Veronica Mars/Of Vice and Men

Of Vice and Men
Season 3, Episode 7
Airdate	November 14, 2006
Production Number	3T5807
Written by	Phil Klemmer
Directed by	Harry Winer
Stream
← 3x06 Hi, Infidelity	3x08 → Lord of the Pi's
Veronica Mars — Season Three

Of Vice and Men is the seventh episode of the third season of Veronica Mars, and the fifty-first episode overall. Veronica attempts to find a wayward boyfriend, as well as prove Mercer's innocence despite distancing herself from both Logan and her father.

Starring: Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Jason Dohring (Logan Echolls), Percy Daggs III (Wallace Fennel) (credit only), Ryan Hansen (Richard "Dick" Casablancas) (credit only), Julie Gonzalo (Parker Lee) (credit only), Chris Lowell (Stosh "Piz" Piznarski), Tina Majorino (Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie) (credit only), Michael Muhney (Sheriff Don Lamb), Francis Capra (Eli "Weevil" Navarro) (credit only)

and Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars)

Special Guest Star: Laura San Giacomo (Harmony Chase)

Guest Starring: Amanda Walsh (Meryl), Rod Rowland (Liam Fitzpatrick), Ken Marino (Vinnie Van Lowe), Tayler Sheridan (Danny Boyd), Ryan Devlin (Mercer Hayes), Patrick Fabian (Prof. Hank Landry), Andrew McClain (Moe Slater), Charlie Weber (Glen)

Co-Starring: Cassidy Horn (Ms. Starr), Michael Grant Terry (Sully)

Uncredited: Sandra McCoy (Scarlett)

Plot Overview

In an attempt to find some sanctuary in a world away from the men in her life who have been constantly disappointing her, Veronica has been crashing in Wallace's dorm room while he's out of town studying. Piz returns unexpectedly, but he lets her stick around until the RA and a distressed girl ask for help finding the girl's missing boyfriend. Naturally, Veronica is roped into the case.

In Professor Landry's class, Veronica is offered an internship with the FBI in lieu of her term paper about planning the perfect murder. She realizes that this is something of a bribe to keep her quiet about the affair he was having with the dean's wife and is put into a moral gray area. After class, she has a conflict with Logan, who still insists on keeping his secrets, and finds Meryl still alone waiting for her boyfriend. The two come up with a plan to get into Sully's voicemail and discover a message from Scarlett, the girl who was circled in the Freshman face book.

At the Neptune jail, Veronica confronts Mercer about Logan's claims of an alibi but he won't give up what exactly they were doing either. He does mention that several people on campus owe him large sums of money, including the Pi Sig president and Dean O'Dell. Back at Sully's room, Meryl is still waiting but his roommate comes by and tells them that he hasn't seen him since they went surfing the morning before. He also mentions that Sully and Meryl had a fight over the phone, which Meryl failed to mention.

Meanwhile, Harmony stops by Keith's office to ask that he run away with her to an exotic locale in spite of her loveless marriage. Unfortunately for them, Vinnie van Lowe has been tracking the two's affair and has concrete proof. Because Keith doesn't have the information Vinnie is looking for (Kendall's location), Vinnie blackmails him with the photographs.

In an attempt to figure out where Sully is, Veronica and Meryl ambush Scarlett at the food court, who claims that she was supposed to be meeting Sully for studying but is awfully dressed up for a study buddy encounter. Veronica outright accuses Scarlett of attempting to steal Meryl's boyfriend and makes them work it out while she goes across the room to tell Landry that she's not taking the FBI internship. He tells her that she doesn't need to be worried about the internship being hush money because he doesn't care what she thinks about his "situation."

Later on, Veronica uncovers Mercer's schedule on the radio station and finds that he couldn't have committed the rapes because he was doing a live call-in request show. She confronts Logan about this and demands that he still tell her what happened. Logan admits that they were in Mexico and one of Mercer's drinks got out of hand when one of the ingredients was fire. The room caught ablaze and eventually burned down the entire motel. Logan and Mercer fled, leaving everyone behind. Disappointed, Veronica gives Logan the information he needs to clear Mercer and leaves.

