Veronica Mars Investigations

VMI: Vanquishing Malevolent Invaders, the crimes of Home Alone

A LONG TIME AGO IN HOME ALONE:

In an enormous house in Chicago, the enormous McAllister family is preparing to leave for a Christmas trip to Paris.
But, when designated naughty child Kevin causes a ruckus at dinner, he is sent to sleep in the attic as punishment.
Then in the chaos of being such an enormous family with shitloads of kids, the McAllisters accidentally fly off to Paris without Kevin, leaving him Home Alone.
Thus, an 8-year-old who has never even packed a suitcase before has to fend for himself in a hostile adult world.
AND fend off two serial burglars who are determined to break into the enormous McAllister house! Even after Kevin subjects them to multiple kinds of potentially fatal harm.
A grim cavalcade of child neglect and violence: ho ho ho Merrrry Christmas!

Join Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman and resident legal expert Lo Dodds to investigate the crimes that take place in the harrowing cavalcade of ultraviolence that is Home Alone, and learn what the penalties would be for such misdeeds as hanging a child on a hook, stealing a toothbrush, leaving your 8-year-old unattended while you jet off to Paris, and shooting a burglar in the dick.

VMI 1.01 Pilot: the RErecap

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS:

We meet Veronica Mars! High school detective with tiny jackets and flowbee hair, plus a heartbreak, an absent mother, a murdered best friend and a rape to deal with.
We meet Logan Echolls, a rich boy with a rage problem.
We meet Duncan Kane, a human screensaver.
We meet Wallace Fennel, taped to a flagpole then recruited to do Veronica’s bidding for the next several years. Wallace, we have seen the future and you should run! Now! Run!
We meet Sheriff Lamb, local law enforcement with bad jokes and even worse morals.
And we meet Keith Mars, disgraced ex-sheriff, private investigator and dad of the century - but why’s he being so weird about Veronica surveilling beige billionaire Jake Kane?

audio, special guest, Season 1, special episode, Season 4VMI Pod16 September 2021Veronica Mars, season 1, Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Jason Dohring, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, Hrishikesh Hirway, Lo Dodds, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, Mars Investigations, high school, Cliff McCormack, Daran Norris, Wallace Fennel, Percy Daggs III, Weevil Navarro, Francis Capra, Lilly Kane, Amanda Seyfried, Duncan Kane, Teddy Dunn, Celeste Kane, Lisa Thornhill, Jake Kane, Kyle Secor, Abel Koontz, Van Clemmons, Duane Daniels, Deputy Sacks, Jerry Sacks, Brandon Hillock, Felix Toombs, Brad Bufanda, Lianne Mars, Corinne Bohrer, Sheriff Lamb, Don Lamb, Michael Muhney, Corny, Jonathan Chesner, Inga, Seraina Jaqueline, Mrs Murphy, Linda Castro, Shelly Pomroy, Backup, smashing stuff, Angelina Jolie, flagpole, PCHers, Loretta Cancun, murder, rape, revenge, beach, meat, sandwiches, Wizard of Oz, Full Metal Jacket, Two Live Crew, gavels, bongs, crowbars

Q&A and LoDown Special

Join Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman and our resident legal expert Lo Dodds to answer your questions, and find out all about why you shouldn't represent yourself in court, what you have to do to get a jury trial or a marriage license, whether Veronica has sadness-clothes, and whether showrunners could stop mining the traumas of young female characters for drama.

VMI second birthday celebrations!

Join Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman and our resident legal expert Lo Dodds to celebrate the completion of the second year of Veronica Mars Investigations, with a parade of outtakes - about what happens to police dogs when they retire, how old is too old to join the FBI, gambling with pasta, and the very real dangers of huffing petrol (especially at any point in time since the Great Depression).

audio, special episode, bit of funVMI Pod18 August 2021birthday, second birthday, Veronica Mars, season 4, Rob Thomas, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, Lo Dodds, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, special episode, FBI, dogs, police dogs, pasta, gambling, letters, letterheads, books, novels, rain, Leo D’Amato, bombs, petrol, gasoline, monarchy

VMI 4.08 Years, Continents, Bloodshed

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS:

