General Rant from Koala

After M.A.D., a lot of the fans in the forum at Television Without Pity pretty much condemned Logan for being responsible for Veronica's rape and never seemed to get around to acknowledging that he had been cleared of the charge. I was already quite outraged that people had already judged Logan and found him guilty at the end of M.A.D., either for being Veronica's rapist or responsible for her rape.

By the time A Trip To The Dentist came around, although we discover that he did not supply the drugs relating to Veronica's rape, no one really explored the false accusation by Veronica. Almost everyone had moved onto lynching Logan for the video equipment in the Echolls' pool house. Even though we later find out that the equipment was Aaron's and Logan probably knew nothing about it, the discussions never went back to beg the forgiveness of my favourite fictional character :)

Thank goodness for arabian who is the first person I find who went into a detailed discussion of the Logan moments here and here.

I'll give a brief summary of the episode as it was quite draining. Veronica investigates who raped her the night of Shelly Pomroy's party. We see her questioning Meg, Luke, Casey, Sean, Dick Casablancas, his brother Beaver, Madison Sinclair, and Carrie Bishop (inter alia) until we finally learn that it was Duncan who had sex with her. Logan had spiked Duncan's drink with GHB (ostensibly with good intentions .... err yeah...). Veronica on the other hand was the victim of a tragic mix-up. Her drink was a "trip to the dentist," - originally a drink given to Madison Sinclair by her boyfriend Dick. He had spiked the drink to get her to loosen up, because it wasn't "diet", she spat in it and gave it to Veronica, thereby drugging her senseless.

In the "Hunt for Duncan Kane" storyline, Keith has retrieved a now bearded but still somewhat catatonic Duncan from Cuba. Duncan reveals to Veronica that Celeste had informed him that Veronica was his sister which was why he broke up with her (good reason if you ask me) and also why he bolted after he had sex with her. Also a good reason although it might have been better to bolt before the sex, but that's just a suggestion.

Veronica apologises to Logan for her latest set of accusations which, as usual, have turned out (yet again) to be unfounded. You'd think she'd learn. They go to Logan's house assuming that Logan's father is going to cook some gourmet dinner for them. The house is in darkness, Logan speculates that dinner will be candlelight, they snog at the door and enter the house, only to find themselves centrestage at a surprise party for Logan thrown by his father who says he is trying to make amends for years of neglect. Logan openly acknowledges Veronica as his girlfriend, Duncan goes completely ape before a horrified Meg, Veronica and Logan leave the party to make-out but while Logan is out getting drinks for them, she discovers that there is hidden video equipment in the poolhouse which makes her bolt from Logan's without a word to him. When she gets home (on the back of Weevil's bike), she discovers that Lianne has returned.

I was very unhappy about a lot of what went down in this episode and how it was done. Logan was given short-shrift for one but the whole "the rape that wasn't a rape" storyline was extremely lame. Someone put it very well was that the show made it sound like Duncan just slipped and fell into Veronica's vagina. Yes that was crudely put, but that's how it seemed in the end.

I hated the scene when Logan tries to go after Veronica and Weevil stops him. I did love it that Logan doesn't take no for an answer and shows up at Veronica's house to confront her. I agree with arabian that there is just a totally weird, out of the blue cut to Veronica apologising to Logan for her mistaken accusation. More about that when I overanalyse the scene.

Although the party was super-uncomfortable, I did like some elements of it. Again, more of that when I get to the overanalysis. I hated that Veronica ran out on Logan without confronting him about the video equipment. It felt like a fallback on a television cliche. The Great Misunderstanding that you have at the end of romantic movies, now all we need is an "Everybody Hurts" musical montage for god's sake. I'll do my best to explain it away in my overanalysis but I am disappointed in the writers for using cliches in this fairly significant episode when they had managed to avoid it for most of the season.

This episode had the good, the bad and the ugly. And without further ado, onto the overanalysis .....

First attempt to resolve the issue

I'm not sure when this takes place. The day after Veronica stood up Logan? It appears to be the morning. Dick is showing off his board to Logan who is trying to look interested.

When he sees Veronica, he cuts off his conversation with Dick to follow her. He runs to catch up with her and does that little skippy thing he does ..... "Hey, Veronica. Hey, will you stop for two seconds?"

She walks away from him without saying a word. Weevil steps in Logan’s path to stop him from following Veronica, saying: "You see when they run away like that, it's kind of a hint they're not interested".

Logan's gaze is still on Veronica, he takes a step forward as if to follow but Weevil's still in his way. "Look, you do not want to start with me today, paco." Racial slur. Bad Logan - don't do that.

"Are you sure? It was in my day planner under goals," Weevil retorts. Hee hee.

"How is this your business?" Logan demands angrily.

