Saturday, August 30, 2014

Relationship Spotlight: Veronica Mars & Wallace Fennel (Veronica Mars)

 
On Veronica Mars, everyone’s favorite adolescent P.I. has a ton of great, fascinating relationships.  There’s the close you-and-me-against-the-world dynamic she has with her dad Keith, the mutual pull of noir-ish attraction with volatile wildcard Logan, the Bond-and-Q friendship/partnership with techie Mac, and the frenemies tit-for-tat with gang leader Weevil.  In the midst of all that, her relationship with her best friend Wallace might feel a little pedestrian, but he anchors her chaotic, dangerous life in a way that she really needs.
 
The beginning of this beautiful friendship, in traditional Veronica Mars fashion, is rooted in intrigue.  Wallace begins his life at Neptune High duct-taped naked to the flag pole – a vindictive gift from the local biker gang – and Veronica is the one to cut him down while their fellow students gawk and snicker.  This is enough for the friendly, upbeat Wallace to breech Veronica’s usual defenses.  He ignores the unflattering rumors about Veronica that run rampant around the school and is persistent despite her attempts to rebuff him.  Slowly, the caustic, guarded Veronica gains a friend.
 
Of course, Veronica spends most of her time up to her elbows in crime and mystery, and her end of the friendship can be a bit mercenary.  She’s eager to reap the benefits of Wallace’s office aid position, enlisting him to pull student files as needed, and he soon becomes her go-to assistant for assorted schemes and traps.  Whether she needs a lookout, a drop-off man, a decoy, or someone to get her out of a jam, she can convince Wallace that he fits the bill.  “I need a favor,” trips off her lips often enough that Wallace can recite it with her in stereo, and though this sometimes causes friction between them, Wallace is generally willing to help with no more than a little good-natured grumbling.
 
But, like I said, friction:  virtually all serious arguments these two have stem from a sense that Wallace does all the giving and Veronica does all the taking in the relationship.  When she asks too much of him, when she’s embroiled in vendettas and he becomes collateral damage, or when he needs help and she doesn’t step up, Wallace stands up for himself and demands not to be taken for granted.  To her credit, Veronica is usually quick to make amends.  She has a habit of getting wrapped up in her own drama, and while it’s true that most of Wallace’s problems are less extreme and far-reaching than hers, that doesn’t mean they’re not important to him, and she sometimes needs to be reminded of that.
 
And when you come down to it, Veronica cares deeply about Wallace.  She shares secrets with him, tries to console him when he’s upset, and makes an effort with the things he cares about – she couldn’t care less about school spirit, for example, but she goes to basketball games so she can cheer Wallace on.  When these two are separated by circumstances or disagreements, you can really feel it.  When Veronica falls out with other characters, she tends to stay stubborn, or at least forced-indifferent, longer, whereas with Wallace, she immediately knows that she’s off-kilter without him and wants to make it right.  He’s such a presence of good in her life – of help, of encouragement, and even just of fun – that she knows how much she needs him.

No comments:

Post a Comment