Veronica Mars used to be part of the 'in' crowd at Neptune High. She might only be the son of the sheriff, but she was dating the coolest boy, and best friends with the coolest girl. And then that best friend, Lilly Kane, was murdered. Veronica's father accused Lilly's father of the murder, and the Mars family found itself ostracized. Daddy Mars lost his job, and the new sheriff immediately found a new suspect for the murder.
Now an outsider, Veronica helps her dad at his new PI job, makes some pocket money on the side by doing freelance investigations for kids from school, and secretly tries to find proof of who really killed Lilly.
When it came out in 2004, Veronica Mars was quite unlike anything else that was on TV. It not only featured a tough and feisty female lead who used her wits and skills to out-maneuver her enemies, but it combined solid episode-by-episode plots with a satisfying season-long arc that never felt like it 'cheated' to maintain the mystery.
Fourteen years later, the landscape of TV is very different, and this show is no longer so unique in its strengths. Indeed, its feminist credentials in particular look a little tarnished: there's an uncomfortable amount of focus on proving Veronica's sexual 'purity'. It's also undermined just a smidgen by the fact that later seasons of the show, as well as the 2014 film, didn't measure up to the same standard.
Still, even though it doesn't stand out quite so much any more, and despite the uneven quality later in the franchise, the first season of this show is still excellent television; well-written and with a great cast. It's recommended.
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