VERONICA MARS (2019): THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON – A DVD Review by John Strange
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.
First off, yes, I DID watch Veronica Mars 15 years ago when it was on TV. I didn’t watch every episode but I liked the characters and the storylines. The series ran three seasons and had a strong fan base but the network let it end (granted, the network itself was going through changes at the time as well). That fanbase got a fan-funded movie in 2014 which whetted their appetite and showed the powers that be that perhaps, just perhaps, there might be something there to give to the audiences in today’s vastly more diverse viewing arena. And thus, the fourth season of the show, now called Veronica Mars (2019), found a home on the Hulu.
The new season has most of the old cast reunited though they have grown up and evolved in the twelve years since the series ended. Veronica (Kristen Bell) is older, wilier, and hopefully wiser, still working as a private investigator, although she apparently has a couple of degrees and a license to practice law if she wanted to. (The degrees are only mentioned in passing and never expanded upon.)
Her father, Keith (Enrico Colantoni) is her partner in the agency. He is walking with the aid of a cane, courtesy of injuries sustained in a car wreck a few years previously. He is also dealing with other problems related to his health that pop up from time to time during the season.
Veronica’s love interest, Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), is in the Navy working in Naval Intelligence and periodically going off on secret operations that he can never tell her about. It is this profession/trade perhaps that explains the first view we have of him in the pilot episode, coming out of the ocean with water streaming down his buff body. This scene has some great humor which lets us know that the humor of the older seasons has not died, it is still firmly embedded in the heart of the show.
This humor, I feel, is a huge reason for the show’s success. Even with the tense situations, the cast members find themselves dealing with, humor is used to keep the show from sliding into the dark abyss of the soap opera format so many other shows languish in.
The background on the season’s raison d’être is pretty simple. Someone is setting off bombs in Neptune, apparently to kill off the spring break business. Most of the businesses in town earn a large portion of their yearly income from catering to the students and other crazed folks who descend upon the beach-front California town each year.
Concurrent with the bombings, Richard “Big Dick” Casablancas (David Starzyk), now out of prison, is lobbying the town council to enact a stringent set of new guidelines that would result in most of the businesses benefitting from the spring breakers shutting down or otherwise going out of business. He is also trying to buy out those same businesses for pennies on the dollar.
His lead henchman, for lack of a better term, is his protector from his years in Chino (aka the California Institution for Men), Clyde Pickett (J. K. Simmons). “Big Dick” is still a thorn in every decent person’s side but Clyde? Well, Clyde bears some watching. I think we’ll find he has some angles to play that will slowly come to light as the season progresses.
Veronica and Keith are working on the case on behalf of Congressman Daniel Maloof (Mido Hamada) and his family. He and his mother want answers to who was behind the Sea Sprite Motel bombing that started the drama of the season. The congressman’s little brother, Alex (Paul Karmiryan), lost the middle three fingers of his right hand in the blast.
The season brings us a plethora of odd personalities who are involved in or get involved in the case. New Police Chief Marcia Langdon (Dawnn Lewis) poo-poo’s nearly every clue the P.I.’s bring her all-the-while running her own ineffectual investigation. Penn Epner (Patton Oswalt) is a pizza delivery guy and true crime enthusiast who runs a weird “web-sleuthing” group called “Murder Heads”. He is a pain in everyone’s backside with his crackpot theories and wild accusations. And Vinnie Van Lowe (Ken Marino), a rival P.I. (and show alumni), pops up to add some more slime to the story. His office is a strip club, need I say more?
As with the first three seasons, Veronica Mars (2019) is smart and funny, keeping you guessing right up to the end. Who is the bomber? Who are those two Mexican’s running around town? Will Veronica say yes to Logan’s marriage proposal? All of these questions are answered in a way that will keep you binge-watching the same way I did!
It was a cool, fun show then and the new evolution is every bit as delightful to watch. Kristin Bell and her castmates are excellent which leads me to the one bonus extra provided on disk two of the DVDs. “Veronica Mars at Comic Con 2019” is a fun watch as the filmmakers have used lines from the various show episodes as comments throughout the panel which ran at the San Diego Comic Con where the season details were unveiled. The discussion was good but with the intercut lines it was even better.
Worth watching? Yes! Worth owning? Yes! In fact, I am going to have to get my hands on the three original seasons and the movie and give them a watch, too! Like the new season, the first three seasons are available on Hulu. I cannot determine if they are streaming the movie or not but I did find it on Amazon Prime to rent or purchase.
Created By:
- Rob Thomas
Cast:
- Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Jason Dohring, Francis Capra, Clifton Collins Jr., Percy Daggs III, Frank Gallegos, Max Greenfield, Mido Hamada, Ryan Hansen, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Dawnn Lewis, Patton Oswalt, David Starzyk, Izabela Vidovic, Jacqueline Antaramian Paul Karmiryan, J. K. Simmons, Daran Norris, Ken Marino, Clark Duke, Dannah Phirman, Tyler Alvarez, Onahoua Rodriguez, Patrick Wolff
Extras:
Blu-ray/DVD:
- Veronica Mars at Comic Con 2019
Episodes:
- Spring Break Forever
- Chino and the Man
- Keep Calm and Party On
- Heads You Lose
- Losing Streak
- Entering a World of Pain
- Gods of War
- Years, Continents, Bloodshed
Specifications:
Runtime:
Feature:
- 456 Minutes
Enhanced Content:
- 30 Minutes
Studio:
- Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
Release Date:
- 10/22/2019
Region:
- A/1 (U.S. and Canada only)
MPAA Rating:
- NR (Not Rated)
Selig Rating:
Film Rating:
- BRAND NEW
Bonus Features Rating:
- B+
Picture Quality Rating:
- A+
Audio Quality Rating:
- A+
Selig Rating Scale:
BRAND NEW: Should add to your DVD collection at any cost
SALE ITEM: Worth owning, but try to catch it a sale
SECOND HAND: Plan to get it, but wait to buy it used
RENTAL: Worth taking a look at, but not owning
COASTER: Pick it up at a garage sale and use it for drinks
PULL!: Makes a great Trap Shooting target
