Ahoy, Mateys!
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"Ahoy, Mateys!" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American
mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...
television series ''
Veronica Mars ''Veronica Mars'' is an American teen neo-noir Mystery fiction, mystery Drama (film and television), drama television series created by screenwriter Rob Thomas (writer), Rob Thomas. The series is set in the fictional city, fictional town of Ne ...
'', and the thirtieth episode overall. Written by John Enbom and Cathy Belben and directed by
Steve Gomer Steve Gomer is an American Film director, film and television director. He made his directorial debut with ''Sweet Lorraine (film), Sweet Lorraine'' (1987), starring Maureen Stapleton, and went on to direct ' (1993), ''Sunset Park (film), Sunset ...
, the episode premiered on November 23, 2005 on
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...
. The series depicts the adventures of
Veronica Mars ''Veronica Mars'' is an American teen neo-noir Mystery fiction, mystery Drama (film and television), drama television series created by screenwriter Rob Thomas (writer), Rob Thomas. The series is set in the fictional city, fictional town of Ne ...
(
Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. List of Kristen Bell performances, Her work includes both film and television, and List of awards and nominations received by Kristen Bell, h ...
) as she deals with life as a high school student while moonlighting as a
private detective A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigat ...
. In this episode, the parents of Marcos, a student who died in the bus crash, contact Keith (
Enrico Colantoni Enrico Colantoni (born February 14, 1963) is a Canadian-American actor and director, best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom '' Just Shoot Me!'', Keith Mars on the television series ''Veronica Mars'', Louis Utz on the short-lived ...
) and Veronica to investigate who has been harassing them by leaving them reminders of their son. Meanwhile, Veronica and Logan ( Jason Dohring) further investigate Logan's murder charges.


