Veronica Mars S1 Ep4: The Wrath of Con

Original airdate: Oct. 19th, 2004

Rewatched: Oct. 19th, 2024

Who was Lilly? This episode shows us a lot more about who she was, and who Veronica was. It’s homecoming time and Veronica is dating Troy. Last year, she was dating Duncan and Lilly was dating Logan, and the four went to prom together. While picking out dresses, Lilly chided Veronica for picking out something classic, asking her when she’d embrace her hotness. Lilly definitely had, wearing a dress that left little to the imagination. On dance night, it seems they never made it to the dance, but rather had a limo party, with drinking, shenanigans, and arriving home in the wee hours of the morning to find angry parents waiting. While Veronica and Lilly were best friends, they were also very different people.

This year, before homecoming, Lilly’s memorial fountain will be unveiled. Logan is attempting to make a memorial video with Lilly’s family videos, but is having trouble, finding that all the results don’t really reflect who Lilly was. He and Veronica share a rare moment, hinting at a long-gone time when they may not have hated each other, when Veronica gives him the video from their homecoming night. The final memorial video starts out showing sweet childhood scenes before showing the world who Lilly really was. While her mother is not happy with the final product, Duncan and his father are both touched by it, as are the students. Weevil is seen crying, which raises some questions about whether he might have known Lilly better than others think he did.

The episode ends with Troy, Veronica, Wallace and Georgia going to the dance together. Veronica has embraced her hotness and is wearing a more daring red dress this year (although still not quite as daring as Lilly’s dress) and she stops the limo to go skinny dipping alone, something Lilly recommended she do last year. It seems that Lilly’s death has made Veronica embrace her more adventurous side, like Lilly always wanted her to do.

This episode also has its case of the week. Georgia, who Wallace likes and will go to the dance with at the end of the episode, has been scammed. Veronica is on the case, hoping to get Georgia her money back and Wallace a date. It turns out an actor was hired to scam Georgia out of her money. The actor thought it was for a reality TV show. Veronica is able to track down the scammers to San Diego State University, where they are students, using the scam as a way to finance their video game. Veronica steals their hard drives and destroys their backups and won’t give them their work back until they pay Georgia back. Veronica gets her father and Wallace to help her, and I have to admit that when Veronica gets everyone working on a case like this, it does remind me of the Scooby gang, with everyone working together to make the world a better place.

Georgia was a nice girlfriend for Wallace and will unfortunately never be seen again. Troy and Veronica will continue to date, although his 09er status will continue to complicate matters. And while Veronica solves her weekly case in this episode, little is done on Lilly’s case. The importance of this episode is making Lilly real. I think viewers can feel more why Veronica, Duncan and Logan are all still reeling from her death by having her in so many scenes this episode.