"Blast from the Past"
Wallace enters his house moments after learning that Nathan is his biological father (see “Green-Eyed Monster”). He confronts Alicia, who tells him that Hank Fennel, the man he always believed was his father, deserves the honor because he was a real father. She explains that she married Nathan, a narcotics cop, when she was 21. He went undercover and got hooked on drugs. She tries to find Wallace’s birth certificate but realizes that Keith took it. Alicia tells Wallace that the day Hank proposed, he became Wallace’s father. At school, Veronica tries to cheer Wallace up. Their teacher tells the class about Homecoming court nominations and Veronica nominates Wallace for Homecoming King. In another classroom, Corny nominates Veronica for Homecoming Queen. Mandy (see “Hot Dogs”) likes this idea; she seems to have something of a girl crush on Veronica. Logan taunts his ex and Mandy tells Jackie that if she ever needs help, she should go to Veronica. At lunch, Jackie and a girl named Cora approach Wallace, talking about Homecoming. He heads off to talk to Veronica, which Jackie can’t believe. Wallace fills Veronica in on the truth about his family, then asks her to keep it to herself for now. Jackie makes it clear that she’s not happy about Wallace sitting with Veronica instead of her.
After school, Veronica heads to Mars Investigations and learns that someone in Lamb’s camp (possibly Lamb himself) has been stealing Keith’s campaign posters and throwing them away. Keith is happy, though, because he has a 12-point lead. Jackie has her palm read by a woman named Madame Sophie, who tells her some things her grandmother wants her know. When Jackie tries to pay, her credit card is declined. At school the next day, Jackie approaches Veronica (Wallace told her she could find her in the restroom) and asks her for help. She fills Veronica in, saying that Cora borrows her things a lot. She discovered the card was missing after she went shopping with Cora, and then it reappeared in her car like it was placed there deliberately. Jackie gives Veronica a list of the charges and Veronica notes that one is from something called Consolidated Elemental Industries, which she doesn’t recognize. Veronica says that she’ll start by finding out if Cora has any of the purchases on the list. Alicia heads to Mars Investigations and confronts Keith about the documents he stole from her. He asks her why she didn’t tell him the truth about Nathan, saying that Wallace should have been told. Alicia can’t believe that he’s giving her parenting advice and says that she won’t invite chaos into her house. “You invited chaos,” he replies. “All you did was postpone it.”
Nathan heads to the Sac-n-Pac, where Wallace spots him and starts singing “Papa was a Rolling Stone.” Nathan says that he can’t blame Alicia for leaving him and he’s not there to defend himself. Wallace wonders why he’s come now, since he had 18 years to track him down. Nathan says that he did try to find Wallace, but Alicia’s mother wouldn’t help him. He gives Wallace a stack of letters (addressed to Wallace Woods) and says that if it weren’t for Alicia’s mother, he wouldn’t have even known that he had a son. Wallace says that Alicia told him she gave Nathan an ultimatum to choose between his job and his family. Nathan says that if that had happened, he would have chosen his son. At Neptune High, the Homecoming court is announced; Wallace and Duncan are candidates for King but Veronica isn’t up for Queen. Veronica follows Cora, noticing that she’s wearing a leather jacket, one of the purchases on Jackie’s card. Cora tells her that she got the jacket at an outlet mall and is going later to get her Homecoming dress. Veronica asks to come along and Cora agrees. In the parking lot, Duncan waits for Logan and easily patches up their friendship. Veronica tells Jackie that she’s still checking on Cora, who would have to be pretty dumb to wear stolen merchandise to school. Jackie says she’s not that smart.
