Veronica Mars S1 Ep 19: Hot Dogs

Original airdate: April 19th, 2005

Rewatched: April 19th, 2025

Like many series, including Buffy, with season-long story arcs, this is the time when things start picking up. We are four episodes out from the end of season 1, and the Veronica’s quest for Lilly’s killer seems to be picking up pace. Duncan skipping town has left Veronica unable to pursue this lead further, but her attention soon turns to Weevil. He is arrested breaking into Lilly’s bedroom. It appears he hasn’t stolen or destroyed anything, but it still raises questions. When Veronica visits Weevil in jail, he claims he was looking for his mother’s ring he gave to Lilly. Later, Celeste confronts Veronica, sure she knows what happened to Duncan. Veronica makes a deal with Celeste. Veronica will help find Duncan if Celeste drops the charges against Weevil. Veronica doesn’t really take the deal very seriously, assuming she won’t need to follow through on her end, and wanting to free Weevil, as she assumes he can’t be the killer. Later, she realizes Weevil did steal something from Lilly’s room. Lilly had a spy pen for passing notes and Weevil was arrested with it. When Veronica asks him about it, he returns it to her, but the secret note part of the pen is empty. This does cast suspicion on Weevil, making him seem like he viable suspect, especially as his alibi for the murder no longer holds up, as Veronica now knows Lilly’s time of death was later than originally claimed. Keith, however, still feels Weevil is most likely not the killer. Since both Veronica and her father know the Kanes covered up Lilly’s murder, they don’t think they would have done this if Weevil was the killer.

Then there’s Logan. Trina is still in town, trying to convince her father to take a role in her boyfriend’s film. Aaron is not interested. Lynn’s will is finally read. She didn’t have a lot of assets, but she left everything to Logan. Trina was hoping to inherit something, since she owes her boyfriend money. She later tries to get the money from Logan, but he turns her down. Trina’s boyfriend ends up beating her up. Logan comes to Veronica to track down the boyfriend, while Aaron decides to invite the boyfriend to dinner. Although it seems like Aaron may take the part, Aaron ends up beating the crap out of Trina’s boyfriend for beating her up. Logan and Veronica arrive to witness the end, seeing Aaron flip from beating the crap out of a guy to being a warm and welcoming host. Before beating up Trina’s boyfriend, Aaron tells him about his own abusive father. It’s clear the circle of violence in strong in the family. Aaron came from an abusive household, his household is abusive, and his daughter is making poor relationship choices. This does leave the question of how much Logan has been influenced by this environment. Does he have the potential to be violent as well? Veronica, however, is not concerned by this and kisses Logan again. She also breaks up with Leo.

Finally, the case of the week is a case of a lost dog. Her classmate Mandy’s dog Chester has been stolen, and Veronica decides to help her track him down. Mandy is not a cool kid. She has an uncool hairstyle, wears uncool clothes (and lots of dog t-shirts), and she gets picked on. While I like to convince myself that I was like Veronica or Mac (or like Willow on Buffy) when I was in high school, I was probably actually Mandy. I empathize with her. Together with Veronica and Wallace, and later with the help of Leo, newly dumped by Veronica, they trace the large number of dog-nappings to the dog ring at the local shelter. Dogs with big rewards are returned to the owners, dogs without are not. While Veronica has a heart for animals, she doesn’t really have a heart for Mandy. She’s frustrated that Mandy can’t stick up for herself, and when she has to defend Mandy against bullies at school, Veronica yells at her. Ultimately, Veronica telling Mandy she needs to learn to stick up for herself works. When breaking up the dog-stealing ring, Mandy is able to tase the whereabouts of her dog from one of the members and be re-united with Chester. However, the question is whether snapping at someone is the right way to do it. Veronica has little patience for those who haven’t learned the hard lessons she had to learn, which I think is a contrast to how Buffy acts as a leader. However, Veronica’s frustration is probably a more realistic high school trait. The case ends well. Leo gets to arrest the dog-nappers (Veronica asking for his help was not selfish, but both benefitted from it) and Mandy gets her dog back. Everyone is happy.

On a final note, Keith decides to do a paternity test this episode, although he doesn’t tell Veronica.