We start at a party, where Piz and Mac stand, wondering where Veronica is. Cut to Veronica desperately running down the halls of the college, terrified of someone (assumedly, the rapist) she runs to Wallace and Piz's door, but they're not there, and she collapses in defeat. She sees a pair of male feet in front of her.
A couple of days earlier, the Lilith house girls are celebrating the Fraternities getting kicked off campus. Dick and Logan enter, Dick mooning the Lilith house girls, then wandering off. Then Logan says he has to talk to Veronica - he breaks up with her, because his Undying Loyalty and Knight in Shining Armor habits clash with her I Work Alone personality. He also can't take being a disappointment anymore. He tells her he's still there if she needs anything, "but you never need anything."
In the Dean's office, he and Weevil discuss boxing, before Mindy enters to tell Cyrus that she and co-worker "Wally" have a business thing in Sacramento. They also switch cars - she gets the Volvo, he the minivan. Then, Mel Stoltz, Hearst's chief benefactor, arrives to basically threaten O'Dell into reinstating the fraternities.
At the food court, Veronica tells Wallace, Mac and Piz about the Logan breakup, but says she's okay. Elsewhere, O'Dell hires Keith to investigate if his wife is cheating - but he thinks she's cheating with her co-worker Wally.
At the Mars residence, Keith tells Veronica he has to go to Sacramento for that case, not naming names. She tells him about the Logan breakup, but says she's okay. It's only when she's in the privacy of her shower that she breaks down crying.
On Piz's radio show, he's talking to people with ideas for what the houses that used to be for the fraternities should now be used for. Then Dean O'Dell comes in, and announces the houses are reinstated.
Following that, the frat brothers celebrate, and the Lilith house girls egg the Dean's car.
Keith tells O'Dell that Mindy didn't cheat, and that Wally, the co-worker, is gay. Dean O'Dell is relieved. O'Dell's secretary points out a classified ad in the Hearst newspaper, apparently from the serial rapist. It says: "I'll choose my next victim at the Pi Sig party tomorrow night. You have been warned."
Elsewhere, Veronica and Parker, who is working at the Take Back The Night stall, discuss this. They theorize that the rapist is getting cocky, or Nish is trying to keep girls away. Parker is giving "rape whistles", and coasters that test drinks for date rape drugs. Veronica goes to O'Dell and tells him he should insist that the Pi Sigs make the coasters available at the party. He agrees, and mentions his wife's visit to Sacramento - Veronica figures it out.
In her Criminology class, Veronica got an A on her "Plan the perfect murder" paper.
Veronica sees Tim in his office, and the "rape investigation board" where he has 3 frat members - Dick, Chip, some other guy - are circled. He sidesteps her questions about his investigation, and they are distracted by the entrance of his girlfriend, Bonnie - who Veronica last saw with Dick.
At the apartment, Veronica tells Keith about Mindy and Landry. Keith seems regretful about having to deliver the bad news.
At Hearst, Veronica convinces Mac, Wallace and Piz to go to the Pi Sig party (Wallace and Piz were going anyway) and enlists them as her helpers. She also asks Moe, who has the early shift for the "Take Back The Night" cart, to call her if he gets anyway especially out-of-it girls.
Keith tells O'Dell about Mindy and Landry, about them being at the Neptune Grand when Mindy's meant to be at her "Junior League Meetings."
At the party, Veronica gives her friends fake IDs. The rape-drug testing coasters the Pi Sigs are handing out are... not quite what Parker was handing out. She confronts Chip Diller about it, but he doesn't seem to care.
In the crowd of dancers, Piz has to distract the crowd with his Crazy White Boy Dancing so Wallace can test a drunk girl's drink. It's negative.
Elsewhere, Bonnie is sitting on Dick's lap. Veronica quickly tests the drink, before bringing up Tim to Bonnie. In return, Dick mocks Veronica about the Logan breakup. Veronica wanders off.
Elsewhere, Mac gets hit on by a sleazy guy who offers to pour whiskey in her drink. She agrees, so she can test it - it's negative.
In O'Dells office, he commiserates with Keith - Keith thinks about his own recent affair with a married woman. Keith tries to pour O'Dell a drink, but Keith almost pours him from a 40-year-old bottle of Glencraken - something O'Dell is not going to drink just to get drunk.
