When one thinks of a regular teenage girl, things like begging her parents for a cell phone or shopping at the mall with their friends might come to mind. But what is normal? Is it what everyone else is doing that makes it “normal” or is it because it is socially accepted at a geographical location that makes the conventions “ok”? Whatever the case might be, Veronica Mars, the title character of the series, is anything but normal. Instead, her involvement in Lilly Kane’s murder and her unresolved rape case are reactants that helped shape the detective that she is now.
In the one of the flashbacks that were show in the pilot, we know that Mr. Mars is not who he use to be after he has publically humiliated himself by arresting the wrong person for the murder of Veronica’s best friend, Lilly Kane. One should take a moment think of the irony in the aftermath of this event. The technology developed by Jake Kane, the CEO of Kane Corporation, that enabled video streaming over the internet exacerbated the unwanted attention that was drawn to his family during the course of the investigation. Well, how does this matter? As a former teenage girl with normalcy in her life, Veronica has never witnessed such a heinous crime. This turning point marks the transition of the innocent schoolgirl to the sarcastic and witty teenager that she is now.
Sure, one might also say, “so what? she’s got a smart mouth now. How does that change anything?” For one, the rape that occurred shortly after coupled with the murder of her best friend shook her trust in the police force. This in turn made her more wary of her surroundings and questioned the motives around her. Does that sound familiar to the behavior that a person of a certain occupation does?
