Veronica Mars S1 Ep 10: An Echolls Family Christmas

Original airdate: Dec. 14th, 2004

Rewatched: Dec. 14th, 2024

It’s Christmas in Neptune and Veronica and Keith both have cases to solve.

Veronica solves a closed-door mystery. When Logan’s poker match goes south and the $5,000 Weevil wins go missing, Veronica decides to help out and figure out who did it. She figures out that Sean is not the wealthiest boy in school, but rather a butler’s son. He stole the money to help him keep up appearances. Veronica solving the case buys her a place at the poker table, and she uses her skills to win money to buy her father an amazing Christmas present. One final note on Veronica’s case – it seems odd no one knew Sean was not rich. Since most of the rich families in Neptune know each other, it would seem they should know whoever owns the house Sean’s father works at. It makes  for a cute resolution to the mystery, but otherwise makes little sense.

Keith’s case also involves the Echolls. Lynn Echolls hires Keith to figure out who’s stalking her husband. Keith figures it out, but not before Aaron Echolls gets stabbed by a caterer he slept with, then later had fired for catching him with yet another woman.

Both cases find their end at the Echolls’ Christmas party. The Kanes are also in attendance, which allows Veronica to confront Jake Kane about the photos Clarence Wiedman took of her. Jake claims he didn’t know anything about them, and he leaves Veronica to confront his wife Celeste, indicating she may be responsible for scaring Veronica’s mother out of town.

And the Christmas lesson we learn? In Neptune, everyone is trying to keep up appearances.

Before finishing this post, I’d like to take a minute to talk about the voice-overs. In contrast to Buffy, on Veronica Mars the show really does seem to focus on the titular character. While Buffy is central to Buffy, it often seems like her slaying and her social life a truly team efforts, with the Scoobies playing central roles. On Veronica Mars, there is less of a group feeling, and perhaps one thing that helps put Veronica in the center is the use of her thoughts, meaning we know far more about her than any other character in the series. It’s an interesting contrast between the two shows.