At the party, the Safe Ride Home people are called for a girl, who's friends don't seem that concerned about her, despite her being literally passed out on the floor.
At the office, O'Dell says he's just going to sleep there, declining Keith's offer of a ride home - saying tonight is one of Mindy's "junior league meetings." After Keith leaves, O'Dell pulls a gun out of a drawer.
At the party, Tim Foyle bursts in and sees Bonnie on Dick's lap. He yells at her, saying he was with someone else for every guy she was with. He leaves furious, and Veronica goes to follow him before being distracted by Logan and Mercer.
She says hey to them, and Mercer quickly turns to go - Veronica tells him he doesn't have to leave, but he says he has to go because he has to broadcast his show. He leaves, and Wallace and Piz interrupt Logan and Veronica to tell her that they found a drugged drink - belonging to one Kim Kaiser. They know where her dorm room is, and Logan's car is closest, so he volunteers to go save Kim. Wallace goes with him.
Veronica announces to the party about Kim being drugged, and asks anyone who knows or has seen Kim to come forward, saying she'll be in front of the stage.
At the Neptune Grand, Landry and Mindy are together when O'Dell bursts in, carrying the gun.
At the party, a friend of Kim tells Veronica that the drink wasn't Kim's, it was her little sister, Carrie's, who Kim lent her ID to. Veronica finds out what dorm Carrie is in, and runs off to save her.
As she rushes away, she hears the radio show of Mercer's distort, and she realizes: Mercer's show is taped. Mercer isn't where he said he would be. Mercer is the rapist.
At the Sheriff's department, a rookie tells Deputy Sacks about a bomb threat at Hearst, but Sacks shrugs it off as an empty threat, happens all the time around finals.
In Carrie's room, Mercer is standing over her, her face and hair obscured by a pink parka. He Evilly Monologues a bit, about how he could get her in bed the normal way but he just can't be bothered, and he mocks her love of unicorns. He then notices something odd in her closet, opening it to find... Carrie. Veronica was the girl on the bed, and she tasers him. He avoids the worst of it, and they fight a bit, her stabbing him in the leg with the horn of one of Carrie's unicorns. She escapes and starts to run.
She runs to Wallace and Piz's dorm room, then sees the same pair of male feet from the teaser... Moe's. He asks if she's okay, and she tells him Mercer's the rapist.
He gives her a cup of tea, she tells him about Carrie, and he says he'll get some guys to take care of it. He leaves, and she sees something on the wall - a photo of the Prison Experiment from 3x02, prisoner: Moe, guard: Mercer. Veronica starts to feel the GHB in her system.
Veronica tries to escape, but the door is locked. She opens the window, but they're three floors up and below is hard concrete. She hides in the closet, and sees Moe's cellphone. She tries to ring Keith, but he doesn't pick up. She finds a hammer and grabs it as a weapon, getting some hair on her as well.
Mercer and Moe enter, Mercer berating Moe for Veronica's "escape." In the closet, on the phone, Veronica pleads for help, but Mercer and Moe hear. They open the closet, and try to get the phone - Veronica smashes the hammer over Moe's foot. Mercer plans to give Veronica all the GHB they have left, so she won't remember anything. Moe doesn't have all that much GHB left, so Mercer has to go back to his room to get more. Veronica manages to blow the rape whistle.
Parker hears, and intercepts Mercer. She screams "RAPE!" and brings out other dorm residents. They ask what happened to Mercer's leg, and what's going on - Mercer runs and Moe follows him. One of the residents asks Parker if she's okay, and they go into Moe's room and find the now-unconscious Veronica.
In Dean O'Dell's office, he sees eggs splatter on the window. He then sees someone enter, and asks "What are you doing here?" we don't know who it is.
At the Sheriff's department, Keith chews out Sacks for not responding to the bomb threat - phoned in by Veronica, to try and save Carrie. Veronica tells Keith he can find Moe, and Mercer, because Veronica called him from Moe's phone.
In a motel room, Moe is removing the unicorn horn from Mercer's leg. Keith burst in, saying their ride back to Neptune is here.
