Let’s face it: procrastination is an integral part of college life. My poison of choice is binging on TV shows before I finally submit to studying. However, the hardest part is actually deciding what show to watch. There are so many choices!
So let me tell you about a severely underrated TV show that any college girl should say she has seen, Veronica Mars. This name may sound familiar because the show aired in its entirety from 2004-2007. But before you cringe at the thought of their post- 1990s outfits, think about this: this show is the reason Kristen Bell has a career.
That’s right, before playing Beth in When in Rome or voicing Gossip Girl in the show by that name, Kristen Bell put the sass in sassy as the title character of Veronica Mars. Veronica Mars is the daughter of a disgraced sheriff who now works as a private detective in the town of Neptune, California. She has picked up a few tricks from her old man and uses her intelligence and dry wit to solve cases of her own.
The most pressing of these cases comes to be the murder of her best friend, Lilly Kane. So Veronica, shunned out of her A-list social circle after her father’s fall from grace, navigates through her life as a high school outsider, all the while trying to solve the case that most plagues her.
While watching this show, I was impressed not only by Veronica’s investigative skills, but also by her abilities in general. She is a capable, independent girl who doesn’t ask many for help, her father excluded. I must add, their father-daughter relationship is the most beautiful aspect of the show. The playful, cutting banter does not distract from the genuine caring they both hold for each other- and it’s great. Veronica has her faults, chiefly emotional ones, but they are depicted to portray her as exceedingly relatable. The show is a perfect blend of film noir-style investigation and a light-hearted high school setting. This blend makes things all the more interesting, as questions like “Who killed Lilly Kane?” are asked alongside “Do you think my ex-boyfriend still loves me?”. It satisfies our need for a girly romance while still holding the thrill of any great detective show.
And at the end of the day, Veronica Mars is a perfect role model for girls like us. She teaches that it is possible to be successful regardless of size, age, and gender in a society that often dismisses younger women. I, for one, definitely aspire to reach the level of sarcasm that Veronica dishes out as she takes those that doubted her down a notch! In my opinion, empowered females are lacking in mainstream media. It’s been hard for me to find a show where the potential of a female character doesn’t get sidelined to fit the male protagonist’s ego, or where women don’t exist simply to act as a love interest or an object of desire. Veronica Mars sets the standard of creating a show about an intelligent girl who is trying to make her own way in the world.
So, I recommend Veronica Mars wholeheartedly. All three seasons are finished, so make sure to catch up! Once you get to Season 3, keep your eyes out for Geisel and other parts of UCSD’s campus, because our school provides the backdrop for Veronica’s fictional college. Oh, and catch up quickly, because Veronica Mars the Movie is set to come out in 2014!