According to Joss Whedon, Veronica Mars is the "Best. Show. Ever" but while it's too early to say whether his Comic Book Guy quote will prove 100% correct, for me it's been the stand-out series of the last couple of years. Not just in the US, but anywhere.

The series takes place in the California coastal town of Neptune, a town where you're either a millionaire (nicknamed 09ers because of their 90909 Zip Code), or you work for one. Despite this wealth divide, all the kids go to the same school, whether they're the son of a software billionaire or the leader of a bike gang.

The Mars family were never 09ers, but Veronica was part of the exalted circle at Neptune High, due to the fact that her boyfriend was the aforementioned software mogul's son, Duncan Kane.

Duncan's sister Lilly was Veronica's best friend, but when she was murdered, Veronica's life changed forever. Veronica's dad Keith was the town's sheriff and believed that Jake and Celeste Kane were covering something up. The Kanes went public, and after a quick recall election, Keith was out of a job. Deciding to stay in Neptune, he sets up his own detective agency and the family moves into a two-bed apartment in a less salubrious neighbourhood, minus Veronica's mom Lianne, who shoots through.

The series picks up about eight months after Lilly's death. At school, Veronica is an outcast (given a stark choice by her 09er friends, she opts to stick by Keith rather than them), while evenings are spent helping her dad at Mars Investigations.

The series uses that old chestnut of a new kid in town to introduce the characters and setting. The new kid is Wallace Fennell, who runs foul of the PCH bike gang, lead by Eli "Weevil" Navarro, and duct-taped naked to a flagpole outside school. Only Veronica is prepared to cut him down, and she goes onto get him off the hook with the PCHers, while simultaneously helping out lawyer Cliff McCormack, embarrassing new sheriff Don Lamb and stitching up rich jackass Logan Echolls.

This set up the dynamic of the early episodes, but Veronica Mars is much more than just a tale of a high school detective solving the mystery-of-the-week.

Its season arcs, including the Lily Kane murder, what happened to Veronica on the night of Shelly Pomroy's party ("Want to know how I lost my virginity? So do I.") and Lianne Mars' disappearance, kick in almost immediately and are well developed over the course of the 22 episodes. Everyone in Neptune appears to have secrets, and only Veronica can uncover them and put all the pieces together.

As well as intruiging plots that will have you wondering what happens next, the series also boasts some excellent characterisation. Veronica herself is a great character, and her relationship with Keith is the best father/daughter relationship on television today. Like Buffy, the other main characters are much more than the stock ones we've all seen before. Weevil isn't just the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks, while Logan might initially appear to be the obligatory rich jackass but he's actually deeply troubled, blaming himself for Lily's death and the victim of an abusive father. Even non-regulars such as computer genius Mac get backstories and character development.

The acting is equally top-notch. The Emmy voters need shooting for missing Kristen Bell's performance as the title character since she is simply superb as both the feisty heroine and the vulnerable teenager. The rest of the cast don't put a foot wrong either. On the guest star front, Buffy fans will enjoy Alyson Hannigan's role as Logan's half-sister Trina.

Despite the arcs revolving around mysteries (Lily Kane's murder, Veronica's rape), the series is still enjoyable on subsequent viewings - watching the DVD was the third time I'd watched these episodes and it just as enjoyable as the first time, if not more.

The 6-disc set was released a month or so before season 2 started transmission and consequently extras are limited. There's an extended version of the pilot and about 20 minutes of deleted scenes. The pilot isn't that much longer, but the deleted scenes are well organised - the episode titles are given beforehand and they play as one so there's no need to play around with the remote to select each one separately. For those after a commentary, there's a downloadable MP3 from creator Rob Thomas' website.

But, as I invariably say, the episodes are the most important thing, and on that score Veronica Mars delivers big-time - enough to get a rare 10/10 from me.

Given the series' limited exposure over here (it's currently only being shown on Living), a region 2 release seems unlikely in the immediate future, but those with a multi-region player should be able to pick this up for around £20 including postage from the States. Highly recommended. back to the top

THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON

Starring

KRISTEN BELL
Veronica Mars

PERCY DAGGS III
Wallace Fennell

TEDDY DUNN
Duncan Kane

JASON DOHRING
Logan Echolls

FRANCIS CAPRA
Eli "Weevil" Navarro

ENRICO COLANTONI
Keith Mars


WARNER HOME VIDEO
Region 1 NTSC


RATING: 10/10


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THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON