Veronica Attacked

Last night's final moments of Veronica Mars were especially nail-biting. The Hearst rapist had drugged our heroine and was ready to attack her....

Overall the episode was pretty good and Veronica was in top form. She has more snap than a lobster (''Consider my mind blown, and then put back together. And blown again.''). She was on a rampage this week, against both her dad and Logan. The men in her life haven't been living up to her high standards. The usually principled Keith took up seriously with the unhappily married Harmony, and the rarely principled Logan was keeping secrets about his and Mercer's alibi the night of the campus rapes during the summer. So Veronica spoke her mind and generally avoided them both, focusing instead on the mystery of the week,a visiting girl's missing boyfriend, which was a tad dull.

Veronica's investigation into someone else's relationship served to widen her and Logan's growing gap. Upon finding her boyfriend, Sully, at the police station, the hapless girlfriend, Merrill, thanked Veronica, who apologized for at first thinking Sully was cheating and avoiding the break-up chat. Merrill responded with a curt, but very appropriate, ''If I had never been in love before, I wouldn't have believed it either.'' Ouch. Does our Veronica not know love? Then what does she really have with Logan? Why does she always assume the worst about people in love? These things had to be spinning through her head.

Veronica had left things dicey with Logan the last time she'd seen him. He'd finally given up his alibi: He and Mercer ran away from a motel fire that Mercer had started in Tijuana, but she didn't like it. She responded by asking how he could just leave a burning motel without checking on the other people inside, which I could understand her disappointment. As for Keith, Veronica slammed him about Harmony: ''So if Jake Kane thought he and Mom had something special, would that have been okay?'' Ouch, again. But truly, what seemed somewhat innocent before (except for the tiny problem of Harmony being married) got nasty this week. Vinnie was working for Harmony's husband, and he threatened Keith that he'd expose the affair if Keith didn't reveal information about Kendall Casablancas and the money she owes the Fitzpatricks, with whom Veronica and Merrill had a quick, nasty run-in.

It's ironic that what Keith does for a living can so quickly be turned against him. But I feel for the guy. When he told Veronica that what he had with Harmony was real, I truly believed him. I honestly really hope that he and Harmony can find a way to be together because they have great chemistry. Over on the slow-burning rape story line, Veronica cleared Mercer's name. She proved that he was doing his call-in radio show during Parker's rape and the rape in the spring. Back to the usual suspects, Dick? Teaching assistant Foyle? The RA? At this point, I just want to move on to the second mystery. That is, until the rapist went after Veronica.

The food-court scene where her drink was drugged set things up perfectly: her hair-infested pasta, the cup abandoned for a few seconds. I was startled to see our sassy heroine so vulnerable in the last few scenes, stumbling and telling herself that she remembered this feeling and did not want "it" to happen again. I was on the edge of my seat as she turned to see a figure lurking in the shadows and watched that figure get closer. It was so nerve wracking watching as she fell and dropped the keys. I cheered for joy when she managed to set off the car alarm, allowing Logan, who had been looking for her, to hear it and run into the parking lot. He managed to get there just in time. Well almost, the rapist had managed to shave part of the back of her head.

If I were that culprit, I'd be scared now: You've unleashed the dragon. Whoever it was should have known that when Veronica Mars is attacked, she fights back. There are two episodes left in this cycle and it looks like we're in for a rollicking few weeks as this mystery gets wrapped.
Veronica's Stan Marsh-inspired final voice-over really brought the episode home: ''I think we all learned a valuable lesson about faith. You give it to the people you love. But the people who really deserve it are the ones who come through even when you don't love them enough.'' While I love Veronica's zingers, this was one of my favorite monologues so far this season. Veronica needs people, no matter how much she might pull away.

How should Veronica go after the rapist now? Can her relationship survive? Are things going to boil over with Veronica and Professor Landry? Where is Mac?