The 25 Days of Christmas Episodes – Day 19 – Veronica Mars “An Echolls Family Christmas”
Anyway, Weevil wins the game, and when he’s cashing out, Logan discovers that his cash box has been cleaned out. (Everybody but Weevil in this scene is crazy rich, for the record.) Weevil freaks out on them and demands that they turn over the cash. He strips them down to search them, and finally takes a Faberge egg in partial payment, before promising to collect from each of them.
So while Veronica tries to track down the money and get ex-boyfriend Duncan’s laptop back, P.I. Keith Mars (Veronica’s dad) takes a case from Lynn Echolls. Her husband, Aaron, is the target of some crazy-lady death threats. Lynn wants Keith to figure out who the stalker is before she ruins the Echolls Christmas party. And also murders her husband.
As the plots thicken, we discover that one of the poker players we’ve never seen before is a coke fiend, and the other is the son of a butler and just pretends to be rich. Keith discovers that Aaron’s stalker is possibly a wronged caterer, ostensibly fired for using a downstairs bathroom but actually for being caught in a compromising position with Aaron. Or else possibly the wife of Aaron’s agent. Aaron gets around, people.
At the Echolls Christmas party, both generations of Mars detectives set up elaborate stings. Veronica reveals that Connor is not actually a coke fiend, but actually on a sun tea diet. (It makes sense when she says it.) She absolves everybody at the poker game of their guilt, except for Sean, the fake-rich kid. Weevil gets his rightly-earned money and presumably administers an epic beatdown in the process. Keith determines that Aaron’s stalker is the pumpkin carver from the Halloween party, an insight that comes a little too late to keep her from stabbing Aaron.
Seriously, that’s the end of the episode.
Best Line – Veronica: “I’d be the best rich person ever. The perfect combination of frivolous and sensible.”
Christmas Tropes:
Trimming the tree – The episode opens with Veronica and her father decorating their tree while watching The Year without a Santa Claus. Keith is very concerned with distributing his Padres-themed ornaments evenly around the tree.
Reindeer sweater – Well, sort of. When Weevil searches them, Logan and Duncan have identical reindeer boxer shorts. Hee.
Celebrity guests – Real life married couple (and Dancing with the Stars alumni) Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna reprise their roles as Aaron and Lynn Echolls.
Learning a lesson – If you’re going to sleep with the help, pick somebody who wasn’t hired for her expertise with knives.
Cheer-o-meter Score: Holy crap. Let’s see. We’ve got adultery, mental illness, theft, poverty, drugs, and assault. Yep, that’s an Echolls family Christmas. Plus, there’s the pall cast over every episode with the long-running Lily Kane plot. Yep, one person in this episode, is Lily Kane’s killer. Bum ba BUM. This gets a 1, only because Kristen Bell makes everything cheerier.
