Veronica Mars/I Am God

I Am God
Season 2, Episode 18
Airdate	April 11, 2006
Production Number	2T7218
Written by	Diane Ruggiero & Cathy Belben
Directed by	Martha Mitchell
← 2x17 Plan B	2x19 → Nevermind the Buttocks
Veronica Mars — Season Two

I Am God is the eighteenth episode of the second season of Veronica Mars, and the fortieth episode overall.

Starring: Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Percy Daggs III (Wallace Fennel), Teddy Dunn (Duncan Kane) (credit only), Jason Dohring (Logan Echolls), Francis Capra (Eli "Weevil" Navarro) (credit only), Ryan Hansen (Richard "Dick" Casablancas), Kyle Gallner (Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas), Tessa Thompson (Jackie Cook) (credit only)

and: Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars)

Guest Starring: Alona Tal (Meg Manning), Jeremy Ray Valdez (Marcos Oliveres), James Jordan (Tommy "Lucky" Dohanic), Kayla Ewell (Angie Dahl), Luke Fryden (Peter Ferrer), Blythe Auffarth (Betina Marone), Paula Marshall (Rebecca James)

Co-Starring: Duane Daniels (Van Clemmons), Linda Castro (Mrs. Murphy), Audra J. Morgan (Rhonda Landers), Samantha Klein (Michelle Thompson), Martin Yu (Mr. Wu), Vanessa Lee Chester (Maureen), Skyler Shaye (Natalie), Lizzie Murray (Blind Date #1), Anne L. Nathan (Blind Date #2), Jacleen Haber (Blind Date #3), Maximino Arciniega Jr. (Cervando Esparza), Brigitte Graham (Angie's Friend)

Uncredited: Kathleen Parker (Mrs. Stewart)

Plot Overview

Veronica discusses nightmares she's been having involving the victims of the Bus Crash with Ms. James. Meanwhile Logan and Wallace have rare interaction while working on a science project together to help Veronica win the Kane scholarship. Keith is hired by Principal Van Clemmons to determine why so many students have doctor's notes excusing them for a mysterious ailment.

Notes

Mystery of the Week

• Stopping the Doctor's Notes: Principal Van Clemmons hires Keith to determine why so many students are getting doctor's notes from the same doctor excusing them for having Generalized Anxiety Disorder. He joins a speed dating service to try and find the doctor's assistant. After sitting through numerous sessions with women who insulted him, annoyed him and disturbed him he finally was matched up with the assistant. He returned to the school and provided Van Clemmons with a tape where she offered to sell an GAD doctor's note for $1,000 (while Veronica was hiding in the principal's closet). Van Clemmons used the information to eliminate Generalized Anxiety Disorder as a valid excuse to get out of class work, causing Veronica's rival for the Kane scholarship to have to take a test she hadn't studied for.

The School Bus Disaster

• Veronica discovers that Dick had a fling with Betina last Summer, and that they had unprotected sex. Dick was under the false impression that Betina was on the pill, but Veronica finds out that she wasn't, and in fact wanted to get pregnant.
• In one of Veronica's dreams, Peter questions Veronica as to why, exactly, he went on the trip in the first place.
• In another dream, Meg says "I have important information", but Veronica wakes up before she finds out what it is.
• It's revealed that Rhonda's family received a large payout from Woody Goodman which was kept secret. The payout was allegedly because of a finger found in a Ribwich from Woody Burger. This connects Woody to the crash in yet another way.
• Dick Casablancas Sr. took out a life insurance policy on both Dick Jr. and Beaver just days after he married Kendall. Could they have been targeted?
• Cervando points out in a dream that in order for the explosion to have the desired effect of taking out the entire bus, the culprit must have been in sight of it at the time to ensure that the explosion took it off the cliff. He seems to implicate Weevil.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Veronica: Veronica receives an acceptance letter for Stanford University.
• Logan: Logan shows signs of still caring for Veronica by helping Wallace try to beat Angie in the egg-dropping competition.
• Meg: Meg's parents were apparently trying to set her up with Lucky, and that he was someone her father approved of.
• Veronica and Angie: Veronica's chances of getting the Kane scholarship are endangered when Angie's GPA is adjusted after her parents convinced the school board to award her more points for the very expensive semester at sea course she took. However, Angie was bumped back down after the outcome of the mystery of the week stopped her from being able to reschedule a test she didn't study for.

