"Lord of the Bling" was the thirteenth episode of the first season of Veronica Mars.
In this episode, Veronica investigates the mysterious disappearance of her old friend, Yolanda, when the girl's father approaches Keith for help.
Synopsis[]
A man, Percy "Bone" Hamilton, is relaxing by his pool. Soon, his son, Bryce, approaches and says that Yolanda, Bryce's sister and Bone's daughter, has disappeared. Later, Bone enters Mars Investigations and looks for Keith. Wallace tells Veronica that Bone is a criminal and the owner of a Gangsta Rap record company. Veronica says that she used to be friends with Yolanda. Keith eventually decides to take up the case, and Bone has a list of people to whom Keith should talk because of rifts between Bone and them. Later, Veronica offers to gather information about Yolanda, which Keith accepts. In a flashback, Veronica helps Yolanda find her English class. Keith visits the first person on Bone's list, Sam Bloom. Veronica talks to Yolanda's friend, Gabrielle, and she finds out that the two were at a club the night of her disappearance. Keith is going to investigate Marcel, the club bouncer who was another one of the enemies on Bone's list. Veronica is eventually allowed to come on the condition that she stays in the car. Keith talks to Marcel, who recommends that he talks to "Dime Bag", number two on the enemies list. However, they don't find Dime Bag there. Keith sneaks his way into Dime Bag's apartment in disguise as a mechanic while Veronica waits outside.
Logan prepares to leave for his mother's funeral.
While Keith is in the room, Dime Bag and his posse appear, and Veronica pretends to be a hotel worker. Keith bugs the suspect's rooms, and they begin to hear their conversation. Meanwhile, Logan and Aaron get ready for Lynn's funeral and have a fight in front of the paparazzi. Veronica visits Yolanda's younger brother, who thinks that she has been kidnapped, not simply disappeared. In another flashback, Veronica sees Yolanda kissing Logan and tells Lilly about it. Lilly says that they must stop being friends with her. Bone calls Dime Bag, and he says that he knows where Yolanda is. However, it is later revealed through the hidden camera that they are not hiding Yolanda.
Veronica and Wallace find out that Sam Bloom has a son, Benjamin, who was with Yolanda at the club the night of her disappearance. When Logan sits in his room and plays video games during Lynn's funeral, Duncan talks to him, and Logan expresses his belief that his mother is not dead, but simply "escaped". Veronica calls Benjamin's roommate under a guise, and he says that Benjamin left alone for Las Vegas, which means that Sam was lying about his whereabouts. In another flashback, Veronica abandons Yolanda for Lilly. Bone comes to Keith with a ransom note for $500,000. However, the drop location is already specified and the area is under heavy surveillance. Bone believes that Dime Bag is the kidnapper.
During the drop, Bone places his wedding ring inside of a plastic football and shoves it down the drain per the "kidnapper's" orders. However, it turns out that Yolanda's brother was behind the whole scheme and intercepts the plastic football at the beach. It turns out that Bryce actually planned the whole scheme, and that the entire plot was to stop Yolanda from running away. Keith, Veronica, and Bryce talk to Bone and his wife. The three get Yolanda up on a Skype-like camera. She says that she has run off to marry Benjamin Bloom. Yolanda says that she won't come back until Bone's feud with Sam Bloom is over. Later, Veronica calls Yolanda again and apologizes to her for leaving her, and she accepts.
Arc significance[]
- It was Yolanda Hamilton who kissed Logan, leading to Lilly and Logan's break-up before Lilly's murder.
- Logan asks Veronica for help in finding his mother.
Cultural references[]
A variety of cultural references are made in the episode:
- The title Lord of the Bling is a reference to The Lord of the Rings, combined with bling-bling, hip-hop slang for expensive jewellery.
- Bone compares his two children to Velvet Brown from National Velvet and Steve Urkel.
- Lynn Echolls left her suicide note on a BlackBerry.
- Logan uses the V sign when talking to his father.
- Logan uses the phrase, "My father thanks you. My mother thanks you. I thank you," a reference to a statement popularized by George M. Cohan.
- Logan also mentions ICM Partners, a talent and literary agency.
- The video game that Logan plays at his mother's funeral is Fable.
- The last words that Veronica Mars says before the opening title is "We used to be friends..... A long time ago". These words are also the first words from the song in the opening title by The Dandy Warhols.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars
- Percy Daggs III as Wallace Fennel
- Teddy Dunn as Duncan Kane
- Jason Dohring as Logan Echolls
- Francis Capra as Eli "Weevil" Navarro
- Enrico Colantoni as Keith Mars
Guest Stars[]
- Anthony Anderson as Percy Hamilton
- Amanda Seyfried as Lilly Kane
- Jowharah Jones as Yolanda Hamilton
- Jermaine Williams as Bryce Hamilton
- Bruce Nozick as Samuel Bloom
- Shari Headley as Vanessa Hamilton
- Sam Sarpong as Darius Bagley
- Harry Hamlin as Aaron Echolls
Music[]
- "The Bomb" - The Pharcyde
- "The Girl Who Wouldn't Die" - Tsar
- "Saturday Night" - Ozomatli
- "Hey Ma" - Cam'ron
- "Living It Up" - The League
Quotes and trivia[]
- Wallace: Stop staring. It's just hair.
- Veronica: Resisting the urge to touch…
- Wallace: You keep resisting that urge.
- Keith: Hey honey, what's cooking?
- Veronica: Not quite sure myself. Something that ends in "-aroni".
- Veronica: I'm not scrawny. I'm not!
- Wallace: I didn't know you knew her.
- Veronica: We used to be friends ... a long time ago.
- Veronica: [referring to rubber ducks] Get them in a row.
Trivia[]
- Despite being credited, Francis Capra (Eli "Weevil" Navarro) does not appear in this episode.
Goofs[]
- Logan shows Duncan Kane a cigarette lighter engraved "Free at Last". Logan says his grandfather fought in the Korean War and had the lighter engraved after he was captured and then escaped. In the Korean War, American soldiers escaped from front-line holding points or aid stations shortly after capture, but no one escaped from POW camps. The rough terrain and the problem of blending in with the local population made escape very difficult.