Flashback to 'Mars!' Plus Another 'One' Premieres, Press Tour and Birthday Wishes

Let me just say, I loved Meg Manning. She was an awesome character, and I was so bummed when things went sour between her and Veronica over Duncan. I was even more bummed when they killed her off this past season. But, I digress. Today's flashback edition features the episode of Veronica Mars where we first met Meg and Mac, so that fact alone makes it an instant classic. It's also the episode that had one of the show's best endings to date. We're going back to the 8th episode of the series - "Like A Virgin" - to discover the importance of your reputation and the possibility that the man who raised you may not be your father. As usual, all of the screencaps in today's edition are from the extremely comprehensive vm-caps.com.


The episode unravels over the results of one of those Internet purity tests. At first, the students of Neptune High think it's fun to take the test to determine their level of purity, but the fun soon turns to mayhem when the students begin buying the results of their fellow classmates' tests. This leads to some students putting other students' names on the test and then purposely making those students seem a lot less than pure. The entire ordeal goes all Mean Girls as students continue to perpetuate their classmates' soiled reputations. Veronica chooses to take the high road, but that doesn't make her immune to the purity test's wrath. As expected, one of the other students fills it out for her, and she doesn't come out smelling like a rose. Still, Veronica continues to steer clear of all the fuss until Meg asks for her help. Even though Meg is a part of the popular 09er crowd, she has always been nice to everyone, including Veronica. She even lent Veronica her cheerleading uniform after gym class when some other students threw Veronica's clothes into the toilet. Veronica agrees to help Meg, and she learns that someone must be hacking into the students' login password in order to take the test as someone else. Since she isn't a hacker whiz, she enlists the help of the school's resident hacker aficionado, Mac. The two try to decipher who has been hacking whom, but the web is quite tangled. Veronica finds that she's signed onto another computer at the school, which means that someone is hacking into her login right now. She tries to find out whom, but she's too late. The hacker is gone. She does discover that they sent an email to Duncan from her account claiming that she still loves him and has a VD. Veronica notes that the hacker was talking to someone named "Froggy." She sends a message to "Froggy" asking for a password.


The investigation continues, but now, Veronica has a solid lead. She knows that the only person who has everyone's passwords is the school's IT guy. She follows him and finds him in a car with a student, so she pulls out her camera and begins taking pictures. Later at school, she watches all of the suspects meander through the halls, but she suddenly stops on Meg's good friend, Kimmy. It seems Kimmy was tired of Meg getting everything that Kimmy coveted - the anchor job at the school's daily newscast, the lead in the musical and cheerleader - so she hacked into her account to knock her down a few pegs. The author of the email was Duncan's current girl, who believed that he still had feelings for Veronica, but the creator of the purity test was Miss Hacker herself, Mac. She cooked up the test to make a few extra bucks, and she ended up earning enough to buy herself a brand new Beetle. And what of that amazing ending that I alluded to at the beginning of this post? Veronica had been looking into getting a pass to meet face-to-face with Lilly's convicted killer - Able Koontz. She created an alias for herself and pretended to be from Able's hometown newspaper, but she wasn't fooling Able. He knew who she was right away, and he told her something so upsetting that even the emotionally tough Veronica began to sob as she sat in her car alone in the parking lot of the state prison. He tells her that her mother used to visit Jake Kane in his office frequently because Jake Kane is her father. This classic episode, along with all of the first season outings, is available on the season 1 DVD set. To check it out for yourself, pick up your copy today. Or rent one through Netflix, or check your local library for a free borrowed copy. Veronica's second season is currently airing in reruns on UPN every Tuesday night. Tonight, you can catch another week of back-to-back episodes. In the first hour (one of the show's BEST this season), the FBI comes to Neptune after Duncan steals his and Meg's baby and makes a run for the border. Check out the opening scene HERE. In the second hour, Wallace enlists Veronica's help after he is involved in a tragic hit-and-run.


