The Rapes of Graff
"The Rapes of Graff" | |
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Michael Fields | |
Written by | John Enbom |
Production code | 2T7216 |
Original air date | March 29, 2006 |
Guest appearances | |
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"The Rapes of Graff" is the sixteenth episode of the
The series depicts the adventures of Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) as she deals with life as a high school student while moonlighting as a private detective. In this episode, while visiting Hearst College, Veronica runs into her old boyfriend, Troy (Aaron Ashmore). He is subsequently charged with the brutal date rape of a student named Stacy (Alia Shawkat). Meanwhile, Logan (Jason Dohring) deals with the aftermath of breaking up with Hannah (Jessy Schram).
"The Rapes of Graff" features several notable guest appearances.
Synopsis
In class, Veronica and the whole class are asked to participate in Woody Goodman's (
Keith and Cliff watch surveillance footage to try and determine who stole Cliff's briefcase. They spot Sherriff Lamb kissing a blonde, who Veronica recognizes as Madison Sinclair. In order to prove his innocence to Veronica, Troy says that he left his name and number in Stacy's room, arguing that a rapist would not have done such a thing. Veronica checks Stacy's room and finds Troy's name half-erased. Stacy receives a box of someone else's hair outside her door, and Veronica deduces that there have probably been other victims of the rapist, so she goes looking for someone who bought a wig recently, without luck. Dean informs Veronica that the fraternity has a contest about how many girls they have had sex with, and the recruit with the lowest number of "points" is forced to shave his head as punishment. Keith and Cliff confront Lamb with photos of him kissing Madison, and he reveals the woman who stole Cliff's briefcase is a sex worker. Veronica tracks down Stacy's rapist to someone going by "Ice Man." She sneaks into the fraternity's basement, where she is caught by two members.
Veronica confronts the two fraternity members about Stacey's rape, and they deny any involvement. Veronica finds another rape victim, Dawn. Veronica and Dawn tell Stacy that Troy could not have been the rapist because he was on the other side of the country when Dawn was raped. Veronica discovers that the losing fraternity member sent the hair to Stacy, which was his own, because she made him lose the "contest." Logan tells Hannah the truth about why they broke up and admits that he only asked her out so that her father would recant his claim of witnessing
Production
The episode was written by John Enbom and directed by
Honestly, the day I heard they were shutting down production on that show, I called our casting director and said, 'Book them for "Veronica Mars" as soon as possible.' I didn't talk to Alia, but I talked to Michael and it turned out he's a 'Veronica Mars' fan and is excited to be doing it. So I'm thrilled about that.[7]
Both Cera and Shawkat requested that their roles not be similar to their characters on Arrested Development.[7][8] Thomas reported their guest appearances to Chicago Tribune roughly two months before the episode aired.[7] Cera was originally slated to return in season 3, but due to scheduling conflicts, the role of Moe Flater was created instead.[9]
The episode also features the return of Aaron Ashmore as Troy Vandegraff, a character who had not been seen since "You Think You Know Somebody", an early season 1 episode. Ashmore enjoyed his reappearance on the show, stating in an interview that "It was kinda nice coming back and being the good guy and not the bad guy for once."[10] After the episode aired, Ashmore stated that "I think Veronica Mars is a great show, so if they wanted me to, I would love to [bring back the character]. I love the show, and I love the character of Troy, too."[11] However, the character would not return to the show after "The Rapes of Graff". "The Rapes of Graff" also includes the final appearance of recurring character Hannah Griffith (Jessy Schram), who appeared in a total of four episodes on the show.
