"Credit Where Credit’s Due"
At school, Veronica and Wallace discuss their plans (or lake thereof) for the weekend. He shows her a flier for a party and she tells him that it’s an 09er party, one thrown by someone from “the prestigious 90909 zip code.” It’s written in code - the moon means that it starts after dark, the sand in the hourglass means that it’s at the beach, the Ks and 9s mean that it’s at Dog Beach, and the eggs mean that it’s on Friday. Veronica explains that the code prevents people like her and Wallace from coming to the party. He asks how she knows all of this and she reveals to him that she used to be one of the popular kids. That night, Duncan and his friend Troy Vandegraff (Aaron Ashmore) arrive at the party; Troy is somewhat new and ready to meet Duncan’s friends. They meet up with Logan and his new girlfriend Caitlin, who’s played by Paris Hilton, for some reason. Weevil, Felix, and their gang invade the party, and when Logan tries to get rid of them, Weevil tells him that it’s their beach. Logan tells Caitlin that Weevil’s grandmother cleans the Echolls’ house, then makes a possibly racist comment (though it sounds more classist than anything). The entire party is broken up when Lamb and Sacks arrive. The kids run off, but instead of going after them, Lamb decides to take their kegs and have a cookout. The next day, Lamb and Sacks go to Weevil’s house, where he’s hanging out with his cousin Chardo and some other relatives, and arrest his grandmother Letitia for credit card fraud. Lamb tells Weevil that she took credit card offers out of the Echolls’ trash and opened up accounts in their name.
At Mars Investigations, Cliff tells Keith about Letitia’s case, listing the charges on the credit cards. Keith thinks they sound more like things that Weevil would want and suspects him of stealing the offers. Cliff notes that Lamb suspects Letitia because the address her purchases were mailed to was hers, and she was wearing one of the purchases when she was arrested. Veronica suggests that Lamb framed Weevil because he hates him, but Keith reminds her that Weevil’s been getting into trouble since he was 12. He hands the case over to her, since it’s more convenient for her, and she heads to Weevil’s house. There, Weevil tells her that Cliff wants him to confess. Veronica replies that, with his reputation, Weevil can’t blame Cliff for thinking he’s guilty. Weevil shoots back that Veronica must live up to her reputation as well - she must “like it a little freaky” and stalk Duncan. He tells her that as much as she thinks she’s an outsider, she’s still a popular kid because she still thinks like they do. The next day, Veronica and Keith eat in a diner, him reading the newspaper and her writing something. Lamb and Sacks enter and Keith taunts Lamb for having a killer on the loose. Lamb blames two officers hired by Keith, who shoots back that Lamb is great at not taking responsibility. Lamb points out that it’s almost October 3rd - the one-year anniversary of Lilly’s murder - and Keith replies that Lamb only supposedly solved the case because of an anonymous tip for which no one claimed the reward. Lamb reminds him that there’s no evidence linking Jake to the crime, so Keith didn’t do any better.
Veronica heads to school for a meeting with her guidance counselor. She runs into Troy, then Wallace, who’s working in the office. Veronica thinks this is spectacular, especially since it means that he can copy Weevil’s attendance records from the past month for her. Later, Veronica’s counselor places her in a student publications class, which is taught by Ms. Dent (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) and also contains Caitlin. Veronica agrees to take photos for the school newspaper, and Ms. Dent tells her about a story she wants photos for the next day after school. Unfortunately for Veronica, Duncan is the person writing the story. Wallace arrives with Weevil’s attendance records, and Veronica goes through them later. She notes that half of the purchases on the credit card records were made during fourth period, but Weevil was in auto shop seven of the eight times that purchases were made online. After school, Veronica heads to Mars Investigations, where Cliff tells her that Letitia has been released because Weevil confessed to the crime. Back in the newspaper classroom the next day, Logan and Caitlin discuss Letitia, whom Caitlin didn’t like. Veronica tells them that 90% of credit card fraud is perpetrated by a relative of the victim, but Caitlin tells her that no one cares what she thinks - “not since you stabbed all your friends in the back.” Logan accuses Veronica of signing up to work on the newspaper because Duncan writes for it. Veronica replies that she signed up to get closer to Logan, and she’s thinking of transferring to his fourth period class. Caitlin lets it slip that they have computer lab that period.
At lunch, Veronica looks through the browser history of Logan’s computer from his class. She doesn’t find any credit card purchases, but she notes that he visited the website of the Neptune Grand and later booked the honeymoon suite. After school, Veronica heads to her car but discovers that she has a flat tire. She tells him that she has to be somewhere in half an hour, and this is her second mysterious flat tire in a month. He helps her change it as Caitlin and Logan wonder why Troy is hanging out with Veronica. Duncan arrives and offers to give Veronica a ride. Troy tells her to go ahead, offering to finish up for her. Veronica and Duncan take an awkward trip to Gold Coast, Veronica contemplating throwing herself out of the car. She flashes back to driving in the car with Lilly just after they joined the Pep Squad. They discuss Celeste, whom Lilly says doesn’t like Veronica because she’s jealous. Lilly warns that Celeste will break up Duncan and Veronica if she can. In the present, Veronica spots Weevil doing community service by the side of the road. After they do their jobs at the beach, Duncan and Veronica are pulled over by Sacks on the way home. He tells them that there’s an impound notice on the car, which was Lilly’s, because of parking tickets and a moving violation from October 3rd, the day Lilly died. Duncan calls his parents as Veronica calls Keith. Later, Jake arrives and asks Sacks to call Lamb. Keith arrives and Veronica voices over that the last time he and Jake were in the same room, Keith was accusing Jake of killing Lilly. Keith got removed from office and Veronica chose to stand by him rather than by her friends. Now, though, she’s not sure she made the right choice, because she doesn’t know if Keith was right.
