It's now or never for ‘Veronica Mars’

Veronica Mars has been through a lot over the past two years. Her best friend was murdered, her father was unceremoniously recalled from his position as sheriff and her adulterous mother fled town with her college fund.

She was shunned at school, drugged and raped at a party and nearly killed three times. The crimes she has solved range from dognapping to credit card fraud to mass homicide. But on Tuesday, the teen detective faces her biggest challenge yet: An ideal lead-in.

Yes, the dream of so many "Veronica Mars" fans (and, reportedly, CBS chief Les Moonves) has finally come to pass. The drama starts its third season Oct. 3 following the highly compatible "Gilmore Girls"  on the new CW network.

But being ensconced in the CW’s smart-girl block is a mixed blessing. The show no longer has any excuses for failing to net decent ratings, so it’s make-or-break time. "Gilmore," the show's former rival, is practically hand-delivering viewers rather than siphoning them off. "Mars" season-two DVDs have been available for a month and a half, giving latecomers the opportunity to catch up before the third season begins (unlike last year, when DVDs didn’t arrive in stores until two weeks after the second season began).

And Tuesday’s season premiere was made available online last week in order to mobilize fans and have them spread the word. Since the show’s fanatical cult following was willing to spend thousands of dollars of its own good money last spring to hire a flying banner begging the new network to renew it, it’s a good bet they will.

Add to that the adoration from critics and high-profile fans such as Stephen King and Joss Whedon, and it’s clear that "Veronica Mars" now has almost every possible outside advantage. Show creator Rob Thomas is attempting to capitalize on that with his decision to forgo the first two seasons’ year-long arc structure in favor of three shorter mysteries, making it all the easier for new viewers to start watching the show.

But that’s only the first step. In its third season, the show needs to face the challenges it inherits from season two and earn its post-"Gilmore Girls"  berth.

Show evidence of a surer guiding hand over the storyline. No one seemed to be overseeing the show's second season. Plot lines were dropped. Episodes ended on unresolved cliffhangers. Continuity went out the window; nobody really knew, for instance, whether local entrepreneur and little-league coach Woody Goodman was running for mayor or county supervisor. (It ended up being the latter, with a line explaining the confusion slapped into a later episode like spackle over a crack.) The end result was like a house whose four walls were independently built by four different contractors. No matter how closely each episode followed the grand blueprint, there were ultimately a few spots where the pieces just didn’t fit.

Spread the mystery’s clues throughout the arc. In its first two seasons, "Veronica Mars" scattered hints here and there as to who killed Lilly Kane and who crashed the bus. But hints aren't the same as clues, and for the most part, the bulk of the mysteries were spelled out in the last two episodes of the season. The result was storytelling that was unsatisfyingly back-loaded. The revelation that Beaver Casablancas caused the bus crash was based on information that the audience couldn’t possibly have known until right before he was unmasked. Veronica’s realization therefore wasn’t based on her putting the pieces together so much as making a single guess and sticking to it.

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