A thing happens that turned the Marshmallows into Burnt Marshmallows, turned Veronica into a widow, and turned our twitter mentions into a shitshow whenever we said anything even slightly critical of Logan. But before that: this season wraps up some plots!
Dodie and Alonzo behead Richard Casablancas, with Matty looking on, and Clyde smiling the tiniest hint of a smile, even pauses on eating his sandwich for a moment.
Matty sells the Maloof ring to fund the reopening of the Sea Sprite, the only bit left of the Old Neptune boardwalk, because Big Dick’s plans to gentrify the town still happened even with him gone.
Keith’s medical problems are solved offscreen - just a bad combination of meds! He’s back to Keithing around! Although he has to dump Clyde as a friend, although we thought he already did that last episode? Is it our memory that is on the blink?
Denouement time: Penn’s the bomber! Or is it murderhead Don? No, he’s a last minute red herring, albeit a herring that has been murdered in an abandoned power plant and made to look like a suicide, and the bomber is definitely Penn and the Marses are stuck in a remote location with him - wait, wasn’t that last episode? Seriously got to get the doctor to check our memory...
Tick tick tick can the Marses find the limerick bomb in time? Yes! Keith is the town hero once more, after defusing the bomb Penn had planted at Kane high school.
But oh no, that’s not Penn’s last limerick or his last bomb; and after a quick pitstop for a Loganica wedding, Chekhov’s “don’t forget to move your car for street cleaning” blows up and takes Logan with it.
And Veronica, at last, goes to therapy, and leaves Neptune.

audio, Season 4VMI Pod28 July 2021Veronica Mars, season 4, Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Jason Dohring, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, Lo Dodds, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, Mars Investigations, bombing, motel bombing, Sea Sprite bombing, spring break, Murderheads, Penn Epner, Patton Oswalt, Cliff McCormack, Daran Norris, Clyde Pickett, JK Simmons, Marcia Langdon, Dawnn Lewis, Alonzo Lozano, Clifton Collins Jr, Dodie Mendoza, Frank Gallegos, Richard Casablancas, David Starzyk, Matty Ross, Izabela Vidovic, Van Clemmons, Duane Daniels, Jake Kane, Kyle Secor, Wallace Fennel, Percy Daggs III, Jane the therapist, Mary McDonnell, Parker Lee, Julie Gonzalo, Bob Vance, Don, Clark Duke, marriage, wedding, therapy, Kane High School, Sea Sprite Motel, bombs, nails, power plants, limericks, frats, Pi Sigs, swords, love, Loganica, death, murder, beheading, revenge, gentrification, lettuce, sandwiches, Brer Rabbit, accidental porn dialogue, prison, conjugal visits, boobs

VMI 4.07 Gods of War

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS:

Well after last episode where people told each other the plot, things are actually happening! Penn is, at last, the suspect for three of the bombings.
Hot on his trail, the Marses interrupt his sexy minibreak with Carol to grab him and get that $250,000 reward - but Dodie and Alonzo show up to take out Veronica!
But then, the PCHers turn up! and Weevil calls off the killing with a bat of his very powerful eyelashes.
Richard Casablancas buys Matty a car to persuade her to sell him the Sea Sprite, but he might regret it because here she is breaking into his house.
He also might regret fucking over Clyde, who made the mistake of taking a Casablancas’s word as a binding agreement. Never again!
Heartbreak too for Veronica as she admits to Nicole that she bugged her office, and Nicole immediately ends their friendship.
Heartbreak for us as Veronica has sexy sex with Leo but it’s all just a dream! With Wallace watching, weird.
The shootout with Dodie and Alonzo prompts the Marses to make big changes. Keith wants out of the PI life before Veronica gets hurt.
And Veronica accepts Logan’s proposal.

audio, Season 4VMI Pod22 July 2021Veronica Mars, season 4, Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Jason Dohring, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, Lo Dodds, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, Mars Investigations, bombing, motel bombing, Sea Sprite bombing, spring break, Murderheads, Wallace Fennel, Percy Daggs III, Penn Epner, Patton Oswalt, Cliff McCormack, Daran Norris, Clyde Pickett, JK Simmons, Marcia Langdon, Dawnn Lewis, Alonzo Lozano, Clifton Collins Jr, Dodie Mendoza, Frank Gallegos, Nicole Malloy, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Richard Casablancas, David Starzyk, Matty Ross, Izabela Vidovic, Weevil Navarro, Francis Capra, Hector, Patrick Wolff, Claudia Navarro, Onahoua Rodriguez, Daniel Maloof, Mido Hamada, Amalia Maloof, Jacqueline Antaramian, Don, Clark Duke, Carol, Dannah Feinglass Phirman, Scott Vance, guns, shooting, cabins, cars, murderheads, sex, sexpeople, dreams, sex dreams, Kane High, frats, Pi Sigs, nails, string art, The Big Lebowski, Peloton, limericks, Pretzel Flipz

