‘Veronica Mars’: A tale of two Veronicas

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Veronica One, for the newbie fans: Tuesday evening, Veronica meets Apollo Bukenya, a Ugandan immigrant who was conscripted as a child soldier and lived to tell the tale in a best-selling memoir. He’s ready to go on ‘Oprah,’ he has a movie deal in the works -- and, not surprisingly, he has money-hungry relatives coming out of the woodwork. He cleverly enlists Veronica to determine whether a man who purports to be his father is for real -- or focused on the bottom line.

Veronica Two, for the old-schoolers: OH MY GOD DICK CASABLANCAS IS BACK.

Yes, yes, Veronica helps Apollo find his father -- whom he hasn’t seen in his entire life -- and verifies the tale of child enslavement and misery and finally reunites the family. Whatever.

The return of Casablancas -- who was on the lam for violating Securities and Exchange Commission rules, the financial pressures of which led his youngest son, Cassidy ‘Beaver’ Casablancas, to kill half of Neptune last season -- was a huge shout-out to longtime fans of the show.

The return of Dick Sr. opens up a slew of long-simmering Veronica angst -- was slatternly stepmom Kendall really killed in a shootout at the skeezy motel? Can any ol’ character just show up after going off into hiding in previous seasons? Like...like...Veronica’s first love, Duncan Kane? Do I need to bust out the DVDs of the previous two seasons and re-watch them right this instant for clues?

And, on top of this major drama -- it seems as though creator Rob Thomas is prepping fans for a wrap-up of the series.

Veronica gets her much-desired internship at the FBI; Wallace appears to be heading off to Africa for the summer to help the children he learned about in Bukenya’s book. Logan and Parker’s relationship is in a terminally icky place after he flunks the parental approval test and it appears she’ll be returning home to Denver for the summer -- setting the stage for Logan and Veronica to get all schmoopy in next week’s two-hour season finale.

Or, maybe, for Veronica to get all schmoopy with Duncan. The mind reels.

(Photo courtesy The CW)