The network upfronts were this week and, as you probably know, the news is far from good. But before we get to that, let’s talk about “I Know What You’ll Do Next Summer.”
After years of solving cases Veronica is finally an ‘official’ detective. I really enjoyed the little ribbing scene between Veronica and her dad. The moment when Keith revealed he had actually beaten Veronica’s score was particularly hilarious (though unless he had previously been lying about his score I’m not sure why Veronica would have gotten a 97 and a 93 confused in her mind).
While the Keith and Veronica stuff was solid, this week’s mystery was iffy. It wasn’t so much the mystery itself that was the problem, it’s the way it unfolded. I can buy Apollo putting one over on Veronica; she’s sharp, but she does get fooled from time to time. But it’s much harder to believe that so many people could successfully deceive and manipulate Veronica into believing an elaborate fiction. Surely Veronica should have gotten at least A LITTLE suspicious at some point.
On a more positive note, most of the time when a TV show tries to promote a charity, no matter how worthy a charity or well-meaning the effort, the resulting episode is nearly unwatchable. I have to give this episode credit for managing to promote a charity organization/issue without coming off as heavy-handed or moralizing (the with Wallace joining Invisible Children for the summer walked the line, but other than that it was pretty low-key).
The relationship angst was out in full force this week. Piz came off kind of pathetic and desperate with his constantly trying to plan his summer based solely on whatever will keep him closest to Veronica. With the way Piz was acting you would think that he was going to be apart from Veronica for several years, perhaps living in some sort of cave with no access to telephone or internet communications. It’s three months, Piz; don’t spaz out.
On the other hand, Parker had a better justification to be upset over Logan’s summer plans. Not so much for the fact he was going to be away from her for three months (it’s still just three months) but Logan’s completely forgetting to mention it (note to Logan: I didn’t think about it is not a good thing to tell your girlfriend when she asks if you care that you won’t see her for three months). Plus given that Parker’s parents are clearly insane, she has good reason to want to spend as little time with them as possible.
Moving on to the more Keith-centric part of the episode, I was thinking about how it seemed out of character for Vinnie to be actively working with the Fitzpatricks. Sure we’ve seen Vinnie hanging out with them in the past, but he seems to be slightly too good of a guy to partake in a serial burglary plot. Then I remembered how the underage drinking storyline of “Unamerican Graffiti” was also about corruption on the police force. So what if Keith’s still working on rooting out that corruption? Perhaps Keith suspects someone on his force is working for the Fitzpatricks. What if Vinnie is pretending to work with the Fitzpatricks as a part of Keith’s plan to get dirt on the Fitzpatricks and uncover their informant all at the same time. While my theory is a bit far-fetched, if it is right, look for Sacks to be the one working for the Fitzpatricks (possibly under duress). Sachs hasn’t really done anything suspicious, but he’s the only established character that it could possibly be.
Of course, the big news this week has nothing to do with the episode and everything to do with the show being canceled. As disappointing as it is to see a quality show off the air (particularly when CW is introducing such gems as the reality show where a farmer chooses a wife), I’m almost relieved. The whole jump several years in the future, ditch most of the cast and make Veronica and FBI agent plan seemed like a colossally bad idea to me. If that was the only way the show could stay on the air, it’s probably best for it to end now, before it becomes just another in a long series of procedural dramas.
The only concern I have at this point is whether the show will go out on a cliffhanger or not. As the (now series) finale airs on Tuesday, there’s obviously not going to be time to make any significant changes to make the episode feel more like a series finale, but as long as we don’t end on some sort of massive cliffhanger, I’ll be happy.
