Throwback Thursday Recap! Veronica Mars: Veronica and Logan's Epic First Kiss

We look back on the cult favorite series' season-one episode "Weapons of Class Destruction"

By Tierney Bricker Apr 12, 2013 12:39 AMTags
Veronica Mars, Kristen Bell, Jason DohringScoot Humbert/The CW

To celebrate the Internet's obsession with Throwback Thursday, we will be recapping our favorite past episodes of television every week. Got a suggestion for what to recap next? Hit us up in the comments!

With Veronica Mars official movie Kickstarter campaign coming to a close and said film's production, Comic-Con appearance and world domination just around the corner, what better way to celebrate than by looking back on one of the beloved series' most iconic episodes and moments: "Weapons of Class Destruction," which featured Veronica (Kristen Bell) and Logan's (Jason Dohring) surprising, amazing, epic first kiss, one that will go down as one of TV's best first kisses ever. Sprinkle in a dash of Jonathan Taylor Thomas for good measure and you've got a recipe for an amazing freakin' episode of TV, Marshmallows!

So first, watch the show-changing smooch (again and again) and then read on to relive the episode in all its glory...

Unlike WWK, which obsessively covered the show, this reviewer first started watching the series after it had been canceled and off the air for a few years (Shame on us, we know!). Our Veronica Mars-obsessed friend/spirit guide who lent us the DVDs (and changed our lives) asked us early on which of the guys on the show we thought Veronica would hook up with by the end of season one. We rattled off her ex-boyfriend/first love Duncan (Teddy Dunn), biker/reluctant ally-turned-confidant Weevil (Francis Capra) and even sidekick Wallace (Percy Daggs III). Not even registering on our mental list of potential suitors for Veronica, hands down the coolest chick at Neptune High? Logan, the school's "obligatory psychotic jackass" who was Duncan's BFF and Veronica's murdered best friend Lily's (Amanda Seyfried) boyfriend with whom Veronica was once friends with before her dad, the Sheriff, accused Duncan's father of killing Lily. In a word, he was an ass.

But then "Weapons of Class Destruction" came along and Logan and Veronica's epic first kiss, on the balcony of a seedy motel, snuck up on us the same way it seemed to have snuck up on them, and we seemed to experience the same whirlwind of emotions they did: The hesitance, the shock, the elation, the weirdness of how right it felt, and then, of course, the inevitable "Oh crap, what did we just do and what does this mean?" awkwardness of it all. They, and the show, would never be the same. In the best way possible.

So what events lead us to this epic, epic, epic (did we mention epic?) smooch?

Neptune High has been experiencing an unusual amount of fire drills, so Veronica does what she does best: Digging, which reveals that the school has actually been receiving bomb threats, something she prints in the school paper. Veronica's main suspect? A bully at the school named Norris (Sons of Anarchy's Theo Rossi, who had a surprising amount of chemistry with Bell given his limited screentime) and the new kid in school Ben (Home Improvement's Jonathan Taylor Thomas in his triumphant-albeit-brief return to TV).

Natch, Veronica stakes out Ben and catches him buying a suspicious amount of fertilizer. Unfortunately, she makes a rookie mistake and gets distracted while on the phone with Logan, allowing Ben to sneak up on her. He hops in her car and tells her to drive to Neptune's go-to motel the Camelot. Of course, Logan overhears this and is waiting to wail on Ben (He was probably a Brad fan!), who turns out to be an undercover cop. Cool twist, bro! (But he later sets up an innocent and surprisingly sweet Norris to boost his cred. Rough twist, bro!)

Of course, all of this leads to: The. Kiss. After hearing Ben's story, Logan and Veronica walk out of the motel room and say nothing. They don't need to. Everything about this moment was perfect. The camera angles. The acting. The music ("Momentary Thing" by Something Happens is so perfect for this moment it almost hurts). And just like that LoVe (Good luck topping that shipper name, every other TV show!)  was born. A complicated, twisted, intense, "spanning years and continents, lives ruined and blood shed" epic LoVe.

Now, The Kiss wasn't the only major development to go down in "Weapons of Class Destruction": Veronica's dad Keith (Enrico Colantoni) begins dating  Wallace's mother, and her BFF was not too happy about this romantic development, especially when Veronica is convinced her troubled mom will eventually return. (Oh Veronica, be careful what you wish for.)

Oh, and Duncan finally gets something interesting to do! And by interesting, we mean he completely goes off on Veronica when he finds out the teen sleuth has a file on him and thinks he may have somehow been involved with his sister's murder. Veronica admits she knows about his epilepsy and "violent mood swings," which he decides to act out for her, scaring her in the process. By episode's end, Duncan runs off after taking $10,000 out of his bank account. Totally innocent, normal behavior. (Sadly, he eventually resurfaces. With a moustache. Ew.)

Were you as surprised by Logan and Veronica's first kiss as we were? Do you think it still stands as one of TV's best first kisses? Sound off in the comments!

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