Logan Echolls - Relationship With Veronica

Relationship With Veronica

In various season one flashbacks, it was shown that Logan had been friends with Veronica Mars and that, along with Logan's girlfriend Lilly Kane and her brother Duncan, they were part of a close-knit clique at the center of Neptune High's '09er social scene. The two were portrayed as being close, although even Veronica did not know about Logan's abuse at the hands of his father.

As a flashback reveals, the seeds for the inevitable falling out between the two friends began when Veronica caught Logan kissing a new transfer student (the daughter of a famous rap music producer) and told Lilly about it. When Lilly refuses to speak to Logan, he quickly realizes that Veronica had ratted him out. Later, Logan would confide to his school's guidance counselor that this was the catalyst for him turning on Veronica: he rationalizes that had Lilly not broken up with him, he might have been with her when she was attacked and fought off the attacker, saving her life.

When Lilly is murdered, Logan holds his tongue, but two subsequent events give him an excuse to vent his hatred for Veronica. The first is when police video footage showing Lilly's dead body is stolen from the Sheriff's department and posted all over the Internet. The second is when Veronica's father, then-Sheriff Keith Mars, publicly accuses Jake Kane, Lilly and Duncan's father, of murdering his own daughter. Consumed with anger, Logan gives Veronica an ultimatum: publicly denounce her father, or be declared "dead" by Logan and the teen '09er crowd. Veronica stands by her father, and Logan blacklists her at school and in the community, turning her into a pariah.

His disdain for Veronica comes to a head when Veronica crashes an '09er party. Shortly after Veronica's arrival, Madison Sinclair gives Veronica a drink that had been given to her by her own on-again/off-again boyfriend, Dick Casablancas. Unknown to Madison, Dick had spiked the drink with GHB (supplied to him by Logan), in order to ensure that he could have sex with the normally chaste Madison that night. Veronica becomes drugged instead. Logan organizes for his fellow party-goers to take "body shots" off the now helpless (and perhaps unconscious) girl.

When Duncan Kane comes to Veronica's defense and drags her away from Logan's mob of partiers, Logan secretly uses the same drugs on Duncan; drugging his drink in a desperate attempt to get the unusually tense Duncan to relax. In his drugged state, Duncan wanders past the bedroom where a drugged Veronica is lying unconscious; they then have what Duncan at least believed to be consensual sex.

The date rape drugs ensure that Veronica would only have vague memories of the night, but when morning came Veronica is quite aware that she had been raped. Duncan flees in the morning, because he still thinks that Veronica is his half-sister.

At the start of the series, Veronica and Logan are adversaries. Logan mocks Veronica's mother (an alcoholic who abandoned her family), and Veronica arranges for Logan to be suspended by planting drug paraphernalia in his locker. Logan responds by gathering a gang of male '09ers and vandalizing Veronica's car, but is stopped from causing major damage by the arrival of Eli “Weevil” Navarro, a fellow high school student who Veronica has befriended. While they appear to hate one another, for Logan specifically exhibits this metaphorical 'dance' between them is rooted in more than just disdain – he frequently watches her for inordinate amounts of time and it becomes clear he has a crush on her; which is confirmed in a flashback in 'The Wrath of Con'. The seeds of their future relationship are further firmly planted in said episode when they share a meaningful look over Lily's memorial video.

With Lilly dead, Duncan becoming emotionally distant and apathetic towards the '09er social scene, and Veronica persona non-grata, the beginning of Season One shows Logan becoming the de facto leader of the Neptune High '09er community. Surrounding himself with a new inner circle that includes fellow social snobs Madison Sinclair and Dick Casablancas, Logan begins a reign of terror that plays into the ever-present class warfare among the teens at Neptune High. His grief for his dead girlfriend and the worsening physical abuse he is secretly suffering at the hands of his father leads Logan to misbehave more frequently and extremely, spurring Veronica to christen him, in the Season One opener, Neptune's "obligatory psychotic jackass".

The only common ground that exists by this point is Duncan Kane, who Logan has remained friends with even though Duncan himself refrains from participating in the bulk of the activities of Logan's new clique. Duncan is moody, very depressed, withdrawn from his fellow peers, and still in love with Veronica. Logan attempts to use Duncan's presence in social situations to reach out to Veronica, in hopes that Veronica might bring his friend back to life. But Veronica refuses, partly out of disdain for what Logan has become and partly out of a desire to stay away from Duncan due to the cold way Duncan ended their relationship before Lilly's death. This only intensifies Logan's hatred of Veronica.

