‘Veronica Mars’ does its revival right
Not many TV shows get a second act after cancellation. Even fewer get a third.
But not every TV show is “Veronica Mars,” the neo-noir high school series that ran on UPN from 2004 to 2006, and then on CW for a third season, before its cancellation devastated its loyal fans. In 2014, the series was revived for a feature film funded by fans in a Kickstarter campaign. But Neptune, California, private investigator Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) wasn’t done yet.
“Veronica” is back, for an eight-episode revival on Hulu (streaming now, ★★★g), part of a trend of returning hit network sitcoms and cult dramas for belated sequel seasons, which also has resurfaced series from “Roseanne” to “Gilmore Girls” with characters who are
a decade (or two) older but perhaps no wiser.
Veronica isn’t any wiser, either, but thankfully she doesn’t feel like a highschool gumshoe in adult clothing. The fourth season is far superior to both the Kickstarter film (which was fun but slight) and the recent string of other revivals. With its themes of classism and systemic corruption, “Veronica” seamlessly translates into 2019. Unlike “Murphy Brown” or “Will & Grace,” it isn’t stuck in the past. Bell and series creator Rob Thomas also thankfully leave the fan service behind and stick to logical, smart storytelling.
One of the biggest strengths of the new season is its reckoning with the 2014 film, which leaned much further into nostalgia. In the movie, Veronica abandons her plans to seek employment at a high-profile New York City law firm – and her relationship with goodguy college sweetheart Piz (Chris Lowell) – and returns to Neptune to set up shop at her father Keith’s (Enrico Colantoni) private-investigation agency. She also rekindles her relationship with sometime high-school boyfriend Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring).
The season adds new faces, including J.K. Simmons as a gleeful ex-con and a hilarious Patton Oswalt as a sadsack pizza guy who’s injured in a bombing and tries his hand at an amateur investigation.
Veronica also gets a harsh look in the mirror from teen Matty (Izabela Vidovic), who loses her father to a bomb and has more than a little Veronica Mars in her.
Writers’ willingness to add new characters and leave old ones who’ve outlived their usefulness behind (sorry, Wallace), is another strength of the new season. “Veronica” doesn’t pretend it’s still 2004.
She’s a 30-something woman who still works her high-school job, and there’s no pretending it’s glamorous. And for this genre, and this character, the themes of wasted potential and existential angst fit perfectly. It’s darker than the movie and even (sometimes) the original series, but Veronica was never going to sail off happily into the sunset, anyway.
Why not tell some good stories while she struggles?