Woody working WITH the Fitzpatricks AND the breakaway wing of Weevil's gang to engineer something to help the incorporation plan.

Oh, who am I kidding? I won't figure it out until Veronica fatally wounds Logan to stop the incorporation portal from opening.

snerk

Nuh uh. Steve Guttenberg's going to ascend.

Yeah, but first he has to get Neptune incorporated, so that he's an actual Mayor.

Woody Goodman – He certainly has a closet full of something.

Still my winner -- or, more to the point, a steadfast belief that the real target was Gia. Which can wrap around to the culprit not being Woody, but rather someone trying to send Woody a message.

• What's been kept in focus all season? Real estate -- it's a running theme, all the way down to them giving us investment tutorials along the way and a nice example of how real estate fraud works. All very SoCal.

• We know something's wrong in the house that Woody built -- Gia's a partier and something's up with the mom and the younger brother. Gia's also trying to get close to Dick Casablancas. Silly romantic plot? Certainly not being played for depth. Really, it's not been played for anything, but there it is. Kept just enough in focus that you don't forget it.

• No one saw the Casablancas family collapse coming, but man it was entrenched in the city, down to county inspectors being bribed -- and please recall that KENDALL made the payoff. She was knee deep in Big Dick's affairs from the beginning.

• So was Woody involved in Big Dick's crooked real estate ventures, awaiting a day when Neptune's a real town and property values skyrocket? Who's a cog in Woody's machinations, and who's a loose cannon?

• We've seen nothing of Woody and Gia together. Not really -- just enough to know the home life is tweaked and Gia gets to throw parties while her parents are home and Woody Jr. gets punished for next to nothing.

• So. Who is Gia? Why does she get a free pass the other kid doesn't? Just home life being unfair? Could be, but the disparity nags at me.

Still my winner -- or, more to the point, a steadfast belief that the real target was Gia.

I'm just coming up short on motive. Why would he want her dead?

I wanted to say, Why would he kill a bus full of kids just to off his daughter, but I guess that's the thing with hard-hearted killers -- to deflect attention, you would, conceivably, go with the method that doesn't lead back to you very obviously.

Still. What would he gain by her death? Money? It's a possibility, I guess, if there's some kind of trust fund issue there, but that hasn't been even hinted at. Pity? He won the election anyway.

What's been kept in focus all season? Real estate -- it's a running theme, all the way down to them giving us investment tutorials along the way and a nice example of how real estate fraud works.

Very true. But that leads me to believe that one of the PCHers is behind the bus crash. (On very little evidence, I'll grant you.)

I'm sticking by my theory that it's Backup, who is bitter over his lack of screen time this season, and didn't get credit for catching Echolls in Keith's book.

I'm just coming up short on motive. Why would he want her dead?

She's blackmailing him?

My suspicion is that any, well, suspicion we have now is a red herring. We're (surprisingly) nearly halfway through the season, but it's about time for the midseason change-up (TM Buffy).

Of course, lots of narratives focus on the real villian early, blow it up and then surprise us in the end. So it could turn out to be Woody, but we will have some reason to completely absolve him of suspicion between now and the end of the season. Aside from the fact that the washed-up 80s actor factor is too obvious.

This show rules.

She's blackmailing him?

Possible. Although she comes across as too self-absorbed and vapid to me to be a successful blackmailer.

It could explain why she gets priviledges and Little Brother is given the hairy eyeball for spilling water on the rug, though.

Aside from the fact that the washed-up 80s actor factor is too obvious.

Heh. Also true.

Aside from the fact that the washed-up 80s actor factor is too obvious.

Hey, it worked last season.

and please recall that KENDALL made the payoff. She was knee deep in Big Dick's affairs from the beginning

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing for poor Beaver.

She's blackmailing him?

Possible. Although she comes across as too self-absorbed and vapid to me to be a successful blackmailer.

It could explain why she gets priviledges and Little Brother is given the hairy eyeball for spilling water on the rug, though.

I think it's more likely she's got some big ass trust fund (she was at private school previously, I think) from a grandmother or something, than that she's blackmailing him. Gia doesn't seem to have the teeth for blackmail, or at least, we haven't seen her teeth, yet.

and please recall that KENDALL made the payoff. She was knee deep in Big Dick's affairs from the beginning

Was it the payoff, or was she bringing the Auditor paperwork, or what? It would be interesting to see Kendall play the villain. Personality wise, I haven't seen it, yet.

She and Trina seemed to have a large hate-on going, considering they'd just met. Now, I know RT probably wanted to let Alyson and Charisma play. But their bitchery sounded more like bitchery of people who already know and have contempt for one another, than instant bitchery.