The relationship between Logan and Veronica begins to thaw when Logan volunteers to make a tribute video for the Kane family for their slain daughter, to be played at the dedication of a memorial fountain at Neptune High. Despite his desire to create a tribute for his ex-girlfriend and best friend, Logan is frustrated at the fact that the Kane family only provided him home movies and photos of Lilly to work with. In Logan's eyes, none of the material capture Lilly's true nature, the side of her that her friends, her brother, and her classmates knew and loved. Veronica agrees and she gives him a video tape shot a year before Lilly's death when they were all going to the Homecoming dance. At the end of the video, Logan looks at Veronica and gives her a small smile of thanks.

Logan and Veronica mutual hostility thaws for good after Logan's mother commits suicide. Believing that his mother could still be alive, Logan hires Veronica to investigate the possibility. Veronica agrees, and while the investigation fails to provide the answer Logan is looking for, the time together is enough to cause the two to abandon old grudges. Their relationship further grows when Logan saves Veronica from a young undercover ATF agent, who is seeking to frame a local bully for plotting to blow up Neptune High. After an intense standoff, the two kiss for the first time, initially unsure what their feelings mean.

At this point, Veronica and Logan begin dating, though Veronica insists that they keep their relationship a secret because Logan's clique still hates her, and because she fears how their mutual friend Duncan would react. In the episode "A Trip to the Dentist", however, their relationship goes public when Logan's father make a cheesy attempt to make up for lost time with his son by throwing a surprise "birthday" party. Logan and Veronica walk into his house kissing, only to find his friends (including Duncan) waiting for them. Everyone stares in shock and Dick makes some snide remarks to which Logan openly tells him, and everyone else, that if they have a problem with Veronica being his girlfriend, they are "pretty much dead" to him.

Logan's announcement of his love for Veronica and willingness to stand up for her to his friends helps soften the blow when Veronica learns that Logan indirectly provided the drugs that led to her being raped. While she is initially furious at Logan, her anger lessens when she learns that Madison Sinclair was also responsible (albeit unknowingly). When Veronica confronts Logan, she forgives him for what he did to her, and Logan reveals that he had given Duncan the drugs that led to his having sex with Veronica. However, she readily forgave him again.

Things fall apart for Veronica, however, when she finds hidden video cameras in Logan's pool house, where he had taken Veronica in order to make out. At the time, she does not know that they were Aaron's cameras and that Logan had no knowledge of them. Furthermore, in the Season One episode "Leave It to Beaver", Veronica learns that Logan had Dick and Cassidy Casablancas provide a false alibi for him for the day that Lilly Kane was murdered.

Despite his brother's demands that the two keep their word to Logan about his alibi, Cassidy eagerly tells Veronica that Logan had left the Casablancas brothers early during a trip to Tijuana to see Lilly. Logan had learned that Lilly had a new boyfriend (Weevil, though by this point, Lilly had dumped Weevil and moved on to Logan's father Aaron). This disclosure invalidates Logan's alibi and made Veronica fear that Logan had murdered Lilly Kane. As her father clears Abel Koontz (the man convicted of murdering Lilly) of the murder, Veronica convinces Sheriff Lamb to arrest Logan for Lilly's death. Logan is oblivious to the fact that Cassidy had betrayed him, and calls Veronica to come help him. Sheriff Lamb then breaks the news to Logan that Veronica is to blame for his arrest.

After being released on bail, Logan confronts Veronica and the two have an emotional conversation in which Logan pleads his innocence:

Logan: You know... I... I knew Lilly was seeing someone. It was driving me crazy. When I left for Neptune, I didn't know if I was gonna scream at her for treating me like dirt or beg her to take me back. And I saw her at the car wash.

Veronica: I didn't see you there.

Logan: Well, I just parked across the street and watched her. And this feeling came over me, you know, I don’t… I don’t know how to describe it but I just knew it was over. So I sat in my car and I wrote this note to her, explaining it.

Veronica: Did you give it to her?

Logan: Yeah, I left it in the car.

