Veronica Mars: The Kids Will Be All Right

After three years, Veronica's a real private investigator! She passes the test and everything, and her first client is a Ugandan man who wants to prove that a Hearst student, who wrote a best-selling memoir about his experiences as a child soldier, is his son. Veronica hears that Apollo didn't write the book and that his movie deal isn't going through, and tells Possible Dad not to expect a big check, so Possible Dad bolts. Except Apollo was just feeding Veronica disinformation so he could test the guy's sincerity. Except except Possible Dad was actually picked up by the police and couldn't make the meeting, and turns out they really are father and son. Awww. For such a sad story (all the more sad for being true), it's nice that the ending came out happy. Especially since this is not a show that tends to go for the happy ending.

This is also the week when the kids decide what they're doing on their summer vacations, and, with the unsurprising exception of Logan, they're all taking on more responsibility. Ah, they grow up so fast when there's the possibility of a tesseract between seasons. Veronica's going to the FBI (yes, we know), Piz has a radio internship, and Wallace is volunteering in Africa. (Just reason #46 why Wallace is awesome. Reason #47 is his admonishment to Veronica this week that she try not to rip out Piz's heart. Word, Wallace.) Parker and Mac, meanwhile, are starting to realize that their boyfriends aren't that great. And I'm only surprised that it took Parker this long to catch on. If Logan had a business card, you know it would say, "Logan Echolls, Bad Boyfriend/Internet Ass Entrepreneur." And Dick? Dick has discovered feelings. I know, I can't believe it either, but for practically the only time in a year, he's expressed grief and guilt for his brother's death. It's kind of freaking me out, but it's also kind of nice, you know?

Around Neptune, the Fitzpatricks are working hard to make Vinnie the next sheriff, which means that, should the show get picked up, Keith will soon be going back to his outsider role. Which I preferred to Keith's sheriff role, so I'm not complaining. The Marses have always been iconoclasts, and they work better outside the establishment. Oh, also: Cliff! Yay, Cliff!

Next week: two-hour finale. We may not even know after tomorrow's CW upfront what to call it. Please stop jerking this show around, CW. I know this means there's still hope for it, but I'd rather know for sure, even if it's bad news.