Veronica Mars Re-Watch: The Wrath of Con (Season 1 Episode 4)

Hello again, Marshmallows!

This time around, we’re taking a look back at the fourth episode of Veronica Mars‘ first season, “The Wrath of Con,” in which Veronica masters the art of disguise, we get our first real glimpse at Logan’s soul, and the Veronica/Troy thing continues to develop as Veronica flashes back to homecoming night of the previous year.

Here is what happened in Neptune since our last foray into the world of our favorite teen sleuth, but prior to this episode’s action —

• Veronica found out her mother was staying in Arizona with a college friend, but arrived too late to find her.
• Duncan briefly went off his meds, was grumpy about Troy’s love connection with Veronica, and hallucinated a bloody Lilly telling him that the truth about her death will come to light. He also hilariously jumps off of bleachers while detoxing from the meds and is rescued by Veronica (note: not actually hilarious at all).
• Veronica, distraught about not finding her mother, sought comfort in Troy’s arms after initially pulling away from him. Excessive making out ensued. They’re together now, it’s a thing.

The mystery of that episode involved a younger student, Justin, enlisting Veronica’s help to find his “missing” father. After various twists and turns, in the end that case tied in nicely to Veronica’s own mommy issue. But overall, there was not much to talk about there in terms of the overarching story.

So instead we skip now to “The Wrath of Con.” Buckle up, kids, this is an important one.

Mystery of the Week

This mystery is one of the most annoying mysteries of the entire series, not least of all due to the incredible stupidity of the victim of the titular con. In brief: a young classmate of Wallace and Veronica’s named Georgia (played by one-time guest star Kyla Pratt), who Wallace inexplicably has the mega-hots for, is duped into giving several thousand dollars to a young man claiming to be a trust fund kid. She hands over the money on the man’s reassurance that she’ll get 200% of her investment back once his trust fund becomes available.

Now, in my little old brain, falling for that kind of super obvious con would make me think lesser of you, not turn up the intensity of a crush. This mystery is awful, because it makes me look at Wallace (who I love!) and think “Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?” Yes, Georgia is cute and all, but on every watching it boggles the mind why Wallace is so into this dumb-dumb. Plus she is literally never seen again, so what the heck?

Also, hey guys, remember when Kyla Pratt was huge on TV for a while there?

The villains (Liam and Grant a/k/a “Grrrrantula” a/k/a gag me with a spoon) at the heart of this case comprise the two-man Silicon Mafia, a cringe-worthy name meant to signify their hot-shot status as super smart tech dudes. The two have a very clever and multi-layered scam going where they hire actors to play the part of the con man “Karl,” with said actors thinking they are just playing a role. That way, no one ever actually sees their faces and they manage to fund their video game development.

They are not particularly interesting villains, but it is particularly satisfying to see how resoundingly Veronica manages to outsmart them during several different parts of her plan to retrieve Georgia’s money from them. Which leads me to…

Veronica Mars, Master of Disguise

Dana Carvey, eat your heart out! Veronica is a rock star in this episode, playing several different “characters” while undercover. Those characters are silly, blonde, eager-to-be-conned Amber, Harajuku fantasy “Gamer Girl,” and finally as the “girlfriend” of also-undercover “Math whiz” Wallace when they show up at Silicon Mafia’s college campus to do some investigating.

Veronica: I don’t feel so good, Papa Bear. [they exit]

Wallace: Papa Bear?

Veronica: Never happened.

Veronica is always clever but this time around she is damn clever with some of the tricks she has up her sleeves. When she manages to crack open the back-up hard-drive safe, I leave that scene with a huge smile on my face every time.

On Point Flashbacks Abound

This is really the heart of this episode, and what makes it so important. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a huge Lilly fan, but that has nothing to do with the way Amanda Seyfried plays the character (flawlessly). Lilly herself was a deeply flawed person, but at the end of the day it’s important to remember what a tremendous impact she (and her death) had on Veronica’s life.

The Veronica of the flashbacks is a whole other animal. She is meeker, a little bit air-headed, not very adventurous. In essence, she is just your average high schooler. She is a yellow cotton dress, when Lilly desperately wanted her to embrace her inner strapless red satin bombshell.

Lilly’s death and Veronica’s subsequent ostracization altered something in her forever. It’s that same something that darkened her in some significant but undefinable way, making her a more suited girlfriend for someone like Logan and no longer a good match for someone like Duncan. Duncan loved old Veronica, a type of girl that he later finds in Meg, but he and new Veronica never quite find their footing again.

The flashbacks tie directly into a storyline of Veronica’s present day, which makes this one of the best instances of flashbacks in the series.

Troy asks Veronica to homecoming in an adorable, round-about way and the approaching dance sets off in a Veronica a set of memories of the year prior when she, Duncan, Logan, and Lilly all hung out on homecoming night, getting wasted in formal wear and playing Truth or Dare and Never Have I Ever.

The flashbacks do several things simultaneously. As mentioned, they underscore what a drastically different person Veronica was prior to Lilly’s death. They also show the softer side of Logan, both the past Logan who loved Lilly and was generally pleasant to be around and the present Logan who still grieves her loss. Duncan has a semblance of a personality in the flashbacks, so that’s good, too. The memories also set up the eventual final scene pay-off, where Veronica, dressed in Lilly’s suggested strapless red satin, skinny dips, which Lilly had teased her for never doing in the flashback.

The memories also make their way into the modern storyline in a literal way as well. Logan, making a memorial video for Lilly’s fountain dedication, starts off making the most impersonal and dry tribute imaginable, at the Kanes’ behest. At Veronica’s indirect suggestion, he ends up including the homecoming night footage of Lilly being wild, crazy, and free. Everyone is visibly moved, except for Lilly’s mother, Ice Queen Celeste Kane, who only looks embarrassed.

It is a really lovely, well-plotted episode that comes full circle by the end in a fantastic, self-contained way. Slate marked this episode as the ideal entry point into the series, and they’re not wrong at all. It has some of everything: backstory, Veronica being a badass, significant moments touching on all of the major relationships.

Stray Observations:

• IMDB and various Wikis claim that this episode is Kristen Bell’s favorite as of 2006.
• Keith, between posing as a DEA agent at Veronica’s request and grilling/scaring the bejesus out of poor Troy, continues to be the best TV dad ever.
• Keith’s relationship with Veronica’s guidance counselor whose name I always forget starts to develop here. It’s not very important.
• Weevil cries after Lilly’s memorial video plays, which is the first direct hint at the relationship between them that is later uncovered.
• I love many of the episode titles, but this is a particularly fantastic one. So punny.
• Flashback Logan, at Flashback Lilly’s urging, admitted that he found Veronica hot the first time he saw her (when they were twelve). Early hints at LoVe alert!
• Troy is still an okay dude but not for long.
• This is the point at which I became certain Jake Kane didn’t kill Lilly. His reaction to Logan’s tribute video was genuinely moving, and you can tell how much he loved his daughter.

What did you all think of this installment of Veronica Mars? Do you agree with Slate about this being the ideal gateway episode to get you hooked on the series?

And the real question: if you’re a new viewer, are you hooked by now?