A Lesson in Epic from Veronica Mars

By Amanda Festa

Veronica Mars brings to the table all of the important life lessons: Don’t sacrifice who you are for money, power, or success. And, above all, don’t sacrifice passion for comfort.

Veronica and Logan

Epic.

When Veronica Mars was abruptly cancelled in 2007, fans were not happy. Sure, it was a great show, and it had a ton of untapped potential (Dick Casablancas and Eli Navarro were characters just scraping the surface in the third season). But, fans are more likely to swallow the bitter pill of a prematurely cancelled show if they are at least satisfied with the ending.

For Veronica Mars fans, this was a problem. In the final episode (clearly not originally conceived as a series finale), Veronica is dating likeable (but ironically disliked by fans) Piz (Chris Lowell), while she is on a slow build to reconciling with her ex-boyfriend (and runaway fan favorite) Logan (Jason Dohring). As a longtime Logan fan, I will offer this disclaimer: It’s not that we necessarily needed Logan and Veronica to end up together, but we needed something more than them ending on terrible terms, with only the vague implication that maybe someday they will be able to be in the same room together – a notion we are only given as they exchange a fleeting glance, imbued after the fact with meaning to placate the throngs of torch-carrying shippers. Continue reading

Loving a Succubus Ain’t Easy

Bo and DysonBy Amanda Festa

[Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers to Lost Girl episodes 3×07 and 3×09]

I recently got into the supernatural fantasy Lost Girl – and by “got into” I mean, methodically ran through the first two seasons on Netflix.  The show is reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, all grown up – similarly campy, self-aware, entertaining and just great escapist television. Continue reading

A Love Letter to La Femme Nikita

Nikita and MichaelBy Amanda Festa

My love of television was first solidified in high school with a show called La Femme Nikita — the original (adaptation of the French film) not the CW remake (of the television show adapted from the French film).  Back then the internet for television aficionados consisted of America Online chat rooms and a handful of Angelfire and Geocities fan-run websites.  With no DVR, no social media, and a download speed that would be laughable to teenagers today, I believe this will be my generation’s “walking to school barefoot uphill both ways.”
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