He Bugged Me First

Episode 1.21: A Trip to the Dentist. Original Airdate 5.03.05

"After obtaining a shocking new piece of information, Veronica is determined to get to the bottom of what happened the night she was drugged and raped, even if it means piecing together the fuzzy stories of every 09er at Neptune High. Meanwhile, Aaron throws a party for Logan, but inadvertently throws a wrench into Logan and Veronica's secret relationship."

Daniel's Thoughts:

• Havana, Cuba.  ….in the 50s?  Nope, nope.  It’s today.  Just…old cars, I guess?
• Duncan has a beard – great disguise.  And hey, Daddy Mars found him
• V’s ignoring Logan….  And Weevil’s coming to her rescue.
• And Logan is getting all racist again – not a good look for him.
• BACK UP!
• Poor Veronica – having to explain to Logan how his bringing GHB to the party caused her to be raped.
• “As a rule, people who hate you aren’t that helpful” 
• And this is where everything gets pieced together.  It’s creepy and weird but necessary.
• So many people in this episode; so many past guest stars coming together.  That’s what I love about this show.
• Yay, Sam Huntington, the werewolf!
• “You can keep asking, but you’re not the fairest.” – Veronica to Madison looking in the mirror.
• Eww, Veronica made out with Dick
• And there was a moment, just a brief moment, when Veronica told Madison she was drugged, not drunk – Madison had an ounce of sympathy and then just like that, it was gone.
• The look on V’s face when Daddy Mars tells her to go to her room.  She gets it though. 
• I love that they’re showing these flashbacks from different points of view.  It wasn’t Veronica that made a pass at Dick and Casey.  It was Dick who took advantage of her.  Still gross.
• I love when Wallace and Veronica prove their friendship to each other….but Veronica is lying here…again. 
• Dick is such a…well dick.  This is so disgusting.
• Beaver claims he didn’t touch Veronica – but he’s guilty of not helping her either. (And guiltier than we know right now...spoilers...)
• Pretty much everyone at that party is guilty.
• How does a father not know his son is allergic to shell fish? I like how we’re being reminded now about how awful Daddy Echolls is.
• Was it Duncan?  What’s awful is that there are so many suspects – so many people it could have been.
• Poor Duncan – Having sex with someone he thinks is his sister.  That's....really messed up.
• And I like this follow-up.  Veronica is having the worst day – the worst realizations of her life.  And she comes to Wallace.  She seems like she’s told him everything even if we don’t see it.  And Wallace is being a great friend.  I get it.  It’s hard for Veronica to trust. And it’s nice that she slowly but surely trusting Wallace – and even showing him the files on her investigation.
• Keith’s hiring a hookah!  And duh, we’re not stupid.  We know he didn’t go all the way to Las Vegas to do this.  He’s investigating.
• This is about Abel Koontz.  He’s finally bringing this mystery to a head.
• Surprise! 

• - yes, just as awkward.  Now everyone knows that Logan and Veronica are dating so….yay. 
• Oh man, and Duncan looks so pissed.  And Meg realizes it.  We never saw Meg and Duncan’s reunion.  Does Meg know why he left?  Did he even tell her?
• So getting drugged was a total accident.  It wasn’t even anyone’s fault. Well I mean it was Dick’s fault for drugging the drink in the first place – but Veronica wasn’t even the intended target. 
• OMG, do the curtains in the pool bedroom (Yes, that’s a thing) has Aaron’s picture on them.

Yep, there's Aaron & Lynn...on the curtains...

• Oh no oh no oh no.  Logan drugged Duncan.  He didn’t know what happened and Veronica is being seriously understanding about it.  I mean on the one hand Logan is being upfront about his past.  Also on that one hand,  he seems like he's growing up.  On the other hand...he drugged his friend.
• And V – being the ever observant one – finds a camera in the pool bedroom… wtf.  She immediately blames Logan and runs away…this must be the one with the misunderstanding. [My favorite episode of Friends! - Z]
• And hey, there’s Lianne!  Lianne’s home….  why...

