Mentioning the name Veronica Mars, in any kind of group setting, will get you a whole lot of blank stares. I should know, it’s happened to me more than once. 

Released in 2004, alongside cultural phenomenons such as Lost and House (that ate up the bulk of the general public’s attention), Veronica Mars was sidelined for its 4 seasons of runtime. It left the air without receiving the widespread recognition it deserved, instead being relegated to cult classic status. 

While the show can be engaged with as a classic drama, at its heart and soul it is a nitty gritty teen noir with an overarching murder mystery that jerks the viewer left, right, up, and down at every chance: Veronica Mars toys with your emotions and expectations in the best way possible. 

The series is centred around its titular character Veronica (Kristen Bell), a witty, fire-spitting student whose previously charmed life in Neptune, California takes a turn after the murder of her best friend, Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried). Veronica’s father, the County Sheriff, mistakenly accuses Lilly’s billionaire father of her murder, and when his innocence is proven, the sheriff is replaced, and disgraced by the community. 

The high-brow elite crowd known as 0’9ers – nicknamed for their (fictional) zip code – that Veronica used to seamlessly fit in with, reject her when she chooses loyalty to her father over them. The class dynamics in the show are compelling enough to stand alone – the Mars family’s fall from grace as well as their sudden drop by a few tax brackets puts them in a unique status within this polarising society. Veronica walks the tightrope between the two sects of Neptune – the elite who cast her out, and the children of the working class who resent her for what she used to be. 

As Veronica uncovers evidence that the man convicted for Lilly’s murder may be innocent, she falls deeper and deeper into a web of carefully crafted secrets and lies, all the while helping the school’s population – who are in need of her sleuthing skills to uncover the mysteries behind the sunny facade of Neptune. The show juxtaposes the setting of this cheerful tourist town, with the twisted secrets and mysteries it hides – the manicured lawns and white picket fences covering up a cesspool of drugs and assaults. 

But, Veronica herself is hands down the most compelling part of the show. She’s Nancy Drew with a kind of depth that is often not written for female characters. Cynical, pushy, sometimes brash – certainly imperfect – but also empathetic, determined, and generous to a fault, often forsaking her own safety in a self-sacrificial manner to solve her next case. 

Veronica Mars takes the best from 2000s television and flips tropes on their heads, subverting the viewer’s expectations.

More from Redbrick TV:

Throwback Shows: The Mentalist

Hidden Gems: Smallville

Throwback Shows: True Detective