My Kind of Girl

Last Saturday, I met up with my aunt for lunch, shopping, and a gift exchange. We sat out on the patio in Brea, a place ripe with collegesque memories and my best hair ever (because Stev lives and works there), and while I gave her a bunch of items for her upcoming trip to Italy and France (a trip I will perhaps be joining her on), she gave me the first season of Veronica Mars.

"I saw it on your wishlist, but I've never heard of it," she said.

"I've never seen it, either," I said.

I could see the confusion crinkle in the middle of her forehead.

"It's about a high school girl detective, whose alienated from the rich kids in school, and who solves mysteries," I said. "Plus, she's spunky."

"My kind of girl," my aunt said.

She's mine, too. I'd been watching Joss Whedon's Firefly, but was in between Netflix discs and so, last Saturday night, popped it in V.M. for a preview. Russ rolled his eyes. He thinks my fascination of high school noir with a side of overblown, soapy drama is weird. Actually, when I just wrote that, it does sound weird. Downright creepy. But I don't mean fascination in an oogly way. I just mean, I love watching high school dramas writted by a group of 30-something writers with a kickin' grip on the subtleties of the English language. I love how raw and surfaced all the emotions of high school are. I love that the Mars Investigations office liberally invokes shades of Sam Spade and the Maltese Falcon. I love that Veronica is Nancy Drew with a better wardrobe, better technology, and better comebacks, and that the writers make no bones about that fact:

Kelvin (bully-jock who's just been kicked off the basketball team for testing positive for drugs): "If you won't help me, who else am I supposed to go to?"

Veronica: "Encyclopedia Brown? I hear he's good."

I love that within an episode, Russ was even more hooked than I was. That's what you get for rolling your eyes.

Russ and I finished Season 1 in a blaze of glory on Thursday night. I actually stayed up until 3:00 a.m.; he fell asleep at 12:00 and I held the cliffhanger-outcome over his head the whole next day. I don't know that I've stayed up until 3:00 a.m. for a TV series, not even for Buffy or Lost or Freaks and Geeks. It's really that good. Not only was I completely wrapped up in the mystery of the show, but I was emotionally tangled over the love triangles and broken relationships. It's the kind of show that makes you feel as if you're the one being broken up with, being lied to, having to watch your parents tighten their own noose, and even falling in love. It's a replay of high school, but since I never broke up with or fell in love with anyone - though I did get tricked into kissing a certain guy - it's like catching up on the residual drama of high school. Except I don't have to go back the next day and no geometry.

If you have a spare week and want nothing more than to be caught up in some detectivey high school rollercoaster, I suggest renting this series. If you have faith in how much you love high school and dramatic mysteries, throw it down and buy the series. Don't roll your eyes. It's really that good.