Zelda's Thoughts:

• Time to find out who raped Veronica, with every character who's appeared in season one returning!
• Except first Cuba. Oh hey, this is when we still weren't talking to Cuba.
• Duncan (who looks okay with scruff?) didn't even notice Keith sitting down at the table with him. Yep he was easy for Keith to find after all.
• Weevil providing backup to Veronica, shielding her from Logan. FRIENDS. 
• But also everything hurts and the boys are fighting and everyone hurts.
• Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring acting the shit out of this confrontation. I just love this cast so much.
• "As a rule, people that hate you aren't that helpful."
• Meg saw boys doing body shots off an unconscious Veronica, but assumed Veronica was wasted (as did pretty much everyone).
• Aw man Celeste to Duncan. "Next time you run away, take your medication with you."
• And now we know Madison was the one who wrote Slut on Veronica's car.
• Madison's hair this episode is so many different colors because Flashback! 
• "I have never done anything to you, UP TIL NOW." Seriously, Madison, do you not know the thousand ways Veronica can destroy you? Have you not been paying attention all season?
• I'm so impressed Keith is defending Veronica to Alicia. But also he is LIVID with her.
• "Fine. But he bugged me first."
• omg Veronica has a Cuba poster on her wall. that's ... on topic, set dressers

• "Veronica, what if you started looking for another job, selling clothes or something ... I just can't help think that your life would be better if you weren't working for me." // "Are you kidding me? You're the best father in the world ... I never would have gotten through this past year if it wasn't for you." // "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have to." The Marses, you guys.
• And Casey tries to brush Veronica off, but she reminds him that he had a heart at one point, and she saw it.
• Fuck Dick, Fuck Sean, and Fuck Beaver, who's watching, as they feed Veronica shots. Fuck all of them and fuck this rape culture and fuck everything.
• Wallace! We've missed you this episode.
• V apologizes but he reminds her "I'm not stupid. I know I wasn't just delivering a plant. I could've said no."
• But then he also reminds her, when he finds out Logan used one of the absent slips W gave to V: "You, I do favors for. My friends, I put my butt on the line for. That guy doesn't even know my name. You wanna tell me why I'm helping him out?" Good point, Wallace. The slips were his favors to dole out, not hers. He and Logan don't know each other from Adam and Steve.
• Aw when Veronica cites one of her favorite local deputies, we all know whom she means!
• Seeing Beaver be the good guy and talk Dick out of raping Veronica is making me feel ill because I know what season two tells us about this night.
• But I guess this means they decided at this point that Beaver wasn't just a Dick 2.0
• Ahahaha I forgot about Veronica using her car to bust up Dick's board in revenge.
• "Look, I swear to god, I didn't touch you, Veronica." LIAR LIAR BEAVER IS A RETCONNED LIAR
• I love the Rashomon style of these flashbacks, though. Same dialogue, different speakers, depending on who's telling the story. We don't always know which version to trust (well, we know not to trust Dick's version, like, ever)
• Beaver tells V he didn't rape her, but as she points out, he still left her there. We now know so many people knew she wasn't okay, but they left her there, vulnerable.
• Wow. Aaron made a fancy dish ... which Logan reminds him he's deathly allergic to.
• "Round one of How Well Do You Know Your Son: When is my birthday?" // "*huffs and blinks* February." // "Wow. Well, you got a vowel right."
• "My eighteenth birthday, whenever that is."
• Hi Carrie Bishop! "Do you remember Shelly's party last year? Yeah, I don't." Tag line for this episode.
• Gasp! Carrie saw Veronica and Duncan getting it on.
• Man, V is so hurt. You can see how much pain she's in, just looking at Duncan.
• Ouch. He thought she was conscious and consenting.
• "Then why did you leave me there? If it was so tender and loving, why did I wake up by myself, searching for my underwear?"
• Ow ow ow ow and he did it thinking they were siblings? That's ... ew.
• At least V is finally confiding in Wallace. She's told him about the rape, and now she's reading him in on the Lilly Kane files.
• Now we're in Vegas. Keith is quite the world traveler this week.
• Guys, my ship is making up. They're sitting on a couch and looking deeply in each other's eyes. 