Veronica: With the shot glass.

Logan: Yeah, with the shot glass. You know, if you read that letter, you'd know I'd never hurt her.

In order to find the note that Logan wrote Lilly, Veronica sneaks into a party being thrown at the Kane estate by dressing up as a waiter. Duncan catches her checking the vents in Lilly's room (a favorite hiding spot of Lilly's) and after a tense confrontation, convinces Duncan to let her retrieve the letter. Instead of a letter, they find a set of video tapes, featuring Lilly having sex with Aaron Echolls. Veronica then starts to piece together that Aaron was the one who murdered Lilly.

Veronica rushes to get the tapes to the authorities, but ends up being attacked and nearly killed by Aaron, who had hidden in the backseat of her car and was planning to kill her to stop her from exposing him. Meanwhile, at the same time, a drunk and despondent Logan heads to the Coronado Bridge to tempt fate and possibly jump. He is prevented from doing anything serious by Weevil and his fellow Pacific Coast Highway bikers. Weevil, much like Logan, is still haunted by his love of Lilly Kane and is consumed with anger at Logan, wanting to inflict vigilante justice to ensure Logan would pay for "murdering" the woman he loved. Weevil is soon taken out of the fight when Logan takes advantage of a temporary distraction and kicks him in the head, rendering him unconscious. However, the PCHers beat Logan within an inch of his life and leave Weevil's two top underlings, Thumper and Felix, to finish the job.

Season Two opens where Season One left off, after Veronica opens her door and says, "I was hoping it was you." It turns out to be Logan, who is bloodied and bruised. Logan manages to weakly say "Hey, Veronica" before painfully collapsing into her arms. As Veronica tends to his injuries, Logan explains what happened and that Felix was dead. Because Logan had been drinking and was barely conscious from his beating, he has practically no memory of Thumper turning against Felix, killing his fellow biker and planting the murder weapon on Logan to frame him for the crime. The murder is part of a complex scheme by Thumper to curry favor with the Irish crime family known as the Fitzpatricks, who were furious that Felix was dating the daughter of a high ranking Fitzpatricks gang member. Logan would be the scapegoat and Thumper's scheme would soon bear bitter fruit for Logan.

Logan pleads his innocence in Felix's murder, but the police don't believe him and he is quickly arrested for murder. The case goes to a grand jury, who refuse to indict due to lack of evidence. The grand jury's decision, combined with the fact that his father had been revealed to be the murderer of Lilly Kane, caused the residents of Neptune to vilify Logan as yet another spoiled white rich kid who got away with murder. Logan responded to his new pariah status by retreating into his old patterns of abusive behavior. With Dick and Cassidy Casablancas at his side, Logan burns down public pool facilities in Neptune so as to punish the poor residents of the town who use the public pool complex.

Veronica tries to stay loyal to her boyfriend, though the strain ensures that the two never consummate their relationship. In the season two premiere episode "Normal Is the Watchword," it is revealed via flashback that Veronica breaks up with Logan after making an emotional plea to him to stop the cycle of violence he was becoming trapped in:

Logan: Are you breaking up with me?

Veronica: I can't stay with you. Not with you and your toadies cruising around at night and hatching plans, refusing to let everything get back to normal. Someone's gonna get killed, Logan.

Logan: Someone already has, did you forget that already? And most of the people in this town think I did it.

Logan: Those people you call "toadies" are my friends; they've got my back.

Veronica: It's not about protection, Logan. It's about pride.

Veronica: And, the thing that I can't stand is that…I'm pretty sure there's a part of you that's having fun with all of this.

Logan: Fun? Fun?!

Logan: My mom is dead! My girlfriend is dead! My dad is a murderer! And the only person I still care about is dumping me. You think I'm having fun?

Veronica's father then enters the room and ordered Logan to never come near his daughter again. Further adding to the fire is Veronica's reconciliation with Duncan. Since the spectre of incest has been removed with the revelation that Veronica is not Jake Kane's illegitimate daughter, the two reconcile, much to Logan's horror. His response is to secretly begin an affair with Kendall Casablancas, Richard Casablancas's young trophy wife and Dick and Cassidy's stepmother. His affair with Kendall is derailed, however, when the murder charges against Logan are refiled after a witness comes forward, though Veronica and Logan quickly discover that the witness is a plastic surgeon who is implicating Logan as a means to pay off a large drug debt to the Fitzpatricks. However, an unexpected ally emerges in the form of Eli "Weevil" Navarro, Felix's best friend; he begins a war against Logan, which culminates in Weevil burning down the Echolls family mansion, a move that forced Logan to move into a nearby hotel as his new home.