"Well I'm just looking out for Veronica. So if you think you're going to lay a hand on her the way you did Lilly..." Weevil threatens him.

"Don't you even say her name," Logan says angrily and the conversation has now moved away from Veronica and is all about Lilly.....

"Actually, she kind of liked it when I said her name," Weevil says tauntingly.

Logan shoves Weevil furiously. Weevil staggers back a little but keeps smiling, enjoying Logan's anger. Logan says nastily: "You think she had any real interest in you? You're a pork rind. You're what people grab when they're stoned and just want garbage".

"What makes it worse? Thinking she had feelings for me, or that she was using me for sex?" Weevil asks him. This makes Logan snap and he grabs Weevil’s leather jacket, pulling him up close.

"You stay away from Veronica," he says in a soft voice and it's interesting that the conversation now comes back to Veronica.

"I'm not the one she's running away from," Weevil responds unanswerably. Fortunately, all the huffing and puffing is interrupted by the coach who breaks them up.

I'm a little lukewarm about this scene. A lot of people think that Weevil is implying that Logan used to hit Lilly. I don't think that this is the case. Logan doesn't hit women. It's very clear that he's very protective of women. Take a look at his reaction to Trina's beating Hot Dogs. I think Weevil's reference to "lay a hand" is more along the lines of - you're not going to shag Veronica like you did Lilly. You're not going to touch her. I would be very, very surprised if Logan ever hit Lilly.

On top of that, Lilly is not the sort of girl who would have taken physical abuse. There were too many people she could have told - Veronica, Duncan, Weevil and any of her other friends. Furthermore, if Lilly had ever been hit by Logan and she had told Weevil about it, he almost certainly would have gone and beaten the crap out of Logan. I have no proof, but this is just what I feel based on what we've learnt about the characters.

A really serious accusation

Immediately after the confrontation between Logan and Veronica, we cut to Veronica having a shower. After she hears Backup barking, she puts on a bathrobe, quietens Backup and checks the door, looking behind the blind.

When she sees that Logan is outside, she gives a little gasp and steps back, hesitating a little.

"I'm not leaving," Logan tells her. I loved the flat, matter-of-fact way in which he said this.

She opens the door and he's leaning against the door frame, looking quite upset.

"It's kind of a bad time."

"Okay. So I should come back when, never? That work for you?" His voice is a little bit unsteady, a bit wobbley.

She stares at him and then he looks away and then looks back at her. "What did I do, Veronica? Can you just tell me so that I can apologise or explain?" She gives him a look of scorn.

"Explain. Okay. Explain to me why you were the one with GHB the night of Shelly Pomroy's party when someone drugged and raped me." Logan looks gobsmacked and Veronica continues, her voice barely under control. "Explanation? Apology?"

"You were raped?" Logan demands as if in disbelief.

Logan looks as if he's going to forward to hold her.

"Okay, don't! Seriously!" Veronica snaps back at him, tears in her voice but mostly anger. Logan stays back.

"What happened to you?" he asks her.

"You tell me." she asks him challengingly, her eyes very dark and accusing. She looks like someone else in this scene. Possibly one of the actresses out of Beverly Hills 90210 but I can't remember her name - she sort of came along later in the show I think. The blonde one that wasn't Tori Spelling or Jenni Garth. Have I got the right show? Ooops, I'm digressing.

Even more shock enters Logan's face. "Wait. Wait a second, you think ...?"

Veronica interrupts him. "I was told you were the one with the drugs."

Logan replies immediately. "Yeah. I got some Liquid X when I was in Tijuana with Luke and Sean. We were just gonna have some fun." he protests.

"Fun? Like sex with unconscious people fun?" Veronica demands, her voice almost breaking on the "fun" part.

Logan looks away. "No, fun like go to a rave fun," he says grimly.

"Oh. Okay. You've convinced me. Bygones," Veronica says sarcastically as Logan interrupts her:

"What can I do?" he demands of her. He stare at her fiercely accusing face. "What can I do to make it better?"

"I'm going to find out who did this to me and I'm going to make them pay. Even if it was you." Wow, she's cold.

Logan stares back at her, clearly upset. I know Logan can be an asshole, and I'm strictly anti-drugs so feel like giving him a stern scolding for taking drugs recreationally, but I'm quite intrigued by the fact that he chooses to be genuinely upset rather than angry at Veronica for her very harsh accusation.

"Sorry. I have to go throw up now" Veronica tells him before closing the door in his face. *sigh*

I really don't know what to say. The scene was very well-acted. Both actors were amazing but it was just so incredibly awful. Logan is clearly in shock at the accusations which have come out of left field, but he must have always known that there would be an aftermath to that party because while he didn't drug Veronica or rape Veronica, his conduct at the party was quite reprehensible.....

