Velma – Season 1 Episode 2 “Candy Man” Recap & Review

The Candy Man

In Velma Season 1 Episode 2, Fred Jones is arrested for the murders of both Brenda and Krista. But despite Velma’s role in his arrest, Velma’s own father decides to represent him.

Aman tells the Jones they have to play up the fact that Fred’s a late bloomer. If they present him as an innocent boy, people will be less likely to think of him as a serial killer. Unfortunately, his plan only works until the rain causes Fred’s fake eyelashes to slide onto his upper lip and make him look like Hitler.

Meanwhile, Velma asks Daphne’s help to get her mom’s cold case file. But she’ll only do it for $500. So, Velma asks Norville for the money. He doesn’t have it, but he goes through a series of events trying to get it for her: nearly selling a kidney, turning in a wanted criminal. But in the end, Norville decides he’ll have to get Velma to like him in typical romcom fashion–by being himself.

Daphne tells Velma if she doesn’t have the money, she can work for her instead. She’s been dealing drugs at school (Her own parents are currently undercover at the school, looking for the culprit). Velma reluctantly agrees. But she’s not so good at selling because she’s too judgmental going into every situation.

Daphne gets fed up and fires Velma. She accuses her of thinking she has everyone pegged-which Velma really thinks she does. But she’s wrong that Daphne has been selling drugs to rebel against her parents. What she really wants is to make enough money to hire a private investigator who will find her biological family.

Linda and Donna catch them and accuse them of being the dealers, but they luckily don’t recognize them as Daphne and Velma in their disguises, and the teens are able to get away.

The two have an almost-tender moment, and Velma realizes she actually enjoys hanging out with her old friend. Daphne thinks Velma has been too judgmental of her; they make a good team.

Daphne enlists Velma to try to make one more sell a man in a beanie and sunglasses. He’s ready to accept drugs from Velma, believing he’s ruined his life. But when he turns out to be Aman, an awkward discussion is had by the father and daughter at home.

Aman is upset that he’s going to lose Fred’s case, while Velma admits she has a deal with Daphne. So Aman agrees to give her the $500 she needs if Velma will help him prove Fred’s innocence. Velma hates to admit that she can be wrong about people. But after meeting up with Fred, she realizes he actually is innocent.

She testifies in court that she was wrong about him. Fred has been so pampered his entire life; he can’t even cut his own steak. Everyone laughs, and even the prosecutor admits his innocence–but at the cost of his reputation. Fred gets so upset that he stands up on the table and professes he could have killed those girls if he wanted to. Due to his outburst, the judge then professes him to be guilty.

Daphne shows up at Velma’s door to give her the cold case file. Velma notices a clue: The last place her mom’s phone pinged was at Fred’s house. Her hallucinations come back and taunt her that she’ll never know for sure whether Fred is guilty.

Daphne tries doing an impression, slapping her, but nothing jars Velma out of her hallucination. Finally, Daphne kisses her. Velma comes to, and they continue kissing while Norville watches from afar, his hopes of confessing his feelings to Velma dashed.

The Episode Review

Again, Velma’s comedy is hit-or-miss, alternating between punchy meta-jokes and overemphasized, winking-to-the-audience deliveries. But I’m so glad for this episode’s exploration of Velma’s flaws (i.e., her harsh judgment of people and overestimation of her own intelligence in relation to everyone else’s) and how her friendship with Daphne has been affected by those very traits. It seems a bit early on to so easily smooth over problems with the two of them, but I do like where their relationship is going.

I’m not too happy, however, about Fred’s and Norville’s current relegation as quirky side characters, but there’s still time for their characters to develop and be integrated more wholly into the series.

The plot thickens, as it stands to reason that the person trying to frame Velma doesn’t want her looking into her mother’s disappearance. Personally, I’m suspicious of Fred’s father (who seeks too adamantly to uphold a certain image) and the Blake officers (who have done little, it seems, to look into Diya’s disappearance).