• Oh but Logan's face when she says it was Duncan. Because he knows Duncan was drugged too. Oh he didn't reveal that yet. It's hard knowing the future sometimes.
• Ahh Keith called the escort Cheyenne because she was with Abel Koontz during Lilly's murder.
• Uh oh....Logan and Veronica making out ... just in time for Logan's surprise party.
• Wow and Aaron is the ONLY one to yell Surprise. It'd be more hilarious if it wasn't the most awkward ever.
• "So is this party nine months early or three months late?"
• On the plus, Logan basically says fuck you if you have a problem with Veronica.
• HEY IT'S THE TITLE. A Trip to the Dentist = Madison spits in a drink and gives it to someone she doesn't like.
• Which is how Veronica got drugged. It was malicious, but it wasn't the intended malice. The drugs were a second-hand malice from Dick attempting to drug Madison. Isn't rape culture the best? Isn't it fun how Dick is let completely off the hook for all this? Isn't it fun how Rob Thomas's love for Ryan Hansen leads to exactly no redemptive arc ever for Dick but we keep him around anyway and never demand any kind of reckoning?
• Shit, Duncan's having a rage meltdown. You know, like all epileptics have. Because that's what epilepsy is, you guys. Rage blackouts.
• THEY'RE DOING THE SPINNY THING AGAIN. Sorry, I really like how Logan and Veronica spin when they're together.
• Ah, here's where Logan tells her Duncan was drugged too. But he also tells her that Duncan rescued her from the body shots (and confesses he was aiding and abetting said body shots).
• Everything is complicated and messy and my god do the characters on this show make bad choices sometimes.
• "I want you to trust me." / "I do."
• Right before Veronica discovers the hidden camera in the pool house.
• Also we have one last clue about Lilly: hiding things in the air vents.
• And she called Weevil to rescue her from Logan again. Man, I can definitely see why some ppl ship her with Weevil.
• Aw shit Lianne's back.
• I DON'T THINK ENOUGH THINGS HAPPENED IN THIS EPISODE. DEFINITELY NOT ENOUGH REVELATIONS AND CHARACTER MOVES. NOPE. BASICALLY A BORING FILLER EPISODE.

Crossfire!

Daniel and Zelda had a post-ep discussion about this whole Veronica/Duncan encounter, now that we have full knowledge. Veronica wasn't able to consent, but Duncan didn't know. But now it turns out he wasn't able to consent. However, unlike Veronica, he wasn't blacked out; he remembers the night. Which is interesting, since HE BLACKS OUT ALL THE TIME.

Favorite Lines:

Daniel: 

Zelda: "Do you remember Shelly's party last year? Yeah, I don't." - Veronica

Arc/Continuity:

Neptune Roll Call: Wallace, Duncan, Logan, Weevil

First Appearance: Cheyenne

Recurring: Dick Casablancas, Meg Manning, Cole, Clarence Wiedman, Celeste Kane, Luke Halderman, Sean Friedrich, Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas, Madison Sinclair, Casey Gant, Alicia Fennel, Carrie Bishop, Aaron Echolls, Lianne Mars

Logan's Nicknames: Paco (Weevil)

Stats:

Dead Humans - 0

Backup Sighting - 1

Veronica Breaks In - 0

Veronica Tases Someone - 0

Mac Hacks - 0

Who's Your Daddy? - But Duncan thinks he knows

Wallace Does Veronica a Favor - 0

Veronica Wants a Pony - 0

Logan Punches Someone - 0

Dick's Single Entendres - 2 ("Oh, I'd hurt her. You, she might not even notice."; "Make sure you suit up. You don't know where she's been." (this one is only Dick's in Sean's version))

Shenanigans Called - 0

VERONICA WAS RIGHT - 0

VERONICA WAS WRONG - 0