Keith and Lamb participate in a debate sponsored by the Neptune League of Women Voters. Lamb talks about the things that bug him and calls himself “the Exterminator.” Keith is asked about how Lilly’s murder case contributes to his feelings about Neptune. He replies that he loves Neptune but doesn’t like the changes that have been occurring over the past few months. Lamb notes that violent crime has dropped 11 percent, but Keith points out that there is growing resentment. The topic turns to the bus accident and Lamb announces that he’s just learned that Ed Doyle (see “Driver Ed”) was pulled over for a DUI in 1989 by none other than Keith. Keith didn’t put the charge on Ed’s record, and if he had, Ed never would have been allowed to become a bus driver. Keith is shocked by this revelation and can barely respond. Veronica heads to Cora’s house to borrow a shirt, having spilled coffee on hers. While looking for the stolen clothes, Veronica finds a chicken suit and learns that Cora works at a restaurant called Oh Boyo Pollo Chicken. After the Homecoming shopping expedition, Veronica calls Oh Boyo Pollo Chicken and learns that Cora was working on the day Jackie’s card was stolen, so she can’t be the culprit.
Veronica and Duncan hang out in his hotel suite and he suggests having some people over for a Homecoming after party. She angles for a dance invite and easily gets it. On a roll, she then asks for some Kane Software stationery. At home, Veronica reads an article about how Keith has now lost his lead in the polls and is in a dead heat with Lamb. Keith finds a bug encased in glass in Veronica’s belongings and she tells him it’s for a biology project (because she apparently thinks that he believes everything she says). At the Fennels’ house, Wallace shows Alicia the letters from Nathan and blasts her for lying to him. At school, he complains to Veronica about his mother, but Veronica points out that if Nathan was a cop, he should have been able to track Wallace down. She says that Alicia is right and that he should take it from her that “the one who sticks with you is the one who cares.” At the sheriff’s department, Lamb receives Veronica’s bug along with a letter on Kane Software stationery from who he thinks is Jake. Veronica finds the address for Consolidated Elemental Industries and discovers that it’s the address of Madame Sophie’s store. Inside, she finds a bunch of candles purchased from a place called Tricky Wicks.
Veronica and Jackie meet up at the Mars’, where Jackie says that Madame Sophie must have gotten the card from her. She tells Veronica about wanting to hear from her grandmother and swears her to secrecy. Veronica shares her own secret - that as a freshman she bought a bust-enhancing cream called Mammo-Max. Jackie decides on her revenge - she’ll go on Madame Sophie’s cable access show, Answers from Angels (popular at Neptune High). At the Cooks’, the girls watch the show, on which a Neptune student named Michele learns that her friend Rhonda, who was on the bus when it crashed, is trying to reach her. Veronica decides that her new life’s mission is to destroy Madame Sophie. Terrence shows up and remembers meeting Veronica at the stadium (see “Normal is the Watchword”). He tells Jackie that Lamb wants him to emcee the sheriff’s department’s charity ball. Back at home, Veronica voices over that she and Jackie have a plan - Veronica will go on Answers from Angels and expose her as a fraud. Veronica listens to the audio bug she put in the glass-encased bug and hears Lamb blackmail Terrence over gambling debts.
At school, Veronica approaches Michele and asks her what they had her do on Answers from Angels. Michele explains that she only talked to a crazy-looking woman from the audience backstage. She reveals that she has a voicemail message from Rhonda and lets Veronica listen to it. On the message, two distinct explosions or blowouts can be heard before the bus goes over the cliff. Veronica surreptitiously sends the message to another phone. At the Neptune Grand, Duncan and Logan play video games and engage in some good-natured trash talking. Veronica waits in the audience of Answers from Angels, voicing over that she told the crazy-looking woman about her dead uncle Roger. The plant does her job and Madame Sophie believes that Veronica wants to get in touch with her fictional uncle. Madame Sophie then starts getting a message from Lilly. Wallace and Jackie are watching together at Jackie’s place and Wallace is interested in the turn of events. Madame Sophie shares Lilly’s message: “She says you should have stayed away from her boyfriend.” Duncan and Logan hear the message as well from the Neptune Grand. The message continues that Veronica doesn’t need Mammo-Max and Veronica realizes that Jackie set her up.
