Eli "Weevil" Navarro is the head of the local PCH biker gang and ally of teenage detective Veronica Mars.
Biography[]
A member of Neptune's underclass, Eli Navarro, better known as "Weevil", lives with his grandmother, younger siblings, and, for a time, his cousin. Weevil's grandmother worked as a housekeeper for the Echolls family for ten years until his cousin Chardo's actions led to her firing. Weevil is a Gemini and his hometown is Neptune, California.[1]
Weevil became the leader of the PCH Biker Gang after his predecessor, Gustavio "The Reaper" Toombs disappeared and was presumably killed by the Fitzpatricks. Weevil is often in and out of trouble with the law. He has new transfer student Wallace Fennel duct-taped to the flagpole
after Wallace reluctantly turned over a security camera tape showing several members of the PCH biker gang stealing from the mini-mart where Wallace worked. Vowing further punishment for Wallace, it was only the intervention of Veronica Mars who saved Wallace. She arranged for the videotape to be switched with a tape of a Neptune deputy receiving oral sex from an escort. The case against Weevil's underlings was subsequently dropped, and Weevil agreed to seek no further revenge against Wallace.
Weevil wants to make his grandmother proud and receives tutoring in order for her to be able to see him graduate. However, Weevil is arrested for Thumper's death during the graduation ceremony.
Weevil is released early from jail on parole, on the condition that he get and keep a job which proves to be difficult for a man of his temperament. With Veronica's help, Weevil is able to get a job working as a maintenance man at Hearst College. He was the primary suspect in a robbery of an on-campus underground casino, but Veronica was able to prove that he did not commit the crime.
Weevil endeavors to stay on the straight and narrow but are asked by Veronica to steal Madison's car (in exchange for a tidy fee) and to arrange a meeting between her and the new leader of the PCHers. He agrees to both, despite the fact that, if caught, either offense would result in his parole being revoked. He is later accused of selling illegally manufactured Hearst student cards worth $1000 to students for $100. Veronica clears his name, but not before tipping him off to the location of a third machine that would manufacture the student cards. Weevil takes the machine, but it is uncertain whether he uses it or not.
He is now married to Jade Navarro and has a daughter with her named Valentina Navarro. After Valentina was born he stopped riding a motorbike until after Celeste accused him.
Relationships[]
Veronica Mars[]
The relationship between Weevil and Veronica Mars is a complicated one. Weevil is often willing to help Veronica out when she needs it but is always quick to remind Veronica that, in spite of her fall from grace, he still considers her an 09er and that she'll never be a true "outsider" like him. They're quick to help each other out and are forever owing each other favors. He occasionally refers to Veronica as "V" and "Mars". It's shown that Weevil does consider Veronica a good friend when he takes deep offense to her accusing him of a crime. However, Veronica eventually cleared his name and has remained loyal towards Weevil. She is one of the few people who has seen Weevil's softer side. (President Evil)
In the third season, Veronica helps Weevil stay on parole (and therefore out of prison) by landing him jobs. First with her father's detective agency, and, after he loses that job, as a repairman at her college. He even risks a return to prison by stealing Madison Sinclair's car for Veronica to cube, though he does charge Veronica's own going rate - $500.
Keith Mars[]
Despite the fact that Keith Mars no longer holds the position of Sheriff, Weevil still calls him "Sheriff" whenever they meet. And despite having arrested him several times in the past when he actually was sheriff, Keith is reluctantly persuaded by Veronica into giving Weevil a job so he can stay out of jail. Keith finds Weevil to be a good detective and hard worker but is forced to fire him after Weevil assaults a suspect he saw beat a child.
Logan Echolls[]
Originally the two were sworn enemies due to the class warfare that existed throughout Neptune; Weevil's legal guardian, his grandmother, worked for Logan's family and was constantly taunted by Logan over this fact. The feud between the two escalated when Weevil befriended Veronica and came to her aid when Logan began smashing her car up with a crowbar as payback for Veronica planting a bong inside his locker (which caused him to have his father take his car away from him as punishment).