Other thoughts? I like the fact that Logan doesn't beat around the bush and tries to talk about things and resolve them. He wants to "make it better" if he can. Did he spend the night trying to call Veronica for answers about why she stood him up? Maybe he just lay in bed going over what he might have done wrong?

In terms of the time gap between the Weevil/Logan confrontation and then Logan showing up at Veronica's door, I've asked myself whether Logan would have really let the whole day go by before trying to confront Veronica again. I can only assume that Logan decided that school was obviously not the place to try to have a conversation with Veronica. For one thing, there would be too many interrupts (like Weevils) and for another, there just wouldn't be sufficient privacy and the girls' toilets probably have too many memories for them.

I've said before that when accused of something, Logan doesn't confess, make excuses or act defensive. Take a look at Credit where credit's due, You think you know somebody and Echolls Family Christmas. Take note, this scene between Logan and Veronica is the first time we see him lose his cool, flip, nonchalant composure. He tries to explain and tries to defend himself. Why? Because he really does care what Veronica thinks of him.

Let the pain go on ....

A really weird apology

Okay, we go from the "Veronica finding out it was Duncan" scene with Carrie Bishop, then jumped to the emotional, screaming "we had consensual sex but oops we're siblings" confrontation between Duncan and Veronica, then jumped to Wallace comforting Veronica (a beautiful scene by the way), then the "I approve of your relationship with my dad" scene between Alicia and Veronica to a kind of weird scene with Keith setting up an appointment with Cheyenne the prostitute and then, bang, all of a sudden we're in the Mars’ apartment and Veronica and Logan are on the couch, facing one another.

I'm all for the scene happening but the progression was just so weirdly jarring.

Veronica looks like a cross between Buffy and that girl from Beverly Hills 90210 again. Her pigtails are really cute though.

"I’m so sorry. I know now it wasn’t you and I’m sorry I accused you." she says sincerely to Logan.

"It’s fine. You okay?" Logan asks her with a smile. It's sort of weird that he takes it so well but to be honest, by this point I think he's just really used to Veronica accusing him of crimes he did not commit. I know that Veronica's only human, but for someone who's supposedly a great judge of human character and a hotshot detective, she gets it wrong so often - in particular about Logan. I'll have to do a run through but there was almost setting Russian mafia on Tom Cruz, defending sexual harassing teacher, accusing lots of people but the right people of the murder of Lilly .... I'll do a proper list later.

By the same token, Logan has also done some pretty awful things to Veronica too - even apart from the salt lick and doping Duncan routine.

"It’s not fine. I’m really sorry."

"Veronica. All I care about is you. Okay?" This bit is sincere and it's very touching, but then he says: "Did you find something out?" A lot of fans have said that Logan seemed a bit "off" in this scene. I know what they mean and there's something not quite right about the way he asks: "Did you find something out?" But more on that later.

"Yeah," Veronica says looking down.

"Well, do you want to tell me about it? I mean, you-you don’t have, you don’t have to tell me anything. I’m just here for whatever you need, okay." Jason Dohring is bloody brilliant that's all I can say. This line is a perfect combination of genuine concern laced with that "offness" which I alluded to earlier.

Veronica replies falteringly. "I was drugged but I wasn’t ..."

"Yeah?" Logan asks gently.

"I was with Duncan," Veronica says with a wondering note in her voice.

Logan looks stricken by this information. I'll get to this later.

"Apparently we ended up in the guest room together and he was wasted and I was…out of it…and I guess our feelings and nature…"

"I’m sorry," Logan whispers.

"I’m just glad you’re here," she tells him.

*sigh* this scene. No one else seems to have commented on why Logan's so "off" in this scene. I admit, I caught a glimpse of what I thought looked like a Frypan being waved around but blinked and missed it. The full significance occurred to me later in the episode.

On the one hand Logan is truly concerned about Veronica. His compassion is genuine. On the other hand, her words have made him guiltily recall his actions from the night of Shelly Pomroy's party. The salt lick anyone? Drugging Duncan? When he says: "I’m sorry," he's not just saying he's sorry these things happened to her, this is a pre-cursor for his apology for his actions on the night of the party.

Why doesn't he tell her immediately? I suspect Logan was quite wasted that night too and he also has to dredge his fuzzy memories to recall exactly what happened on the night, hence his own confession takes place later.

The main reason I don't like the scene is why does it suddenly show up after Keith is calling the hooker who looks like an older, blonde Frances O'Connor? What's Logan been doing in the meanwhile after the revelation from Veronica. Was he introspectively contemplating his navel? Did he go back through his own memories of the evening? Did he conduct his own investigation into what happened? Please tell me he wasn't just sitting around waiting for Veronica to come back and tell him what the deal was.