At home, Veronica burns Terrence’s conversation with Lamb onto a CD. She gets a call from Duncan (answering the phone, “Chesty LaRue”) and learns that Corny is DJing the Homecoming Dance; she writes “Homecoming request” on the blackmail CD. Wallace comes over and tells Veronica that Jackie is worried about her. Veronica tells him that Jackie set her up and Wallace needs to pick a side. He replies that she needs to do him a favor for once and let it go. He blasts her for not being sympathetic to his situation with his father, then leaves. Back at home, he calls Jackie and asks her if she set Veronica up. Jackie says that it was supposed to be funny, but Wallace isn’t amused that his girlfriend embarrassed his best friend on TV. Jackie says she just wanted to take Veronica down a peg, but Wallace says that she doesn’t know what Veronica has been through. Jackie swears that she didn’t tell Madame Sophie anything about Lilly - she got that message on her own. She asks Wallace if she can make things up to him at the dance, but he tells her he’s only going because of the election and he won’t be going with her. After they hang up, Jackie reaches for a bottle of pills.
The night of the dance, Veronica plays Michele’s voicemail message for Keith and encourages him to step forward with the information that the bus was sabotaged in order to take the heat off of himself. Keith says that the people on the bus were murdered and the killer is still out there. Veronica argues that Lamb won’t investigate, so the only way to get justice is if Keith wins the election. Duncan arrives to take Veronica to the dance and she decides not to take the blackmail CD with her. As Veronica and Duncan have fun dancing to the music of the Faders, an obviously drugged Jackie wanders around, then starts trying to kiss Logan. Veronica pulls them apart and tells Jackie that she won’t let her break Wallace’s heart. Jackie blasts her for wanting every guy in school: “How many guys here do you expect to want only you?” Veronica sees Wallace start to leave and tries to go after him but loses sight of him. Keith takes Michele’s message to Lamb, who thinks Keith just wants to clear himself. Keith spots Veronica’s bug and steals it back. At home that night, he gets a call from Alicia, who tells him that Wallace never came home from the dance. In the morning, he fills Veronica in and asks if she saw him at the dance. Veronica calls Wallace and leaves him a message telling him that she didn’t mean to let him down and she can’t lose another friend. Wallace happens to be in a car with Nathan, apparently heading out of town.
THE SCHOOL BUS CASE: Keith pulled Ed Doyle over for a DUI in 1989 but never put it on his record. If he had, Ed would not have been driving the bus the day of the accident.
Two explosions were heard before the bus went over the cliff, indicating that the bus was sabotaged to crash.
MEMORABLE QUOTES: “Well, there’s always Winter Carnival. Veronica can be an ice princess!” - Logan, after Veronica loses her nomination for Homecoming Queen
Cora: “You know who I am?”
Duncan: “So I was thinking. You’re an emancipated minor, I’m an emancipated minor. Maybe we should get together Thursday night. Chug cough syrup, mug some old ladies….”
Cora: “The Oh Boyo Pollo Chicken. Yep. You know, if anyone finds out about this, I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you.”
“Well, why does it have to be about you all the time? Look, Jackie’s right about one thing: it’s your world, I just live in it. I’m askin’ you for a favor, Veronica. Let it go. Don’t do whatever it is you’re gonna do. Have you been payin’ any attention lately? I just learned my whole life is a lie. My dad isn’t my dad. I’ve always been a shoulder you could lean on. You givin’ me no time, no sympathy. Nothin’.” - Wallace
Keith: “Tell Wallace I’m pullin’ for him.”
Written by Phil Klemmer and Cathy Belben; directed by Harry Winer
Veronica: “Eighth-grade badminton partner? You never forget someone you’ve been in the foxhole with.”
Logan: “Oh, golly, I don’t know. I was thinking about staying home, making a hope quilt for the lonely.”
Veronica: “If I tell anyone, I won’t blame you.”
Duncan: “Hm. Not feeling the Mars family love. Tough crowd.”
Veronica: “Oh, come on. It’s like rootin’ for the Yankees.”