Discretion is not Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson's strong suit. In fact, she likes to conduct her investigations in a completely opposite manor. Celebrities and their private lives are all about discretion, especially when it comes to the invasive paparazzi. So, if I remember by SAT study course as well as I probably should, then we can deduct from these two statements that Brenda should never investigate a celebrity-involved homicide case. Oh boy! These two worlds collided during last night's episode of The Closer, and let's just say that everyone was left picking up the pieces. A dead member of the paparazzi isn't exactly a headline-grabber, unless he dies in a hotel full of the celebrities that he was there to cover. One of those celebrities has a huge bounty over his own head for one incriminating photo. Enter the incriminating photo of the married and presumed straight celebrity in a "compromising" position with another man. Rinse, lather and repeat, and you have a deadly recipe for murder. The only problem for Brenda and co. was the fact that the death appeared to be a suicide. That was until Brenda had her detectives throw a dummy off the hotel balcony her way. The dummy landed in the exact same location as their dead paparazzo (Apparently, this is the correct singular form of the word. Who knew? See, TV is educational!). So the question is, who killed the photographer? Was it his ex-wife who's still in love with him (unlikely), a celebrity who is about to be outed (seems likely), the hotel's night manager who tipped off the photographer (motive??) or the celebrity's favorite stalker who would do anything to protect his idol (guy is crazy is all I'm saying!)? Would you believe it was the ex-wife??!! I should have known because these crime shows love to throw us off certain people's scents just to get us in the end. Apparently the ex-wife had a beef with her former husband because she wanted to get back together and he didn't. She held his beloved camera over the balcony and the two struggled until he fell over. Accident, right? Not so much. He was clinging for life on the bottom wrung of the balcony, so she stomped on his hand until he let go and fell to his death. And that is why you never mess with a woman scorned! I found myself laughing out loud at the murder reenactment scene with Brenda and co. The fact that she was shouting up to them instead of just using her cell phone was hilarious! Like I said, discrete isn't Brenda's middle name.


QUICK CUTS

*TV TONIGHT: If it seems like everyone has a talent show these days, then it should be no surprise to hear that ABC rolls out another one tonight. The One: Making a Music Star (9-11 p.m.) blends singing talent and drama as the contestants share a house Last Comic Standing style.

*PRESS TOUR DIARY CONTINUES: TVGuide.com's Mike Ausiello is on the scene of the TCA Summer Press Tour, and he's keeping us informed with his hilarious diary. Today, he talks about the full CW presentation yesterday including the net's brand new shows Runaway (which contains some of his funniest material ever!) and The Game as well as returning favorites Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls. He also has an exclusive interview with new GG showrunner David Rosenthal who says that Logan will remain in London, Christopher will be a bigger presence this season and Luke will deepen his relationship with April and Anna. Click HERE for all the scoop from Rosenthal. On the Veronica front, Tina Majorino (Mac) is now a full-fledged regular cast member (Yay!!), expect to see Logan, Wallace and Dick going to Hearst with Veronica, the show will air uninterrupted for 9 episodes with the first mystery of the season (the second mystery will run 7 episodes and the third will run 6), Charisma Carpenter (Kendall) will make an appearance and Stephen King may show up in a future episode if his schedule permits (Executive producer Rob Thomas asked him to play a college professor in an episode, but he was booked. The best-selling author asked Thomas to keep him in mind for a future appearance). Click HERE to read Ausiello's scoop from the CW presentation yesterday.

*And finally, very special birthday wishes go out to Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell. The actress turns 26 today.

Happy Birthday Kristen!!

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That's all for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow as the countdown continues! We've made our way all the way down to the teens in the summer-long countdown of PTR's Best Episodes of the Season. Tomorrow's picks include a deadly 911 call, a hilarious baby shower and the consequences of taking it on the lam. Plus, all the latest television news!


To get more television coverage, including the network's new fall schedules and a complete archive of the best of Pass the Remote with a photo gallery featuring pictures from the set of Veronica Mars, click on over to PassTheRemote.net.