Customer Reviews

Veronica Mars: The Complete Third Season

5 star:		(112)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Today the CW officially cancelled the best show on television (understandably, some would say, due to abysmally low ratings). There lingers a chance that the series might be revitalized in a different form, but the hammer has officially fallen. Veronica Mars is unceremoniously over.

Season 3 was the first (and last) season of the show to air on the fledgling CW network. It took a different approach to storytelling than seasons 1 and 2, featuring two separate mystery arcs and a number of one-episode mysteries, rather the season-long affairs for which the show had become known and loved. Despite the change, season 3 works as excellent, intriguing television. The writing is witty and the acting in sharp, as before.

The creator of the show, Rob Thomas, once heard the series described as "Chinatown meets Heathers." That's a perfect description. I would say it also owes heavily to Twin Peaks. Chinatown happens to be my all-time favorite movie. I'm a noir junky, and V-Mars serves it up in lusty, lipsticked, smoke-tinted glory with every episode. Many people are turned off by the concept of a high school/college girl solving mysteries. And they should be. As a premise, this show would easily fail in the hands of most producers. But Thomas and co-writers have created something magical and perfect here. The heroine Veronica is sarcastic, at times mean, overly hard-boiled, and full of acerbic wit. There's nothing candy-coated about Veronica. First time viewers often disregard the show as "another teen drama," and for this reason more than any other it failed to attract a sustaining audience. I urge you to give it a chance. Especially if you have a sarcastic mind, if you've lost faith in the basically good nature of humanity, if noir interests you, or if you just like an intelligent mystery or exceptionally well-acted drama, this may be what you're looking for. It was for me.

Admittedly, I watch very little television, but to put things in perspective this is a short list of the TV shows I've watched and loved over the years: Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Freaks and Geeks, Deadwood, and Wonderfalls. I would place Veronica Mars at the top of this delightful heap. (Actually, looking at that list, every show was cancelled before its time save BSG which is still on the air. Maybe that says something. Maybe not.) Recently, my wife and I started re-watching season 1 and 2 of Veronica Mars with a friend. His comment after one episode was this, "This show shouldn't be on television. It's too... challenging, too beautiful." I couldn't have said it any better. Unfortunately, our friend was right in the end. V-Mars was too challenging, too beautiful. And now it's gone.

Heads-up: This review is for the S3 DVD set as a DVD set, and not an editorial about the quality of Season 3. (For the record, I'd give most S3 episodes a solid 4-stars) This review is more for the VM fans who don't need to be "sold" on the series, but are deciding whether to shell-out $45 for the DVDs, given that the last 2 DVD sets were pretty skimpy on the extras.

The Season 3 DVD set, while it still doesn't have commentaries (not everyone is as chatty as Matt Groening and Co., I guess), it finally includes a few substantial behind-the-scenes extras, most notably, a 90-minute (or so) discussion with Rob Thomas, who walks us through clips and explains his choices. Very episode commentary-like, just more efficient-- you go through a lot of good clips from the whole season.

Chapters from the RT commentary I especially liked were on favorite guest characters, favorite pairings (Veronica and her dad; VM and Logan; VM and Duncan was not included here, mercifully).

It also includes RT's 14-minute mini-episode presentation for the CW heads that takes Veronica to the FBI in season 4. It's fun to watch, even if it DOES make you kind of sad because it never came to fruition, and instead you now have to sit through a whole convoluted thing of Heroes to see Kristen Bell on TV for 3 minutes. (Hypothetically, of course, as Heroes is, like, awesome!)

In conclusion, a good buy for established VM fans who wished for extras on the S1 and S2 DVDs.

The CW has got to be the most pathetic TV network (next to FOX, where it seems no shows last any longer than 2 years, but we get TWO NIGHTS of AMERICAN IDIOT, I mean, IDOL!!, yet great shows on FOX such as Tru Calling, Dark Angel and Firefly bit the dust far too soon).