Another thought occurs to him. Did he show up again trying to talk to her or did Veronica call and say: "Logan, I have something to tell you, get over here." He's not her lap dog. Perhaps she said something like: "Logan, I was wrong. I need to apologise - can you come over?" That would be more acceptable.

Surprise!!!!

Really great scene. Just watching it made me squirm with the awkwardness of it all. Logan/Aaron awkwardness, Logan/Duncan awkwardness, Veronica/Duncan awkwardness, Veronica/Meg awkwardness, Meg/Duncan awkwardness and Logan&Veronica/Everybody Else awkwardness. I think I might have gasped aloud when the lights went on.

Again, following on the heels of a "Keith dealing with prostitute scene", we of course segue to .... errrr ... scene with Logan and Veronica.

It's outside the Echolls' front door at night. The house is in darkness and we can see Logan and Veronica approaching the door. They're walking very close to one another - either hand in hand or Logan has his arm around Veronica's shoulders.

"My dad thinks he’s a gourmet. Humour him," Logan tells her. As he notices that the house is in darkness he comments,"Ah, so now he’s going to make us eat to candlelight tonight".

They pause at the door and Logan whispers,"Okay, showtime". They kiss and back into the door, still kissing. I don't know why do this. Surely they know that this is the Door of Inevitable Doom and that making out outside the Echolls' door always leads to being busted by Logans' dad. Except it's worse this time .....

As they walk in the door (by my count there are four noisy kisses), Aaron shouts: Surprise!"

There is a look of stunned shock on Logan's and Veronica's faces as they stare into the room.

There are party decorations and stunned 09ers staring disbelievingly at them with accusing faces. There are mutterings of disbelieving disapproval and Veronica is just staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the scene. It's beyond embarrassing.

Veronica stares at Duncan (who is also being stared at by a pink-clad Meg). He emotes some form of disapproval or other negative emotion. I wonder why brother Duncan thinks he has the right to look so angry about the person he thinks is his sister going out with someone else. Sheesh. Yeah yeah I know they're not really related but during this scene, he still thinks they're one big happy family.

Slightly Off Topic Rant: I think I need to chime in here and voice a topic that is really pissing me off. I read a really good comment somewhere that incest is the new slash. I think "Lost" has a lot to answer for.

Not only do I think that incest is wrong for blood-relations, but I am really hating the cop-out that relatives can shag away so long as they're not related by blood. Step and adopted don't really "count"? How far do you take that? It's almost like it's discrediting the whole notion of adoption - you can't really be related unless you're related by blood?

Is our society so bored, jaded and decadent that we feel the need to latch onto every single taboo for sexual kicks and thrills? What's next? Emulating the Marquis de Sade's predilection for sexually assaulting poultry???? OK, anti-incest rant from me over. Sorry about that :)

Anyway, looks of horror as we fade to a commercial break to give poor Logan and Veronica time to regroup. As we fade back into them, they're both standing in the doorway still and what is cute as hell about this scene is that Veronica is hyperventilating but they kind of still very close to one another for moral support. Both are looking around the room but Logan's hovering over her protectively as his horrified gaze scans the room. Veronica's also kind of still staying very close to him as we get yet another shot of disapproving 09ers.

Aaron walks forward.

"So is this party nine months early or three months late?" Logan asks with his trade mark drawl combined with twisted smile. Veronica's looking down at the ground, trying not to look at the sea of accusing eyes.

"I got a lot of lost years I gotta make up for. This is my way of getting started," Aaron explains. I don't quite understand Aaron here, but more about him later.

Logan nods grimly. "It’s a good call," he says ironically although in a very under-stated way. He walks past Veronica and for one horrified moment I think he's about to go and talk to his friends and abandon a poor Veronica by the door.

Instead, Logan walks in front of Veronica to the other side of her, glances out at the room once more and then holds out his hand to her. She looks even tinier than usual standing next to him. There's something very tender about the way he holds out his hand to her. It's very reassuring, kind of an "I'll protect you tiny blonde one" gesture.

Equally gorgeous is the way she puts her hand in his. I had wondered if she was going to do the cliched: "Run out of the party with tears in her eyes" routine or "reject Logan in front of everyone" routine, but to my delight, she is prepared to take his hand in front of everyone.

Bearded Duncan watches on grimly as Meg watches him with concern very apparent in her voice.

Logan and Veronica take a step into the room and Dick walks forward, whispering very audibly to Logan. "Dude, what the hell are you doing? Please tell me this is like, some new reality show called “My Skank”"

As was intended, Veronica hears what he says and looks down but doesn't say anything. Her usual sass has deserted her and she is completely unable to defend herself. It's a really poignant contrast to her smack down of the bully in Hot Dogs or her biting comebacks to Dick and Beaver in M.A.D.

