Veronica Mars Investigations

VMI: Village Mostly Invisible, an investigation of Brigadoon

A LONG TIME AGO IN THE 1954 MGM MUSICAL BRIGADOON:

New York City gents Gene Kelly and Van Johnson are lost in the Scottish Highlands! They want to shoot some birds, but instead stumble upon a village that’s not on the map… Brigadoon!
Everyone’s dancing around the town and preparing for a wedding that evening; meanwhile, sister of the bride Cyd Charisse gets to fall in love with Gene Kelly on the heathery hillsides.
But something’s weird, and it’s not just the fake Scottish accents, the very tight tartan trousers, the two-dimensional mountains and all the day-drinking: it’s that the village is under an enchantment whereby it only appears on one day every hundred years, and it will disappear forever if anyone tries to leave.
Then someone tries to leave!
Then Gene Kelly and Van Johnson have to leave before the village goes sleepy-byes for another hundred years. But Gene left his heart behind...
Lucky for him, there’s a special wake-up-Brigadoon-early clause buried deep in the small print of the enchantment, because of course there is.

audio, Season 5VMI Pod15 December 2021Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, VMI, film, entertainment, movie, recap, review, drama, mystery, musical, Scotland, Scottish, Highlands, dancing, dance, singing, songs, magic, witches, enchantment, miracles, bad ideas, accents, fear, death, history, tartan, Chekhov’s things, love, romance, MGM, Broadway, Vincente Minnelli, Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, Cyd Charisse, Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, sets, cattle, Highland cows, birds, sheep, 100 years, alcohol

VMI: Mr Kiss and Tell

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS: Mr Kiss and Tell, an original mystery by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham:

A young woman has been raped and beaten, and, once again, the Neptune Grand hires Veronica to investigate - only so they don’t get sued for hiring the undocumented worker who has been accused.
But, having cleared him, Veronica keeps going with the case, to get justice for the victim, Grace Manning - that’s right, Meg’s little sister. A decade on from being locked in a closet by her parents, and still having a shit time.
Grace is one of several sex workers who have been attacked by this man, a SPORTSBALL coach. I knew I was right not to trust sportsball!
So Veronica and Leo team up, dress up and wig up to go to Vegas and bust this man. A golf course is involved - sports really come out of this novel badly.
Meanwhile, the sheriff’s election looms into view, with a new candidate, Marcia - with whom Keith has history. Tense sad history, not sexy history. We assume Keith’s pelvis is still knitting itself back together.
Keith and Cliff put together a civil case, Weevil vs the sheriff’s department and their evidence planting. But which does Weevil need more: justice, or to stop his family falling apart?
And Logan is ashore! He and Veronica are having problems, with her overwork and his months-long absences - but, they do get a puppy! And the puppy’s called Pony! A satisfying conclusion to Veronica’s years-long pony joke.

audioVMI Pod29 April 2021Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Wallace Fennel, Weevil Navarro, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, teen, teenage, college, Hearst College, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, Mac, Cindy Mackenzie, book, novel, dogs, puppies, ponies, Pony, Leo D’Amato, Norris, Cliff McCormack, guns, Chekhov’s gun, Chekhov’s things, Neptune Grand, Petra Landros, Mannings, Meg Manning, Lizzie Manning, Grace Manning, San Diego, sportsball, basketball, golf, Las Vegas, murder, rape, assault, Sheriff Dan Lamb, sheriff election, Marcia Langdon, dog, boots, cars, Papa Bear, theatre, student theater, actors, doing an Acting, Shakespeare, church, argyle, Loganica, bands, music, Madison Sinclair, Charles Sinclair, DNA, theft, sex workers, sex work, Brechtian, Mitchell Bellamy, George Bernard Shaw, plays, Erotic Critique, beards, baby Lilly, court cases

VMI: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, an original mystery by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham:

Two months have passed since the movie, and it’s SPRING BREAK! Neptune’s popping off! Until two young women disappear, first Hayley and then Aurora, presumed kidnapped.
The spring breakers stay away and the Neptune Grand is losing business, so the glamorous owner hires Veronica to investigate the disappearances.
This case means Veronica gets back into her sexy disguises to infiltrate house parties run by the heirs to a Mexican drug cartel.
Lamb doesn’t care about the Mexican drug cartel heirs, and neither should you because - BIG TWIST - they have nothing to do with it! They’re just rich guys throwing parties. Turns out, Hayley went off to Bakersfield and was murdered by her jealous boyfriend :(
And, BIG TWIST, Aurora is part of her own kidnapping plot with her scammer dad, who she’s also double-crossing to get the ransom money!
Oh and BIG TWIST, Aurora’s stepmom is LIANNE MARS!