The CW killed their best show, Veronica Mars, by halting it's third season by showing America a generic RockStar/American Dufus(oops!Idol) televised search for...THE NEXT PUSSYCAT DOLL????!!!

When this happened, I was like, This is TRULY the end of new quality TV being aired.

Veronica Mars was a breath of fresh air to the TV airwaves after losing BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL (yet another show that was patheticly cancelled by the CW's former, WB, way too soon). Veronica Mars had great, young actors, clever dialogue and involved great twists and turns with it's crime solving/mystery story-telling..But, then again, maybe that's why the show didn't last: IT TOLD STORIES and INVOLVED ACTING!!! Unlike the irrational forms of "entertainment" fodder that, sadly, too many americans swallow and think they are getting quality TV..

The only show that is worth watching on the CW now is SUPERNATURAL (Some of you may say what about SMALLVILLE? Sorry, that kid who plays Clark Kent just isn't believable as the boy of still, I mean steel, my opinion). Let's hope SUPERNATURAL won't get the Third Season axe like Veronica Mars with the CW pre-empting the show with the likes of Searching for the new Boy Band!

Glad there are the Discovery and Sci Fi Channels...

While the first season of Veronica Mars will always be one of my favorite seasons of any show, the latter years just cannot compete. I found the second season too convoluted, and I thought Veronica's likability was starting to fade. The third season, however, is much too simplified. And the worst offense? Veronica Mars, the title character, becomes a complete Mary-Sue. Her sleuthing skills are nowhere near the vicinity of season one, yet everyone falls in love with her and superior "gift." Her college professor wants to vouch for her for an FBI internship, and the college dean writes a glowing letter of recommendation. She's able to stay on top of her college grades while working cases and cooking dinner for her father, and she requires no time or adjustment to do so. And not only does she have Logan Echolls madly in love with her and willing to do anything to protect her, but now we have the annoying character of Piz (Wallace's college roomie) following after her.

Veronica has always been an attractive and smart character, but these things continue to happen despite her coldness, her smugness, her arrogance. You wait and wait, expecting her to be set up for a fall so she can see the error of her ways, but it never happens. It's obvious that the creator of the show is head-over-heels for his character, and it feels like he's lost the necessary objectiveness. Veronica is right, you're wrong. Even if you're a member of the audience.

This would be more bearable if there wasn't SO MUCH Veronica this year. The first two seasons did a much better job of balancing screentime, so even though it's a show with a title character, it felt like an ensemble cast. But this year, the amazing talent from the rest of the actors was wasted. Logan had no real storyline outside of Veronica, Wallace all but disappears for episodes at a time, and Weevil is hardly ever on-screen. The utter waste of Jason Dohring (Logan) hurts the most, as Logan is transformed into the "boyfriend" character, and his sickle wit dies with his screen-time. In the end, it's just too much Veronica and not enough everyone else, coupled with a dumb-downed version of a once very smart show.

Based on a lot of the reviews that are already posted here, I don't think there are a whole lot of people calling it like it is. So, I will take it upon myself to be the voice of truth about VERONICA MARS season 3. There are 5 star people raving about it because they love the show and are unwilling to accept the truth and there are 1 star people who aren't giving the 3rd season a fair assesment.

There is not a single show on TV, not a single one, that my wife and I don't flock to week to week, other than VERONICA MARS and the 3rd season was no exception. As the 3rd season played out, we found ourselves completely involved as we had been the previous 2 season, all the way up to the midseason cliff hanger. A serial rapist. A murder on campus. All the suspense and mystery was in tact and juicy as ever.

Then, when the show started back up, all the things that we had gotten involved in were solved in the first handful of episodes. The following episodes were, for lack of better words, UNEVENTFUL. All the way up to the odd and uncomfortable season finale that ended with the yawning cast of a vote.

