Note: Some screen caps for this episode are from Jason-Dohring.com
I love this scene. I totally wish I could say do a misquote and say "he had me at anthropomorphic" but I still was not a fan of Logan during this episode and so was not even contemplating a Logan/Veronica relationship.
That being said, by the end this episode, my opinion of Logan was quite different and I was definitely on the road to liking this character. The humour was a big winner with me but also his exchanges with Weevil and his ultimate sense of fair-play.
In his first scene, Logan is crouched down by his locker and Clemmons speaks to him: "Mr. Echolls. I was wondering if I could have a word."
Logan thinks for a moment. I love the mock gravity with which he considers the issue before he announces: "Anthropomorphic". He grins. "All yours, big guy".
Hee hee. Hee hee.
Logan rises and closes his locker as Clemmons pretends to be amused by the joke. "Your father has generously offered to donate a pair of boots for a school fundraising auction."
"Not the ones made for walking. God, I love those boots," Logan asks sarcastically. Clemmons ignores this.
"Ah, the pair he wore in Hair Trigger", Clemmons tells him.
"Hmmm."
"They're a big ticket item. We're hoping we'll be able to pay for our new scoreboard with what we'll make off of them," Clemmons tells him. Logan crosses his fingers in pretend support and tries to walk away.
"Hope so," he says.
"Unfortunately ...." Clemmons continues despite Logan's hand signals. "I haven't been able to reach your father. I was hoping you could remind him."
Logan turns around to face Clemmons. "I'll have my assistant call his assistant" and he smirks, nods and walks away leaving Clemmons staring at him.
As mentioned, at this point, I just thought Logan was funny as hell although still a world class jerk. Every show needs the entertaining, witty jerk, right?
The black guy from the X-Files is sitting at the front of a classroom marking papers, a timer on his desk. He glances up at the students who are taking a test. The students include Weevil and Logan. Weevil glances over at Logan - I have no idea why. Logan notices Weevil looking at him and moves his papers to hide his answers from Weevil.
Weevil shakes his head as if to say: "Sheesh". Logan writes a bit more and then looks back at Weevil.
"They teach you manners in ESL?"
"If I was gonna cheat, don't you think I'd pick somebody smart?" Weevil says insultingly.
"If you was gonna?" Logan mocks him. Weevil shakes his head again and then looks back down at his test paper.
Mr. Daniels the teacher at the desk shakes his head. "Ah, alas," he tells him. He stands and walks towards them. "You both get zeros." He tells them.
Weevil makes a gesture of disbelief. Logan looks unconcerned.
"No talking during test," Daniels tells them. He takes their test papers and walks back to his desk. As Daniels walks past him, Logan mutters in a very audible voice:
"I guess Mrs. Daniels ain't giving it up at home, huh?"
Daniel stops abruptly and an amused Weevil smiles at Logan's joke, his daring or both.
"You know, the glow of your father's wealth and celebrity may be enough to sustain you through high school, Mr. Echolls, but do you know what it will get you in the real world?"
Logan clasps his hands together prayerfully, raises his eyes to the heavens and says: "Please say high school English teacher. Please say high school English teacher." Hee hee. Weevil thinks it's funny too and laughs out loud.
"Mr. Navarro. I wonder if you'll find Mr. Echolls so amusing ten years from now. When you're pumping his gas." Daniel says and Weevil nods his head at the teacher as if to note his words although he doesn't reply I am personally horrified by such an appallingly racist statement by a teacher but Logan gives a big smile and looks back at Weevil.
"See me after class, both of you. I'll tell you where to report for detention," Daniels tells them.
Again, you don't like Logan in this scene but he is very funny. He's the kid in your class that was never a friend but always caused trouble and made everyone laugh. He's moved from being the obligatory psychotic jackass to obligatory class joker. He and Weevil also have a very good dynamic - both can come up with the witty insults and jokes so play off each other very nicely.
It's detention room. Weevil's sitting at a desk, Logan's playing solitaire.
Weevil can't contain his irritation. "You know what I love? I love that I get a zero for talking, when you were the one who was talking to me. You get detention for dissing the teacher in front of everybody. And I get detention for laughing. Let me ask you something, man."
Weevil pulls his desk closer to Logan and Logan looks up to the heavens with a long-suffering expression. "Is this detention or hell?"
"How do you people not make yourselves sick? I mean, it's like you walk on water in this school. For what? It's nothing that you do. I mean, all that matters is who your parents are and the zip code your mom shot you out."
"And if I donate to the United Latino Pain-in-the-Ass fund, will you shut the hell up?"
"You like playin' with yourself?" Weevil demands and of course the double entendre is lost on nobody.
"Huh?" Logan demands.
"Or you wanna make things interesting?"
"What did you have in mind?" Logan asks, never one to back down from a challenge.
A little later, we see that their desks are facing one another, they're playing cards and there's money on the table. As Logan looks down at his card, Weevil says: "You're almost as bad an actor as your father." That wasn't nice Weevil.
"You know that you don't need a diploma to steal hubcaps right? I mean why do you even show up here?" Neither was that, Logan.
"I promised my grandmother." Weevil says flatly.
