Can I share something that bothers me about Veronica Mars season 4? Admittedly this is being influenced by my own experiences, but bear with me.
Specifically, I find Veronica's recreational drug use inconsistent with her character. As a 16 year old, Veronica was sexually assaulted after being drugged with GHB. Then, as a 19 year old, Veronica was physically assaulted (actually technically twice) after being drugged. I think Veronica as we know her from seasons 1-3 would likely have some trauma-related aversion to drugs, or at least aversion to feeling out of control. Admittedly this is drawing from my own experiences in life, but I can't imagine Veronica being comfortable losing control (or feeling as if she is losing control) as can happen with recreational drug use.
I think it's reasonable to assume that if she is comfortable with not being 100% in control, then she has changed over time. Compare this with her well-documented controlling behaviours of seasons 1-3. If she is comfortable loosening the reins, then she has changed over time (with or without outside intervention).
AND YET a big source of conflict in her relationship with Logan is her unwillingness to change or to grow up, and her lack of support of him trying to become a healthy adult.
So in one aspect we can see she herself has relaxed in a certain way, and yet it's a sticking point of the LoVe relationship that she digs her heels in and doesn't want to change? I know humans are complicated, but it feels less like complexity and more like inconsistency to me.
Also, I feel like Veronica's sexual assault is brought up as a plot point throughout the VM universe, but there's never a real exploration of how it actually affected her in canon. There are, of course, many fics which outline the great transformation after Shelley Pomroy's party (chopped hair, butch boots etc.), but in the actual VM universe it's only used as a conversational tool with other women.
Also, just think about how much trauma Veronica went through as a teenager. Locked in a fridge and set on fire; assaulted by Duncan; assaulted by Beaver; witnessing a suicide; witnessing multiple other deaths; witnessing a multi-fatality bus crash which killed many of her classmates; having many attempts being made on her life by different antagonists; being in a car which got shot at, and so on. I think it's fair to say that most people would experience at least some post-traumatic stress from any of these individually, let alone all together. And yet we don't really see long-term effects in Veronica from these events, apart from her mother leaving and general lack of trust from her PI work.
I guess in season 1 we did see the effect of Lilly's death on Veronica (e.g. imagining Lilly telling her to solve the case) which became her driving force in life for that year, but as soon as the mystery was solved Lilly's influence on her life ended. Or at least the influence that we saw as the audience ended.
Basically what I think I find annoying is the selective uptake of trauma and inconsistent writing of trauma and long-term effects on the show. Like certain things Veronica just "moves on" from when it's convenient for the writers, but others continue to haunt her 15+ years later (again, when it's convenient for the writers).
I'm probably just grumpy because I'm tired. And, you know, I'm a burned marshmellow.


