Even my wife was shocked at the abrupt and uneventful ending. What did they do? What happened? Did the writers lose interest? Did the network pull the plug on the show before they wrote the final episodes? This is what I think. Personally, I believe the only thing that explains the weak ending of the 3rd season would be that the writers and producers knew that the CW had given up on them. So, they in turn, gave up on the CW.

All speculation aside, VERONICA MARS fell off the table halfway through the 3rd season. The charm and personality of the characters and actors involved was still intact, but the stories being told were in par with a fledgling show instead of a show that has given us some of the best television moments around over it's 2 1/2 prior seasons.

The CW just needs to face the facts. The ratings that they're suffering aren't because of quality of show, but because of lack of STATIONS and lack of bribing the NIELSON and ARBITRON companies... like the big boys do... cause we're watching... and unfortunately, we're not watching VERONICA MARS anymore.

Networks often cancel the best shows and leave the ones that truly almost no one cares about on tv for far too long (According to Jim, Two and a Half Men, Will and Grace [seriously, that show went on too long], etc). The good shows that have cult followings, which are the strongest type of following in my opinion, often get the axe, usually because the American public can't think while watching TV, hence America's Next Top Model, Laguna Beach, and every other terribly boring reality show. Veronica Mars is one of those shows that should have lasted.

It was witty and smart and to figure out the season long mysteries was a hard task, but the show had amazing talent with show lead Kristen Bell as the snarky Veronica Mars. In season one she was a high school student working part-time as a receptionist at her father's (Enrico Colantoni) PI business. The use of flashbacks created an actual history that most shows never show the viewer. We got to see what happened before and it created a more fulfilling show. Not to mention the supporting cast of Percy Daggs III, Jason Dorhing, Teddy Dunn (absent from season 3), Amanda Seyfried, Michael Muhney and Francis Capra (and later to much suprise Ryan Hansen) created a perfect noir world filled with mystery, murder, and a perfect amount of wit and sarcasm.

In season 3, Veronica began her freshman year at Heart College in Neptune, California, which only meant more murder and scandal for the young PI. With the additional cast members Chris Lowell as Piz, and Julie Gonzalo as Parker (and the final additions of Tina Majorino and Michael Munhey as series regulars), the show hoped to bring in more viewers. They also changed the format from season long mysteries to shorter arcs around 7-9 episodes a mystery, but still keeping with a Mystery of the Week theme. This was in hope to bring in more viewers because it was believed by tuning in during a season long mystery somewhere in the middle woudl deter viewers from watching. The episode count was cut from 22 to 20 which threw off series creator Rob Thomas' original vision for season three, but the show still managed to keep it's wit and spark up until the end.

Most viewers saw the end coming before the season (and thus series) finale ended, but the devout cult followers held their breath hoping and holding on to their beloved show. The writers and creator did too. The storylines were left open, with Veronica dating Piz instead of fan-favorite Logan (Jason Dohring) after a tumultuos season although it was always assumed the star crossed lovers would end up together after it all, and Veronica's father Keith Mars (Colantoni) was in a heated sheriff race which viewers will now never know the end to. The story line was left open but Thomas had been working on a new direction for the show which would have taken Veronica into the FBI and would have been set a few years in the future from season 3. She was accepted into an internship at the end of the season so the idea was not too far-fetched. However, the network did not go for it and decided not to renew our beloved neo-noir show.

I'd highly recommend Veronica Mars, especially to anyone who enjoyed the cult TV phenomenon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, only this time Veronica isn't slaying the undead, she is slaying the criminals that inhabit her wealthy, pristine, and perfect (on the surface) community. The snark and wit and wonderful acting by the cast created an environment that invited viewers in every week. I've converted many people into die hard fans, but I can't take credit for that, it was all the writers and actors on the show. Obviously it would make more sense to watch the seasons in order as to fully grasp the backstory which is woven in throughout the three seasons.

Overall, five stars, all the way.

