lodessa | Still a fan after all.

1) It is raining. All I have to say is that if it rains tomorrow on my (and

carrielh's) birthday I am going to be really really pissed.

2) I have money!(until my automatic bill pay and the checks I wrote take most of it away in the next few days)

3) The percentage of radio stations that play music I am familiar with has gone up drastically the last year or two. I feel like this means I am getting old.

4)

Last night's episode followed the recent trend of actually being really good. It's actually sort of irritating that the show decides to be good again and actually grow and learn from it's mistakes now, when it's too late.

The MotW had the potential to be really offensive, but the stuff with the owners of Babylon Garden ended up being really well handled (even if the patriotism stuff was a little preachy) and the daughter with the Jewish boy was cute. I loved the dad's pride, but that he was able to break through it and see more objectively and live by his principles not his anger, and the relationship with the wife was interesting. I loved in the end when she was so proud of him. I like that Veronica helped Amira even though she was a total bitch to her. Although, even though I was happy to hear Pirate Points mentioned, I am not sure how it was Veronica who ruined Pirate Points for Amira. The case actually got solved in a believable way and not by Veronica's super powers of inductive thinking, which was nice. Hurrah for things like video footage.

The Keith plotline worked for a lot of reasons. It showed us what kind of sheriff he was and made it clear it wasn't just easy sliding back into the position. The situation was believable and Keith's motivations made sense. But what it ultimately did was show why anyone might actually have liked having an apathetic and incompetant sheriff like Lamb. It gave us a new perspective that makes people's behavior make a little more sense.

Then there was the fact that everyone (except Weevil) was actually in this episode... and they did things. We got to see them being characters and not just arriving for half a second and disappearing!

Wallace being someone's friend other than Veronica, was really nice to see. I mean obviously he and Piz have been seen hanging out before, but here we see MALES acting like real friends and helping each other out. I also like that he called Veronica on her shit. These are the kind of things we liked about season 1 and about Wallace, the kind of stuff we haven't been seeing. Much as I'd like to see Wallace find someone himself, his true purpose in the show is to be a model of what friendship means (which gets forgotten when they try and give him personal drama all too often), and I think he did excellently here.

Mac having somewhat divided loyalties, worked really well for me. The stuff with her and Logan and the fact that Parker is her friend too was realistic and not obnoxious and over the top and stupidly dramatic. Then the introduction of Mac/Max was brilliant, and the setup with the demonstration that, even though Bronson is a nice guy and serves a purpose in helping Mac getting over the trauma with Cassidy, Bronson is totally incompatible with her with his hikes and everything. Then in comes Max, who is totally the perfect match for her, but she never would have been able to be open to had she not met Bronson first.

Parker and Logan are exactly what they would have to be. The one thing I sort of have an issue with is that Parker turns out to be exactly who she initially seemed to the viewer and Veronica, when at the beginning of the season if seemed there was some sort of attempt to show that people aren't always with her in particular.

Dick is continuing to be a huge asset to the show, something I was in doubt of for a long time. The Myspace stuff was sort of hilarious (and will date the show)and I loved how the girls played him. I also loved he and Veronica's interaction in the elevator. I totally eat my words. They are making Dick interesting, while staying true to his character.

And Piz. Well, I'd never been a fan or foe of Piz previously. But congratulations VM, you did it right here; because, I totally felt it last night. Piz played his cards exactly right. He kissed her... leaving her to think about it. And the sassy "just friends" comment both increased the exit effect and also gave Veronica the out of being able to intentionally take that at face value and not deal with the whole thing at all if she didn't want to... which of course made her want to. I thought the elevator thing was a bit much, but I enjoyed it anyway. I didn't need the Logan shot though, and that worries me, because I am really sick of the Logan/Veronica drama. Piz is the new Leo, we all know this. But I liked Leo and I like this. Also, he surprised me in a good way, because that's how going all in should be done... at least with Veronica. There was no perfect tear, there was no sappy confession, there was action and there was certainty... and that's what Veronica really needs.