Yeah, I didn't care for the alternative ending either. Neptune is a stylized, hyperreal sort of a place lit in the noir light, but even the more melodramatic storylines from last season (maybe-incest and lurid murder and all) felt somehow plausible and grounded. The whole bit with Meg's crazy parents and the pillow-over-pregnant-girl feel to me like a line-crosser to the land of camp.

I did think last night's episode was straining at the bonds of suspension of disbelief, though. Of course no one knew that the Echolls had adopted the prom baby! Because it's not like they would have publicized that! Of course the foster mother wouldn't have heard of the Mars detective family, despite apparently living in Neptune and being familiar with the Echolls case! Of course Keith will give Veronica information about the prom baby!

I had to squint my eyes a lot to get through it all. Ironically, Meg surviving the crash and still being pregnant doesn't bother me a bit; that's just, you know, plot-necessary. Like vampires.

The A-plot *was* contrived, I agree, but the pay-off of Clemmons with his little smirk at his new name plate delighted me so much that I decided I didn't care how we got there. And I liked Alyson Hannigan's performance quite a bit here, more than I did in her appearances in the last season. Who knew Trina had layers?

Yeah, I liked AH's Trina a lot more this time around.

You know what I just realized? The pillow-over-the-face thing? Shouldn't work on somebody hooked up to lots and lots of vital statistics machines.

Doesn't it take like a good 10 minutes to smother a person? And, during those 10 minutes, aren't that person's vitals going haywire? And when vitals go haywire, don't alarm bells go off and summon all manner of people? Isn't that kind of the whole point of being hooked up to those machines?

I bring this up partly because season 1 of 24 did the same thing, although it was less glaringly a reality-mistake in a universe where cell phones are allowed in the ICU and you can recover from a heart attack in 20 minutes (but a broken ankle takes 4 hours).

Nor this thread.

Sorry, Jon. I'm a bad skimmer.

Meg's pregnancy makes me a little less eyerolly about her personality change around. If she got dumped by Duncan for Veronica and then found out she was pregnant, I can see where she would see it as a life-ruining combo of events, especially considering her crazy family.

Sorry, Jon. I'm a bad skimmer.

Ahhh, I was just teasin'.

So, Logan has been going to the bathroom at a specific time for several occasions now, huh? To meet with Weevil? If that's not a gift of plotbunny to slashers from TPTB, I don't know that it is.

If you are a planning-type of expectant murderer and know your way around the hospital, you can probably sneak near the monitors in the nursing unit and discreetly silence the alarms before you proceed with your deed, especially if it's the evening shift/break-time and there aren't that many people around. But Meg's mom doesn't seem the type.

i'm having issues reconciling it being Duncan's because of how thin Meg/Alona was in the season premiere. we can see hipbones!! if they broke up in May and the bus crash happened in september, she would have been showing a little bit by then. even if it was just a slight pouch. at this point, i don't think it's Duncan's and it ties in with how wrong Veronica's assumptions almost always are.

They need to de-murky Duncan's character pronto, because I have no idea WTF is going on with him. Did he sleep with Kendall? Didn't he?

I don't think he did. i think Kendall just meant she had been in his bed in the literal sense. as in, she was sitting naked on top of it trying to entice him. i'm no Donut lover(unless they're Dunkin'), but i just don't see him sleeping with Kendall. hot or not. plus, it was pretty clear to me from his actions in this episode that he had no interest in her and knew what she was trying to pull.