With Mercer's case finished, Veronica turns her attention back to Meryl and manages to track her boyfriend's cellphone into an unsavory part of town. Worse yet, she tracks it to the Fitzpatrick's bar. Veronica tries to keep Meryl in the car until they can get backup from the sheriff, but Meryl makes a run for it anyway. They get into a scrap of trouble (just like last time) but instead of Logan with a gun, Vinnie comes to their rescue with a cell phone. He tells them that Sully did show up at the bar the night before, drunk and amnesic. They took him on a shopping spree and dumped him when they were bored, causing him to be picked up by the cops and shoved in the drunk tank. He manages to recover his memory, however, when he sees Meryl.

Afterwards, Veronica goes to the food court for dinner but leaves her tray at a table when she finds a hair in her pasta. After coming back and taking a swig from her soda, she starts to feel the effects of GHB. She manages to stumble to her car, where she sees a shadowy figure in a dark hoodie. She activates the car alarm, which alerts Logan who was walking by the parking garage. He manages to find her before too much damage is done, but a lock of her hair was cut off by the assailant.

Notes

The Hearst Rapist

• The RA briefly mentions that all RAs have keys to every room under their domain. Whether or not this comment is connected to the rapes is unknown, but it's a clue none-the-less.

• Mercer is cleared of the rapes when Veronica discovers that his radio show schedule conflicts with the rapes. He couldn't have committed them because his show is of a live call-in request format, but he's stuck in jail anyway because Lamb doesn't like his attitude.

• In the food court, Veronica's soda is drugged (presumably by the rapist) and some of her hair is cut out before Logan shows up.

Arc Advancement

Referbacks

• 2x08 - Ahoy, Mateys!: Veronica tracked a complaint about a plastic surgeon who was pivotal in clearing Logan's name in the murder of Felix last season to the River Styx bar. When the Fitzpatricks found her snooping around, they threatened her life until Logan showed up with a handgun and saved the day.

Veronica: Last time I was here, my boyfriend pulled a gun on the owner.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Of Mice and Men: The title of the episode is a reference to the John Steinbeck novella, Of Mice and Men. The novella tells the story of George and Lennie, two migrant farm workers who find work on a ranch in California. The two ideally would like to amass enough money to buy their own ranch and work for themselves, but their plan goes awry when Lennie, a mentally handicapped strongman, accidentally kills the wife of the ranch owner's son.

• The Shining: In Stephen King's The Shining, Jack Torrence and his family agree to stay in a luxury hotel alone during the winter months as its caretakers. He believes this will be what it will take for him to complete his novel, but the solitude drives Torrence insane. In a climactic moment in both the novel and the film by Stanley Kubrick, Jack's wife finds stacks of pages saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." This leads to Jack going insane and attempting to kill his family.

Piz: You mean the Shining? All work and no play makes Wallace psychotic.

• Keith Richards: Keith Richards is the lead guitarist for The Rolling Stones. He is a notorious ladies man, which is likely what Piz is referring to.

Piz: Keith Richards wouldn't sleep on the floor.

• Casablanca: Veronica quotes a line from Casablanca. In the movie, Humphrey Bogart comments about a woman who comes into the bar he frequents who he realizes will bring him nothing but trouble. The film, released in 1947, is considered one of the greatest movies ever made and contributed to the genesis of the film noir genre.

Veronica: In all the gin joints in all the cities in all the world.

• Arrested Development: Though not an explicit reference, Lamb seems to be channeling the prison guards from Arrested Development. In the show, George Bluth is arrested for white collar crimes and put in prison. When his family comes to see him, a running joke involves the guard barking "No touching!" at them.

Lamb: Hey! No touching!

• South Park: In the animated comedy series South Park, Stan Marsh is typically seen as the voice of reason among the group of boys. In early seasons, Stan practically made a catchphrase out of saying "you know, I learned something today" and stating the moral of the episode. In Butt Out, Stan made fun of this by saying that their adventures always follow a formula with them saying what they've learned at the end of the mess.

Veronica: So, what would Stan Marsh say about a situation like this?

Quotes

• Veronica: Have you ever heard of "Occam's Razor," Meryl?

Meryl: Is that a space laser? Has it already been invented?