Veronica Mars 3.16: Un-American Graffiti

And so the transformation of Veronica Mars into a fully fledged teen drama is complete. Truth be told, it’s not as blatant as I originally thought. Watching ‘Un-American Graffiti’ all these years later the series still had quite a bit of its original charm, but the network meddling really didn’t do it any favours.


Despite its preachiness, and overall lack of excitement, the graffiti case was an intriguing insight into the diverse world of Neptune that had almost been ignored given the seclusion of Veronica’s new college setting. While its message of treating everyone equally was borderline cringe worthy, it was tackled with the same ‘Mars wit to make it seem almost cool.

Sadly, the final 10 minutes are filled with exactly with the CW thought CW viewers wanted. At the end of its third season, I’m not sure why they honestly believed that there would be a chance to attract more viewers with a condensed version of the series. I enjoyed some of the drama, and the pairing of Mac and Max was pretty genius given the overall strangeness of Bronson, but the dark noir vibe has almost been lost amongst the stolen kisses, and secret crushes.

It’s Keith’s side of the story that allows the show to retain some bit of its identity. It was always hinted that Keith was pretty amazing in his Sherriff position before Lilly was murdered. At least, that’s how I pictured it. The idea of him struggling to get his community to follow him in actually performing his job was quite a depressing thought, especially considering all the work he and Veronica had done to get their lives back on track.

The simplest way to describe the closing stretch of episodes is ‘Veronica Mars Light’. There are fewer calories, there's less taste, and most importantly, less fun to be had. There’s still something here, the dialogue is still sharp and fun, but its missing all the juiciness we remember.

5/10

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