I was super excited when they announced that Hulu was going to air a new season of Veronica Mars. I also very much appreciate them deciding to drop the new season a week earlier than originally announced because I’m going to be at the Newport Folk Festival then and wasn’t going to be able to watch immediately. Since they released it early I was able to spend my weekend watching all eight episodes. My spoiler-filled thoughts are ahead.

In this age of remakes and reboots there are very few shows that I actually want more episodes of. Gilmore Girls was one because I always wanted to know what Amy Sherman-Palladino’s final 4 words for ending the show were that she never got to write since she left the show before its final season. After the Netflix reboot of that show I’m not sure I needed more episodes as much as I just needed her to tell me what those four words were. The only way to make those four episodes make sense is to pretend that it was season 7 and no time had passed and Rory was still 21 instead of 30.

Veronica Mars was the other show I always wanted more episodes of because it ended on such a cliffhanger. I definitely contributed to the Kickstarter for the movie and went to see it in the theater on opening night. I know a lot of people complained that it was too fan servicey. I admit the story and mystery were a little weak, but I’m a fan and I felt serviced and it made me happy. I never thought I was going to get more Veronica Mars after that, so I was happy they tried to tie things up in a nice little bow.

Even though I was happy with where the movie ended, I will never turn down more Veronica Mars. Or at least it hasn’t gotten terrible enough for me to want to quit yet like I have other shows. Maybe if it comes back enough times it will lose it’s mojo, but it definitely hasn’t yet. I even enjoyed the two books they put out after the movie. I would dare say that this season is my second favorite after the first season.

It does what so few reboots seem to do in that it doesn’t try to act like no time has passed. The characters seem to actually have moved on in ways that make sense for the time that has passed and act like their age instead of stunted and stuck at whatever age they last were when the show aired. I also appreciate that they didn’t try to shoehorn all the old characters into the show in ways that don’t make sense. They let Wallace and Dick be side characters that only show up briefly in ways that make sense. Although I’m sad that Tino Majorino decided not to reprise her role as Mac because Rob Thomas told her she wouldn’t have a major storyline, it completely makes more sense that Mac wouldn’t still be hanging around Neptune. So for the character’s sake and the show’s sake it’s better that she wasn’t there.

My favorite part of the show has always been the relationship between Veronica and Keith. Although it’s always been a totally unrealistic father/daughter relationship, it has always been super delightful. I love their repartee and the love they very obviously feel for each other even though they don’t always support what the other one is doing. It is back in full form in this season and is still the heart of the show.

The mystery in this season was engaging and didn’t feel forced like the mysteries in seasons 2 and 3. I liked that they created a teenage Veronica-eseque character in Matty that gave the show a little bit of a throwback, but also allowed Veronica to see herself and how stuck she had become.

And of course we have to talk about the Logan of it all. I was always, always team Logan no matter who the triangle was with Duncan, Leo, or Piz. Of course I do want to give a shoutout to an excellent return of Leo in this season as well. He was delightful and written in a way that I almost wanted to Veronica to cheat on Logan with him. But of course I didn’t really want her to cheat on Logan because I wanted them to be together. I really liked the storyline they had in this season. Their relationship felt true to the characters and how they’ve developed over time. It makes sense that Veronica would be so reluctant to marry Logan, and of course because the show is what it is and living in the film noir genre it also feels very right that they wouldn’t actually get their happily ever after even after they get married. As much as I hate that they killed off Logan, it also felt completely right for the show to me. I wasn’t mad at it at all even though you’d think I would be. Veronica Mars was never a show that was going to let the characters be completely happy, and if they ever do get to do more seasons of the show then there wasn’t really anywhere else for Veronica and Logan to go. So farewell Logan. I was always rooting for you kids. I’m happy you finally ended up together even though it only lasted for a few minutes.

I will also say one of the things I appreciated about this season is that they still made it mostly the same show despite it being on streaming. They had a clever way of making a nod to the fact that they could now curse because it’s no longer on network tv without actually doing it. I also like that they didn’t go too overboard with the episode lengths. They were all a few minutes longer than network length episodes, but none of them were over 50 minutes. As someone who is tired of shows streaming or even cable these days that drag on for 80 or 90 minutes for no good reason most of the time just because they can I appreciate that they kept to a reasonable length.

I loved this season and it definitely left me wanting more while also leaving me satisfied with where it left off if it doesn’t return.