Despite his initial belief that Logan murdered Felix, Weevil soon suspects Thumper of the crime. As the two enemies conspire to expose Thumper, Thumper strikes first and uses Weevil's alliance with Logan to usurp control of the PCH biker gang, allowing Thumper to form an alliance between the PCHers and the Fitzpatricks involving the Irish gang's drug trade.

Knowing that the new witness against him is tied to the Fitzpatricks, Logan engages in psychological warfare against the witness by dating his daughter, Hannah. The mind games climax when Logan reveals to Hannah that her father is a cocaine addict and then threatens her father with the possibility that he would seduce Hannah if he doesn't recant his testimony. Griffith recants, though Logan develops actual feelings for Hannah and seeks to continue their relationship. When Hannah is caught with Logan again, she is shipped off to a Vermont boarding school. Later, Logan unknowingly causes Thumper's death after Weevil manipulates events so that Thumper would be betrayed by the Irish crime syndicate and chained in the bathroom of a stadium that Logan (who had won an essay contest) is allowed to ceremonially demolish.

Vindicated of all charges, Logan begins to mend his fences with Veronica, who now is single again. In "Look Who's Stalking", he drunkenly confesses his feelings for Veronica and compares their relationship to an "epic" romance.

Logan: You know, I'm surprised, Veronica. As a keen observer of the human condition, I thought you saw through people better than that. Bimbos? That's not me anymore.

Veronica: So, what are you like now?

Logan: You know, tortured. Ever since I had my heart broken.

Veronica: Hannah really did do a number on you, huh?

Logan: Come on, you know I'm not talking about Hannah. I thought our story was epic, you know? You and me.

Veronica: Epic how?

Logan: Spanning years, and continents. Lives ruined and blood shed. Epic! But summer's almost here, and we won't see each other at all. And then you'll leave town, and then... it's over.

Veronica: Logan...

Logan: I'm sorry... about last summer. You know, if I could do it over...

Veronica: Come on. Ruined lives? Bloodshed? You really think a relationship should be that hard?

Logan: No one writes songs about the ones that come easy.

Veronica: I have to go. I have... to go.

Veronica flees from the party in shock. When she returns the next morning, she plans on telling him that she still loves him. As she recounts his words, his eyes show both pain and regret, and he confesses that he had been so drunk, he doesn't remember his speech, shocking Veronica. Further twisting the knife into her heart, Kendall appears at the door behind him, as Logan had responded to Veronica's apparent rejection by contacting Kendall and having a one-night stand with her. Veronica quickly leaves in order to keep Logan from seeing how heartbroken she is. Days later, the two pretend that nothing happened.

Logan: Hello.

Veronica: First, let me say that I'm sorry for running out last night like I did. I was a bit overwhelmed. I needed to collect my thoughts, think about what you said.

Logan: Veronica —

Veronica: Let me just get this out. I don't want to lose you from my life, either. And I'm not saying I'm ready to dive back into anything, but... after graduation, let's make it a point to see each other. See where that takes us. Remember what you said about our relationship being epic? Oh, God.

Logan: Last night was kind of a blur.

Kendall: Is that our room service? No. Just Veronica Mars. What a disappointment. Come on, let's get you cleaned up. Bye, Veronica.

Logan: Look, whatever I said, I... You should know —

Veronica: Stop.

