Green-Eyed Monster (Veronica Mars)


"Green-Eyed Monster" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American television series Veronica Mars, and the twenty-sixth episode overall. Written by Dayna Lynne North and directed by Jason Bloom, the episode premiered on UPN on October 19, 2005.
The series depicts the adventures of Veronica Mars as she deals with life as a high school student while moonlighting as a private detective. In this episode, Veronica helps a woman named Julie find out whether her boyfriend, Collin, is cheating on her. Meanwhile, Nathan Woods shows up in Neptune and gives some new information regarding Alicia Fennel.

Synopsis

Veronica calls the hospital to see whether or not Meg Manning has been removed from the ICU. Afterwards, a woman, Julie, comes in and says that she needs Keith to investigate whether or not her boyfriend, Collin, is cheating. As she is leaving, Keith comes in and tells Veronica that he can't take on another case due to his Sheriff run. At his request, Veronica pretends to call Julie and cancel the case, although she decides to take it on herself, hoping to get a few thousand dollars. Veronica contacts Julie, who says that she's been noticing signs of cheating. Jackie invites Wallace to help her with trigonometry. The police officer from the previous episode, Nathan Woods, pulls up to Alicia's house. Alicia tells Keith about her problem with Nathan, and he agrees to help. Wallace and Jackie are being very flirtatious in school. Nathan tries to break into Alicia's house until Keith shows up. Keith thinks that he is a criminal named Carl Morgan, although he's not. Veronica attempts to visit Meg in the hospital and finds Duncan waiting there. Meg's parents angrily tell both of them to leave. Collin goes into a woman's house, and Veronica takes pictures and sends them to Julie. After investigating further, Veronica finds out that Collin is actually just seeing a rabbi and tackles Julie before she can barge into the house.
Julie requests more surveillance on Collin for an extra $1,000. Keith comes into Sheriff Lamb's office and tells him about "Carl Morgan." Veronica notices that an earring that she previously saw in an evidence bag surrounding the death of David "Curly" Moran belonged to Weevil. Weevil got an anonymous call saying that Curly was behind the bus crash. Wallace goes to help Veronica, leaving Jackie by herself, leading Jackie to feel jealous. Veronica, disguised as a sorority girl, investigates Collin by going to his house, pretending to have a flat tire, and attempting to seduce him while Wallace films. Veronica tells Wallace about the guy she saw with Jackie the other night. Veronica, pretending to need a computer, goes into Collin's house. Veronica tries to seduce him once again, but he denies her advances. On the computer, Veronica copies all of Collin's files onto a hard drive, and Collin tells her that this is not his house—he is house-sitting for Nicolas Cage. Veronica sends Wallace to distract Collin while the files download. Veronica and Duncan share a romantic dinner, but it is ruined when Veronica brings up Meg. Later, Veronica looks at Collin's files and finds out that he has been researching Julie's wealthy family.
That night, Meg's sister, Lizzie, shows up at Duncan's door. Lizzie tells Duncan to remove any private information from Meg's computer before her parents see it. Lizzie finds Veronica, and Veronica decides to call Mac for help. Mac successfully stores all Meg's information onto a hard drive. Julie calls Veronica, and she tells her that he was being completely faithful. Veronica almost looks at Meg's files before thinking better of it. Sheriff Lamb calls Keith and tells him that "Carl Morgan" is actually a police officer named Nathan Woods. Veronica tells Julie that his supposed house and car are not actually his and that he was researching her family. Keith walks in and scolds Veronica for taking on the case. Julie informs Veronica that she broke up with Collin. Veronica sends Julie a package saying that it was a mistake for them to break up with each other. Keith apologizes to Veronica. Veronica investigates Weevil's story and eventually connects it to Logan. Logan denies the accusations but says that he threw a party on the night of the bus crash and that Weevil crashed it. Keith digs further into Alicia's backstory, and Nathan tells Wallace that he is Wallace's father.

Cultural references

The following cultural references are made in the episode:
The following three songs can be heard in the episode:
"Green-Eyed Monster" was written by Dayna Lynne North and directed by Jason Bloom. The episode is Bloom's first of four directing credits for Veronica Mars as well as North's fourth writing credit. The episode features the return of recurring character Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, who had not appeared since "M.A.D.". Among other guest stars in the episode are Laura Bell Bundy and Cress Williams, who would later come to star together in the television series Hart of Dixie. The episode's title refers to the phrase "Green-Eyed Monster," a synonym for jealousy.

Reception

Ratings

In its original broadcast, "Green-Eyed Monster" received 3.05 million viewers, marking an increase in.02 million viewers from the previous episode, "Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang", and ranking 98th of 112 in the weekly rankings.

Reviews

Price Peterson of TV.com gave a positive review, saying that he "really enjoyed this episode," and that "I loved the undercover work Veronica did, and I'm getting more and more invested into her relationship with Duncan." He also praised the way the season's cohesion up to the point of this episode. "After four episodes this season already feels more cohesive and better blended than last season did. Cases of the week are set up in advance, we're learning more and more about characters' backstories, the dialogue keeps getting snappier." Television Without Pity gave the episode a "B".
Rowan Kaiser, writing for The A.V. Club, gave a mixed review, criticizing the case-of-the-week while praising the subplots. "The big problem is that the case…is too transparent. The nature of her boyfriend was expectedly twisty, but it was largely irrelevant." However, he lauded the development of the Fennels. "The Alicia Fennel subplot, which I was dubious about when introduced, may still be problematic, but it did give us more time with Keith Mars in a variety of different moods...and the twist at the end...was not one I expected, so kudos on that.