VMI 3.050607 President Infidelity of Vice and Men

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS:

The Dean’s wife’s son is dying and they need Keith to track down her ex-husband and extract his bone marrow. By force, if need be!

The college casino is robbed! Veronica thinks it was Weevil…
Turns out, Claire faked her rape. But the rapist is still real, still out there, and drugs and shaves Veronica.
Professor Landry’s new teacher’s pet is Veronica, so his old teacher’s pet, Tim, makes it look like she cheated on a paper.
Other people ARE cheating, though: Wallace and Logan, on tests, and the Dean’s wife, on the Dean…with Professor Landry!
Someone we don’t know, Meryl, comes to Hearst College to visit her boyfriend whom we also don’t know, so we don’t care that he’s missing, nor that he turns up - but we definitely don’t like having to stop in on the Fitzpatricks along the way.
And Keith and Harmony are spending time together again. There’s a not a lot of plot but there’s a lot of HOT!

Join Jenny Owen Youngs and Helen Zaltzman to investigate Veronica Mars season 3 episodes 5, 6 and 7: President Infidelity of Vice and Men, and probe such mysteries as how many crimes you’re committing by kidnapping someone and extracting their bone marrow, where is our app with Cliff just shouting words three times, and WTF Veronica and Logan are dressed as for Halloween.

audio, Season 3VMI Pod8 December 2020Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Jason Dohring, Wallace Fennel, Percy Daggs III, Weevil Navarro, Francis Capra, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, Lo Dodds, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, teen, teenage, college, Hearst College, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, season 3, Sheriff Lamb, Don Lamb, Michael Muhney, Professor Landry, Patrick Fabian, Tim Foyle, Lucky in a wig, James Jordan, Piz, Stosh Piznarski, Chris Lowell, Parker Lee, Julie Gonzalo, Max, Adam Rose, Harmony Chase, Laura San Giacomo, Vinnie Van Lowe, Ken Marino, Deputy Sacks, Jerry Sacks, Brandon Hillock, Coach Tom Barry, Matt McKenzie, Mercer Hayes, Ryan Devlin, Cyrus O’Dell, Ed Begley Jr, Mindy O’Dell, Jaime Ray Newman, Chastity Dotson, Nish Sweeney, Claire Nordhouse, Krista Kalmus, Moe Flater, Andrew McClain, Mason, Robert Ri'chard, Dianna Agron, Jenny Budosh, Professor David Winkler, Michael B Silver, Daran Norris, Cliff McCormack, Richard Grieco, Steven Batando, Jeff Ratner, David Magidoff, Taylor Sheridan, Danny Boyd, Fitzpatricks, Liam Fitzpatrick, Rodney Rowland, Detective Sanchez, Ruben C Gonzalez, Meryl, Amanda Walsh, Sully, Michael Grant Terry, LAPD, Harrison, Blake Shields, Danny Rossow, Ryan Pinkston, Rachel Rogers, Scarlett, Sandra McCoy, Tina Callis, Anna Campbell, mechanical engineering, Keith’s romances, The White Stripes, costumes, Halloween, the Dreaded Feminists, radio, bowling, River Styx, Chekhov’s things, casino, gambling, Loganica, Duncvonia, cheating, tests, exams, Twentynine Palms, 29 Palms, actors, short film, pranks, sabotage, cooking spray, accents, voicework, rape, robbery, theft, Lilly Kane, necklace, cocktails, fire, Mexico, bone marrow transplant, bone marrow, Porsche, cars, elaborate ruses, extortion, alibis, campus rapist, head shaving, GHB, drugs, physics, lasers, henleys, Samuel Horshack, Rafe, Hearst Prison Experiment, prison experiment, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, The Big Lebowski, lighting, the robot, sexpeople, accidental porn dialogue, sandwich puppets, Weevil’s toolbox

