Flashback Friday: Too good to let go
Neptune Noir: Unauthorized Investigations into Veronica Mars, edited by Rob Thomas (Smart Pop, $15.95).
Some of us have a hard time letting go, particularly when the young woman we’re being asked to say goodbye to is as fascinating and complex as private investigator Veronica Mars.
The TV series Veronica Mars aired on UPN and then its successor network, the CW, from 2004-2007. It featured a whip-smart, blue-collar, sensitive and thoroughly insecure high school girl (played by Kristen Bell) who solved cases just like her sheriff-turned-private eye father, but all in the service of a big mystery: Who killed her high school best friend?
Veronica Mars was in many ways the logical successor to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in terms of providing a confident young woman as the smartest, bravest person in the room—and there was nothing proto-feminist about her.
By now, everyone’s heard about the unique Kickstarter campaign used to produce the funding for the film sequel to the series; many of the original cast return for this follow-up, directed by series creator Rob Thomas, when it opens in select cities today.
And speaking of Rob Thomas—he’s the editor of this “completely unauthorized” collection of essays about the series and what it offers in terms of ethics, detective tips, family organization and so many other things. It includes an essay dealing with paternal relationships (“Daddy’s Girl”) and others that address the class dynamics at play in Neptune, the series’ setting (“From Golden Girl to Rich Dude Kryptonite”), as well as some good old-fashioned literary criticism (“The Noir of Neptune”).
In short, it’s chock-full of smart ways to look at our favorite badass chick detective—which means you’ll want to pick it up to complement repeat viewing of the series and a trip to the cineplex to see the new movie.
