Over the summer, I caught up with Veronica Mars, the fantastic series that is sometimes deceptively tagged as Nancy Drew on The WB. First, it’s on UPN. Second, one is the many charms of VM is the multiple subtexts of the proceedings.
The one theme that really fascinates me, because it’s so rarely explored on television today, is the class warfare that goes on in the wealthy, seaside community of Neptune. The whole town seems neatly split between the Haves and the Have-Nots. And in Neptune, the Haves have a lot. These families are tech entrepreneurs, movie stars, retired professional athletes, and so on. They definitely live in their own isolated privileged world.
In season one, Veronica was expelled from the world and cast down into the lower classes. She broke up with her rich boyfriend. Her sheriff father lost his job and became an outcast. Over the course of the season, she re-gained her status.
She retains that unique ability to travel amongst the various sectors of her society, low and high. But she remains caught between those two extremes. As has been true throughout history, the upper and lower classes feel she should pick a side and stay there.
This past summer, The Closer also plumbed new ground by focusing on office politics. Yes, the show is a mystery with a quirky detective, and yes, it was extremely funny. But the main story told over the course of season one was how Chief Brenda Johnson, someone who is already difficult to work with due to her exquisite skills at pissing people off, then walks into a work situation that would be tough for anyone.
She used to sleep with her boss, Assistant Police Chief Will Pope, some years before. She has replaced Captain Taylor as head of the Priority Murder Squad, due to allegations of incompetence (and possibly corruption?) on his part. Her new squad remains largely loyal to Taylor, and Taylor actively goes out of his way to undermine her. Pope also passively undercuts her on numerous occasions. She hates to be dependent on anyone. She insists on calling others on their incompetence.
By the season finale, she is able to duck some serious charges because she ultimately is able to pull the squad behind her. She is someone who feels she ought to be able to just do her work, which she does very well, and not be judged on her political and interpersonal skills. At the last minute, she recognizes that she needs to reach out a little to her employees and let them know that she values their work and respects them.
When this show comes out on DVD (as I’m sure it will), copies of the box set ought to be purchased by HR departments everywhere, along with The Office, both the British and American versions.
P.S. I didn’t watch season one of the current version of The Office regularly, but season two does seem like an improvement. I think American production has finally found its groove.