The conflict between the two intensified when Logan's family fired Weevil's grandmother as their maid and had her arrested for obtaining credit cards in the Echolls family name and using them online. While the police believed that Weevil was the true culprit, his cousin was really behind the credit card fraud as part of a bid to steal Logan's girlfriend away from him. Weevil agreed to plead guilty to the fraud to save his grandmother in exchange for a four-month stint in juvenile hall, but Veronica uncovered the truth and cleared Weevil's name. Weevil then expelled his cousin from the PCH Biker Gang and had him beaten for betraying both Weevil and their grandmother, a punishment that Logan agreed to let Weevil carry out.
The relationship would reach a turning point when the two were forced to serve a lengthy detention sentence together. When Weevil convinced Logan to destroy the car of the teacher who put them into detention, Weevil was expelled. But to Logan's shock, Weevil refused to incriminate Logan for his part in the destruction of the car. As a result, Logan confessed to his part of the crime and with bribery (in the form of a pair of his father's boots, to be sold at auction to benefit the school) Logan was able to get Weevil reinstated.
As a result of this, the two teens agreed to a truce, though both still took pleasure in the occasional sarcastic jibe. However, in spite of the truce between them, Weevil had a dark secret: Weevil had a brief fling with Logan's former girlfriend, Lilly Kane, during one of the periods when Logan and Lilly had broken up. Weevil continued to love Lilly, (even getting a tattoo of her name) but reluctantly kept their brief relationship a secret so Lilly could save face with her fellow '09ers.
Ultimately this would lead towards a complicated series of events, where a disgruntled member of the PCH Biker gang named Thumper used the friendship between Weevil and Logan to usurp Weevil's control over the PCH Biker gang. Thumper murdered Felix, a PCH Biker who was Weevil's second-in-command and framed Logan for the murder. At first, the incident sparks off a bitter feud between Logan and Weevil, but eventually, Weevil realizes that Logan may have been framed by members of his own group when Veronica Mars provides information that several members of the PCH Biker Gang had begun to sell drugs for the Irish mob. Ultimately, Weevil and Logan joined forces to find the real killer, but Thumper exposed their alliance and used it to oust Weevil from the gang.
Ultimately, Weevil would get his revenge, arranging for Thumper's Irish mob backers to turn against Thumper and lock him in the bathroom of a local sports stadium that was scheduled to be destroyed. In an ironic twist, Logan (who Thumper had framed for murder) had won a contest that allowed him to be the one who pushed the button destroying the stadium. As a result, Logan kills Thumper (unknowingly) and allows Weevil to avenge his friend's death.
Weevil attends the Neptune High reunion with his wife. He bumps into Veronica who expresses her shock at how Weevil had changed. He visibly laments upon hearing Felix's name at the memorial. On his way home one night, he finds Celeste Kane harassed by bikers. He approaches her car to try and help but is shot by Celeste when she thought he was a biker. A gun is planted on him to make it look like Celeste did it in self-defense. At the end of the movie, Veronica and Weevil are talking about his case. Weevil thanks Veronica and leaves with the bikers, indicating that he'd return to his old life, just as Veronica returned to the PI business.
Trivia[]
- Weevil's age is in question: Mrs. Navarro mentioned that Weevil was 17 during his junior year but the details on his MySpace page would make him two years older.[2]
Appearances[]
- Veronica Mars
- Season One
- Pilot
- Credit Where Credit's Due
- The Wrath of Con
- You Think You Know Somebody
- The Return of Kane
- The Girl Next Door
- Drinking the Kool-Aid
- Silence of the Lamb
- An Echolls Family Christmas
- Clash of the Tritons
- Mars vs. Mars
- Betty and Veronica
- Kanes and Abel's
- Hot Dogs
- M.A.D.
- A Trip to the Dentist
- Leave It To Beaver
- Season Two
- Season Three
- Season Four
- Season One
- Film
- Books
References[]
- Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.