VMI 2.13 Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS:

It’s Neptune High’s winter carnival, to raise money for the school trip - but someone has stolen all the cash!
Who could it be? Weevil? While he’s taking his adorable niece around the funfair?
Jackie?? In the very brief moment when she’s not being plunged into a tank of cold water by vengeful students?
Logan??? No, he’s off flirting with the latest cute Neptune blonde girl Hannah, stealing her cotton candy and her heart, but with ulterior motives.
Random guy JB who really wants that Kane scholarship and just Veronica is standing in his way????
At least it’s definitely not Terrence Cook: he’s at the Mars office getting drunk with Keith, safe from being accused of more crimes, but not safe from Keith’s ruthless detectiving.

Join Jenny Owen Youngs and Helen Zaltzman to investigate Veronica Mars season 2 episode 13: Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough, and probe such mysteries as how big a stack of stolen cash is, why Weevil’s growing out his hair, and why everyone’s dunking on Jackie - as well as dunking Jackie.

audio, Season 2VMI Pod16 July 2020Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Jason Dohring, Wallace Fennel, Percy Daggs III, Weevil Navarro, Francis Capra, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, teen, teenage, school, high school, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, season 2, bus crash, Tessa Thompson, Jackie Cook, Terrence Cook, Jeffrey Sams, Detective Weevil, Detective Logan, Felix’s murder, Felix Toombs, PCHers, Thumper, James Molina, Hector, Patrick Wolff, Jane, Valorie Curry, Miss Dumas, Hannah Griffith, Jessy Schram, Cora, Dana Davis, Ms Hauser, Kari Coleman, JB, Cassidy Casablancas, Kyle Gallner, Dick Casablancas, Ryan Hansen, Tina Majorino, Mac, Cindy Mackenzie, Madison Sinclair, Amanda Noret, Van Clemmons, Duane Daniels, Principal Clemmons, baseball, sportsball, sports, match throwing, gambling, debt, incorporation, carnival, winter carnival, money, theft, sports fans, ejoke-ulate, glitter, Tritons, Kane Scholarship, Magic Mountain, Six Flags, Chekhov’s things, Chekhov’s glitter, hair, haircuts, Ophelia, Weevil’s niece, Thora Birch, Ghost World, cash, banknotes, ball pit, cash box, dunk tank, dude, fluffy snake, video, streakers, slushies, sex workers, flagpole, denouement, shoes, pranks, Sally, cars, Chevy, Impala

VMI 2.11 Donut Run

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS:

Clue in, donut! Duncan kidnaps his own baby so the evil Manning grandparents can’t add her to their collection of emotionally abused children.
Sheriff Lamb is on the case, and so is the FBI - Agent LUCY LAWLESS has come to town for this case! But mainly to neg Lamb.
They search for Duncan in a boat, up at Big Bear, in the Mars apartment, in Mexico - but Duncan is GONE. You wouldn’t think he could outwit the law, would you? But…
Veronica has aided and abetted him! They fake a breakup, steal from Celeste, double-cross pretty much everyone, and kiss goodbye forever.
And as if that wasn’t enough for one episode, there’s Wallace’s hit and run case, and Weevil getting a new tattoo while tracking down the mole in the PCHers.

Join Jenny Owen Youngs and Helen Zaltzman to investigate Veronica Mars season 2 episode 11: Donut Run, and contemplate such mysteries as whether there is anyone who doesn’t get the better of Lamb this episode, how you get Kendall to come and take a shower in your bathroom when you’re not home, if she should eat a pizza bagel when in there, whether you can learn everything you need to know about sex from WikiHow, and, after SHOCKING REVELATIONS in the LoDown, why any of this episode happens at all.

Season 2, audioVMI Pod23 June 2020Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Jason Dohring, Wallace Fennel, Percy Daggs III, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, teen, teenage, school, high school, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, season 2, Detective Weevil, Detective Logan, Felix’s murder, Felix Toombs, PCHers, Duncvonica, Duncan Kane, Teddy Dunn, Meg’s baby, Duncan’s baby, Lilly Manning, Faith Manning, Manning parents, babies, Mexico, Ken Marino, Vinnie Van Lowe, Celeste Kane, Lisa Thornhill, Kendall Casablancas, Charisma Carpenter, Lucy Lawless, FBI, Don Lamb, Sheriff Lamb, Michael Muhney, Deputy Sacks, Brandon Hillock, Cliff McCormack, Daran Norris, CS Keys, Dick Casablancas, Ryan Hansen, Marcello Thedford, Super Huge Deputy, Neptune Grand, donut, doughnuts, border patrol, Mexican border, kidnapping, kidnap, custody, The Virgin Suicides, Air, soundtracks, breaking up, break-ups, Al Green, The Hollies, shoes, Bootsy, Hector, Patrick Wolff, Planet Zowie, Chekhov’s things, Chekhov’s public breakup, Chekhov’s vacancy, Chekhov’s backpackers, Chekhov’s fortune cookie, Paula Cole, Dawson’s Creek, lineup, jewellery, jewelry, earrings, diamonds, fonts, Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, long ball, bugged pens, Vinnie Special, callbacks, wigs, disguises, cars, Cupid, Trevor Hale, Chicago, Rashard Rucker, hit and run, cover-up, basketball, Fitzpatricks, Lost, Backup, Sean Friedrich, Kevin Sheridan, passwords, Boat Duncan, toilet office, pizza bagel, Ay Chihuahuas

VMI 2.06 Rat Saw God

**A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS:**

Logan gets arrested for Felix’s murder, is put in a jail cell with his dad, and his house is burned down. Oof!
Abel Koontz turns up - he needs Veronica to find his daughter Amelia DeLongpre, so he can see her before he dies.
Amelia took her $3m of Kane fake confession payout, and spent it on international good times - then disappeared in the midst of a foam party in Ibiza.
Keith loses the sheriff race but keeps sniffing around the bus crash case - and finds a strange clue in the wreckage.

Join Jenny Owen Youngs and Helen Zaltzman to investigate Veronica Mars season 2 episode 6: Rat Saw God, and probe such mysteries as Clarence Wiedman’s computer setup, Clarence Wiedman’s dressalike assistant, Clarence Wiedman’s JOKE, Clarence and Veronica’s buddy road trip movie (well in our dreams)... We also wonder about the PCHers’ supposed Panty Club, dads vs dads, Cliff being the best worst lawyer, and Weevil’s tattoo of a dog in a hat.

Season 2, audioVMI Pod6 May 2020Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Jason Dohring, Wallace Fennel, Percy Daggs III, Weevil Navarro, Francis Capra, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, teen, teenage, school, high school, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, season 2, bus crash, Gia Goodman, Krysten Ritter, Ryan Hansen, Dick Casablancas, Woody Goodman, Steve Guttenberg, Felix Toombs, Brad Bufanda, Sheriff Lamb, Don Lamb, Michael Muhney, Cliff McCormack, Daran Norris, Clarence Wiedman, Christopher B. Duncan, PCHers, Abel Koontz, Christian Clemenson, sheriff election, sheriff, Felix’s murder, Amelia DeLongpre, Aaron Echolls, Harry Hamlin, Kim Stolz, ANTM, cameos, Joss Whedon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Rat Saw God, Rob Thomas’s novels, guest stars, necklaces, Naked and Afraid, boaters, Ibiza, ice machine, murder, death, money, extortion, disappearance, foam, foam parties, Mike, Dawn, Kane Software, Clarence Wiedman’s office, blazers, German, Tracey Walter, where’s Wallace, EnriqueFreaque69, Carlos Mercado, marked bills, Las Vegas, road trips, Sally Field, favours, favors, Panty Club for Homos, tattoos, dogs in hats, McGruff the Crime Dog, anthropomorphic dogs, Weevil’s grandma, arson, Echolls house, Chekhov’s things, Chekhov’s argyle, cigars, shivs, shanks, jail, evidence, compromising evidence, rats, Palm Pilot