Don't UC?

[tablesaw]

Thoughts on the Veronica Mars season finale

Yeah, I was wrong. In my defense, I completely misunderstood an important piece of evidence.

But I've seen a lot of people talking about the "What If" version of Veronica's graduation that opened the show. There's a ton of interesting stuff in that sequence, but one thing that hasn't been mentioned is the change of university. In our world, Veronica was accepted to Stanford and is going to a prestigious local school as a back-up. In the Elseworld, Veronica is going to "San Diego State University," which is a considerably less prestigious college. (It's part of the Cal State system, which is generally rated lower than the UC schools.)

The focus of that flashback is on Wallace (and incidentally, for a mystery-wrapping finale, it was a great episode for Wallace), but in a lot of ways, the alternate reality is really scary. Logan and Veronica are together, but they're still under the thumbs of destructive parents (since Lianne never leaves and Aaron doesn't kill Lily). Veronica is an underachiever, probably destined to rely on Logan or others to support her. Her confidence, her self-reliance, all of the things Veronica's most proud of—gone.

I bet that, when she thought about it, she was glad she woke up.

ThuNYTX: 9. FriNYTX: 13.

Comments

[acroarcs.livejournal.com]

There are quite a few things I found really interesting in that sequence, but I was still irked by the offness of putting it in. I'm getting over that, though, because where else could they put something like that other than graduation?

I noticed the change in college, but didn't think too much of it because SDSU was in Veronica's original plans during her real junior year. (Albeit with time at Stanford and the Sorbonne as well.) Two big differences between the real world and Veronica's dream: Lianne didn't spend all of Veronica's college money on rehab and the Kanes never established a scholarship. I guess there wasn't a reason to change her plans in the dream reality, but that in the real world she applied herself more in class and decided to get at Celeste by trying to win the scholarship.

Another striking thing was when Dick and Duncan trick Veronica about frostbite and Logan says something mushy and fairly condescending. I'm thinking, "You don't talk that way to Veronica unless you're being ironic," but she just takes it and says she's "too trusting." Yikes.

One small thing: Dick got to graduate in the dream version. Did Veronica help him? I'm assuming she's no less smart than the real version of her, just less driven and less focused, so I could see her helping Dick graduate. Or maybe Duncan helped him instead.

[tablesaw]

I don't think Veronica would have her own private college fund in Elseworld. Most of that money came from PI jobs for '09ers.

I'd forgotten about that Logan thing. Just another pointer toward a horrible abusive relationship in Elseworld.

I don't know what the Dick change would be. I can only assume it's related to the Casablancas Enterprises scandal. Big Dick pushed his favorite son, and Dick didn't receive a windfall of $1M.

[acroarcs.livejournal.com]

Is the Cal State system cheaper than the UC system? What sort of financial aid is there for a bright but not at the top student like Elseworld Veronica, whose family's only asset is the cachet of the sheriff's position? (And, presumably, Lianne's ginormous liquor cabinet.) Perhaps SDSU is just a matter of what their means can handle as opposed to any serious difference in Veronica's demeanor/application/what-have-you, although I would prefer it to be a matter of both.

Re: the Casablancases. Given that at the time she had this dream, Veronica didn't know that Beaver was evil, that makes a lot of sense. I wonder, though, if Beaver would still be evil in the alternate universe. Does the bus crash? Does Casablancas Enterprises fall apart? Does Woody ever run for mayor/county commissioner? Fun questions.

I once ran through trying to figure out Veronica's sophomore year without Lilly's death, and ended up at Aaron getting murdered, additional sex tapes going public, and Veronica and Logan getting together but not still being friends with Duncan or Lilly. It was a little trippy.