Fortunately, Logan's here to defend her. I love the expression on Logan's face as he speaks to Dick, all grim and quietly furious. "Goodbye, Dick."

The camera flashes to Bearded Duncan who looks the same as before. Presumably despite his wooden acting we are supposed to realise that he has overheard this whole exchange and understands its significance.

"What?" Dick demands in disbelief.

"Get out of my house," Logan informs him coolly. There's a gorgeous little shot of Veronica looking up at Logan at his words, almost disbelievingly. To me it looks like she had not expected Logan to stand by her or be so fierce in his defence of her. I find it a little odd that she would look so startled given that him holding out his hand to take hers was already his way of demonstrating that he was going to stand by her. Also, don't forget that it was always her idea to keep it secret and he was all for having it public. Then again, it's possible that she thought that once confronted with the awful reality of this public disapproval, Logan might have folded.

He doesn't fold. Quite the contrary. "You have a problem with Veronica, you leave," his eyes are really dark here and the expression on his face is very cold and determined. The camera closes in on a shocked Dick, standing at his shoulder is a frightened looking Beaver, looking like an ugly version of Frodo Baggins. In the background, the block of wood playing Duncan for this scene is still standing in the background with Meg clutching onto his arm.

Logan continues. "Actually, you have a problem with Veronica, you're pretty much dead to me," he gives a smile which is a little chilling. "...so just, like, evaporate or something, I dunno," he looks up, pretends to be casual about it but his words are pretty cold.

Dick looks very surprised and backs away as there is a murmuring in the room.

Veronica, still looking tiny is standing on Logan's right. Suddenly I notice that his shoulders are quite sloped. Now I feel the need to see what kind of shoulders Duncan has. Veronica's still looking down at the ground, unable to make eye contact with anyone. Anyone or just Duncan?

Logan announces,"That’s kind of a general invitation. If you don’t like my girlfriend then ..."

Duncan reacts at the word "girlfriend" and Veronica gasps and looks back at him.

"....just start heading toward the rectangle with the knob," Logan continues. I thought he said nun the first time and thought: "Is this some strange Young People joke for people who were born in the eighties?"

"Are you okay?" Meg asks Duncan but he pushes himself away from the pillar, ignores her and walks past her out the door. Logan's face changes and he says seriously:

"Look, Duncan, listen, I wanna ..." Veronica's face looks very troubled.

Because blocks of wood don't have ears, Duncan doesn’t stop and keeps walking out the door. Logan sighs and leans against the door while a very troubled Veronica walks into the room. She encounters the brunette Madison holding two drinks. Madison looks better as a brunette by the way. I thought that she looked like a scary overbred pedigree dog with her pale blonde hair.

"So. Are you like dating Logan now?" Madison asks.

"Yes, Madison," Veronica answers.

"Do you think his dad’s gonna do another movie soon or what? He’s way too cute to become a has-been," Madison says chattily as if they're friends. She then offers Veronica one of the drinks.

"You want one. They said it was sugar-free but, I don’t know." Veronica is looking at her as if she has grown two heads. A little distance beyond Veronica, we see Meg standing on her own, listening in.

Veronica takes the drink a little hesitantly, gives a fake smile and heads over towards Meg. Although she has her arms crossed defensively, says warningly to her: "You don’t want to drink that". I like Meg, she's a really nice and good person.

"Why?"

"I’m betting Madison gave you a trip to the dentist. It’s her thing. She does it to people who she doesn’t like. She spits in the cocktail and calls it a trip to the dentist, 'cause we're in eighth grade".

We then see Veronica grabbing Madison’s arm.

"Ow. What are you doing?" Madison squawks.

"Did you give me a trip to the dentist the night of Shelly’s party?" Veronica demands, her face intent.

"What? Hello, I have no idea what you’re talking about."

"Did you spit in your drink and give it to me at Shelly’s?" Veronica demands with more force.

"Like I was the only person’s spit you had in your mouth that night."

In the flashback to Shelly Pomroy’s party we see Dick walking to Madison with a drink, he kisses her, hands her the (spiked) drink. She's about to drink but then says: "Regular soda? Why didn’t you just fill the cup with lard?"

She starts to put the drink down but when she sees Veronica, she spits in the drink and holds it out for Veronica to take. Madison is truly disgusting, but then again she was/is dating the Disgusting Dick.

"You have no idea what you did to me." Veronica tells her.

"Oh my god! I spit in your drink. You are like so scarred for life." Madison says scornfully before walking off.