Synopsis

Duncan ( Teddy Dunn) has a dream involving Meg (
Alona Tal Alona Tal (, ; born ) is an Israeli actress and singer. She is known for her roles in ''Veronica Mars'' as cheerleader List of Veronica Mars characters#Meg Manning, Meg Manning, in ''Supernatural (American TV series), Supernatural'' as budding m ...
) and Veronica. Duncan wakes up to hear Veronica reporting her findings about Dr. Griffith (
Rick Peters Rick Peters is an American actor. He has appeared in several films and numerous television shows, and is perhaps best known for his role as Bobby Manning in '' Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye''. He also plays the role of Elliot Larson in the 4th season ...
) to Logan, including that he was reprimanded for doing illegal surgery on a man named Danny Boyd. Duncan puts Meg’s letter from the previous episode into a drawer. At school, a boy confronts Weevil (
Francis Capra Francis Cordero Capra (born April 27, 1983) is an American actor. He has played the roles of Max Connor in ''Kazaam'', and Eli "Weevil" Navarro in the TV series ''Veronica Mars''. Personal life Capra attended Our Lady of the Assumption Catho ...
), demanding the cocaine he ordered from 'some biker dude'. Weevil denies knowledge of the drug deal. At Mars Investigations Keith (
Enrico Colantoni Enrico Colantoni (born February 14, 1963) is a Canadian-American actor and director, best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom '' Just Shoot Me!'', Keith Mars on the television series ''Veronica Mars'', Louis Utz on the short-lived ...
) meets with the parents of Marcos Oliveres, a student who died in the bus crash. The Oliveres report they are being harassed with reminders of their son’s death and they need proof of who is behind it. Logan drives Veronica to meet Danny Boyd (
Taylor Sheridan Sheridan Taylor Gibler Jr. (born May 21, 1970), known professionally as Taylor Sheridan, is an American writer, producer, director and actor. He is best known as the co-creator of the television series ''Yellowstone'' and creator of its prequels ...
). Boyd leads her to The River Styx, a local bar heavily patronized by the Fitzpatrick crime family. Boyd explains Dr. Griffith was reprimanded for giving him stitches after a bar fight. A man confronts Danny, demanding to know why he brought Veronica into the bar. Veronica's identity is outed and she is attacked by the man, who demands to know the real reason she is there. Logan barges in, announcing he has called 911, and then forces Veronica's release by holding the man at gunpoint. Keith tells Veronica that Marcos's parents believe they are being harassed by the school administration so they drop their lawsuit. Keith asks Veronica about Marcos, and she admits she didn't know him. Veronica asks around about Marcos at school, but no one really remembers him. However, Veronica receives an anonymous email about Marcos from someone claiming to have a jealous boyfriend. Keith gives Veronica an MP3 player paid for by the Neptune School District that he found broadcasting Marcos’s voice in Mrs. Oliveres’s car. Veronica confronts the principal, but he denies any knowledge of the harassment. Veronica gives the MP3 player to Mac (
Tina Majorino Albertina Marie Majorino ( ; born February 7, 1985) is an American actress. She started her career as a child actress, starring in films such as ''Andre (film), Andre'', ''When a Man Loves a Woman (film), When a Man Loves a Woman'', ''Waterworl ...
), who recognizes Marcos' voice as that of 'Captain Crunk', one of the co-anchors of a popular
pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...
show. The show was mostly about roasting various Neptune High students, leading Veronica to conclude a large number of people could have had it out for Marcos. Mac tells Veronica she stopped listening after the show went on a 4-week break and 'Captain Crunk' wasn't on it anymore when it returned. Veronica confronts Weevil about her belief that he set up Tom Griffith for a favor from the Fitzpatrick family, of which Danny Boyd is a member. However, Weevil denies being behind the scheme. Weevil realizes one or more members of his gang are going behind his back, and warns them he will find out who. Later, Weevil talks to a biker, who admits he lied to the police and didn't actually see Logan stab Felix. Veronica and Mac track the origin of the radio signal to a house, only to be shocked when Vice-Principal Clemmons answers the door. They lie about needing to see his son, Vincent, to get into the house. Veronica and Mac find radio equipment in Vincent’s basement room, confirming he is the other host of the pirate radio show. Vincent tells them that Marcos quit the show after going to summer camp, but Vincent doesn't know why. Mr. Oliveres is unhappy with Keith’s suggestion the harassment is unrelated to the lawsuit. Veronica does some digging and finds that Marcos's parents sent him to a
conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have ...
camp. Keith stakes out the Oliveres's house while they are away and finds a neighbor going into the Oliveres’ house using their security code to get some beer from their kitchen. However, that is apparently normal for him. Keith finds a toy school bus in their fish tank and the security code scribbled on the back of a piece of scrap paper from the law firm representing the school district. Logan is kidnapped by masked bikers, who subject him to torture by playing
Russian roulette Russian roulette () is a potentially lethal game of chance in which a player places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against the head or body (their opponent's or their own), and pulls the trigger. If the ...
with various parts of his body. Logan swears that he does not remember the night Felix was murdered, and he is let go. Logan manages to steal a cell phone from one of the bikers, which he uses to call Weevil and threaten him. Veronica talks to Vincent about Marcos being gay, but Vincent insists Veronica is wrong and that Marcos was almost beaten up by a jealous boyfriend, which reminds Veronica of the email she received. Keith informs Mr. Oliveres that he can prove someone in the Oliveres family is responsible for the last toy bus and the security code on the paper from the school's law firm, and they should take the settlement. Veronica goes to the house of the girl with the “jealous boyfriend”. She finds the email was sent by a teenage boy named Ryan, and that he is also responsible for the harassment. Ryan explains that he was in love with Marcos. Marcos’s parents saw them flirting, which caused them to send Marcos to the conversion therapy camp. After attending the camp Marcos became depressed. When he died in the bus crash Ryan took revenge on Marcos's parents by haunting their memories. Duncan has another dream about Meg. When he wakes up he opens her letter and says "Oh my God!"


Cultural references

The following cultural references are made in the episode: *Weevil mentions
John DeLorean John Zachary DeLorean ( ; January 6, 1925 – March 19, 2005) was an American engineer, inventor, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry. He is widely known as founder of the DeLorean Motor Company, as well as for his work at General Motor ...
. *The bar that Danny Boyd leads Veronica into is called The River Styx. *Liam references Lucky Charms. *Veronica compares Marcos to
Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...
. *A running joke in the episode is that Mac is Q to Veronica's
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
. *Mac asks Veronica to go to
RadioShack RadioShack (formerly written as Radio Shack) is an American electronics retailer that was established in 1921 as an amateur radio mail-order business. Its parent company was purchased by Tandy Corporation in 1962, which shifted its focus from ma ...
. *The episode mentions '' Rosemary's Baby''. *Logan makes a play on words with ''
Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States for six seasons from 2003 to 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime, black comedy, family drama, sati ...
''. *Logan also jokingly calls Veronica "Mars-wan Kenobi", a reference to
Obi-Wan Kenobi Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi () is a character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. In the original film trilogy, he is a Jedi Master who trains Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force. In the prequel trilogy, he mentors Luke's father, Anakin Skywalke ...
. *Veronica sarcastically mentions ''
Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build their houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which are made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's ho ...
'' when talking to Weevil. *When going into Principal Clemmons's house, Veronica and Mac say lines from ''
The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 independent musical comedy horror film produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, directed by Jim Sharman, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was written by Sharman and Richard O ...
''. *When confronting Victor, Veronica references ''
Pump Up the Volume (film) ''Pump Up the Volume'' is a 1990 coming-of-age teen drama film written and directed by Allan Moyle. The film stars Christian Slater, Scott Paulin, Ellen Greene, and Samantha Mathis. Plot High school student Mark Hunter lives in a sleepy suburb ...
''. *Veronica says a line from ''
In Living Color ''In Living Color'' is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from April 15, 1990, to May 19, 1994. Keenen Ivory Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions ...
''.


