Veronica Mars S1 Ep 9: Drinking the Kool-Aid

Original airdate: Nov. 30th, 2004

Rewatched: Nov. 30th, 2024

This episode asks the question what you’re willing to do for money.

At the start, which is a direct continuation of the cliffhanger ending to the last episode, Veronica ponders what it might mean if Jake Kane is her father. Among other things, it means her ex-boyfriend Duncan is her half-brother, a thought that does not sit well with her, but it also means she might have access to a large amount of wealth. When her continued digging into the photos she found in her mother’s safety deposit box leads her to Clarence Wiedman, head of security for Kane Software, Veronica is ready to take the Kane family for all their money as payback. To do so, she’ll need proof. She cons her father into giving a DNA sample, but by the end of the episode, Veronica decides not to open the results and instead shreds them. She isn’t ready not to be her father’s daughter. Maybe because despite all the issues, he still decided to fulfill her childhood dream of a waterbed when he found one for cheap at a garage sale.

The case of the week is that of Casey Gant, an 09er jerk who suddenly stopped being a jerk when he joined the Moon Calf Collective. He was brought there by his English teacher, and while teachers maybe shouldn’t be recruiting their students for collectives, the Moon Calf Collective turns out not to be a bad place. They grow Poinsettias, not pot, they support each other rather than dictate behavior, and there’s no weird religion going on. However, Casey’s family is concerned. Casey gave the Moon Calf Collective a sizeable sum of money. His grandmother is dying and is willing all her money to Casey (the whole family fortune; his parents could end up cut off). Casey parents hire Keith and Veronica to find proof the collective is a cult so they can get Casey out. Veronica ends up spending time with them and finds that they genuinely seem to welcome her, unlike the community at Neptune High, which actively excludes her. Both she and Keith can find no evidence of wrongdoing. But in the end, Casey’s parents hire a deprogrammer and get him out.

Although Keith and Veronica find no real evidence of wrongdoing at the collective, they do find that the collective is harboring a minor runaway. Veronica asks her father not to do anything with the information, but Keith is adamant that they need to tell the Gants. It’s their job and they need the money. The Gants are willing to pay them enough so that they could get a better apartment, one with hot water, and not have to worry so much about their financial stability. In the end, however, Keith decides it’s not worth it. He read the girl’s file. Her life was one string of abuses and Keith ends up agreeing with Veronica that she is better off at the Collective than anywhere else. It’s not worth destroying her life to make theirs better. This seems to be the opposite decision to Casey’s parents, who seemed willing to give up their son’s happiness to ensure they could keep their wealth.

The highlighting of money not being worth morally dubious decisions is a moral shared by both Veronica Mars and Buffy, and it’s an important lesson to remember.