Tonight’s episode of ‘Veronica Mars’ was a cornucopia of emotions. One minute we’re listening to an exchange student pour his heart out about his experience been an enslaved soldier in Uganda, the next minute, Parker is freaking out because Logan is going away on a surf trip to South America. I suppose you could link the two dramatic issues together somehow. After all, they both have to do with foreign affairs, right? Meanwhile, Keith deals with a crime wave in Neptune and Veronica and the gang decide what their summer plans will be.
Tonight’s episode of ‘Veronica Mars,’ titled, “I Know What You’ll Do Next Summer,” was the big “Invisible Children” episode that we’ve heard a bit about from interviews with various cast members of the show. If you’re out of that loop and wondering why the writers decided to use what could be one of the last episodes of the series (stay tuned for news on that later this week!) to plug a charity, here’s the skinny:
Invisible Children was a documentary film made by three college students who visited Northern Uganda in 2003. The film exposes how the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was abducting children and forcing them to become soldiers. A charity was eventually created to help raise money to help the children running away from this nightmare and hopefully put a stop to it once and for all. Ryan Hansen (who plays Dick in ‘Mars’) has been supporting the cause and the episode was meant to shed light on the issue. If you’re interested in learning more about the charity, check out their website: Invisiblechildren.com.
And now for the recap. Piz interviewed a student named Apollo who wrote a book about his experiences in Uganda, having been abducted and enslaved by the LRA. He brings up the fact that his mother was shot and killed and that the violence in his life has changed him. Veronica, who recently aced her private detective exam, gets a call from a man who claims to be the guy’s father. Both Wallace and Piz agree that this guy is probably lying and just wants a piece of the financial pie that Apollo will be receiving for his book and potential movie deal.
Apparently, Apollo also had doubts about the man’s motives because after he learns that Veronica was hired by someone claiming to be his father, he and his friends feed her false information, leading her to believe that he James Frey’ed the book. Veronica, believing that Apollo “borrowed” other people’s experience to write the book, believes the cause is worthy enough for her not to blab about the validity of Apollo’s story to the masses. As Wallace said, it’s not really important whether or not the book is really about Apollo’s life. What matters is that people are learning about the problem in Uganda. To this, Veronica agrees but makes a mention about how Oprah will tear him a new one. This was probably a reference to her verbally spanking James Frey after he was outed for making up parts of his book “A Million Little Pieces.”
Veronica, under the belief that Apollo’s reputation is about to collapse once the truth gets out, explains to the man claiming to be his father that Apollo has no money. The man responds that he’s old and working as a cab driver in New York and just wants to meet his son. He’s not looking for money. But when Veronica and Apollo wait over an hour for him to show up to do a blood test, they decide that his intentions weren’t pure. It is then that Apollo confesses to Veronica that he intentionally lead her to believe that he was a fraud so that she could smoke out his supposed father’s true intentions. He says he’s not disappointed because he didn’t expect the guy to show up and then goes to leave.
As Apollo is walking out, Keith calls her to let her know that the man is in a holding cell. He was picked up for driving a rented car with stolen plates and he wanted his one phone call to go to her. Veronica brings Apollo to the cell and it is clear by the look on the man’s face that he knows he is looking at his son. He says he isn’t surprised that his mother named him after the god of music and that he remembers that she had a book of mythology that she loved. Apollo recalls the book and the two embrace as Veronica tearfully watches. A blood test confirms that they’re indeed father and son. Not bad for her first official case as a detective.
Now on to somewhat lighter stuff:
Keith investigates a wave of burglaries taking place in Neptune. After detaining a suspect, he realizes the crimes have something to do with the Fitzpatricks. A meeting with Liam Fitzpatrick confirms his suspicions but he’s got nothing on him except a possible connection with a home security company called Safe House. All seven homes that were burglarized subscribed to Safe House. Vinnie Van Lowe did some consulting work on that company so Keith calls him in to talk to him about it. He accuses Vinnie of colluding with the Fitzpatricks and making money off the burglaries. Vinnie basically says “Prove It” and smugly leaves to continue his campaign for Sheriff.
Mac and Max are in the beginning phases of falling in love. They spend every waking hour together but Mac realizes this cant last. She talks about having to get back to studying and asks him how he’s doing with school. Max says he’s failing out but that he doesn’t care because he’s making such good money with his stolen-exam business so he’s sort of done with school anyway. Mac is disturbed by this, unsure that she wants to fall in love with a guy whose ambitions are set so low. Sure, the money is good but does he really plan to spend the rest of his life selling tests to college students?
She tries to motivate him to stick with his studies by bringing him some pamphlets about careers for Philosophy majors. He’s uninterested and explains again that he makes $1500 a week with his business. She’s visibly disappointed but not ready to break up with him over it just yet. She does tell him that she needs to return to her regularly scheduled life but he convinces her to fool around a bit more before she leaves to go study.
Dick gets a surprise visit from Big-Dick Casablancas. He’s been gone since season 2 when he fled the country after Cassidy hired Veronica to expose his real estate scam. Apparently he’s back and ready to turn himself in but his lawyer arranged it so that he could have some time to spend with his son before he has to go to jail. Dick, who has plans to go to South America with Logan for a summer-long surf trip, tries to decline on the plans.
When his father gets on him about it, Dick gets angry. It seemed like all (or most) of the anger and grief he’s been feeling over Cassidy’s death erupted as he screamed at his father. He asked his father if he thought Cassidy killed himself or the kids on the bus because of how they treated him when he was growing up. He recalls the times they had contests to see which one could make Beaver cry. He ends it by screaming that he can barely live with himself and it’s so much easier when he’s not around.
Dick returns to the suite and tells Logan that he can’t go on the trip because his father is back and they need to spend time together. Perhaps he’s ready to face what happened to Cassidy or maybe he just wants to punish himself for it by allowing his father to spend time with him.
Earlier, when Logan told Parker that he was going away on a surf trip for the whole summer, she was pretty upset. She even went to Veronica for advice. I have to give her credit though because she did ask Veronica first if it was ok that she talked about Logan. When she tells her about Logan going away for the summer, Veronica explains that its not her, that’s just how he is. Veronica later relays this conversation to Logan, who seemed a bit concerned that his ex and current girlfriends are talking about him. He’s even more concerned about what Veronica said about him to Parker. In an effort to rectify this, he invites Parker to come with him on the trip. Just after Parker breaks the news to her controlling parents, he has to tell her that the trip is off because Dick can’t go. She’ll return to Denver for the summer and he’ll probably stay in Neptune.
Piz got an internship at a major radio station in New York. Veronica is thrilled for him as this is a pretty huge deal. He seems a little disappointed that she’s so excited, considering it means they wont get to see each other. He feels her out on the situation a bit more by announcing that he also got an internship at a top-40 radio station in Neptune. He explains that the New York one is obviously the better opportunity and she encourages him to take that one. While hanging out at the apartment later on, Veronica gets a call from someone telling her that she’s been chosen to do the FBI internship. Veronica will be spending the summer in Virginia fetching coffee and solving crimes. Piz doesn’t look pleased about this news but Veronica and Keith hug and decide to celebrate with some ice cream.
Wallace decides to spend his summer giving back. He’s going to Africa to join the Invisible Children team.
So what did you think of the episode? Will Piz and Veronica break up before the semester ends? Did Logan invite Parker to South America because he didn’t like what Veronica said about him and wanted to prove her wrong or because he genuinely wanted to have her tagging along on his surf trip?
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