Veronica Mars - season three
May. 18th, 2011 08:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lathanyTurns out that season three is also pretty good.
The format has changed somewhat - there are now two main story arcs and five almost-standalone episodes at the end.
All the old regulars you would expect are back. Namely, Duncan and Cassidy are gone. There are two upgrades - Mac and Lamb make the main cast (finally!). There are also two new characters - Parker and Piz. I liked all four, although Piz suffered from being somewhat lightly defined. There are also a number of good minor characters - Dean O'Dell, Professor Landry, Max, Heather (the eleven year old) and Tim stand out. Charisma Carpenter is back, briefly, as are a couple of others (but not until the final episode).
I think both the season plots were good ones; the first is the expected one - the rapes/shaving of hair. Both are well-plotted and use elements from elsewhere in the episodes. The stand-alones are fine too, and the season ending is wonderful. There are some unresolved threads, but not as many as I had feared.
In general, the show is back with some excellent comic lines and still has some good mysteries. Also, it has an excellent and surprising season end. However, on the less good side the second major plot involves very few of the main cast and one of the main cast exits in an exceptionally poor way.
With the individual episodes:
My disc set wasn't perfect as the penultimate disc had scratches on it, but I think we saw all the relevant scenes in the end.
The format has changed somewhat - there are now two main story arcs and five almost-standalone episodes at the end.
All the old regulars you would expect are back. Namely, Duncan and Cassidy are gone. There are two upgrades - Mac and Lamb make the main cast (finally!). There are also two new characters - Parker and Piz. I liked all four, although Piz suffered from being somewhat lightly defined. There are also a number of good minor characters - Dean O'Dell, Professor Landry, Max, Heather (the eleven year old) and Tim stand out. Charisma Carpenter is back, briefly, as are a couple of others (but not until the final episode).
I think both the season plots were good ones; the first is the expected one - the rapes/shaving of hair. Both are well-plotted and use elements from elsewhere in the episodes. The stand-alones are fine too, and the season ending is wonderful. There are some unresolved threads, but not as many as I had feared.
In general, the show is back with some excellent comic lines and still has some good mysteries. Also, it has an excellent and surprising season end. However, on the less good side the second major plot involves very few of the main cast and one of the main cast exits in an exceptionally poor way.
With the individual episodes:
- Welcome Wagon is great for Dick's entrance and for the ending.
- Hi, Infidelity is a great Tim episode which leaves a question mark over how black and white his motive was.
- Of Vice And Men has a great, creepy ending.
- Spit & Eggs was dark, awesome and with an unexpected hero.
- Papa's Cabin for the resolution of the second arc and accepting that it didn't suddenly make everything OK.
- Debasement Tapes is probably my favourite standalone (except for the last episode) due to Paul Rudd's performance as Desmond Fellows.
- Then finally The Bitch Is Back for the resolution of the third series.
My disc set wasn't perfect as the penultimate disc had scratches on it, but I think we saw all the relevant scenes in the end.
