Veronica Mars/Versatile Toppings

Versatile Toppings
Season 2, Episode 14
Airdate	March 15, 2006
Production Number	2T7214
Written by	Phil Klemmer
Directed by	Sarah Pia Anderson
← 2x13 Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough	2x15 → The Quick and the Wed
Veronica Mars — Season Two

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Versatile Toppings is the fourteenth episode of the second season of Veronica Mars, and the thirty-sixth episode overall. Veronica attempts to uncover the person blackmailing a group of closeted gay students at Neptune while Keith attempts to find a way that will clear Terrence Cook.

Starring: Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Percy Daggs III (Wallace Fennel) (credit only), 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) (credit only), Tessa Thompson (Jackie Cook)

and Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars)

Guest Starring: Jeffrey Sams (Terrence Cook), Michael Muhney (Sheriff Don Lamb), Jessy Schram (Hannah Griffith), Tina Majorino (Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie), Rick Peters (Dr. Tom Griffith), Lucas Grabeel (Kelly Kuzzio), Bradford Anderson (Ryan), Kristin Cavalleri (Kylie Marker), Natalia Baron (Carmen Ruiz), Gil Birmingham (Leonard Lobo)

Co-Starring: Amanda Noret (Madison Sinclair), Brandon Hillock (Deputy Sacks), Jonathan Chesner (Corny), Mario Ardila Jr. (Mugger "Arturo"), Nathan L. Davis (Anchor), Jason McMahon (Baseball Player), Miriam S. Korn (Marlena Nichols), Jocko Marcellino (Pit Boss), Carl Bresk (Coach Preppernau), John Nutten (Other Player)

Uncredited: Lefty (Backup)

Notes

Mystery of the Week

• Brokeback Blackmail: The person behind the rash of pizza boy muggings has started to blackmail gay and lesbian students at Neptune with a list of closeted students he found in one of the wallets. The students being threatened go to Veronica for help, despite not revealing themselves. Eventually the mugger starts to attack random people instead of hapless pizza boys, first hitting Kelly Kuzio for his rims and wallet. After realizing that the phony names being used are kids who are bullied for being Hispanic and dating white people or something similar, Veronica has Corny act as a dummy to catch the culprit. They find Arturo, a freshman attempting to curry favor with Thumper, but he didn't steal Kuzio's rims or blackmail anyone. This leads Veronica to deduce that one of the Pirate Ship posters is the blackmailer. She connects the vanity plates of a car with one of the screen names from the message board to find that Kuzio is the most recently blackmailed person and that the rims thing was set up by him to pay the money. She discovers that Kylie was the one who orchestrated everything thanks to a bugged letter. Her motivation was that she a.) she wanted money to get out of Neptune for college and b.) wanted to have her girlfriend come out as well.

The School Bus Disaster

• Although Keith spends the majority of the episode clearing Terrance Cook's name by showing that he was in the casino (which blocks cell phone reception) in the time that the explosion occurred, in the last minutes of the episode Veronica gets some extremely damning evidence. While looking in the fusebox, she finds what looks like explosive blasting caps.

Felix's Murder

• Logan confronts the "witness" to him stabbing Felix and clues him into the fact that he knows the Fitzpatricks are trying to frame him. He attempts to use Hannah as leverage against the doctor and ultimately tries to convince her that her father is in deep with the Fitzpatricks because of his cocaine habit. When Hannah discovers a bunch of entries for Fitzpatrick and River Styx on the phone, as well as a bag of cocaine, she realizes that her father has been lying to her.

Arc Advancement

Referbacks

• 1x20 - M.A.D.: Carmen first appeared in the first season when she asked for Veronica's help with her boyfriend blackmailing her. The "popsicle incident" is referenced when Veronica confronts her about the pizza boy muggings due to her name being used for one of the incidents.
• 2x13 - Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough: Logan met Hannah at the carnival in the previous episode. This is also the episode where Dick's incident with the transvestite hooker occurred.
• 2x08 - Ahoy, Mateys!: Kelly Kuzio is the same 09er who attempted to buy an eightball of coke from Weevil. Weevil commented on his car, saying that he "was thinking of getting some just like those."

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• On the list of people Carmen identifies as "coconuts" is a "John Ramos". Ramos is a writer who goes by the name "Couch Baron" when he publishes weekly recaps of Veronica Mars (with his own commentary) at Television Without Pity. He has also interviewed Rob Thomas and Jason Dohring for that site. This is his first shout-out on Veronica Mars, but not the first TWoP shout-out.

Allusions and References

• Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares is a series of books about four friends who pass a pair of pants during a summer in which they're all apart in order to connect them all despite being separate. The idea is that wearing the pants gives them special insight into their lives that allows them to change themselves.

Veronica: Where are you getting your intel? Jackie and I aren't exactly the sisterhood of the travelling pants.

• Kryptonite: Kryptonite is a radioactive rock that negates Superman's powers and weakens him greatly. The rocks come from the exploded remains of Krypton and most commonly come in a green variety, but also have been known to come in blue, white, gold, red, crystal and black. Each comes with a different power, but all cause some kind of weakness in Superman.

Dick: You're like rich dude kryptonite, Veronica.

• Pete Rose: Pete Rose was a former baseball player and manager who most notably spent time with the Cincinnati Reds, but most recently fell into trouble when he admitted that he had previously bet on baseball amid accusations in 1999. Although he never bet on or against his own team, he did agree to a lifetime ban from the baseball hall of fame. This scandal led the proprietors of the hall of fame to retroactively ban all sports gamblers from being awarded a spot inside it.

Terrance: If I admit that I was in his office, I make myself the next Pete Rose.

• Rick Santorum: Richard Santorum is the junior senator from Pennsylvania who was in office at the time that this episode was aired. He is notoriously against homosexual civil rights, once saying that there is no right to privacy when it comes to sexual acts in April 2003. He followed up his comment with saying that he doesn't have a problem with homosexuals, but does have a problem with "homosexual acts." Using Santorum's name as the e-mail account name is ironic once it's revealed that the blackmailer is one of the Pirate Ship group members.

• Jedi Mind Trick: The Jedi mind trick is a technique used in Star Wars to manipulate people in to saying and doing what you tell them to. This was used first in Star Wars: A New Hope when Obi Wan uses it on some storm troopers, saying "These are not the droids you are looking for." The mind trick is notoriously blunt and to the point.

Lamb: What? Is this some kind of Jedi mind trick?

• Big & Rich: Big & Rich are a country group featuring "Big" Kenny Alphin and John Rich. They're notable for breaking past typical genre barriers by combining pop country with hip-hop. The group has been widely criticized by traditionalists about their style, many of which saying that they are "destroying the genre." The album which Lamb refers to is likely Comin' To Your City, which was released in 2005.

Lamb: Please be the new Big & Rich!