On the way home, Veronica asks Keith if they can stop by the Neptune Grand. When they arrive, Keith demands to talk to someone in security and Veronica tells him to calm down. She lies to the receptionist that she spent the night with a guy in the hotel a month earlier and is now pregnant. However, she was drunk, so she doesn’t remember the name of the guy or what he looked like, and now Keith wants to see a surveillance video. Veronica gives the receptionist the credit card bill, and as the receptionist leaves, Veronica tells Keith that his performance was a little over the top. The receptionist returns and tells them that they only keep surveillance for two weeks; however, she did get the detailed bill summary. From it, Veronica sees that Caitlin signed for room service in a room charged to the Echolls’ card. Back at school, Veronica accuses Logan of the fraud and he tells her to prove it. After he leaves, however, he looks like he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Keith drags Lamb’s missing killer into the sheriff’s department and asks for his reward. At lunch at Neptune High, Troy joins Veronica and Wallace and invites them to a party. Veronica wonders if she can just admit she made a mistake and get her old life back. Nearby, Logan is left with Caitlin’s purse as she talks to Troy. In the newspaper office, Veronica calls some phone numbers from the credit card bill as Logan looks at the call record in Caitlin’s cell phone. Veronica and Logan find the same phone number and Logan calls it first, reaching a guy who apparently refers to Caitlin as “baby.”
Veronica calls Keith and asks him to trace a phone number for her. Logan looks around the quad, trying to figure out who he’s called. He finally realizes that it’s Weevil’s cousin Chardo. Later he heads over to confront him, but Veronica gets to Chardo first, pushing him into the girls’ bathroom, and urges him to confess. Chardo tells her that he hates the fact that Weevil is being blamed for his crime, but he has a plan - he wants to run off with Caitlin, and once he’s long gone, he’ll mail in a confession. Veronica tells him that Caitlin will never leave with him. She adds that he can’t go back into the hallway, since Logan will be waiting for him. He repeats that Caitlin will leave with him, but Veronica points out that she’s all over Logan. After school, Veronica goes to see Letitia, wondering why Letitia would let Weevil do the time for what Chardo did. Letitia points out that Weevil is 17, but Chardo is 18 and has a record. Veronica tells her that Chardo was spending the money on Caitlin, whom Letitia doesn’t like. Letitia decides to rethink her options. Later, Weevil is released and returns to his grandmother’s home, where he thanks Veronica for her help. She tells him that the police are looking for Chardo, and Weevil notes that they’re not the only ones. Veronica says that Logan and the 09ers are also looking for Chardo, and Weevil should find him before they do. Chardo heads to Caitlin’s house, ready to leave with her, but she just watches from the house as Logan and some 09ers, including Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen), arrive. Logan and Chardo start fighting, but Weevil and his gang arrive and break things up. He pulls Logan aside and, after a brief conversation, Logan agrees to let Chardo go.
The gang heads to the beach, where Chardo thanks Weevil for saving him. Weevil tells him that he’s out of the gang and his life, which means that the other bikers are free to whale on Chardo. At Mars Investigations, Veronica asks Keith why he went after Jake for Lilly’s murder. Keith tells her that if he had known what would happen as a result, he never would have accused Jake. Later, Veronica heads to the sheriff’s department, voicing over that a couple of weeks before Lilly was murdered, they snuck into the back room and made themselves fake IDs. They arrived after Lilly’s death and Veronica recently remembered them. She adds that, since it’s Sunday, most of the people working at the sheriff’s department are new and don’t know who she is. She tells the receptionist that her car has an outstanding ticket and gives her the license number and fake ID. As she leaves, Lamb overhears the receptionist call her “Miss Kane.” Veronica now has a copy of a ticket and photos of Lilly’s license plate and her driving her car. An intersection camera took a photo of Lilly running a red light on October 3rd at 6:02 p.m. - almost two hours after she supposedly died. Veronica voices over that this means that Jake, Celeste, and Duncan’s alibis no longer hold up. Troy arrives and notes that Veronica didn’t come to his party over the weekend. Wallace joins them and the three notice that Caitlin is no longer welcomed by the 09ers. Veronica, Troy, and Wallace decide to hang out together and forget about the popular kids’ problems.
WELCOME TO NEPTUNE: Troy, Ms. Dent
THE LILLY KANE CASE: Phone records and an eyewitness report supposedly prove that Jake wasn’t near his house when Lilly was murdered.
Lilly got a ticket for a moving violation the day she died. A photo was taken of her running a red light at 6:02 p.m., almost two hours after the time she supposedly died.
Jake, Celeste, and Duncan no longer have alibis for the time of Lilly’s murder.
MEMORABLE QUOTES: Veronica: “I need you to copy all of Weevil’s attendance records from this past month and get them to me.”
Troy: (noticing a flat tire) “Flat?”
Written by Rob Thomas; directed by Mark Piznarski
Wallace: “Do I look like James Bond to you?”
Veronica: “Am I asking you to retrieve a nuclear warhead?”
Veronica: “Just as God made me.”