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Fall Issue
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The sleuth and the slayer
By Dan Sherrier
I walked into a Best Buy recently and stumbled upon an excellent
DVD sale. On a whim, I picked up the first season of a TV show I
had heard great things about but never bothered to watch. It’s
tough to beat $19.99 for a full season of 40-plus-minute
episodes.
The show I picked up was “Veronica Mars,” a series that had
lasted from about 2004-2007 on––let’s see, it was either UPN,
the WB, and/or the CW, which merged the two. I don’t recall,
because like nearly everyone else, I wasn’t watching it.
And that was my loss. After watching the first season, I can
declare without reservation––Brilliant!
The series is about a teenage girl––the daughter of a
professional private investigator––solving mysteries in an
affluent California town. More specifically, she spends the
entire first season trying figure out who murdered her best
friend, while solving lots of other cases along the way.
This character Veronica Mars has often been likened to another
TV heroine, the title character of “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.”
Buffy juggled high school (and later college and early adult
life) with fighting demons and saving the world. This series
lasted six full seasons, plus an initial half-season as a
mid-season replacement series. It lasted from 1997-2002, on the
WB and then UPN for the last two years. (“Buffy” I actually did
watch when it was on the air.)
On the surface, yes, Buffy and Veronica bear clear similarities.
They’re both petite blonde girls in roles traditionally assigned
to men. They’re both good girls who are a bit on the sassy side.
The creator of “Buffy” has been very open about being a big fan
of “Veronica Mars.” There’s also the similarity of networks and
being set in fictional California towns, as well as few other
items.
The differences are just as prominent.
Veronica has no supernatural abilities, as Buffy
does. Nor is Veronica much of a fighter at all,
while Buffy is a brilliant one. But Buffy was always portrayed
as a rather mediocre student, though she had no shortage of
street smarts. Veronica has both street and book smarts, just
not the ability to pound a person into submission. Plus,
Veronica chose the P.I. path, while Buffy was forced into the
role of the Slayer. This list, too, could go on.
Despite all that, it’s safe to say that the two shows share a
similar appeal. They both celebrate Girl Power, and they do so
in fun ways. The lead characters, though not perfect,
nevertheless make fine role models for young women and
teenagers. These two girls are more than just pretty faces, and
they’re not defined by their relationships to any one male
character.
Whether you’re male or female, these are two shows to watch. But
neither is the sort of show of which you can casually watch
random episodes and still follow all of what’s going on, so I’d
suggest buying or renting the DVD sets. (Though for “Buffy,”
start with season 2. “Veronica” you need to start from the
beginning.)
If you watch a full season, what you’ll get, in my opinion, is:
great writing, great characterization, familiar concepts made
fresh and interesting, fun plots, dramatic plots...and two of
the strongest female characters television has produced in the
past couple of decades.
Also, keep in mind, I don’t like much television. Aside from
these two, I can only list a handful of other shows that I’d
consider genuinely great and compelling.
So next time you plan on staying in on a rainy day, go ahead and
grab one of these two shows. Or better yet, some of both.—WLY&ME
“Having grown up as the middle child
between two sisters, Dan Sherrier has been on a quest since
birth to comprehend the complexities of the female psyche.
He holds a degree from William & Mary in both English and
Theatre, which didn’t really help in this endeavor.”
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