1.03 "Meet John Smith"

Aired Oct 12, 2004

Summary

Veronica Mars lesson for the day: object permanence. Some things in life are permanent, while others? Not so much. Cute but geeky Justin Smith hires Veronica to find his long-lost father, but he learns that Papa Smurf has magically become Smurfette, his long-lost second mother. Gender: not so permanent. New friend and lackey-with-a-heart-of-gold Wallace shows Veronica that sucking up to the first grade teacher really does stick around in a person's academic file forever. School records: permanent. Veronica decides to let go of her bitterness towards love and opens her heart — kind of — to new boy toy Troy. Heartbreak and cynicism: not so permanent. When Duncan goes off his anti-depressant meds, he takes a flying leap off a set of bleachers, hallucinates about a bloody but refreshingly sassy Lilly, and pines away over romantic days of yesteryear with Veronica. Memories of first love: permanent. Mental stability: not so permanent. Finally, Veronica searches for her runaway mother but isn't sure if she'll hug her or give her a great big wedgie whenever she does find her. Veronica's feelings for Lianne: perm not so perm complicated.

Important Parts

• Veronica is approached by a kid at school, Justin, to track down his missing father, John Smith. Justin actually believes his father to be dead and just wanted an excuse to spend time with Veronica, but her digging reveals that John Smith is not, in fact, dead.

• When they track down John Smith, Veronica and Justin discover that he had a sex change and Justin's mother, furious, retaliated by telling Justin that his father was dead.

• Troy and Veronica go out on a date. She resists when he tries to kiss her goodnight, but later kisses him.

• Duncan stops taking his antidepressants and starts acting strangely. He hallucinates Lilly telling him that he knows that the story about her murder doesn't add up and that the truth will come out. He later jumps off a bleacher when he sees Troy and Veronica kissing.

• Keith meets the school's guidance counselor Rebecca James and makes a point of running into her at the coffee shop she frequents.

• Veronica makes it clear to Keith that she sees her mother as a villain for leaving the family, but drives to Arizona to try to track Lianne down. Lianne, however, is no longer at the address Veronica has, and left no information on her whereabouts since she suspected Keith would come looking for her.

• Upset and skeptical about whether her mother cares for her, Veronica shows up at Troy's in the middle of the night and allows him to console her.