This is what I expected from the season 3 premiere. It was light, entertaining and there was a reason to care about V/L. I think it's the best episode of the first three season 3 episodes.

I had no problem at all with the V/L story last night. It felt totally in-character for both of them (and I think they were both wrong, but she was wrong-er). If, however, I could rearrange the order of the plot points this pair has hit so far in season three, I so very much would. They would have hit the trust issue in the first episode.

I have no reason to believe Rob Thomas has the slightest ["clue about" or "interest in" - take your pick] how to build and pay-off romantic tension. It's too bad. I don't think we ever have to worry about V/L ending up in Sam/Diane or Maddie/Dave territory, because I have no reason to believe he has a clue on how to exploit their chemistry in the first place.

It's like it accidentally bubbles up from the actors, then he goes, "Oh, we never knew that Epic speech/Camelot Motel First Kiss/Make-Out Back-flash would be so big," then goes off to do something else.

What? With Logan? You think that's over? No way on Earth is it all hugs and puppies from here with those two.

Amen.

Can we trade Piz in for football boy? I don't dislike Piz, but so far, he has managed to convey the amount of sexual charisma you'd expect from your comfy-if-worn-out slipper socks.

V took a shine to football boy right away, and his looks are (better than, but) similar enough to Duncan's looks, that I could see him as a potential and interesting V/L spoiler.

I did, too! I don't get -- at all -- how Logan is being an asshat.

::sits next to Teppy::

Logan was not being an asshat. Logan though, was grating under (and rightfully so) the pressure of Veronica's trust issues. For most of the episode though, instead of objecting to her face, he objected by avoiding her and the issue.

Instead of being straightforward with her, he did that boy thing where he just started to fade out of sight. Of course in Logan's case, we know he isn't just fading out of sight because he's losing interest. He's fading out of sight because he doesn't know how to address regular conflicts, except on an epic sort of scale. He either burns down your pool, or ignores you.

A healthy, confident person would have said, "Hey, we aren't always going to be interested in the same things, and I need some space to do my thing, and if you don't work on your trust issues, it's going to ruin us." Logan is so afraid of losing her, that he can't say or probably even think that, but he's no lap dog, either. So he evades and avoids, and dissembles.

Veronica's conduct was way more over the line, or crossed way more lines than anything Logan did. But when you love someone, and you feel that person you love is in the wrong and/or being unreasonable, you hash it out before it turns huge.

I thought him coming to her at the library was huge growth for him. I thought Veronica even knowing what her issues were, never mind finally stating them aloud was huge growth for her. I don't think the Trish thing was an anvil. Well wait, I do think it was an anvil, but it wasn't an anvil hurled at the audience. Veronica is not so in touch with her feelings and one-ups Buffy on the whole keeps-her-own-counsel approach to life. Veronica needs anvils. Now, she has had this particular anvil bop her over the head before, in Green Eyed Monster, but because that was with Duncan (who Veronica thought of as perfect), I can forgive it being recycled in the V/L romance, because she has never approached her feelings for these two guys in the same way.

(And because I frequently need to learn the same lesson over and over again, and can only think, "Oh, that was obvious," as the anvils hit me.)

Uh-huh. Sorry folks, I'm not entirely buying the Logan defending. Yes, Veronica went well over the line, but as anyone who's had a girlfriend for five minutes should be able to see, Logan is blowing it: He's slipping into self-destructive behavior (skipping class, gambling) and blatantly acting suspicious. (I'm sorry, if I ever called any woman I've ever been involved with with the message, "Can't make it, looks like I might get lucky" with girls tittering in the background, I'd be a dead man and deserve it.)

The bit with the girls from the weight-lifting class alone was asking for trouble. And I think he knows it, and is legitimately pulling back from it. (Giving her his key, not going to Mexico.) But self-destruction is Logan's watchword, and Veronica knows it. No wonder she's jittery.

Cereal: On the other hand, I coulda used another two episodes of Weevil & Mars, Private Investigators.

*gesticulates towards victor's post nodding vigorously*

My biggest problem is, Veronica and Logan are acting like a couple that, I dunno, had a bad prom date at one point, not like the survivors of what they've survived.

I wasn't attempting to defend, so much as explain. I don't think his behavior amounted to asshattery, but I do think both of them were wrong (but her actions in this episode were more outright breaches of trust).

You're right about his self-destructive bent, and I think that's going to be a recurring theme with these two, probably always. It's well established that he gambles (plays poker). But most of what he was made to look like he was doing (i.e. cheating or looking to) he wasn't doing. He was avoiding, and fading away. His treatment of her was unfair, and until the last scene, his handling of it was stupid (but completely in character, I think), given he does love her.

Her suspicion was not surprising, but I was surprised at how much thought she gave him. I sort of see Logan as someone Veronica could tell, "I wasn't thinking about you when you were here."

If she loves him (and I don't think she does), I don't think she knows it yet, although last night gave her an inkling that she does want to give their relationship a fair shot. As far as their levels of devotion to one another are concerned, I think he's the Riley and she's the Buffy.

Cereal: On the other hand, I coulda used another two episodes of Weevil & Mars, Private Investigators.

As I said, I'm hoping Keith will come around to employing Weevil on a piece-meal basis.

He's slipping into self-destructive behavior (skipping class, gambling)

A small point: I don't think he actually skipped class. We don't know that he did, obviously, since he refused to show Veronica his notes (rightly so, IMO). However, I think the point of that whole issue was to highlight how willing Veronica is to think that Logan is jerking her around.

She accepted *Dick's* word about the class being cancelled as gospel. He was walking through campus drinking a beer, he doesn't like her (which she knows), and yet she just took his word for it that class was cancelled and therefore her boyfriend (who's more reliable than Dick -- or, at least, isn't walking through campus with a 40-ouncer in one hand) MUST be lying to her.

Maybe Logan did skip class. We don't know. But I think the point of that scene was to show that Veronica is willing to immediately assume the worst about Logan, with no reason (because, seriously -- *Dick* as a credible source of information? no way).

What Cindy said.

Except this:

I think he's the Riley and she's the Buffy.

Are you trying to wound me, woman? I'd say he's Spike and she's Buffy, but I haven't actually give it much thought.

Also? I see Logan doing the traditional abused child thing -- he's acting out, behaving badly (I guess, I don't really see it as anything but the way he's always behaved), to see how far he can go before Veronica walks away. Sometimes that subconscious behavior, but it happens.

Plus, gambling is only self-destructive if you don't know how to stop, and we don't have evidence of that with Logan. And his academic record is, in my opinion, none of Veronica's business. He can skip class if he wants to. He's a big boy. (And it's not like she's a model student, either.)

Also also? What Teppy said about Dick.