The Rapes of Graff

The Rapes of Graff
Season	Two
Season	Two
	2x16
	2x16
Episode №	16
Episode №	16
Original Broadcast Date	March 29, 2006
Written by	John Enbom
Story by	Rob Thomas
Teleplay by	Rob Thomas
Directed by	Michael Fields
Chronology
Preceded by	The Quick and the Wed
Preceded by	The Quick and the Wed
Followed by	Plan B
Followed by	Plan B

"The Rapes of Graff" was the sixteenth episode of the second season of Veronica Mars.

Plot

"You undercounted the sassy."

On a visit to Hearst College, Veronica encounters her former boyfriend Troy Vandegraff, somebody, she once thought to know. Troy has been accused of raping a student and then shaving her head bald afterwards. Veronica clears Troy's name and, in the process, tangles with a sex-obsessed group of frat boys. She discovers that the rapist, whom she does not catch this time, has been stalking victims on campus for quite a while when she encounters a second victim of his.

Keith helps Cliff get out of a jam.

Keith follows up on the theft of Cliff's briefcase, which leads to Keith discovering that Sheriff Lamb is secretly dating Veronica's barely-legal high school nemesis Madison Sinclair.

Logan continues seeing Hannah Griffith, enraging her father. Logan insists that he'll continue to date her, and there's nothing Dr. Griffith could do to stop it. Dr. Griffith proves him wrong, however, by sending Hannah away to boarding school – in Vermont.

Arc significance

• The murder case against Logan is closed after Dr. Griffith dropped his testimony previously.
• As part of his scheme to frame Duncan Kane for the death of Lilly Kane, Aaron Echolls arranges for an escort to be hired for the purpose of seducing Cliff McCormack and stealing his briefcase which held Logan's murder case files and keys to the storage locker that's containing Aaron Echolls' personal belongings, including an Oscar statue.
• It's revealed that Madison's mystery "older boyfriend" is in fact Sheriff Lamb.
• Logan goes back on his deal, and Dr. Griffith walks in on Logan and Hannah about to have sex. As a result, Hannah is sent away to boarding school.
• Veronica and Troy Vandegraff reconcile (to a degree) after their rather bitter split in Season One.
• Danny Boyd, Liam Fitzpatrick's cousin, works construction at Shark Stadium, which gives him access to C4-explosives.
• This episode sets up the first major story arc of Season Three. Although Troy is exonerated, it is yet unknown who really was responsible for the rapes; Veronica's pursuit of the rapist will run until the episode "Spit & Eggs".

Music

• "I Hate It That I Got What I Wanted" - Clearlake
• "Crank It Out!" - Ari Shin
• "I Know I Know I Know - Tegan and Sara

Writing and acting

• The episode sees the return of Season One character (and former love interest of Veronica Mars) Troy Vandegraff (Aaron Ashmore).
• The episode also features guest stars Alia Shawkat and Michael Cera, both of whom starred in the Fox series Arrested Development. Cera's character, Dean, was originally intended to return in Season 3. However, due to scheduling conflicts, another actor was hired and the character of Moe Flater was created.
• While the episode features references to Veronica's past sexual assault, the script makes no mention of the meeting between Veronica and Sheriff Lamb that occurred the morning after the assault.

Quotes

Veronica: Okay, I'm Veronica, I'm from Neptune, and I once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.

Dean: How'd that go?

Veronica: It was a bit of a letdown.

---

Troy: I'm not lying to you, Veronica. I just wanted you to know that.

Veronica: Do I care? Really, Troy, you're just water under the bridge. [mutters to herself] Duplicitous, evil water.

---

Sheriff Lamb & Madison Sinclair.

Keith: [To Lamb] That’s Madison Sinclair, who I believe takes World History with my daughter.

Lamb: So, what, this isn't blackmail? She’s 18. That’s legal.

Keith: Sounds like a swell campaign slogan for the next election.

---

Veronica: I told you, Dad, I am going far, far away. It's a dealbreaker.

Keith: Hearst is 10 whole exits.

Veronica: What do you know about plastic explosives?

Keith: Well, that's what I like: A good segue.

---

Veronica: Dad. Your hooker's here.

Trivia

• This episode had an estimated audience size of 2.07 million U.S. viewers on its first airing.
• Despite being credited, Teddy Dunn (Duncan), Francis Capra (Weevil), Kyle Gallner (Beaver), and Tessa Thompson (Jackie Cook) do not appear in this episode.
• The episode title is a spoonerism of The Grapes of Wrath and Troy's last name, Vandergraff.
• The episode title/plot is also a play on the title of the mock-heroic narrative poem The "Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope in which a girl gets a lock of her hair cut off while attending a party.
• One of the frat boys is called Iceman. Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Ashmore's brother, plays Iceman in the X-Men series.
• "I once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die" is a reference to the Johnny Cash song "Folsom Prison Blues".
• Michael Cera (Dean) and Aliya Shawkat (Stacy) were both in the show Arrested Development.

External links

• MI.net's Roundtable Review.
• Soulful Spike Society's Open Case.
• Television Without Pity Recap.