My Mother, the Fiend
Directed by Nick Marck, the episode was co-written by Phil Klemmer and Dayna Lynne North.
The series depicts the adventures of Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) as she deals with life as a high school student while moonlighting as a private detective.
The episode was accompanied by an alternate ending, a publicity move made by executive producer Joel Silver and the UPN promotions department.
Vice-Principal Clemmons (Duane Daniels) calls Veronica into his office and gives her detention for having keys to his file cabinet.
Veronica finds her mother's permanent file and reads that she was frequently in trouble in high school, including being suspended for spreading rumors.
It is announced that Trina Echolls (Alyson Hannigan) is coming back to direct a play at Neptune High.
Patty provides more information on the love triangle between Celeste (Lisa Thornhill), Jake (Kyle Secor), and Lianne.
Veronica asks Keith (Enrico Colantoni) about Lianne's suspension, which she thinks was punishment for spreading a rumor that Celeste was pregnant.
Keith search of the birth records finds that no baby was born to either "Kane" or "Carnathan" (Celeste's maiden name) at that time.
Directed by Nick Marck, "My Mother, the Fiend" was written by Phil Klemmer and Dayna Lynne North.
[4] Despite being credited, Wallace (Percy Daggs III), Dick (Ryan Hansen), and Jackie (Tessa Thompson) do not appear in the episode.
Among the episode's guest stars are Alyson Hannigan and Charisma Carpenter, who portray Trina Echolls and Kendall Casablancas, respectively.
The two previously starred together in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Hannigan playing Willow Rosenberg and Carpenter portraying Cordelia Chase.
Jason Dohring, who portrays Logan, stated that he had a special connection with Hannigan on-set: "We get together and just tease each other, she sucker-punches me.
[6] In an interview, Rob Thomas said that due to her busy schedule, it was difficult to write an episode featuring Hannigan.
On Hannigan's role in the episode and her future availability, Thomas commented: Well, to work around Alyson's schedule is really difficult for us.
[1] The episode also features a reappearance by Celeste Kane (Lisa Thornhill), a recurring character during the first season.
After Thomas learned that others wanted an alternate ending, he decided to make it very different from the episode's actual conclusion.
"[1] In its original broadcast, "My Mother, the Fiend" received 2.82 million viewers, marking an increase from "Ahoy, Mateys!"
[12] Alan Sepinwall singled out the scene between Carpenter and Hannigan and the Weevil and Logan subplot as particular points of praise.
Sepinwall also called the alternate ending "an interesting little feature" while going on to state that he was "glad the real show didn't go in that direction.
