This Veronica Mars Moment in Season 4 Has Been a Long Time Coming For "LoVe" Fans

Warning: spoilers for Veronica Mars season four ahead!

If there's one relationship that feels like the bedrock of Veronica Mars, it's the one between the titular hero and Logan Echolls. Since the beginning of the series, the two have floated within each other's orbit in a way that could be seen as obsessive: they shared a love for Lilly Kane, and her murder sent them both spiraling. Logan took Veronica's subsequent choices as a personal betrayal and became her tormentor until they found a common ground that led to them becoming lovers.

Their relationship has always been volatile at its worst and intensely passionate at its best, but there's never been any confusion for fans that they loved each other. That's why their eventual marriage in the Hulu-revived fourth season is so satisfying to witness. It's everything that happens after it that makes the milestone so very tragic. Grab the nearest box of tissues and take a look back at the events that led to the couple's briefly wedded bliss and the devastation that swiftly followed.

When season four kicks off, we're met with a noticeably more jaded Veronica, who somehow has even less friends than she had before. It's been five years since the events of the 2014 feature film and the class war brewing in Neptune has definitely been taking its toll on the Mars family. Veronica and Keith have been solving various two-bit crimes, attempting to keep Mars Investigations from going under in the wake of a new initiative fronted by Richard Casablancas Sr. that calls for the elimination of local business in favor of high-end establishments. But just as the annual invasion of Neptune by tourists looking to enjoy their Spring break begins, a serial bomber starts raining terror on the small California town.

When a bomb kills four people at the Sea Sprite Motel, including the nephew of a Mexican drug cartel boss and the fiancée of a congressman's brother, Veronica and Keith are hired to find the culprit. Before things get too deep, Logan returns home from a mission abroad, one whose location Veronica tries to deduce by going through his luggage after a passionate round of welcome-home-sex. During her search, Logan teases her about marriage and she realizes it's no joke when she finds a ring in one of his pockets. Before the US Navy pilot can properly propose, Veronica quickly shoots him down, citing both of their parents' relationships as examples on why they shouldn't mess with a good thing.

The proposal and rejection leave Veronica unsettled, but Logan seems to accept her decision with grace, which in turn makes her upset that he isn't more upset. Logan continually brings up his therapist Jane and hinting that he'd like Veronica to attend a couples' session with him at some point — an idea she is vehemently opposed to. At one point, Logan seriously wonders if Veronica would rather he revert back to the angry, violent teenager he used to be, which she seemingly does since she goads him into punching a cabinet and relishes the rough sex that quickly follows. But Logan is visibly distressed by the violent episode and wonders if maybe Veronica needs therapy as badly as he does.

Things get tense in the Mars/Echolls beachfront home, especially as the case progresses and the two become more wrapped up in the mystery. At one point, we seriously have to wonder if Veronica will be tempted into cheating when her ex-boyfriend, Leo D'Amato, comes back into the picture as an FBI agent assigned to the Neptune bombings. But dashing Leo and misunderstandings aside, Veronica eventually realizes how deeply in love with Logan she is. When he returns from active duty on the same night she barely escapes a fatal close call, she agrees to marry him.

Of course, before the two can say their vows, there's a bomber that needs to be taken in. After a wild goose chase and another bomb scare at the Kane High School dedication ceremony, the second bomber is revealed to be Penn Epner, and Veronica is finally free to marry her longtime love. The two get married outside City Hall with Keith and Wallace as their witnesses and head back home to prepare for their honeymoon in Sedona, AZ. As they quip back and forth about their impending vacation, Logan gets a text alert to move their car for street cleaning, a task that Veronica has put off several times before, and leaves to do so.

Veronica stays inside to pack a bag and she keeps going over a phrase in Penn's limerick that teased the location of the final bomb. The limerick goes, "Their flesh we will squeegee at midday 'round Fiji, plus the heroes around whom we're doting," which everyone attributed to either the Kane dedication ceremony or a sandwich shop near Veronica's apartment (a red herring). But as Veronica recalls, Penn insisted on bringing a backpack during the rush to find Don — whom he framed as the bomber — which he left in her car. The backpack contains a bomb that goes off at 5 p.m. PST, which is noon in Fiji, and timed perfectly to the street cleaning schedule. Veronica realizes that Penn is referring to her as the "hero," which is what he calls her after he's arrested for the second time. She rushes to the window to warn Logan, but the bomb detonates before she can, causing an explosion that rocks her back onto her bed and presumably kills her new husband instantly.

A year later, Veronica visits Logan's therapist Jane, revealing that the town evicted her from her beachfront home and she will be leaving Neptune for a case. Before she goes, Jane sends her a recording Logan made on the day of their wedding, explaining why he wants to marry Veronica. "Is it weird to say you want to marry someone because you respect her? Because you want to be like her," he says. "Because you want children who will inherit her qualities? I want to marry Veronica because she's the toughest human being I've ever met. Blows that would destroy most people — she always picks herself back up."

As she listens to the recording, Veronica silently weeps, driving further and further away from Neptune. It's a tragic ending for a couple that has been through so much and only managed to secure a few minutes of wedded bliss together. Especially since there's no reason for it! Veronica can be married and still be a strong, kickass private investigator who has to figure out the complexities of her life. Logan's death seems more like a punishment for him, when he's matured so much from the prototypical bad boy with severe daddy issues and a toxic temper. Even though Veronica referred to him as a "pod person" once (which was one in a long list of things said by her that deserve a side eye), it was obvious that Logan was changed for the better and seemingly had to die for it.

If nothing else, fans can take comfort in the fact that Logan's fateful words from season two (which are cruelly used for the title of the season four finale) have more than come true. "I thought our story was epic, you know? You and me," a drunk, young Logan said to his future wife. "Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined and blood shed. Epic."