VMI 4.06 Entering a World of Pain

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS:

OK, here’s what we know about the bombings now: Big Dick did the Sea Sprite one. Clyde did the Perry Walsh one.
The rest are still unaccounted for - but there might be something in the FBI’s theory that a serial killer has been operating in Neptune for years, so the Marses investigate some deaths registered as accidental but maybe not.
Big Dick and Clyde know that Keith knows that they’ve been buying up property with all those shell companies and leaving dead ducks in Penn’s bed.
Places Veronica will go: the strip club, to see Vinnie; the Pi Sig house, to see some frats; Dodie and Alonzo’s room, to snoop; and Comrade Quacks, to get drunk and dance with her two sexiest friends Nicole and Leo.
Places Veronica won’t go: couples therapy with Logan.
Logan has been called back to active duty though in an undisclosed location for an undisclosed length of time, so their relationship will just have to fix itself in absentia.
Before he left, though, Logan managed to track down Daniel Maloof’s hacker, a neo-Nazi teen who has noticed that Daniel transferred a large amount of Bitcoin to two Mexican assassins.
Oh and in case you forgot, Veronica is into The Big Lebowski.

audioVMI Pod14 July 2021Veronica Mars, season 4, Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Jason Dohring, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, Lo Dodds, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, Mars Investigations, Dick Casablancas, Ryan Hansen, bombing, motel bombing, Sea Sprite bombing, spring break, Murderheads, Comrade Quack’s, Perry Walsh, Penn Epner, Patton Oswalt, Cliff McCormack, Daran Norris, Clyde Pickett, JK Simmons, Marcia Langdon, Dawnn Lewis, Alonzo Lozano, Clifton Collins Jr, Nicole Malloy, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Richard Casablancas, David Starzyk, Matty Ross, Izabela Vidovic, Leo D’Amato, Max Greenfield, Ken Marino, Vinnie Van Lowe, Claudia Navarro, Onahoua Rodriguez, Francis Capra, Weevil Navarro, Daniel Maloof, Mido Hamada, Amalia Maloof, Jacqueline Antaramian, Alex Maloof, Paul Karmiryan, Clarence Wiedman, Christopher B Duncan, Don, Clark Duke, Tyler Carr, Alex Solowitz, Barton Netherfield, Alan Heitz, Junior Netherfield, Cyrus Arnold, Kevin, Jake Green, Patrick Wolff, Hector, tasers, hackers, passwords, Jane Austen, Trae Crowder, Chattanooga Charlie’s, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pi Sigs, frats, Hearst College, strip club, Guantanamo, therapy, meniscus, The Big Lebowski

VMI 4.05 Losing Streak

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS:

Nicole and Veronica get high together, shoot guns together, and tell each other their secrets - except one, which is that Nicole sold Comrade Quack’s to a buyer who is Richard Casablancas wearing a plastic nose and false moustache, stacked on top of two other Richard Casablancases in a really big trenchcoat.
Keith also does some shooting, when Clyde takes him duck hunting and leaves his phone unattended near a Mars. But the text messages Keith snoops into put him off the theory that Clyde and Big Dick are behind the bombings.
Instead, Keith realises all the bombs killed people who were sex offenders. Cmon, that’s just Neptune, where everyone’s on the registry! But he decides it means Nicole is the bomber, taking revenge on rapists.
Other tenuous bombing suspect of the week: Weevil! He’s receiving money from Clyde to sabotage the town, according to Sea Sprite Shitter Juan when Veronica puts the pressure on.
Then for our weekly bomb: this one goes off in Comrade Quack’s! Don’t you dare take our precious Nicole from us, show!!
Someone claiming to be the bomber has sent a note to the police, which keeps the murderheads busy, and forces Mayor Dobbins to streak through town!
Murderhead Carol deduces that the note was written by Richard Casablancas, and to celebrate, she and Penn kiss! But their passion is interrupted by a gross discovery.
Here are some palate cleansers though: Vinnie gets a free jacket, Alonzo and Dodie get into lavender lattes, and Cliff gets a puppy!