Outside, Duncan has walked like a zombie to his car. He tries to open the door, it's locked (duh), he looks for his keys but can't seem to find them. When he can't open the door, he has a complete meltdown and starts punching and kicking the door. He then proceeds to pick up a carelessly left shovel from a nearby wheelbarrow and with a howl he starts to smash the innocent window. He then moves onto the door and Meg comes running out. I'm not sure why she's the only one who heard the ruckus.

"Duncan! Duncan, what are you doing? Stop that!" she calls out. She has a sob of panic in her voice.

Duncan ignores her and keeps bashing at the door.

"This is about Veronica, isn’t it? You’re still in love with her, right? Answer me." Way to go Meg, that's the way to calm down your psychotic boyfriend.

Duncan still ignores her and appears to have dropped the shovel and is now attacking the door with his foot.

Well ..... what can I say? What a doozer. I don't know if Aaron knew that Veronica was coming over for dinner. If he did, then it was wrong of him to throw the party knowing that Logan and Veronica wanted to keep it a secret. It's possible he didn't know and he did mean the party for the best. I can't see any ulterior motives for the party other than some weird conspiracy theory that he's trying to get in sweet with Logan to get his mother's money. That doesn't really work because I think Aaron was significantly wealthier than Lynne.

Another ulterior motive could be that Aaron has finally realised that an angry, resentful Logan leads to acts of stupidity and potential embarrassment so he's attempting to get along with his son for this reason. Again this is a little unlikely given that he's already announced that he's quitting the business - although we don't know how genuine or permanent this intention was at the time.

The final theory is simply that Lynne's death genuinely was a wake-up call for Aaron which made him realise that he wanted to get close to his remaining family members. While unlikely, it's not completely implausible and Hamlin certainly acts very well in this role. I have no answers, only guesses.

Remember in my discussion of Aaron during his performance for the cameras in The Return of the Kane at the Homeless Shelter, I noted that Aaron said that Logan was a good kid but he also talked about what a great guy his father was. I contrasted what he said about his father there with what Aaron says about his father in Hot Dogs during the That's Amore scene. I think Aaron is pathologically self-absorbed and says and does whatever suits his purposes and desires.

As to the party generally, it was incredibly awkward but gave disconsolate, apprehensive LoVe worshippers like me who were plaintively hanging around the table waiting for any crumb after the false "Logan was responsible for Veronica's rape" accusation ....

We see that Logan is fiercely loyal, he doesn't care if people disapprove him, he doesn't court public opinion or approval and he is definitely not ashamed of Veronica. My favourite part about the scene was how tender and protective he was towards Veronica.

The final crumb for LoVe fans

The party is pretty subdued. Aaron is playing host, showing a couple out. Was the party really that short? It seemed to last about 10 minutes if that. "Thanks for coming guys. I hope you got something to eat" he says politely as he shows them out.

In the background, Veronica is standing alone, her face in her hands. Logan walks to her and holds out both his hands. She takes one of them and they walk out the back, hand in hand. They look very, very cute together - just very trusting and comfortable despite the nightmarish evening.

They head towards the pool room. Logan does his trade mark skip/hop down a step, turns around to put his hands under Veronica's arms to swing her down. She laughs aloud and it's a sweet gesture given that I'm sure she could have jumped down on her own, but I think he just wanted to touch her and she was happy for him to do so.

He catches her hand again, pulling her close to him as they walk side by side. Again, I have to say that all of a sudden Veronica looks even smaller than usual and Logan looks very tall.

They enter a darkened room and Logan pulls a very willing Veronica into his arms. "Now, see, why can’t it just be like this?" he asks her kissing her."Why do there have to be all those other people in this world?"

Logan kisses her again and pulls her towards the bed as she asks with mock suspicion: "What are you doing?"

Logan sits back onto the bed, pulling her with him. "You’re too short." he teases her. "I need to level the playing field".

She straddles his lap and they kiss again. Logan pulls Veronica’s jacket off her shoulders. "Is this where you take all your conquests?" she teases him.

Logan laughs and falls onto the bed, hands behind his head, pretending to lounge. "Nope, only the short ones," he tells hers.

Veronica leans over, taking the initiative and continues to kiss him. No idea why he picks this moment but Logan suddenly says: "Hey, I have to tell you something."

Veronica appears disinterested. "I'm sorry, we're past the confessional portion of this program." She kisses his cheek. "We're on to the make out".

Logan makes a sound between a laugh and a sigh. He turns his head to avoid her kiss and she kisses the other cheek. "Listen, Veronica, stop ..." he says with a note of urgency in his voice which makes her stop and look at him. "I gotta…I have to tell you something about Shelly’s party."

Obligatory flashback yet again to Shelly Pomroy’s damned party.

We find out that it is Logan who was the one orchestrating the body shots ..... he was the one who sprinkled the salt over her and put the lime in her mouth for another guy to enjoy.