Referbacks

• 2x05 - Blast From the Past: Veronica tells Ms. James about the voicemail that Michelle had from Rhonda that was made just before the bus went over the cliff. Seemingly Rhonda had left another message on Michelle's home answering machine.

• 2x08 - Ahoy, Mateys!: Veronica is still listening to the Ahoy, Mateys! pirate radio show, which co-starred Marcos Oliveras. Marcos is one of the ones haunting Veronica's dreams.

• 2x14 - Versatile Toppings: One of Veronica's dreams involved Peter Ferrer, who posted on the Neptune Pirate Ship message boards. He was at the center of an investigation into who the mole of the board was.

• 2x01 - Normal Is the Watchword: The flashback of Lucky seems to take place during the Summer when Logan and other 09ers burned down the local community pool in retaliation for some vandalism caused by the PCHers.

• 1x01 - Pilot: Wallace mentions that the last time he and Logan spoke was when he was smashing Veronica's headlights in with a crowbar.

• 1x11 - Silence of the Lamb: Veronica began seeing Deputy Leo D'Amato in order to gain access to the sheriff's department's evidence room. The two later broke it off when he was reprimanded for something she did.

Dick: You know what I mean, you dated that cop. Remember?

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• M.I.A.: Francis Capra, Tessa Thompson and Teddy Dunn do not appear in this episode.
• First Appearance: This episode marks the first appearance of Cervando, albeit in a dream and flashbacks (since he is dead). He was a PCHer and has been mentioned on several occasions throughout season 2. It is also the first appearance of all the other student bus crash victims with the exception of Meg (Peter, Rhonda, Betina and Marcos) even though all but Betina have been mentioned before and we heard Marcos' voice in Ahoy, Mateys!. All appear in both flashbacks and dreams.

Allusions and References

• Jennifer Love Hewitt: Veronica makes several references to the actress Jennifer Love Hewitt. She first references Ghost Whisperer, a drama where she stars as a medium who delivers messages from the recently deceased. Later, Veronica uses the phrase "I know who you did last Summer" to get Dick's attention, which is a reference to the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer that Hewitt also starred in.

Veronica: Yeah, but Jennifer Love Hewitt might be more qualified.

• Margot Kidder: Margot Kidder is an actress who is most famous for playing Lois Lane in the Superman series of movies. However, what Veronica is referencing is when Kidder, who is bi-polar, had a widely publicized nervous breakdown in 1996.

Veronica: She has that wide-eyed Margot Kidder in a bush look. Total nutjob.

• Paris Hilton: Keith suggests that Hilton is the cause of Veronica's nightmares and mentions House of Wax, a horror movie in which she co-starred about six people getting stranded in a ghost town with an ominous wax museum. Incidentally, Hilton appeared on the series as Caitlin Ford in Credit Where Credit's Due.

Keith: Did you watch House of Wax again? You know that Hilton girl gives you nightmares.

• Brokeback Mountain: Dick quotes a line from the movie Brokeback Mountain when Mr. Wu separates him and Logan for the egg-drop competition.

Dick: God, I don' know how I'm gon' quit you.

• I Am God: The Wannabes released an EP in 1996 named I Am God, named after the first track of the EP. One of the songs that plays during Veronica's dreams is that song.

• Citizen Kane: Veronica makes a reference to Citizen Kane, comparing "I Am God" to "Rosebud." In Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane's dying words were "Rosebud," which was thought the be a clue to his death. But, in the end, it was only his sled from when he was a child and nothing otherwise significant.

Veronica: And Rosebud was just a sled.

Memorable Moments

• In many of Veronica's dreams, Meg is wearing a t-shirt with "Baby On Board" on it, Betina wears one that says "I <3 Dick", and Peter has one with a rhinestone rainbow.

Quotes

• Dick: It's not me... It's Wu.

• Logan: Wallace, have you met my fluffer?

• Mr. Wu: Veronica, I think that when you get out in the world a little more, you'll discover that not all well-dressed, articulate, detail-oriented men are gay. Many of them are just Asian.