audio, Season 4VMI Pod30 June 2021Veronica Mars, season 4, Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Jason Dohring, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, Lo Dodds, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, Mars Investigations, bombing, motel bombing, Sea Sprite bombing, spring break, Murderheads, bombs, Dick Casablancas, Ryan Hansen, Penn Epner, Patton Oswalt, Cliff McCormack, Daran Norris, Clyde Pickett, JK Simmons, Marcia Langdon, Dawnn Lewis, Alonzo Lozano, Clifton Collins Jr, Dodie Mendoza, Frank Gallegos, Nicole Malloy, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Richard Casablancas, David Starzyk, Matty Ross, Izabela Vidovic, Daniel Maloof, Mido Hamada, Alex Maloof, Paul Karmiryan, Amalia Maloof, Jacqueline Antaramian, Weevil Navarro, Francis Capra, Juan Diego, Tyler Alvarez, Mercer Hayes, Ryan Devlin, Tim Foyle, James Jordan, Leo D’Amato, Max Greenfield, Vinnie Van Lowe, Ken Marino, Mayor Mark Dobbins, Andrew Friedman, Claudia Navarro, Onahoua Rodriguez, Tyler Carr, Alex Solowitz, Taylor Carr, Patrick Cox, Sarah Hyland, Max, Adam Rose, Bryce, Ian Bamberg, FBI, Chino, prison, rape, NUTT, beheading, murder, murderheads, nails, sandwiches, snacks, jackets, pizza, the ring, Wallace Fennell, Percy Daggs III, Carol, Dannah Feinglass Phirman, Shae, Kenna Wright, Mayor Dobbins, Calvin Linden, Mather Zickel, Owen, Nick Alvarez, Cassidy Casablancas, Phoenix Land Trust, property, lavender lattes, hunting, guns, shooting, bottles, ducks, dead ducks, therapy, Comrade Quacks, streaking, nudity, naked, bugs, Lorax, Loganica, vaping, vibrators, Black Mirror, bras, FBLOA, Future Business Leaders of America, Beaver, The Crucible, Dipshit Island

VMI 4.04 Heads You Lose

A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS:

The themes of the season, bombs and beheadings, combine, as a spring breaker who’s been spiking women’s drinks gets a bomb strapped around his neck.

The Marses, Matty and the murderheads are still shuffling around their various theories about who the bomber is: Big Dick and Clyde trying to kill the Spring Break business for property prices; or the Maloofs, for reasons that nobody can really be arsed with any more.
Daniel Maloof is regretting ordering the hit on the Carrs, but too late! Dodie and Alonzo have video of them killing them…
...but one has survived? What a twist!
Not enough jerks for you? This episode features the reappearances of ugh Mercer and Lucky-in-a-wig and Toxic Max!
But in compensation we also see Vinnie, and... LEO! He’s now an FBI agent and divorcé with a jacket full of snacks, there to tempt Veronica as she struggles with domestic bliss with Logan.

audio, Season 4VMI Pod15 June 2021Veronica Mars, season 4, Rob Thomas, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars, Logan Echolls, Jason Dohring, Neptune, California, Jenny Owen Youngs, Helen Zaltzman, Lo Dodds, VMI, television, TV, recap, review, drama, mystery, detective, PI, private detectives, Marshmallows, cases, crime, law, Mars Investigations, bombing, motel bombing, Sea Sprite bombing, spring break, Murderheads, bombs, Dick Casablancas, Ryan Hansen, Penn Epner, Patton Oswalt, Cliff McCormack, Daran Norris, Clyde Pickett, JK Simmons, Marcia Langdon, Dawnn Lewis, Alonzo Lozano, Clifton Collins Jr, Dodie Mendoza, Frank Gallegos, Nicole Malloy, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Richard Casablancas, David Starzyk, Matty Ross, Izabela Vidovic, Daniel Maloof, Mido Hamada, Alex Maloof, Paul Karmiryan, Amalia Maloof, Jacqueline Antaramian, Weevil Navarro, Francis Capra, Juan Diego, Tyler Alvarez, Mercer Hayes, Ryan Devlin, Lucky in a wig, Tim Foyle, James Jordan, Leo D’Amato, Max Greenfield, Vinnie Van Lowe, Ken Marino, Mayor Mark Dobbins, Andrew Friedman, Claudia Navarro, Onahoua Rodriguez, Tyler Carr, Alex Solowitz, Taylor Carr, Patrick Cox, Sarah Hyland, Max, Adam Rose, Bryce, Ian Bamberg, FBI, Chino, prison, rape, NUTT, beheading, murder, murderheads, nails, sandwiches, snacks, jackets, pizza, the ring

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