Wrong!shipping meme - Day 13

[next_to_normal]

Day 13: The ship you love for the way they hurt each other.
Veronica Mars/Logan Echolls (Veronica Mars)


Heh, when I was discussing this meme with ever_neutral, she expressed some skepticism over this choice. Not that they're not an excellent pairing to ship, but not necessarily one you'd wrongship. And, indeed, I ship them in the totally proper and socially acceptable way, in that I imagine them working out their issues post-series, and I want them to get married and have babies. But I also think one of the most interesting things about them as a couple is how good they are at destroying each other, which... seemed at least a little bit wrong to me? Or at least like they fit this category.


Veronica and Logan are initially set up as antagonists, so the vitriolic hatred is to be expected. But I also love that they were friends before Lilly was murdered, and yet that friendship means nothing when Logan's coping mechanism is to lash out at Veronica and turn her into a social pariah for something that's not even her fault. "Psychotic jackass" or not, Logan has a special knack for tearing people down. He comes from an abusive home, where he's learned that cruelty is both a valid and effective response when people disappoint him. Would things have been different between them if Veronica's father hadn't accused Jake Kane? Maybe, but Logan almost certainly would've lashed out at someone, and Veronica became a target when she told Lilly about Logan's cheating.


Veronica is also incredibly effective at tearing people down, but instead of going for the emotional punch in the gut like Logan does, Veronica prefers cold, hard facts. She also has an unfortunate habit of jumping to the wrong conclusions based on those facts, as well as a tendency to assume the worst of people. Her cynicism and inability to trust anyone is what drives her to construct case after case in order to destroy people, and she seems to take an inordinate glee in not only fingering the culprit, but in punishing them for their wrongs - even when that someone happens to be her boyfriend. 

Put these two together, and it's little wonder that it's explosive (sometimes literally). They can also be really good for each other, and I think there's a kind of bond that's formed between them as survivors of all the trauma they've been through, something that no one else could understand. But boy, when they fight, it's brutal, because they both instinctively go for the jugular.

(Icons are here and here.)