Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie

Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie is a fictional character on UPN/The CW television series Veronica Mars played by Tina Majorino. She was a recurring character during the first two seasons, and turned into a regular character for the third season.

Mac uses her computer hacking and cracking skills to help Veronica with her cases; the two joke that she is a kind of Q to Veronica's James Bond. Coincidentally or not, Mac (a common nickname for "Mackenzie") has shown preference for Apple Macintosh computers, which share her nickname.

Background

In the episode where Mac is introduced, "Like a Virgin", she helps Veronica find out who has stolen her password and has created a false score under her name on a purity test that had become a brief fad at Neptune High. However, Mac is the person who created the test in the first place, making it possible for the "sex crazed 09ers" to access other people's purity tests. Veronica has no resentment towards Mac for this, only caring about those that took tests for others.

Mac has always felt like an outsider in her family, having completely different tastes and views. While digging for dirt on Mac's parents, Veronica discovers that Mac was switched at birth with Madison Sinclair. Since the mistake was discovered four years after the births, the parents decided to keep the children. Each family received a cash arrangement from the hospital. While Madison's family invested and flourished, Mac's started a business and went bankrupt. Years later, Mac's birth mother wants to get to know her, and she partially indulges her before watching her drive off into the distance when her family decides to go camping with her. ("Silence of the Lamb")

She formerly dated Cassidy Casablancas, but the relationship ended when Cassidy refuses to become sexually intimate with her (Plan B). In "Not Pictured", they are back together in time for graduation. In the same episode, however, Veronica discovers that Cassidy had been responsible for (among other things) the bus crash that occurred in "Normal Is the Watchword". Cassidy, intercepting Veronica's message, robs and abandons Mac while she is in the shower. He then attempts to kill Veronica, and, later that night, commits suicide.

Mac attends Hearst College along with Veronica and she initially is uncomfortable with male attention (Welcome Wagon). A series of rapes on campus brings up bad memories. However, she is eventually able to move on and have successful relationships. Though she at first feels uncomfortable with her new roommate, Parker Lee, Parker's rape helps Mac to see her as vulnerable. When Parker's parents come to take her home, Mac tells her that she should stay, confirming Parker's presence for the rest of the series (My Big Fat Greek Rush Week).

At Hearst, Mac falls for and dates an animal-rights activist, Bronson Pope. (Show me the Monkey) They date for a few episodes until Mac meets Max, a student who sells copies of exams. After the two connect, Mac breaks up with Bronson and begins dating Max, whom she dates until the end of the series.

Appearances

Season 1

• 1x08 Like a Virgin
• 1x11 Silence of the Lamb
• 1x18 Weapons of Class Destruction
• 1x20 M.A.D.

Season 2

• 2x04 Green-Eyed Monster
• 2x08 Ahoy, Mateys!
• 2x09 My Mother, the Fiend
• 2x13 Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough
• 2x14 Versatile Toppings
• 2x17 Plan B
• 2x19 Nevermind the Buttocks
• 2x20 Look Who's Stalking
• 2x21 Happy Go Lucky
• 2x22 Not Pictured

Season 3

• 3x01 Welcome Wagon
• 3x02 My Big Fat Greek Rush Week
• 3x09 Spit & Eggs
• 3x10 Show Me the Monkey
• 3x14 Mars, Bars
• 3x16 Un-American Graffiti
• 3x17 Debasement Tapes
• 3x18 I Know What You'll Do Next Summer
• 3x19 Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down
• 3x20 The Bitch Is Back

Majorino filmed scenes for 3x04 Charlie Don't Surf, but they were deleted.

References

• Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.