Today’s Top 5: Veronica Mars, Season 4

“I spent my first 19 years trying to escape my hometown of Neptune, made it out, then after a decade away, decided Neptune needed me and I needed it. I was wrong on both counts. Neptune didn’t need another private investigator. It needed an enema.”

Thus opens Season 4 of Veronica Mars, an eight-episode arc that is as enthralling and involving as the noir mystery’s first three seasons, which aired on UPN and CW from 2004 to 2007 (and now, like S4, are available only on Hulu). In Episode 1, Veronica struggles to pay the bills, mired not in the intriguing mysteries of yore, but the routine muck of private investigation: infidelity cases. I’d say that the tawdry has become commonplace, but to an extent the tawdry has been commonplace since she began helping her P.I. dad way back when.

In the original series, Veronica was a cynical gal toting more baggage than most; fifteen years later and that cynicism has hardened like the scar tissue it is. She thinks nothing of drinking too much, dropping ecstasy, or bugging a new friend, and enjoys her status-quo relationship with on-again boyfriend Logan less for the relationship and more for the status quo. (Commitment means trust, after all, and trust, due to that scar tissue, is beyond her.) Now, some of that does seem out of character for the Veronica we knew – but that Veronica occupies a different point on the spacetime continuum.

The multilayered mystery that plays out throughout Season 4 is well worth one’s time, whether one is new to the series or, like myself, a longtime fan. (If you’re new, double back and watch the series in full, then hop over to HBO and watch the film. It’s a great way to chase the August blues away.) Also, ignore those crying over its ending, which saw Veronica miss an important clue to detrimental effect. Without giving anything away, it sets up what should be – fingers crossed – an even better Season 5, with Veronica haunted by the miscue.

And, with that, here’s today’s Top 5: Veronica Mars, Season 4 (aka Songs Heard Therein).

1) Chrissie Hynde – “We Used to Be Friends.”

2) Mac Davis – “In the Ghetto.”

3) Mirah – “Counting.”

4) Idyll – “Trouble.”

5) America – “A Horse With No Name”

And one bonus…

6) Captain & Tennille – “Love Will Keep Us Together”