EeeeeE! Nilly's critiquing teevee again! Whee! (waving)

t Waves back at Beverly

P-C, thanks for all the clarifications!

I don't really understand the self-confidence issue.

Let's see if I can try and explain myself better. Hmm.

In a way, many of the students look like they're already grown-up, like they have no more maturing to do, like they already know who they are and what's their place in life and what are their principles or lack thereof and how to carry themselves in good balance inside all that. They seem to have the confidence that comes with that - or, well, I guess, with a back of all that money and power. But still.

The new-kid-friend (I want to say Wallace, but there's another character that has a name with a 'W' at the beginning, I think, and did I mention how bad I am with names?), he's nearly the only one who looks like he's still trying to find his place, like he's not, oh, maybe, fully-baked, yet? Which is what being a teenager, on the road to growing up and discovering what you do well and where you can put your trust and how, seem to me to involve.

All these plots and schemes, for example, that many of these kids throw on each other. You have to be out of your own bubble and be able to read properly other people's actions and reactions and plan accordingly, in order to even think about trying to pull them off. The - again this word - confidence in which many of those high school students go about with these manipulations seem to me to be very mature.

I am trying to compare it in my head to, say, BtVS. Not just Willow or Xander who had their obvious issues, or Buffy who may map to Veronica, in the sense that their growth may be the central emotional point of the show, but even characters like Cordelia or Oz, who had confidence, knew their place or how to get it, and still had room to mature in it, to explore not only new other paths, but the person they'll end up being if continuing on this path - they didn't turn into that person yet.

[Edit: ot, for example, the characters from "Wonderfalls", who were supposed to be something like 6-7 years older than Veronica's class mates, and still, in a way, to my eyes, they seemed younger. Jaye didn't lack confidence, so maybe that's not the word that I'm looking for? And she very much didn't know yet what exactly will be her place in the world, so maybe she's not a good example. Oy. I've only managed to confuse myself even more.]

With more than one character on "Veronica Mars" - not the main ones, of course - I get the feeling that they've already finished maturing. Not just in the "one dimensional" sense of them being mostly guest characters and therefore not explored deeply, which is a natural part of their being guests and less center.

[Edit: oh, and another thing. They don't seem to be interested in any sort of thing that any teenager I know found interesting. Their parties could be those of people ten years older, easily, with the amount of drinking and drugs and sex, and they have no aspect to make them look like anything that has anything to do with younger people. It's not the interest or fascination with the grown-up stuff that I'm talking about, because that's pretty much a characteristic of not being a grown-up yet. It's like it doesn't even interest them anymore, like it's already such a natural part of their lives, there's nothing to be expected later. Will they behave any differently when going to college? When having a job?]

I'm not finding a good way to explain myself. It, of course, may be just me so completely detached from these sorts of highschool and growing-up experiences that I try to explain to myself something that I don't understand through stuff that I think I do, and miss the target completely.

Nilly: I understand exactly what you mean. I'm not gosh-wow-best-thing-right-now about the show, but I do like several of the characters a great deal.

That their partying is much more "mature" than it should be is something I have know idea about -- does that kind of partying even exist in real life?

The new-kid-friend (I want to say Wallace, but there's another character that has a name with a 'W' at the beginning, I think, and did I mention how bad I am with names?)

Heh. Yeah, that's Wallace. The other one is Weevil.

I get what you're saying about the confidence, I think, but I don't see it. Maybe I'm just used to the TV-type high school characters. And I think it might also be due to the culture, like you said. The rich kid mentality.

The confident-rich-kid-party-lifestyle never struck me as being over the top, or unbelievable. They're sixteen year olds with lots of money, no parental supervision, and horrible adult role-models. Them not partying would strike me as more unbelievable. The thing I always felt was a bit surreal was Weevil and his thuggish bike gang. Again, it could just be a cultural reference point thing.

The thing I always felt was a bit surreal was Weevil and his thuggish bike gang.

I don't think it's a cultural thing, because they seem just as threatening as a couple of 6-year-olds on tricycles. There's no real sense of menace to them at all.

There's no real sense of menace to them at all.

Yep. Ever since Veronica rescued Wallace, they've been a kinder, gentler gang.

Hey, I still don't have TV. Did VM start yet for fall, or what? And how in the hell do I see it? are any torrent sites still working?

It starts Wednesday.

Woo! I think maybe I can go over to a friends house.