The Girl Next Door

"The Girl Next Door" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American mystery television series Veronica Mars. Co-written by Jed Seidel and Diane Ruggiero and directed by Nick Marck, the episode premiered on UPN on November 9, 2004. 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. In this episode, Veronica looks into the mysterious disappearance of her neighbor, Sarah (Jessica Chastain). Meanwhile, Logan (Jason Dohring) and Weevil (Francis Capra) have to deal with each other in detention. Synopsis The episode begins in medias res. Veronica sits outside of an apartment building, and we see a stretcher being carried off. Through voiceovers, Veronica tells that she was in some way connected to the crime. The episode then flashes back to one week earlier. Then, Veronica meets Sarah, a heavily pregnant neighbor, who asks her for help with a missing journal that she believes her boyfriend stole. In newspaper class, Mallory Dent (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) shows a woman, Evelyn Bugby (Bonita Friedericy) to Veronica and asks for her help with a project on the class of '79. She eventually agrees to help with the project. Veronica looks through the old yearbook and sees a photo of her mother, Lianne. During a test, a teacher, Mr. Daniels (Steven Williams) fails both Logan and Weevil for talking. They are placed in detention, during which the two bicker and eventually play poker. The teacher comes in and sentences them to a full week of detention. Veronica returns home and views Sarah and her boyfriend, André (Adam Kaufman), arguing. That night, Veronica is awakened by a woman's scream overhead and a body falling. The next morning, Veronica goes to Sarah's door to take her to a doctor's appointment, but there is no response. She looks through the window to see the room in disarray, and Sarah's dog alone, barking. In the bathroom one day, another student talks to Weevil, and it is heavily implied that Weevil was carrying out an affair with Lilly Kane. Veronica talks to Duncan (Teddy Dunn) about something she found in the yearbook—that Veronica's mother, Lianne (Corrine Bohrer) and Jake Kane (Kyle Secor) were once a couple in high school. A flashback details Veronica's breakup with Duncan, which was abrupt and mystified Veronica. At Sarah's workplace, her boss says that he doesn't know where Sarah is either.