I discovered Kristen Bell at a convention before my wife and I ever saw the series Veronica Mars. We bought the first two seasons and had to go through them non stop as they are fantastic. One of the best TV shows we have seen and we are in our seventies. The third season is on order and we will watch Heroes just because of Ms. Bell. Her film "Gracie's Choice" is also tops.

While VERONICA MARS may not have been quite the genre-bender that BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER was, it was every bit as well-written, and though Bell definitely was too old to play the character ( in the first season at least ), she was quite wonderful, as the uber-smart-angst-ridden-detective-apprentice-heroine. In fact, most of the characters were both well-written, and well-played. So as with most series that stray too far away from slop opera, and neatly boxed little conundrums that a five-year old could figure out in two minutes, this all-too-exceptional series went the way of ANGEL, FIREFLY, and more recently, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, and DOLLHOUSE. Oh, well...the idiot-box definitely needs more talent-less shows, pseudo-reality barf-a-thons, and lame cop shows- or maybe another cooking show....

I, of course, digress. The bottom line is, if you like smart, clever scripts, gutsy ( and B-R-A-I-N-Y ) protagonists, that aren't written as two-dimensional caricatures, fun dialog ( that wasn't concocted by uneducated chimps in a typewriter factory ), and often, quite subtle mysteries, then this series should definitely be on your shelf.

The first two seasons of Veronica Mars were fantastic television. Then, the CW destroyed it. It's common knowledge that they wanted Rob Thomas to change up the formula of the show, and take away the season-long mystery, which was really the best part of the show. Add in a few annoying cookie-cutter California teen characters and you have a horrible 90210 melodrama that just happens to bear the Veronica Mars name. "Liek omg is Logan and Veronica going to make up lol?" becomes the basis for the whole show. The final episode of the series, however, is a wonderful return to quality, and is really the only thing I can recommend watching out of this season. Stick to the first two, and just pretend that this didn't happen.

I'd given up on this show when it originally aired because of the multiple time shifts so was really happy to get a reasonably priced set. This season finds Veronica, Wallace, Mac, Logan & Dick Casablancas entering their freshman year at Hearst College but the change in scenery only provides Veronica with more crimes to solve.

The difference with this season as opposed to the other two as others have mentioned is that there is no season long story arc, instead there are 3 mysteries broken up along the season as well as crimes/cases that last during each episode. This isn't a bad thing because the high level acting and the excellent writing move the stories along and I understand now that they tried to create stories that would tie up within one episode in order to draw in more viewers. The major mysteries were solving the campus serial rape case, determining whether the dean had been murdered or committed suicide & who filmed Veronica & her boyfriend being intimate then sent the footage all over campus.

Sadly a lot of the charm of the 1st two seasons is lost in season 3 mainly because it focuses almost exclusively on Veronica and not on the ensemble characters: Logan is relegated to mooning & crying over Veronica, Wallace, Mac & Weevil are shown here & there while newer characters, Piz & Parker are given storylines in an effort to introduce them to viewers (sadly I never warmed to either). The backstories that I did enjoy were Weevil's job woes, Wallace's academic struggles, the casino robbery & her father's reversal of fortune.

Also, honestly I didn't like the Veronica Mars character very much this season and while I hesitated to call her a "mean girl", there was definitely something off putting about the character this season (I didn't like how she treated her father at times or Logan). The "mean girl" feature of the dvd was interesting to see because it seemed as if the show creator & lead producer didn't agree with how the audience perceived Veronica this season. On the topic of the special features, they are excellent. We get a disc containing a sneak preview of the proposed season 4 where Veronica is now an FBI agent; great commentary from the show creator & lead producer; unaired scenes & gag reels.

I'd recommend the purchase of the set by fans of the show just to complete your set but to those who are just getting on board, I'd advise renting it first to see how you feel about it & if you feel strongly purchase it because there are no loose ends from the previous seasons that are resolved this season.