The Bitch Is Back (Veronica Mars)

"The Bitch Is Back"
Veronica Mars episode
Veronica walks away from the voting booth in the rain after casting a probably insignificant vote for her father. Regarding the imagery of the scene, series creator Rob Thomas stated that it was "a pretty melancholy way to go out".
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 20
Directed by	Michael Fields
Written by	Rob Thomas Diane Ruggiero
Featured music	"It Never Rains in Southern California"
Production code	3T5820
Original air date	May 22, 2007 (2007-05-22)
Running time	42 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
Kyle Secor as Jake Kane Max Greenfield as Deputy Leo D'Amato Matthew Alan as Gorya "Gory" Sorokin Joaquin Perez Campbell as Domonick Desante David Tom as Chip Diller Chastity Dotson as Nish Sweeney Christopher B. Duncan as Clarence Wiedman K. C. Clyde as Deputy Gills
Episode chronology
← Previous "Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down" Next → —
Veronica Mars (season 3) List of Veronica Mars episodes

"The Bitch Is Back" is the series finale of the American mystery television series Veronica Mars, the twentieth and final episode of the show's third season, and the 64th episode overall. Co-written by series creator Rob Thomas and executive producer Diane Ruggiero and directed by Michael Fields, the episode premiered on The CW on May 22, 2007, directly after the previous episode, "Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down". The series depicts the adventures of Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) as she navigates life as a college student while moonlighting as a private detective.

In this episode, Veronica investigates the origins of a sex tape of her and Stosh "Piz" Piznarski (Chris Lowell). 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.

Several days prior to airing "The Bitch Is Back", The CW announced that the series was cancelled. In an effort to prevent Veronica Mars from being cancelled, Thomas had filmed a twelve-minute pitch for a concept involving Veronica in the FBI Academy, but it was rejected. 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.