Weapons of Class Destruction

"Weapons of Class Destruction" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of the American mystery television series Veronica Mars, and the eighteenth episode overall. Written by Jed Seidel and directed by John Kretchmer, the episode premiered on UPN on April 12, 2005.

The series depicts the adventures of Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) as she deals with life as a high school student while moonlighting as a private detective. In this episode, Veronica investigates the persistent bomb threats at her school. Meanwhile, Keith (Enrico Colantoni) begins dating Alicia Fennel (Erica Gimpel), and Veronica's relationship with Logan (Jason Dohring) progresses.

Synopsis

Veronica is kissing Leo D'Amato (Max Greenfield) outside her house. After Veronica goes back into her house, Keith announces that he has begun dating Wallace's (Percy Daggs III) mother, Alicia, making things awkward between Veronica and Wallace. Veronica notices a sign outside which says "Killthemall.com". Later in class, there is another fire drill, and Duncan (Teddy Dunn) says that it is the third one this week. Veronica talks to Principal Clemmons about the fire drill issue, but he doesn't give anything up to her. Later, Veronica notices police officers with service dogs going through the building. Soon, Veronica, posing as the superintendent, calls Principal Clemmons, who reveals that the school has experienced several bomb threats. Veronica prints the story in the school newspaper. This causes chaos at school the next day. Later, Principal Clemmons calls Veronica in again and tells her to stop printing stories. Later, Veronica and Wallace talk to each other while Keith and Alicia watch a movie. Alicia tries to convince Wallace to accept their relationship to no avail. Later, after talking to Mac (Tina Majorino), another student, Pete (Michael McMillian) approaches Veronica to say that he saw two students, Ben (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and Norris (Theo Rossi) with exploding tennis balls. Wallace places the two students under more suspicion when he tells Veronica about them, and Veronica sees a mysterious timer.

Later, Duncan and Meg (Alona Tal) approach Veronica. Veronica tells Meg her proposed story that the Kanes are hiding, and Duncan suddenly leaves. Wallace gives Veronica the files on the two students, but their records are clean since high school. Veronica talks to Duncan, who says he knows about her investigation. Duncan scoffs at her findings before he realized that Veronica suspects him in the murder. Duncan reacts with extreme rage before dashing out of the room. Ben and Norris talk about guns and bombs. Veronica tracks Ben and sees him buying fertilizer and taking out guns. Ben gets into the car and orders her to drive to the Camelot motel. Logan appears and beats him up before it is revealed that the "suspect" is actually an ATF agent. Ben says that he is investigating Norris, but needs her help. Norris has a crush on Veronica, and Ben asks her to get close to him. Logan kisses Veronica on her way out.

Veronica gets an invitation to Norris's house. However, Veronica doesn't find any weapons. Veronica calls Mac to help her break into the WiFi before she sees Pete in front of the house. The ATF searches Norris's vehicle and finds weapons, despot Veronica's convictions that he is not the perpetrator. However, later that day, Veronica calls Pete, and she tells him that he knows he falsely implicated Norris (with the help of the ATF agent) because of terrible bullying in junior high. Meg tells Veronica that Duncan has disappeared after removing $10,000 from the bank. The story involving Norris is published in the newspaper, and although it results in the charges against Norris being dropped, it also makes the newspaper teacher get fired.

Cultural references

A variety of cultural references are made in the episode:^[1]

• In a voiceover, Veronica "writes" a fake letter to Seventeen.
• Veronica talks to a boy who references Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.
• Veronica's English class is studying The Brothers Karamazov.
• Keith and Alicia watch Storm Warning.
• Veronica quips to Meg that she and her father are tracking The Maltese Falcon.
• Several references in the episode are made to the 1989 black comedy film Heathers.
• One of Norris's swords is a replica of William Wallace's sword.
• When Veronica hacks into the Norris family WiFi, she says "Excellent," referencing a catchphrase used by Mr. Burns in The Simpsons.
• Veronica jokingly compares her life before she met Mac to the first part of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Arc significance

• Duncan finds out Veronica is still investigating Lilly's death and that he is a suspect. He is very upset.
• Meg Manning tells Veronica that Duncan took out $10,000 from his bank account and has been missing ever since.
• Veronica and Logan develop new feelings for each other.

Music

Only one song is featured in the episode:^[2]

• "Momentary Thing" by Something Happens

Production

The episode was written by Jed Seidel and directed by John Kretchmer. This episode mark's Seidel's fifth and final writing credit for the series, after "Meet John Smith", "The Girl Next Door", "Silence of the Lamb", and "Mars vs. Mars".^[3] This sharp end to Seidel's writing career with the show was due to Seidel leaving after the show's first season.^[4] In addition, this episode is the second directing credit for Kretchmer, after "Silence of the Lamb."^[5] The episode also features the return of Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie (Tina Majorino) and Alicia Fennel (Erica Gimpel) after absences of seven and ten episodes, respectively.

The episode also explains the departure of journalism teacher Mallory Dent (Sydney Tamiia Poitier), who made her last appearance in "The Girl Next Door" (she had given birth). "Weapons of Class Destruction" introduces Dent's replacement, Geena Stafford, who is subsequently fired in the same episode.^[6] The episode's title refers to Weapons of mass destruction, a references to the episode's subject of bomb threats.^[1]

Reception

Critical reviews centered on the budding relationship between Veronica (Kristen Bell, left) and Logan (Jason Dohring, right).

Ratings

In its original broadcast, the episode received 2.30 million viewers, ranking 114th of 120 in the weekly rankings.^[7]

Reviews

The episode received primarily positive reviews, with critical attention mostly going to Veronica and Logan's relationship. Price Peterson of TV.com gave the episode a positive review, noting that "[o]bviously the most notable aspect of this episode was the Logan-Veronica hookup. Again, it seemed really sudden, but in the sense that they are both mercurial teenagers it seemed right, particularly when they didn't know how to handle themselves afterward."^[6] Television Without Pity gave the episode a "B+", writing that "[Veronica] kisses Logan! You heard me! How could you not, with all the exclamation points!"^[8]

Rowan Kaiser, writing for The A.V. Club, gave a mixed review. While calling the case-of-the-week "predictable", the reviewer also called Keith and Alicia's new relationship "perhaps the most fun" part of the episode. In addition, Kaiser commented on Veronica and Logan's relationship. "I'm not entirely sold on the relationship, either from a character point of view or a quality point of view. Obviously it's just a kiss in the heat of the moment…but it doesn't seem to have much motivation beyond [that]."^[9] IGN placed the episode 2nd in its list of the top ten Veronica Mars episodes, second to only "Leave It to Beaver". The publication praised the new Logan-Veronica dynamic and said "The few episodes just before this one showed the softer, vulnerable side of Logan and just when you wonder if he's really so bad, he saves the day and an innocent peck turned into a passionate embrace."^[10]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Veronica Mars#Weapons of Class Destruction

• "Weapons of Class Destruction" at Mars Investigations
• "Weapons of Class Destruction" at the Internet Movie Database