'Veronica Mars:' The Newest Blast from the Past

Chances are good that you know the name Kristen Bell, unless you're a 100+-year-old vampire without access to TV. Kids and their extremely-annoyed-by-this-point parents know her as Princess Anna in Disney's Frozen. Sitcom fanatics know her as Eleanor Shellstrop on NBC's The Good Place. Some might even know her from her more adult movies, like Like Father, Bad Moms, andBad Moms Christmas among others. But true Bell fans know her first-and-foremost as Veronica Mars from the same-named CW TV show (now a Hulu original as of season four, released July 19, 2019).

Veronica Mars follows high school (and then college and now adult) Veronica as she tries to solve her personal life's problems, while helping her dad run his private detective agency. I know, a tale as old as time, right? Girl's best friend gets murdered, girl's dad (who happens to be sheriff) botches the investigation, girl's super popular friends and boyfriend turn on her, the girl becomes outcast who spies on everyone in town to discover their dirty secrets while she tries to help discover the killer. But I digress before I ruin too much of the fun.

Three seasons, a movie, and now a 4th season can't all have been wrong. Each season sees Veronica tackling a new overarching mystery, while also solving her personal issues and those of her father as he tries to keep the family detective agency afloat.

So let's take a look at the life and crimes of Veronica Mars to get caught up for the new fourth season.

Season one introduces viewers to Veronica as she tries to find the murderer of her best friend, Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried) while juggling being a normal high school student... because high school isn't hard enough. Veronica's boyfriend, Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn) who is also Lilly's brother, and all their popular friends soon disown Veronica when her father, the town sheriff, accuses Jake Kane (Kyle Secor) of his daughter's murder.

Taking a page from her father's playbook, Veronica sets off on her own, determined to find Lilly's killer, even if she ends up making a few enemies and maybe a few new friends along the way.

But does Veronica get her man?

In season two, Veronica is now a senior, she's caught Lilly's killer, and she's back together with Duncan. Everything is great now, right?

But then, after a school trip, a bus full of students has driven off a cliff. Bus driver's suicide? That's what the local police think. But Veronica smells a rat and decides to investigate in the hopes of catching the one who she believes killed her friends.

Duncan has some issues of his own to work through while Veronica is off proving homicide in the hopes of quelling her own guilty conscience. It's no coincidence that the bus goes off the cliff before she can testify in Lilly's murder case is it?

In the end, it's a twist that no one sees coming and viewers are yet again left questioning, what is it about Veronica Mars that leads to so much destruction in the small town of Neptune, California?

Now a freshman at Hearst College with her boyfriend, Logan (Jason Dohring) and best friends, Wallace (Percy Daggs III) and Mac (Tina Majorino), Veronica is trying to be a normal college student, when she suddenly gets thrown into the middle of a new investigation.

Who is raping girls on campus and then shaving off all their hair?

When Mac's roommate is attacked, with Veronica as a witness, she is once again the center of a large-scale investigation. Fraternities, jocks, and drunk college boys top her list as she yet again has to find a balance for personal and professional investigations.

In the end, Veronica and her new boyfriend, Piz (Chris Lowell), find out that life isn't all rainbows and marshmallows. Logan is off the deep end over his loss of Veronica. Keith Mars is hoping his fall from grace doesn't cost him the sheriff's election. And how we get to this twist of fate is one of those great cliffhangers you don't want to miss.

After fans of Veronica Mars crowdfunded enough money for a movie after the ending of season three left them all wanting answers, the movie is a bit of a let-down. But it is important(ish) in understanding Veronica at the start of season four.

Veronica left Neptune after her freshman year, went to Stanford, got her law degree, and is now in New York (with Piz in tow as the ever devoted boyfriend) looking for a job at a law firm.

But, when after nine years apart, Logan calls her asking for help finding a lawyer to defend him, addicted Veronica can't say no. Dropping everything (including meeting Piz's parents for the first time), Veronica runs to Logan's side to help prove his innocence, when he is (yet again) accused of killing his girlfriend.

Yada, yada, yada. Veronica proves him innocent, they fall back in love, she stays in Neptune to help her dad run the family detective agency, everyone is happy... well except Piz whose still in New York mourning Veronica we assume.

It's strangely reminiscent of seasons one to three being thrown together into one plot-line, but this time with more killing.

Season four sees grown-up Veronica still in Neptune helping her dad run their detective agency, still addicted to Logan, and still fearful of commitment as episode one quickly points out.

But she's got her plate full with the spring break bombing of a local hotel hotspot, so who can really blame her.