The Heartbreak Kid

''Veronica Mars'': The heartache continues

Oh, if only Madison had been lying in the lingerie shop last week, just to mess with Veronica's head. But no. She and Logan really did hook up in Aspen. Which is something Veronica is ''never getting past.''

Can't say I blame her. Of all the people to rebound with, Logan had to choose Madison Sinclair. As in Veronica's archenemy, her most loathed foe — not because she's a shallow, bubble-headed brat, but because (as our heroine reminded us in last night's pitch-perfect breakup scene) she's the scheming witch who roofied Veronica at a high school party and scrawled ''slut'' on her car the next day. ''I wasn't trying to hurt you,'' Logan pathetically pleaded. ''Really?'' Veronica spat back, brimming with rage, betrayal, and heartbreak. ''Imagine if you'd tried.''

So much for LoVe's ''warts-and-all'' pillow talk, which seemed so romantic last week. Did Logan really think Veronica would never find out about his Aspen hookup? That he could only half confess to his mistake? (Come on, dude! She's a private investigator! Sure, your dad was an evil killer and all, but get it together, man!) Logan's transgression even hurt Dick, Madison's on-again, off-again boy toy, who until now seemed to have, as Veronica so brilliantly put it, a wadded-up Maxim magazine where his heart is supposed to be. ''Not cool,'' a sullen Dick told Logan, after finding out about the hookup. ''You don't do that to a buddy.''

Much as I'm pissed at Logan, I don't doubt that he's genuinely suffering now. Each time he popped up on screen, he was either moping in bed or getting wasted and drunk-dialing his ex. Veronica, on the other hand, tortured herself by imagining the offending one-night stand. Then she started seeing Madison in every Hearst blonde with a bad shag haircut. The pain, the pain!

As always, our gal escaped her emotional turmoil by throwing herself into the sleuthing. This week's case was about a preacher's daughter whose unplanned pregnancy was, uh, unplannedly terminated when someone slipped her the ''abortion pill,'' RU-486. It was a one-ep, open-and-shut investigation, but it put to rest the question of whether or not Veronica was pregnant (of course not!), reintroduced Tim the TA (seems Tim has a ''Dean O'Dell Murder'' file of his own), and ushered in a whole religious theme, which, correct me if I'm wrong (and I know you will, TV Watchers), is kind of a new thing for the ever-secular Veronica Mars. Logan left his ex a voice mail saying, ''Everyone's a sinner. Judge not, Veronica.'' And toward the end of the episode, our heroine decided against letting Weevil cube Madison's new Mercedes — thanks to Preacher Pops' pontificating on the importance of forgiveness. (Whew...after Ms. Mars blackmailed the Happy Hooker's pimpette last week, I was starting to wonder if Veronica was going sorta...bad. She's not, apparently. But does this mean she's going to forgive Logan?)

No question, last night's episode was a downer. But kudos to Kristen Bell for her spot-on performance. Girl was at the top of her game — wrenching in the breakup sequence and comically histrionic when she fake-cried her way into Tim's locked office. And in between the tears (both real and crocodile), she still managed to deliver her trademark zingers. To Dick, ''reading'' a nudie mag: ''Wow, impressive! I've heard Modern Breast is a really hard class.'' Joking with daddy Keith Mars, as they thumbed through pro-life propaganda: ''Harassing women in crisis since 1973!'' Enrico Colantoni (Keith) also got to shine, especially when he presented the father-and-daughter team to the right-to-life press as ''Carson Drew and my assistant, Nancy.'' (Ha!) When he wasn't helping his kid, Keith was picking out eggshells from windshield wipers, determined to crack the Dean O'Dell case. Which, judging from next week's scenes, could get eclipsed by another murder investigation. And this time, Veronica goes and gets herself arrested.

What do you think? What's the story with the Volvo and the minivan? Is a can of tuna in Madison's car proper payback? What's up with all the attention to license plates? And is Richard Grieco (or at least his receding hairline) now a suspect?