season one had.  However, it is still a good show and I found it most interesting.  It’s just that it might be a little of a let down for fan’s of season one. 

Woody wants Keith to runs for sheriff

Veronica Mars is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features include deleted scenes from 13 episodes.  Next is the 7 minute “A Day on the set with Veronica Mars” which is a video dairy with Kristen Bell.

The 5 minute “Veronica Mars: Not Your Average Teen Detective” follows.  It has interviews with creator Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Teddy Dunn, and Ryan Hansen.  Finally there’s a 8 minute gag reel and a commercial for the further adventures of Veronica on the new CW network. 

Veronica Mars is a really good show, but some fans were let down by a little less focus on Veronica in this second season.  The show has so much going on in the second season that my plot descriptions just don’t do it justice.  However, I found myself enjoying the show and maybe it should be given a second chance now that it is on DVD. 

Veronica Mars – The Complete Second Season is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.