At Veronica's house, she surmises to Wallace, Mac and Piz. Moe was the set-up guy, he'd dose the victims, and get Mercer there. Moe drugged Veronica (in "Of Vice and Men") to provide an alibi for Mercer. The Pi Sigs had nothing to do with the whole mess (beyond their parties providing ample opportunity to prey on drunk women). Veronica says she hasn't seen Logan.
We do see Logan - smashing in a police car with a baseball bat. He's put in Mercer and Moe's jail cell, and from the expression on his face, it's clear that this is exactly where he wants to be.
In O'Dell's office, Weevil enters - to find O'Dell dead from a gunshot wound over his computer.
Tropes
- Alone with the Psycho: Veronica runs away from Mercer and is rescued by Moe, who brings her to his room and gives her some tea. She quickly realises that he's in league with Mercer, and that she's been drugged.
- Answer Cut: From Piz and Mac wondering where Veronica is to Veronica running for her life.
- Attempted Rape
- Bait-and-Switch: The episode opens with Veronica collapsing in front of a dorm room door, and looking up in fear someone (whose leg we can see, but nothing else) walks up to her. After flashing back two days, we catch up to this moment again and see that she hasn't been found by Mercer (the rapist she was running from) but by Moe (the friendly RA). Of course, Moe is helping Mercer, so it's not like she's any better off...
- Big Damn Heroes: Parker saves Veronica by hearing the latter's desperate rape whistle while held captive by Mercer and Moe. She confronts Mercer in the hall as he's about to drug Veronica enough to kill her and then screams bloody murder to attract attention.
- Call-Back: The photo of Mercer and Moe as guard and prisoner in a previous version of the experiment from My Big Fat Greek Rush Week tips Veronica off that Moe is helping Mercer.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The rape whistle ends up coming in handy for Veronica.
- Two examples for the next episode. The "Plan a Perfect Murder" that Veronica gets an 'A' for here is partially used by Tim to stage the Dean's suicide. The 40-year-old whiskey that the Dean refuses to drink is what convinces Keith that he didn't plan on killing himself that night.
- For the Evulz: Mercer's motive rant acknowledges that he could probably seduce all of his targets if he tried, but that he doesn't care enough to waste an hour of his life doing that.
- How We Got Here: The show opens with Mac and Piz looking around the party for Veronica, who is running down a dorm room corridor calling for help. Then we flash back to two days earlier.
- Improvised Weapon: Veronica stabs Mercer in the leg with a wooden unicorn.
- Motive Rant: Mercer.
- Oh, Crap!: When Veronica, now locked in Moe's room, sees a picture of him and Mercer on the wall: Moe has been a brainwashed servant of Mercer since they were freshmen and is his accomplice.
- Police Are Useless: Veronica is savvy enough to know that calling in a suspected rape in progress won't be enough to get Neptune's finest there in time, so she calls in a bomb threat to get a dorm room evacuated. Unfortunately for her, she's underestimated their stupidity - Sacks shrugs the threat off as a college prank; Keith chews him out for this later.
- Red Herring: The thing with the O'Dells leads us to think Landry or Mindy will be killed, and O'Dell will be prime suspect... no, O'Dell dies.
- Repetitive Audio Glitch: A very brief one in Mercer's radio broadcast, but it tips Veronica off that his shows are pre-recorded, proving that he lied about his alibi for one of the rapes.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The A-plot of Lord of the Pis immediately becomes this, as the Dean finagles a way to have the vote from that episode overturned (having one trustee's vote thrown out due to a conflict of interest), rendering the entire "Get Patty Hearst to the vote on time!" plot irrelevant.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Veronica and Tim, when he finds her examining the board he's using to track his investigation:Veronica: What's with the circled Pi Sigs? Are you onto something?
Tim: Did I miss something? Are we working together now? Starsky and Butch?
Veronica: Cagney and Pasty. - Soundtrack Dissonance: Olivia Newton-John's "Have You Never Been Mellow?" playing as the Lilliths egg the Dean's car.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: The Hearst rapist sends out a threatening classified ad saying that he'll be picking another victim at a party.
- Tranquil Fury: It's all that Keith can do to not murder Mercer and Moe when he finally catches them."Your ride back to Neptune's here, boys. I'd suggest you don't give me any more reason to shoot you."
