I guess the airing of the final two episodes of "Veronica Mars" could have been worse. Sure, the complete lack of urgency in what will almost certainly be the swan song for one of the most regretfully ignored great series of the last three years was a shock after the whizzbang finales of the first two seasons. But it was clear from the very beginning of this season that the changes made to the format of "Veronica" just weren't going to work. Going from a single season-long mystery to multiple shorter arcs made the show's storytelling even more confusing and completely defused the enviable tension that the first season in particular handled so well. The addition of several new recurring characters and the shift to a new college setting didn't work for any of the involved parties, and none of the new characters (Piz and Parker) particularly resonated and returning favorites like Wallace, Weevil, and Mac really got the short end of the stick as far as character development was concerned. All season the show was tiptoeing around the tremendous psychological baggage carried by Ryan Hansen's Dick Casablancas, but like too many "Mars" stories this season, Dick's belated coping with his brother Cassidy's death never got a third act.

The last two hours just seemed like two rather lackluster midseason installments, after the first few episodes after a "Search for the New Pussycat Doll"-enforced hiatus raised faint hopes that Rob Thomas might be able to give his series a proper sendoff. Both mysteries seemed like ones we had seen Veronica deal with before, and without much hope of getting to see the breach between father and daughter repaired, Keith's decision to jeopardize his reelection as sheriff in order to protect Veronica for possible prosecution for her reckless actions during an investigation just sounds the wrong note. It's too bad, really. If "Mars" was going to get another chance as an FBI show, as was mooted earlier on this season, it might be easier to look back one day at the third year and embrace its good points (like the Dean O'Dell murder investigation in the second arc, the underplayed notion of Veronica's role reversal in college from have-not to tool of the establishment, and the smirking David Magidoff as serial red herring Jeff Ratner) and ignore its bad ones (a complete wasted season for Percy Daggs III, the first-third arc that rather pointlessly dragged out a not-that-interesting mystery from one second-season episode, and the utterly incoherent fighting Fitzgeralds/Kendall Casablancas subplot that refused to either completely go away or make any sense). There still is a faint thread of hope for "Mars" depending on whom you are asking, but I am already assuming that we can close the book on a show that was never quite able to turn a brilliant initial concept and an all-time-great first season into sustained success. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Kristin Bell, but I feel particularly bad for Enrico Colantoni, who will likely never get as good a role as Keith Mars ever again. The idea of a new Scooby Gang, "Buffy"-style, with Tina Majorino, Daggs, Chris Lowell, and Francis Capra helping Bell with each of their characters' specific skills each week never really came together. The CW's penuriousness, which led to certain regulars disappearing for weeks at a time, never let the show build a head of steam.

It's disappointing. Even in this day and age TV desperately needs more shows with strong, independent female role models. Veronica was a hero, but unlike the female protagonists on many lesser shows, she was a believable young woman too. Sometimes her emotions got the best of her, and her chief strength, a fearless, no-holds-barred dedication to always getting to the truth, also was the source of her biggest weakness. In her relationships with her boyfriends, her parents, her teachers, and her friends, Veronica always had to know everything there was to know. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, and that's why Bell never seemed obnoxious even despite her obvious physical beauty and preternatural cunning.

If you never saw an episode of "Veronica Mars," I highly recommend setting a weekend aside for a close viewing of the show's first season, a deliciously structured whodunit that built to a white-knuckle climax that the convoluted second season and the splintered third tried and failed to match.