Death isn't comeuppance to me. It's revenge, yeah, but it's not justice. Being tried and convicted, especially Beav, so that the families of the kids on the bus could know who to blame, and see them being punished, that'd be comeuppance.

It is in noir. Keith telegraphed this all nicely, during the teaser. He tells Veronica, "We're people with lives and we will not obsess. We move on. Aaron Echolls will get his justice in his own way."

for one thing, Beaver chose his death. That's not justice, just because he's dead. It's another way out, for him, another way to deny what he did and the responsibility for it.

To me, that's the beauty of it, Amy. It works perfectly within the rules of this 'verse. Beaver was not only villain, he was victim and in fact was villain because he was first victim. He was the victim of Woody, and he had been the victim of his screwed up family, his entire life. He was a monster, because life turned him into one. I think it was appropriate that he took control of his own fate. I also found it powerful that Logan still couldn't offer any reason not to jump.

Wished I had taped the season, because I bet on rewatching it will be more apparent how messed up Cassidy was. He was bullied and abused.

I think I read that the DVDs are coming out something like August 22nd.

Good summary, Narrator. I'm with you on just about everything.

My mind is blown and I am exhausted. Need more coffee.

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I also loved the principal's comments to Veronica at graduation. I'm so glad he wasn't eaten by a giant snake. I would have liked him to speak up and demand that Weevil be allowed to get his diploma but that's too much to hope for.

Me, too! And yeah.

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Also slightly surprised that Veronica, when raped, wouldn't have gone to the doctor and been tested back then--I mean, sure, once she thought it was Duncan, we can see why she wouldn't, but...when she thought someone skanky and random did it? I'm surprised. (Also that means she had chlamydia for like, a year and a half! Eek!)

Dude, how long did *Cassidy* have chlamydia???

The Mannings offering a reward- made sense. Meg was the only person on the bus that had a family in the position to make such a reward offer.

Oh, duh. I didn't even think about that. Okay, the Mannings get one grudging bit of respect in my book.

Was I the only one who thought Logan was going to pull a Giles/Gunn, and follow up his "you're not a killer" with a "but I am" and shoot Cassidy?

I immediately thought of Gunn shooting Professor Portal, and I totally expected Logan to do it.

It was, I think, a poorly structured season, for all that it seemed like the producers wanted to accomplish. But, although flawed, I applaud the scope and the emotional places some of these stories went to.

I was mostly worried this season would hit bad sophomore slump, and I don't think that it did. I agree that it was poorly structured, but I'm satisfied with it.

I also find it very interesting that now both Weevil and Duncan have basically been responsible for arranging executions.

And it really points out the have/have-not dichotomy of Neptune. Duncan got away with it (as far as we know; maybe it'll come back to bite him in the ass next season) and is loafing on a beach with his daughter. Weevil, on the other hand, didn't even get to walk across the stage to get his diploma. (I was half expecting Principal Clemmons to jump from whatever letter he was on to "Navarro," just so that Weevil could get that diploma, because Clemmons isn't a bad guy -- he's no Snyder.)

And really, I have such a weakness for Weevil despite his criminal tendencies, I really really REALLY want Lamb to have been on the plane and all blown up. He deserves it.

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And really, I have such a weakness for Weevil despite his criminal tendencies

I have an idealized vision of the future where Weevil, having escaped the murder rap, becomes a priest who devotes himself to social justice and plots with Father Fitzpatrick to save underpriviledged children.

I never said that my idealized vision was rational.

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Didn’t need the fake airborne explosion

The whole plane thing bugged. I can't believe that any police force in the country would transport a fugitive back to the jurisdiction that wants him in his own plane. It's be like taking him back in his own car. They'd take him back either in a police car, or via some sort of commercial transportation. The plane should've been impounded.

There was no urgent need to return him to Neptune that quickly. In fact, since they were in Nevada, shouldn't there have been an extradition hearing of some sort?

The explosion was just icing on the cake. What are the odds the plane would be within viewing range of the hotel at that exact moment?

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Am I the only person who was certain, beyond any doubt, that Keith was alive? Maybe I've watched too much 24, but unless they show you the dismembered head, I assume that the character survived. If Keith were going to die, they wouldn't have shown it from miles away; he'd have gotten a proper send off.

That said, I was still affected by KB's performance. She really knocked it out of the park.

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He was the victim of Woody, and he had been the victim of his screwed up family, his entire life. He was a monster, because life turned him into one. I think it was appropriate that he took control of his own fate. I also found it powerful that Logan still couldn't offer any reason not to jump.

Oh, I get this, but I think for the bus crash victims' families, it's a cold comfort. I'm sure they would much rather see him in prison, paying for his crimes for the rest of his life.

Logan not being able to offer a reason for Beaver not to jump was so painful, but so very right in context.

Liked the dreams – very revealing. Enjoyed that in the dream Veronica met Wallace.

The dream was fantastic. It starts where Veronica might have imagined she would be on graduation day, before Lilly was killed -- parents are together, they're in the old house, she's going to San Diego State. But the minute she gets to school it changes -- Duncan and Logan have changed places. And then there's Wallace, who's bitter and makes her uncomfortable with her pat sum-up of high school. And yay! there's Lilly, except with a memorial plaque on the wall behind her... Even in her dreams she can only escape so far, and I love the fact that Logan was her boyfriend. Telling, much?

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Am I the only person who was certain, beyond any doubt, that Keith was alive?

Nah. I figured he'd gotten off for some reason. Although I was thinking it was more that he got a look at the joke of a pilot who would volunteer to fly a unfamiliar plane from Reno to Neptune on a moments notice, and decided he didn't want any part of the flight.

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And it really points out the have/have-not dichotomy of Neptune. Duncan got away with it (as far as we know; maybe it'll come back to bite him in the ass next season) and is loafing on a beach with his daughter.

Duncan got away with it, but Duncan had a (noirish) right to it. Lilly was Duncan's sister. Even his own family thought he killed Lilly--they were so convinced of Duncan's guilt that they obstructed the investigation into the real killer.

Duncan had that question of guilt hanging over him for a good chunk of season 1. Then Aaron framed him for her murder, just this season. In fact, Aaron was only acquitted because he not only planted evidence, but lied, and set up all kinds of people, and tried to convince his own son to lie.

Within the Neptune moral framework, because he waited until the legal system failed, what Duncan did was not as bad as it would be in either the real world, or in the Buffyverse, which has heroes, and an inherent vengeance taboo. It may still bite Duncan in the ass, but noir is a pessimistic genre, and putting Aaron out of everyone's misery does not sink to the same level it would in other genres, or in reality.

Speaking of sinking? One of my favorite exchanges aside from the CW?/It's a done deal exchange was Aaron and Logan's exchange at the elevator:

Aaron: Going down?
Logan: No. Up.

Four little words. Forty GAJILLINiTYBITRILLION^∞ layers. Or at least four.

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I have an idealized vision of the future where Weevil, having escaped the murder rap, becomes a priest who devotes himself to social justice and plots with Father Fitzpatrick to save underpriviledged children.

::marries this::

I never said that my idealized vision was rational.

Rationality is overrated.

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