Ewwww. Logan is going to need to do a lot to redeem himself for that particular action I'm afraid. It was wrong in so many ways to take advantage of a semi-conscious girl...... It's good that he confessed but the fact that he did it in the first place is very bad.

Veronica's body is then possessed by some alien creature speaking with her voice because she says: "I know about the salt lick. I gonna choose to think of it as one of those not real things." Where did the vengeful chick with attitude we all know and love go???? I'm not saying she should castrate Logan or make him swallow a tonne of lemons but her answer just made me go: "Huh?"

"There’s more," Logan confessed, a look of guilt on his face. I look up and see Rob Thomas' Frypan of Doom hovering above my head in readiness.......

Flashback yet again to Shelly Pomroy’s party. Duncan arrives and pushes the guy off Veronica. "What the hell are you doing? She can barely sit up, you freak!"

"Wait dude, you can’t be the cavalry and a martyr, man. Pick a side," Logan tells him.

"Leave her alone." Duncan snaps.

Logan opens a capsule of GHB, puts it in a drink, walks over to Duncan and gives it to him. He adopts a faux "I'm sorry" voice and says: "Hey, I’m sorry, dude. You know, man, you’re, I mean, you’re totally right. It’s no way to have fun, huh?" He hands Duncan the laced drink.

Oh my god. I feel like Rob Thomas has just hit me with his Frypan of Doom not once but twice. All that cuteness and lovely wit and banter between Logan and Veronica ended with two whacks of a frypan ...... He just doesn't want those two tortured kids to be happy.

Back in the present, Logan is on his back still but propped up on his elbows. Surprisingly, Veronica is still sitting upright across his lap listening. "I just wanted Duncan to have some fun," Logan say soberly. "You know, he barely even smiled since Lilly ..."

Yes, I always drug my friends when they're feeling down, too.

"You didn’t know what would happen." Veronica says, excusing him while my jaw drops to the ground.

"I’m the one who’s responsible for what happened to you. And I can’t take that I hurt you like that. I can’t take that I hurt you when all I want to do is protect you," he says seriously. I believe him, but saying sorry doesn't make it right, Logan .....

Maybe Madison drugged Veronica again because instead of taking Rob Thomas' Frypan of Doom and clobbering Logan with it, she kisses him again, pushing him back against the bed.

His hands move up over her back, sliding up to her shoulders and it could have been a very sexy moment except I'm still thinking about saltlicks and drugged blocks of wood. To his credit, although he could of just let it go, he stops the kiss. "I want you to trust me," he tells her.

"I do." she tells him.

They kiss some more but then Logan pauses again and lets out a massive sigh of relief. "Okay. I don’t know about you, but I could use a refreshment about now." Again this was weird. It was almost like he was going to say he wanted to slip into something more comfortable. Or did he do it to give Veronica the chance to think about things more carefully in case she did want to change her mind.

"Hmm!" Veronica says agreeably. Veronica rolls off him onto the bed and Logan gives her a quick kiss before going to get a screwdriver from a drawer. He unscrews a small vent from the wall and Veronica comments: "You learned that from Lilly."

"No, Lilly learned that from me," he corrects her.

He removes the vent and takes out the key to the liquor cabinet. "It’s almost endearing that I need a key to the liquor cabinet, don’t you think?"

Veronica smiles at him but when Logan uses the key it snaps off in the lock. "Wow, suave, huh?" he mocks himself

Veronica nods and Logan walks back to the bed. He holds out his hands and she comes towards him and they kiss. "I’ll be right back. Two minutes?"

Veronica makes a sound of agreement.

"Okay," Logan says as he pushes her down onto the bed with another kiss. She pushes him away with a smile and he leaves.

Video equipment, the final kick in the head (for this episode anyway)

As Veronica lies back and stares up at the fan, she notices that the fan has a line running from the ceiling to a bookcase.

As she examines it more closely, her investigations lead her to discover a video recorder, two screens which provide 2 views of the bed. In horror, with the assistance of Weevil she bolts. Presumably she waited for Weevil somewhere away from the house so Logan couldn't find her. I also don't think she told Weevil about the video equipment.

A good episode overall but it was just so strange and and parts of it felt so flawed.

Let's get Logan's motivations out of the way first. I loved the cute escape from the party, hand in hand, little skips and spins .... I liked the fact that Logan wanted to be honest with Veronica.

If he was Troy, he would have f*cked her first and then confessed to her if ever. The way he confessed suggested to me very clearly that he was serious about being in a relationship with her.

If he wasn't serious, then he wouldn't care that one day someone else might disclose what he had done and thereby wreck their relationship. I have no idea how far he was intending to go that night - heavy necking or all the way but it was clear that he was saying: "I don't want anything to go any further without you having the facts and the full truth about me and what I've done". I think he wanted to be completely open with her because he didn't want to have her running off on him again (sigh) or leaving him alone on a boat with bad clothes and a bottle of warm champagne (sob).

