Driver Ed (Veronica Mars)
"Driver Ed" is episode 2 of season 2 of the television show Veronica Mars. It had an estimated audience size of 3.07 million US viewers on its first airing.[1]
Plot
The repercussions of the bus crash arrive with Jessie Doyle, the daughter of Ed Doyle, the bus driver. She wants Veronica to prove her father did not commit suicide by driving off the cliff deliberately. Wallace also meets and greets Jackie Cook, the spoiled new girl, and decides to do a little detecting of his own.
Arc significance
- The only survivor of the bus crash is Meg, but she's in a coma.
- Ed, the bus driver, had a history of depression and Sheriff Lamb finds what appears to be a suicide note. Veronica tries to prove that he was leaving his wife, however, but Lamb doesn't listen and closes the bus crash case.
- Baseball coach Woody Goodman is running for the position of Balboa County Supervisor - a position more commonly known as 'Mayor of Neptune' - and he wants Keith to run for Sheriff. After seeing Lamb refuse Jessie Doyle's pleas to reopen the bus crash case, Keith accepts.
- A dead body washes up on the shore. Sheriff Lamb searches it and finds written on its hand is the name "Veronica Mars."
Music
Writing and acting
- This episode guest stars noted Hollywood director Kevin Smith, who plays a convenience store clerk. Kevin Smith became famous for his 1994 film Clerks. He was also an outspoken fan of the series when it originally aired.
- Tessa Thompson joins the cast as a series regular in this episode, though she was in the credits in the previous one.
Quotes and trivia
- Wallace: Whatcha doin'?
- Veronica: Remembering why I'm a misanthrope.
- Store Clerk: Let me tell you something, if I was gonna do a kamikaze, you know, off a bridge with a bus full of kids and stuff, a convenience store would not be the site of my last meal. I'd wanna...I'd wanna eat something on the brink of extinction, you know, like the last emu. Or meerkat. I bet they'd go down smooth.
- Lamb: What are you up to, Veronica?
- Veronica: The last question, actually. "Why do you want this position?" Honestly, and really tell me the truth: how much of an ass-kiss would I be if I admit it's to be close to you? Seriously. Why do birds suddenly appear every time you're near?
- Jackie: When you guys are done breaking up, can I get a macchiato?
- Veronica: I'm actually just the hostess, but I c--
- Jackie: Look, I don't care if you're the house magician. Can you just make me a macchiato?
- [Veronica walks closer to the counter, staring at Jackie. She holds out her hands and makes a “Poof” gesture]
- Veronica: You're a macchiato.
- Jackie: [to Duncan about Veronica] You know you could do better.
- Jessie: You know who I am, right?
- Veronica: I do.
- Jessie: Just out of curiosity, did you know who I was last week?
- Veronica: Nope.
- Jessie: Your dad drives one bus off a cliff and your days of being under the radar are over.
- Veronica: I just have all these conflicting emotions. Grief, for everyone who died and everyone who lost someone. Guilt, about Meg. The one that kills me, joy, because I'm alive. And by all rights, I shouldn't be.
- Duncan: Veronica, it's not your fault.
- Veronica: I'm afraid that line only works in "Good Will Hunting".
- Logan: [to Veronica about Duncan and her] FYI if the cuddling is the best part, he didn’t do it right.
References
External links