Prior to the graduation party, Veronica had realized that not only had Cassidy Casablancas raped her (thus giving her chlamydia), but that he was personally responsible for bus crash that killed 8 of his fellow students in "Normal is the Watchword." While confronting Cassidy on the hotel roof, Veronica is overpowered by him. She is able to send a quick text message Logan to save her. Cassidy then makes Veronica watch as he blows up a plane that she believes Keith is on, and Veronica is devastated. Cassidy then points a gun at Veronica to force her to jump from the roof, but Logan appears just in time. When Cassidy climbs over the railing on the roof, Logan pleads with him not to jump. Cassidy demands that Logan give him a reason not to, but Logan stays quiet, unable to think of anything to say. With a smirk, Cassidy jumps to his death while Logan and Veronica can only watch. Meanwhile, Aaron (staying in the same hotel) is murdered by Kane family employee Clarence Wiedman in retaliation for Lilly's murder. Logan and Veronica go back to her place, where Veronica is still heartbroken about her father. In the morning, Veronica hears someone moving around in the kitchen and she runs out of her room, hoping to see her dad, but finds Logan making her breakfast. Veronica starts to cry in Logan's arms, but they are both surprised and relieved when Keith comes out his bedroom. Keith tells her that he was taken off the plane that Cassidy blew up at the last minute before takeoff.

Now freed of his father, Logan and Veronica reconcile and resume dating during the finale of Season Two. Sometime before Season Three begins, they consummate their relationship. With his father gone, Logan has sought to change his life and become a better person through Veronica's love. As such, Logan enrolls in Hearst University, which has served as a place where Logan has been able to escape the notoriety of his family and his own past legal problems.

As Logan has begun the process of growing up into adulthood, his relationship with Veronica hits the skids when he becomes worried about Veronica's safety and her continual obsession with putting herself in harm's way while trying fight the forces of evil as a detective. Making things even more complicated was his friendship with Mercer Hayes, an older college student who is secretly a serial rapist terrorizing campus. Mercer is arrested for one of the rapes but is released when the rape turns out to be a false report orchestrated by a group of anti-fraternity feminists.

Though she had cleared Mercer, Veronica's continued quest to catch the rapist(s) led to Mercer and his accomplice to attack Veronica after drugging her drink in the school cafeteria. But by sheer luck, Logan saves Veronica as her attacker had just begun shaving her head (Mercer's calling card for his victims). Logan begs for Veronica to stop the investigations, out of fear for her own safety and even hired a bodyguard to secretly protect her, which only angered her more.

Realizing that Veronica would never stop her investigations and that she is starting to resent him for being overprotective, Logan promptly tells Veronica that he wants to end the relationship. Logan nevertheless helps Veronica protect a girl who may have been a target of the rapist by driving over to her home. When he learns that Mercer is the rapist, Logan took his baseball bat and destroyed a police car's windshield in order to be arrested. It turns out this was his plan because he wanted to confront Mercer and avenge Veronica for being a target of his.

Veronica realizes that Logan is a genuinely good person, and shows up at his door. The two passionately embrace, yet again getting back together.

Just as Veronica and Logan begin dating again, she finds out he had slept with Madison Sinclair during their first breakup, and ends the relationship. He tries to get her back by leaving her a heartfelt and emotional voice mail message, but Veronica only listens to the first few seconds before deleting it. Logan continues to stay in his hotel room, until he has to babysit Heather, the younger sister of Dick's newest conquest, and she stays with Logan while Dick and his girlfriend go to Las Vegas. After a few days of staying with Heather, she finds out about Veronica and Logan's breakup and tries to get them back together. This goes so far as requesting love songs (partnered with an apology coming from Logan) to the local radio station. When Veronica hears the message, she ignores it and turns the radio off. Later on when Veronica is looking to find out who killed Dean Cyrus O'Dell, she finds herself in the elevator with Logan and Heather. Heather starts telling Veronica of Logan's feelings. The elevator ride ends before anything can come of this confession. Logan, although initially angry at Heather, soon forgives her and comes to a quiet revelation. After Heather leaves with her sister, Logan is finally able to leave his hotel room and go back to class.

When Veronica is (incorrectly) arrested for helping someone escape from jail, Logan goes to visit her, stating that they're adults and can be mature despite the way they broke up. He then gets roped into a Valentine's Day scavenger hunt with Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, her new boyfriend, and Parker Lee. He and Parker hit it off and Logan is seen by Veronica smiling and eating with an equally happy Parker. In a later episode, it is shown that Logan throws a birthday party for Parker and invites Veronica. In the second to last episode, he attacks Piz, assuming that he posted a video of him and Veronica having sex. An infuriated Veronica tells him she wants nothing to do with him. On the same day, Parker breaks up with him after he doesn't deny still being in love with Veronica. The season (and series) ends with Logan and Veronica's relationship still unresolved.