The series depicts the adventures of Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) as she navigates life as a college student while moonlighting as a private detective.

Renouncing Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) because he assaulted Piz, Veronica eventually discovers that the perpetrators are a secret society at Hearst College known as the Castle, headed by Jake Kane (Kyle Secor).

Meanwhile, Parker Lee (Julie Gonzalo) ends her relationship with Logan, and Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni) navigates the issues surrounding his candidacy in the upcoming sheriff's election.

When writing the episode, Thomas and Ruggiero removed seven minutes of material from the original cut; they wanted to create an ambiguous finale that did not resolve everything neatly.

At the time of its original broadcast, the episode was viewed by 2.15 million people and received mostly positive reviews from television critics.

Logan regretfully informs Veronica that there is a sex video circulating of her and Piz, handing her a burned DVD; she berates him and denies the recording is authentic.

The wiretap leads her to a secret contact method, where she sets up surveillance and is shocked to catch Wallace (Percy Daggs III) as one of the participants.

The members make Wallace go into a room with a chair and a camera, strip down to his underwear and put on a shock collar, and proceed to ask him very personal questions.

When they find Veronica's spy pen in Wallace's discarded clothes, they forcibly remove him, but he is able to figure out the identity of one of the other recruits.

Keith, as interim sheriff, investigates the robbery the following day, spotting Veronica on a surveillance camera belonging to Kane's neighbor; however, he does not initially report his daughter.

The supercomputer finally cracks the password and they discover documents, audios, and videos, some dating back to the 1930s, incriminating The Castle members for various ill deeds and illegal activity, taken at the time of each individuals' initiation (similar to what they tried to do to Wallace).

Jake and a county prosecutor arrive at Keith's office the next day, indicating they will get a judge's order and return to prosecute Veronica.

This leads to charges filed against Keith for tampering with evidence, likely meaning that he will lose the votes needed to win the sheriff's election, as it was printed in the newspaper.

"The Bitch Is Back" was co-written by series creator Rob Thomas and executive producer Diane Ruggiero and directed by Michael Fields.

[4] The scene in which Veronica rebukes Logan was included because the writers thought that it would be a good note on which to end a season, even though it would not be the two characters' final interaction in the series.

[5] While editing the final script, Thomas and Ruggiero had to remove roughly seven minutes from the original draft, including a scene featuring dialogue between Veronica and Leo.

[5] Despite knowing that the episode could be the series finale, Thomas did not want it to completely resolve all plot lines; his intention was to keep viewers guessing and prevent the conclusion from being too bland or typical.

[8] Prior to the airing of "Un-American Graffiti", Enrico Colantoni stated that The CW had seen the filmed first ten pages and reacted negatively.

The teaser flashes back to her first FBI meeting, and the viewers discover that she is investigating the teacher for sexual abuse allegations.

[10] Nellie Andreeva of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Dawn Ostroff, president of The CW at the time, had responded positively to the new concept.

[16] The CW had recently cancelled Gilmore Girls, leading some news outlets to speculate that Veronica Mars might be renewed in order to fill a schedule hole.

[18] Thomas responded, "I assume that anything Dawn would be talking about in the realm of a Rob–Kristen project would involve a new from-scratch pilot as they don't have me in a deal, and they'll lose Kristen in a couple of weeks.

[23] As Veronica Mars walked down Southern California's rainy streets and off our screens for the very last time, the point seemed emphatically clear and killingly accurate.

"[24] Stephanie Zacharek, writing for Salon, thought that the final scenes of "The Bitch Is Back" "cement the dour reality, posited at the very beginning of the series, that the rich ... are always going to be the ones in charge.

This figure was an increase from the previous episode, "Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down", which aired immediately prior and garnered 1.78 million watchers.

Club, praised the finale, writing that it functioned well within the context of the series and the season: We get significant emotional resolution between Keith and Veronica, whose relationship is the core of the show.

"[26] Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly felt unsatisfied with the episode's conclusion, partially because Veronica and Logan did not resume dating.

He also praised Keith's actions, stating, "Okay, maybe I'm a sap, but this tugged at my heartstrings a bit and left me relieved there wasn't a dreaded Veronica–Keith battle at the end."

[24] The TV Addict lauded the episode for returning to the tone and themes of the first season, calling it "the perfect mix of mystery, excitement, romance and snappy one-liners".

"[38] On his blog, Cultural Learnings, critic Myles McNutt said that Colantoni should have been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in the episode, saying that "this final sacrifice is Colantoni's strongest character arc all season and is the proper episode selection for the actor.