"Hmm."
"I don't break my promises."
"And I mean this," Logan says sarcastically: "Aaaaaaww." He was mean but it was very funny and it was nice that although the comment registers on him, the writers don't make Logan have a visible moment of being touched.
Daniels walks in and demands: "Is this Reno or detention?"
"Would you believe the best of both?" Logan answers. He grins, then he laughs. Daniels is not amused and grabs the cards.
"Aw, come on, man!" Weevil protests.
"What the hell? We were playing a game here." Logan also protests.
"This is punishment, gentlemen, not party time." Daniel tells him severely.
"Well, that would explain the absence of balloon animals," Logan says with his low key sarcasm and I giggle. Logan pockets his cash.
"You know, the two of you may not have learned respect in the home but you are going to learn it here. And you now have a full week of detention for me to teach you without luxury time for playing cards." He leaves and Weevil throws his head back and groans.
Funny as hell scene showing off the wonderful comic timing that Weevil and Logan have. There are no humanity moments for Logan here, it's still wit and comic sarcasm but it's better than "psychotic jackass". I loved the way he delivers the "Well, that would explain the absence of balloon animals" line. There is also a slight suggestion that Weevil's comment about why he is at school have registered with Logan.
We hear Logan's voice say off-screen: "Is this a joke?"
Logan and Weevil are carrying buckets and they arrive at a small blue car.
"No, Mr. Echolls, this is detention," Daniels tells him as Logan puts his bucket down by the driver's door. Weevil walks to the front of the car.
"I meant the car." Hee hee. Hee hee.
Logan gives a smirk as the joke goes beyond him and he looks confused. smirks. Logan pretends to act embarrassed.
"Oh, my God!" he says putting his hand up to his mouth in mock consternation. "It's not yours, is it?"
Weevil laughs and Logan draws a heart in the dust on a window. "You know, seriously, I don't think it's school policy to have students do chores," Logan points out.
"Seriously, would you like to hear the school's policy on gambling, Mr. Echolls? It's considerably detailed." Daniels tells him.
Daniels glares at Logan and Logan glares back. When Daniels leaves, he spits on the window and rubs the glass ineffectually. Weevil gives a sarcastic smile and dumps a bucket of water on the bonnet of the car.
Again, some wonderfully comic moments from Logan. Interesting how they show that Weevil is amused as well. I think that they want to show that in different circumstances, these two very different youths could have been friends.
The downside of this scene and the episode in general is that it gave the slash writers an excuse to go completely and totally out of control. :) {I have to admit that I do love the Logan/Weevil chemistry. If ever a storyline arises I hope this is it.}
Logan and Weevil are being told by a very patronizing and sarcastic Daniels that they are to alphabetize books on a shelf.
"Alphabetize by author and then by title. For example, Shakespeare would come after Poe and before Wordsworth and then within Shakespeare, Macbeth after Hamlet. Should I draw a diagram?"
"Aw, please. That would be helpful." Logan quips.
"If you get this wrong, I'll simply have you do it again," Daniels tells him, shoving a book into Logan's hand and leaving. Logan takes off the shirt he is wearing over his tee-shirt.
"Well, amigo, let's get to it, huh?"
Weevil throws books on the ground saying insincerely: "Oops! Heads up! My bad!"
"You obviously have no appreciation of literature," and he rises in my esteem because he clearly loves books.
Logan picks up a book, drops the book and kicks it, thereby plummeting back down in my esteem for his mistreatment of the book. "Would that it were Mr. Daniels' head!" in a wannabe Shakespearian actor voice. I feel a little uncomfortable when he says this because it's so exaggerated - there's just something about his delivery that grates.
"I was thinking more like that scene in Casino," Weevil tells him. "With the vice grip."
Logan leans back against the bookcase. He does this lean a lot - he does it on the mantelpiece in M.A.D as well and it never quite looks natural or comfortable. Yes I'm picky.
"See I'm more of a purist, you know, less blood, more emotional distress. I'd rather see him locked in a room, padded, crapping himself in the corner. You know, he's an English teacher. He'd appreciate the poetic justice."
"I think I've got your poetic justice," Weevil announces.
"Meaning?"
Weevil jumps off the desk. "Meaning I've got a plan."
"Tick tick. Losing interest." Logan tells him. OK never do that again Logan. You reminded me of Normal in Dark Angel when you did that and that's not good.
"Well, if I thought you had the cojones to pull it off, I'd tell you, but..."
"Never underestimate the size of my cojones," Logan says deliberately and winks. Meanwhile, slash writers get excited and run away to produce.
A little later, Daniels discovers his car missing. Problem is, it's been impaled on a flagpole. Weevil is suspected, hauled in for questioning, exchanges a look with Logan in the corridor, interrogated, doesn't dish up the dirt on Logan and he is then expelled ....
We hear Duncan comment: "I didn't even know they expelled people at our school."
Duncan and Logan are eating lunch and Dick is sitting nearby.
"Well, not our people," Dick comments and I want to hit him because he's not a person as far as I'm concerned.
"They expelled him?" Logan asks Duncan in a low voice.