Reception
Ratings
In its original broadcast, "The Rapes of Graff" received 2.15 million viewers, marking a decrease from the previous episode, "The Quick and the Wed" and tying for 113th of 124 in the weekly rankings with a rerun of Charmed.[12]
Reviews
"The Rapes of Graff" was critically acclaimed. Price Peterson of TV.com gave a positive review. Although he expressed confusion over the lack of closure, he praised other aspects of the episode. "My pervasive need for justice left me feeling pretty disappointed when we never found out who the utterly repulsive villain had been behind these sex crimes... Other than the lack of closure, though, this was a solid, well-written episode and it was nice seeing the (supposed) redemption of Troy.[13] Television reviewer Alan Sepinwall was very positive towards the episode, praising it as a return to form for the series. "Now that's more like it, Veronica Mars. A good self-contained mystery, a suggestion that the show could do okay once Veronica leaves high school, a gratuitously awesome "Arrested Development" double-cameo, the biggest spotlight yet for wisecracking Cliff, and a fine showcase for Jason Dohring, who's becoming so good that Veronica may need to investigate a case of show-stealing." He went on to laud the supporting characters' performances, especially the subplot involving Cliff and Sheriff Lamb: "Cliff and Lamb are my favorite non-Keith adult characters, so any subplot that has one busting on the other gets the Sepinwall seal of approval."[14]
Television Without Pity gave the episode an "A".[8] Rowan Kaiser of The A.V. Club gave a glowing review, stating that "I have to say, this is one of the most dense and interesting episodes of Veronica Mars yet, on a number of different levels." He went on to praise the return of Troy, the various subplots, and the episode's ambiguous conclusion. The reviewer summed up by saying, "With all that going on, it could have been easy for this episode to fall apart somewhere... "The Rapes of Graff" really managed to do everything it was trying to do quite well. It may have been missing something special to put it in the absolute top tier of Veronica Mars episodes, but it's still a marvelous episode for pulling all those different strands together.[15] Anais Bordages of BuzzFeed ranked the episode 27th of 64 episodes of Veronica Mars, but nevertheless gave a positive review, calling it "awesome". She elaborated, "The banter is excellent, our main character shoots down every sexist on campus, and Michael Cera has a cameo. Even better: The other part of the episode revolves around Cliff’s sexual misfortunes."[16] On a similar list, TVLine ranked the episode 16th.[17]
References
- ^ "John Enbom". TV.com. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- ^ "Michael Fields". TV.com. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- ^ "The Rapes of Graff Cultural References". Mars Investigations: The (In)Complete Guide to Veronica Mars. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
- ^ a b "Phil Klemmer and John Enbom (Writers) Interview (page 3)". MI.net. December 23, 2006. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
- ^ "Phil Klemmer and John Enbom (Writers) Interview (page 5)". MI.net. December 23, 2006. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
- ^ Whitney, Alyse (September 22, 2014). "22 Facts Even Marshmallows May Not Know About Veronica Mars". MTV. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- ^ a b c Ryan, Maureen (January 20, 2006). "'Veronica Mars' scoop". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- ^ a b "The Rapes of Graff Recap". Television Without Pity. March 28, 2006. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- ^ "Interview with Rob Thomas". Television Without Pity. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- If Magazine. Archived from the originalon December 23, 2007. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- ^ "Aaron Ashmore Talks Smallville". KryptonSite. July 17, 2006. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- ^ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. April 4, 2006. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2008.
- ^ Peterson, Price (July 29, 2012). "The Veronica Mars Season 2 Dossier: Episodes 13–16". TV.com. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (March 30, 2006). "I Wish I Could Go Back to College…". What's Alan Watching?. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
- ^ Kaiser, Rowan (January 13, 2012). "Review: Veronica Mars: "The Rapes of Graff" / "Plan B"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- ^ Bordages, Anais (March 10, 2014). "The Definitive Ranking of All 'Veronica Mars' Episodes". BuzzFeed. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
- ^ Roots, Kimberly (March 13, 2014). "Every Veronica Mars Episode, Worst to Best, Plus Some Key Info to Prep You for the Movie: #16 ("The Rapes of Graff")". TVLine. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
External links
- "The Rapes of Graff" at IMDb
- "The Rapes of Graff" at Mars Investigations