Book Review: Neptune Noir: Unauthorized Investigations into Veronica Mars Edited by Rob Thomas - Page 2

However, even this essay is not without its flaws.  In discussing how Veronica Mars’s use of cars is different from every other show on television, he writes about how a number of other shows never show vehicles (except should they be essential to a plot point).  One of the shows he mentions as never showing characters having a car is How I Met Your Mother.  This is a bad choice for two main reasons:  a second season episode of HIMYM does in fact show one of the characters having a car (this mistake is forgivable as his essay was presumably written prior to this episode), and HIMYM takes place in New York City, a place where having a car can more often be a liability than an asset.  Veronica Mars, as a California show, requires that characters have cars in order to be mobile, it’s not a fair comparison, the New York City vs. Southern California lifestyle is different to such a degree that this comparison has no validity. 

The majority of the book has bits and pieces like this, minor points mostly, than can be picked apart and dissected and argued about.  There are as well some points that work better in a discussion of the first and second seasons of the show than the third season (again, the essays were written prior to the third season starting).  Whether or not those arguments fall flat because the author simply was not given the opportunity to see enough of the show, or Thomas changing things around as a response to the essays is up for debate. 

Taken individually the many essays that comprise Neptune Noir:  Unauthorized Investigations into Veronica Mars provide a fascinating look not only at the show, but at its fanbase as well (make no mistake, many of the authors are fans).  There are moments however when they seem to be trying to hard, when authors as fans push arguments that seem to be justifications, excuses, for them liking the series so much (I would include Misty Hook’s “Boom Goes the Dynamite:  Why I Love Veronica and Logan” among these) rather than a more scholarly piece.  Even so, fans of Veronica Mars will be well pleased to see their opinions on the series justified in this pop-scholar book and people wondering what all the fuss is about may be intrigued as well.  And, very happily, the book is written in a manner accessible to everyone, not just scholars.

Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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