"They had security escort him off the grounds. I was in the office getting my schedule changed and you could hear Daniels just blowing a fuse."
"Tell-us-who-helped-you. Tell-us-who-helped-you!" he bellows, jabbing his finger down and imitating Daniels' voice. He's pretty good in this - it's the first sign of life I've seen in Duncan for a little while.
Dick says: "If he starts selling oranges in front of my house, I'm gonna be pissed". He leaves thank goodness.
Duncan and Logan laugh but Logan looks a bit reflective.
A little later when Clemmons is at his desk, he glances up and sees Logan at the door.
"You got a sec?" he asks.
"Mr. Echolls. What can I do for you?"
Logan closes the door behind him. "Man, I tell you Mr Clemmons, I am pissed off!" he says conversationally, walking to the chair in front of Clemmons desk.
"I need for you to use appropriate language in here, Mr. Echolls." Logan pretends to look contrite.
"Now, what's got under your skin?" Clemmons asks him.
"It's, uh, it's that Weevil kid," he says in a slightly stagey manner.
"He is no longer a student here," Clemmons points out.
"Yeah, I know. But the problem is, he's getting all the credit for sticking Mr. Daniels’ car on the flagpole." Logan drawls, his meaning very clear.
Clemmons looks horrified as he starts to realize where this is going.
"And all of the sudden, he's like the biggest badass in ..."
At Clemmons reproving look for the language, Logan coughs, rolls his eyes and corrects himself: "...rad dude here at Neptune. I mean, people are gonna be talking about that punking for years."
"I don't think I understand," Clemmons says playing dumb.
"I mean, I want my share of the credit." Logan drawls.
"You're confessing to helping Eli Navarro?" Logan smirks at him. "You can't just get away with this, young man," Clemmons tells him. Logan exhales deeply, pretending to look sorry.
"Yeah, I didn't think I could." he says. He pauses, swings one foot and then the other onto Clemmons’ desk. He is wearing an incredibly ugly pair of black boots with red stars. Clemmons stares at the boots..
"So, what kind of punishment are we talking about?" Logan asks him. Clemmons stares at the boots and then back at Logan.
I don't know why I read Television Without Pity, it can make me so mad sometimes. There was one poster who said that what Logan did was no big deal for him given that it was no skin off his nose to step in and help out if he knew that he wasn't going to suffer severe consequences so he was fine with helping out Weevil.
Sure that's true to a certain extent, but he could certainly have stood idly by and done nothing. No one made him do anything and Weevil's expulsion certainly didn't affect him. Furthermore, if he held grudges he would have remembered that Weevil beat the crap out of him in the Pilot!
There were possibly a few factors in Logan's decision to come forward and admit his involvement in the flagpole incident:
- he saw that Weevil hadn't dobbed him in despite the interrogation and the expulsion. That earned his respect and possibly made him feel guilty
- he had been involved he would have felt like the coward if he had stood by and let Weevil take the fall on his own
- Logan would have enjoyed the opportunity to get one up on Daniels and Clemmons. He's taking a gamble but he likes to play at things like this and it's a way to have revenge on Daniels.
Clemmons is standing in front of a graffiti covered wall holding a two paint rollers. Weevil and Logan are waiting. Clemmons reminds them that they're getting off easy as he hands the rollers to a skeptical Logan.
"This will go on your permanent record but you're extremely fortunate that you're not being suspended or expelled." he says severely.
"Does it-does it go on my permanent record that I was unexpelled?" Weevil jibes.
"Don't push your luck, Eli," Clemmons tells him warningly. He leaves and Weevil grabs one of the rollers from Logan.
"I'll take this one."
They start working and Logan can see a tattoo located on Weevil's side, under his armpit. The tattoo is a heart with Lilly written across it. Logan walks over, pulls the singlet down to get a better look.
"Hey, man, what are you doing?" Weevil demands in annoyance.
"Hey, what the hell is that?"
"It's my arm, dawg." even though it is actually his side/back. Whatever - not his arm.
"What…why do you have Lilly's name on your arm?" Logan demands. No Logan, it's his side/back, not his arm.
"You really wanna know?" Weevil demands.
"Yeah!" Logan retorts.
"You really wanna know?"
"Yeah, I really wanna know!"
They glower. "Lilly's my little sister's name, man. That okay with you?" Weevil says unconvincingly. Weevil's eyelashes are quite long and pretty. Logan continues to glare and Weevil turns back to work. "You put your hands on me like that again, you'll lose one of 'em."
"Yeah, I think I just peed myself," Logan retorts.
Lame excuse from Weevil and strange that Logan bought it - or maybe he just wanted to buy it.
All in all though, a fabulous episode for Weevil/Logan humour and a really great episode for Logan as well.
Why so much Logan? I can't think of any episode where Duncan gets that much attention. There is a lot of attention focused on Logan in this episode. Weevil gets a lot of attention too but if you think about it, most of the focus starts moving towards to Logan quite obviously. This has funny Logan, snarky Logan, racist Logan and fairplay Logan. I wonder what the plan was.....
Funny thing is, I had zero interest in Veronica's storyline with the pregnant neighbor and icky Parker from Buffy.
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