Arc significance

*Duncan agonizes about reading Meg's letter, but finally does. *Veronica tries to help Logan by getting more information about Dr. Tom Griffith. She goes to see Danny who had a bar fight wound treated by Dr. Griffith, and finds that he's a friend of the Fighting Fitzpatricks. Liam Fitzpatrick spots Veronica and she almost gets hurt before Logan arrives and threatens him with a gun. This marks one of the many times that Logan saves Veronica from danger. *Thumper, one of the PCHers, tells Weevil that the last people on the bridge with Felix Toombs alive were Hector and Bootsy. *Two PCHers grab Logan and put a gun to his hand to get him to confess to Felix's murder. He says that he doesn't know anything. After they dump him off, he finds out that Weevil is behind the attack and threatens him.


Music

In addition to the series' theme song, "
We Used to Be Friends "We Used to Be Friends" is a song by American alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols. It was released as the lead single from their fourth studio album ''Welcome to the Monkey House'' in 2003. The single did not chart in the US but peaked at nu ...
", by
The Dandy Warhols The Dandy Warhols are an American psychedelic rock, psychedelic/ band, formed in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström. They were later joined by keyboardist Zia Mc ...
, the following songs can be heard in the episode: *" Jailbreak" by
Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...
*" Dakota" by
Stereophonics Stereophonics are a Welsh pop and rock music, Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (Stereophonics), Richard Jones (n ...
*" God Is in the Radio" by
Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. ...
*"Ocean City Girl" by
Ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern ...


Production

The episode was written by John Enbom and Cathy Belben and directed by
Steve Gomer Steve Gomer is an American Film director, film and television director. He made his directorial debut with ''Sweet Lorraine (film), Sweet Lorraine'' (1987), starring Maureen Stapleton, and went on to direct ' (1993), ''Sunset Park (film), Sunset ...
, marking Enbom's fifth writing credit, Belben's second and penultimate writing credit, and Gomer's second directing credit (after " Lord of the Bling") for the show. Despite being credited, four series regulars do not appear, including Wallace ( Percy Daggs III), Dick Casablancas (
Ryan Hansen Ryan Hansen (born July 5, 1981) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Dick Casablancas on the noir drama series ''Veronica Mars'' (2004–2007, 2019), as Kyle Bradway on the Starz comedy series '' Party Down'' (2009–2010, 2023 ...
), Cassidy Casablancas ( Kyle Gallner), and Jackie Cook (
Tessa Thompson Tessa Lynne Thompson (born October 3, 1983) is an American actress. She began her professional acting career with the List of Theatre Communications Group member theatres, Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company while studying at Santa Monica ...
). Also, Mac, played by
Tina Majorino Albertina Marie Majorino ( ; born February 7, 1985) is an American actress. She started her career as a child actress, starring in films such as ''Andre (film), Andre'', ''When a Man Loves a Woman (film), When a Man Loves a Woman'', ''Waterworl ...
, returns in "Ahoy, Mateys!" after being absent since " Green-Eyed Monster". The episode's title refers to a phrase spoken by Marcos when opening his radio show.


Reception


Ratings

In its original broadcast, "Ahoy, Mateys!" received 2.50 million viewers, marking a decrease of 440,000 viewers from the previous episode, " Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner".


Reviews

Price Peterson, writing for '' TV.com'', who had previously criticized the twist involving
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
in " M.A.D.", was more positive towards this episode's twist, writing that it wasn't "exactly heartwarming that a gay person would feel righteous enough to emotionally torture ''grieving parents'', but that kind of behavior is no more monstrous than typical straight characters' actions on this show." He also enjoyed the scene in the River Styx bar, stating overall that "Ahoy, Mateys!" "was a solid episode. Not exactly fun per se, but thrilling and kinda scuzzy." ''
Television Without Pity Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarcastic criticism a ...
'' gave the episode a "B+". Rowan Kaiser, writing for ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' praised Mac's, Logan's, and Duncan's characterization in the episode. "This was easily Mac's best episode. Not that she's been bad in the past, but it might be the most she's stepped out of her role as supporting-girl-geek and into some measure of agency," while saying that "Logan & Veronica are a dark, bitterly ironic tandem," and that " uncan'sdreams of Meg and Veronica in this episode aren't quite the supernatural/random level of some earlier events this season."


References


External links

*
"Ahoy, Mateys!"
at Mars Investigations {{Veronica Mars 2005 American television episodes Veronica Mars season 2 episodes