"Alex" — Mon, 7/18/05 7:56pm

This is horribly, horribly disappointing news.

I blame UPN first for not re-showing all the episodes this Summer in order and now I am steamed at Rob Thomas for not doing his damndest to get this show out by August so that legions of possible new fans could see all 22 episodes before the premier.

Bee Boy — Tue, 7/19/05 9:50am

I just couldn't come up with a cute joke about the canvas grocery bags.

Brandon — Sun, 7/24/05 11:33pm

Finally got a chance to watch the pilot episode; for the first 30 minutes, I wasn't that crazy about it and thought I'd be one and out, but the last 30 won me over and I'm looking forward to continuing.

Holly, I can see what you're saying about Veronica - I think the glibness can be explained as a defense mechanism, a way of shielding herself from all the pain she's experienced and any more that might come her way. But I've only seen one episode, so someone like Jameson who's seen the entire season would have to weigh in with more informed character insight.

The news that UPN isn't showing all the episodes is disappointing - especially since the rerun schedule goes from the pilot to #6 and then to #11. But it appears to stop skipping after that, so perhaps Rob Thomas and UPN decided to sacrifice a few early ones to get to the meatier later eps. And tvtome.com has very thorough episode recaps - I've already read the recap of the 2nd ep and feel like I watched it.

"CJ" — Tue, 7/26/05 3:39pm

I can understand someone getting the impression that Veronica is far too "glib" if they have only seen the Pilot or perhaps one or two of the earlier episodes. I have seen many reviews of the Pilot describe her as too "hard" or "brittle" also.

But, after the early episodes, Veronica the character definitely becomes much softer and more "relatable" and she is definitely not someone I could describe as "glib" about all the horrible experiences she has had since her friend was killed. It becomes much more obvious how devastated Veronica was by Lilly's death and how she has turned her grief into her desire for justice and retribution.

Sometimes Veronica's desire for justice is a little too much, and she even gets called on it several times by friends and others throughout the season. In the end, her desire to find Lilly's killer at all costs pretty much backfires on her and ends up hurting her and others close to her, but I don't want to spoil anyone who has yet to see the last several episodes.

My advice to anyone new to the series would be to give it four or five episodes at least. Some individual episodes are weak as standalone stories, and the entire 22-episode season is much greater than the sum of its parts. It's actually more like a novel and the overall strength of the mystery and the plotting can't really be fully appreciated unless you've seen the full season.