My Mother, the Fiend
"My Mother, the Fiend" | |
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Veronica Mars episode | |
Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 9 |
Directed by | Nick Marck |
Written by | Phil Klemmer Dayna Lynne North |
Production code | 2T7209 |
Original air date | November 30, 2005 |
Guest appearances | |
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"My Mother, the Fiend" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American mystery television series Veronica Mars and the thirty-first episode overall. Directed by Nick Marck, the episode was co-written by Phil Klemmer and Dayna Lynne North. It was first aired on November 30, 2005, on UPN.
The series depicts the adventures of
"My Mother, the Fiend" features the third and final appearance by Alyson Hannigan on the show. The show's crew found it difficult to work an episode into Hannigan's schedule because of other projects. The episode was accompanied by an alternate ending, a publicity move made by executive producer Joel Silver and the UPN promotions department. The episode was initially viewed by 2.82 million viewers and received mostly positive reviews. For example, Rowan Kaiser, of The A.V. Club, wrote "I am intrigued by the decisions to make Veronica less than pure, but this time, I'm not as disappointed by the followthrough."
Synopsis
In health class, the students are assigned to take care of fake babies. Vice-Principal Clemmons (Duane Daniels) calls Veronica into his office and gives her detention for having keys to his file cabinet. Beaver walks up to Mac (
Veronica asks Keith (Enrico Colantoni) about Lianne's suspension, which she thinks was punishment for spreading a rumor that Celeste was pregnant. Keith says that he doesn't know anything about it, but agrees to look up birth records for 1980. Trina slips and falls during a play rehearsal, knocking herself out. Beaver meets with Kendall and confronts her about selling his father's possessions for little money. Beaver gives her his plan, which involves her being the face of the Phoenix Land Trust, as Beaver is under 18. Keith search of the birth records finds that no baby was born to either "Kane" or "Carnathan" (Celeste's maiden name) at that time. However, he finds that a baby was abandoned in the girls' bathroom at the 1980 Neptune High prom. Veronica bad-mouths Celeste in Duncan's suite only for Celeste to walk in, having overheard everything. Veronica learns that Duncan never told his parents about their relationship. Celeste insults Veronica's mother, and Veronica deduces that Celeste's cleaning lady, Astrid, is probably her daughter. Weevil confronts Logan and they argue before Weevil admits that he no longer thinks Logan killed Felix. However, they agree to start fighting in order to keep up appearances when the bell rings.
Mac shows her work to Beaver, and they flirt. Veronica, under a disguise, meets with the prom baby's temporary foster mom. Veronica learns that the baby's adopted mother died by suicide and her adopted father is in jail, hinting that the baby is Trina Echolls. Veronica visits Trina in the hospital and they plot to smoke out Trina's birth mother by telling the tabloids Trina needs a bone marrow transplant. During play rehearsal, Mary Mooney approaches Trina and using sign language explains that she is Trina's mother. Mary explains to Veronica that Lianne was a friend (not a fiend) and that Lianne helped her cover up her pregnancy. It is revealed Trina's father is Principal Moorehead, and Trina confronts him about leaving her at the prom in front of many faculty. Veronica finds the dead rat that Keith picked up at the bus. Veronica deduces that Vice Principal Clemmons deliberately gave Veronica her detention task so that she would find her mother's permanent file and expose Principal Moorehead, leaving Clemmons to be promoted to Principal. Veronica picks up Abel Koontz's (Christian Clemenson) belongings and walks into Meg's (Alona Tal) room where she discovers that Meg is pregnant. After Veronica leaves the room Meg is shown opening her eyes.
Production
Directed by
"My Mother, the Fiend" also marks Hannigan's third and final guest appearance on the show. Hannigan was open to appearing in another episode, but she was unsure whether or not her busy schedule would allow it. She also felt that the character's arc had come to a natural close in this episode.[6] In an interview, Rob Thomas said that due to her busy schedule, it was difficult to write an episode featuring Hannigan. On Hannigan's role in the episode and her future availability, Thomas commented:
Well, to work around Alyson's schedule is really difficult for us. It's hard to plan to write an episode with Alyson in it because we don't know exactly what her free days are. Even the episode that we did with her, there was a huge kerfuffle, we actually had to slide that story line one episode down from when we originally wrote that. We've loved having Alyson in the show, and I'm sure we will again, some day, if she's willing, because we've had a lot of fun with her. But we have nothing booked with her right now.[1]
The episode also features a reappearance by Celeste Kane (
Reception
Ratings
In its original broadcast, "My Mother, the Fiend" received 2.82 million viewers, marking an increase from "Ahoy, Mateys!" and ranking 101st (out of 112) in the weekly rankings.[8]
Reviews
The episode received mostly positive reviews. Price Peterson, of TV.com, gave the episode a positive review, writing that he "[l]oved this episode. That reveal was simultaneously shocking and heartbreaking. Plus it took one of the show's most annoying characters (Trina) and made her both sympathetic and heartbreaking." He also praised the information found on Veronica's mother: "It was nice that Veronica got to see a better side of her mother than we usually do…Heartwarming!"[9] Maureen Ryan, of the Chicago Tribune, called the episode "engrossing" and that it is a better use of a viewer's time than Lost, which aired at the same time as Veronica Mars.[10]
Rowan Kaiser, of
BuzzFeed ranked the episode 48th on its ranking of Veronica Mars episodes, writing that it made the viewer "bored."[14] On a similar list, TVLine ranked the episode 19th.[15]
References
- ^ a b c d Ryan, Maureen (January 20, 2006). "'Veronica Mars' scoop". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^ "Phil Klemmer". TV.com. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^ "Dayna North". TV.com. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^ "Nick Marck". TV.com. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^ a b Ryan, Maureen (October 28, 2005). "A Chat with Jason Dohring of 'Veronica Mars'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
- ^ Goldman, Eric (July 19, 2006). "Alyson Hannigan Talks Buffy and How I Met Your Mother". IGN. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
- ^ "Veronica Mars - The Complete Second Season". Retrieved September 17, 2008.
- ^ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. December 6, 2005. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2008.
- ^ Peterson, Price (July 7, 2012). "The Veronica Mars Season 2 Dossier: Episodes 9-12". TV.com. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ Ryan, Maureen (November 29, 2005). "'Veronica Mars': Better than 'Buffy'?". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ Kaiser, Rowan (December 9, 2011). "Review: Veronica Mars: "Ahoy, Mateys!" / "My Mother, the Fiend"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
- ^ "Veronica Mars My Mother, the Fiend Recap". Television Without Pity. November 29, 2005. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (December 1, 2005). "Eko...Eko…Eko…". What's Alan Watching?. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
- ^ Bordages, Anais (March 10, 2014). "The Definitive Ranking Of All Veronica Mars Episodes". BuzzFeed. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
- ^ Roots, Kimberly (March 14, 2014). "Every Veronica Mars Episode, Worst to Best, Plus Some Key Info to Prep You For the Movie". TV Guide. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
External links
- "My Mother, the Fiend" at IMDb
- "My Mother, the Fiend" at Mars Investigations