Why the sudden "refreshment" break? 2 possible reasons. He was so overwhelmed with relief that he needed a circuit-breaker. He didn't want to continue without taking some time out. The confessions were quite intense and startling. It's also possible that he didn't think that Veronica had had adequate time to consider what he had told her. It's possible that she was overwrought, emotional and swept up in the emotion of the day's revelations, the disastrous party and her feelings. Perhaps he didn't want her sleeping with him and then regretting it later: "I wasn't myself, I was overwrought, I didn't know what I was doing". When he confesses, Veronica barely gives his confessions any consideration, almost like she's trying to use sex as catharsis, to banish the memories. If Logan knows Veronica, which I think he does, I think he'd know that if she did that,she would deeply regret it later and perhaps rethink their relationship which he is trying so hard to build.

I think he was far more aware of the devastating nature of his confessions than Veronica was - which is why she seems to say: "You were responsible for the salt lick? Drugging Duncan? Ok, let's make out". It's possible that she was almost in shock. That's one possible take on the situation.

I'm also not entirely clear how they got from Veronica's apartment and her apology to him, to the party. Was it something like this?

"I’m just glad you’re here...."

Logan hesitated, wanting to hold her but remembering very clearly that the last time he had been here, she hadn't wanted him to hold her.

"It's all right." she said with a wry little smile.

"Is that your version of hold me?" he asked in a mock plaintive child's voice. She laughed.

"Yeah it is."

He moved awkwardly and then laughed, giving up and just reaching out and pulling her against him and up onto his lap where she curled up against him, her head tucked under his chin.

"I feel like I should be asking you what you want for Christmas."

"Shouldn't you be asking me first if I've been naughty or nice?" she asked wickedly, tilting her head up so that she could press a kiss against his jaw.

He groaned. "No Veronica. We are not going to neck on your couch at the apartment which you share with your father, a who could walk in on us at any moment, a man who owns a gun."

"I wouldn't let him shoot you," she said with a laugh, pressing another kiss to his jaw, laughing as he pulled away from her.

"By the time you said 'No Daddy no!!!!!' there is a possibility I'd already be dead on the floor with Backup drooling over my corpse," Logan said wryly.

His arms tightened around her and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"It's been a .... tumultuous day ..."

"That it has ...."

"Are you hungry? Do you want me to cook you dinner?"

"What you'll make me a sandwich?" he teased her and grimaced when she elbowed him in the ribs.

"I can cook. In a manner of speaking." He laughed regretfully.

"Can't .... my father's preparing yet another one of his oesophagus closing cordon bleu meals although given my recent disclosures hopefully he will prepare a dish sans shellfish unless of course he wants to see me go into anaphylactic shock and die. Why don't you come over for dinner with us?"

"I uh .... won't your father mind?"

"I told you, I think he likes you. Please come and save me from the tortuous task of making smalltalk with my Born Again Father who suddenly feels that in addition to tae kwan do and glass blowing he needs to bond with his surly teenager."

"Maybe Trina told him that you like running around without pants when you're drunk." she teased him. He shot her a reproachful look and she smiled.

"All right, bad boy. I'll rescue you from small talk."

What do you think? Could it have been that way? The other version goes like this:

"I’m just glad you’re here...."

"Me too."

"I'm so sorry I'm always falsely accusing you of every single heinous crime that takes place in Neptune."

"That's all right, I've been a bastard to you too and I haven't even told you about the salt lick and drugging Duncan. Wanna come to my house for dinner tonight?"

"OK, but no spoilers. I'm not supposed to know about the salt lick and the drugging yet."

"OK."

Logan and Veronica exit

I have no idea.

My other question. Why did Veronica just run instead of confronting Logan. If my above theory about Logan is correct, I think in a way Logan might have got his wish. Veronica had some additional time to think about the day's events. Finding the video equipment on its own might not have sent her into a tailspin but:

= Emotional Cocktail of Explosive Molotov Proportions.

I think the video equipment was the final straw. Veronica just couldn't deal with another thing and so she bolted rather than stick around to talk about things.

Meanwhile people like me were engaged in howling Star Warsian "Nooooooooooooooooo"s at the screen as yet another obstacle emerged in the path of what some describe as the LoVe boat.

More like an iceberg.

*sigh* I was telling jerilee that I couldn't quite bring myself to to do the commentary for Leave it to Beaver yet, given that that contains probably the Ultimate Frypan of Doom moment for LoVe Supporters - which is why I have retreated (at least temporarily) to the early crumb-hunting episodes of the season.

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