"Leave It to Beaver" is the twenty-second and final episode of the first season of the American television series Veronica Mars. Series creator Rob Thomas wrote the story, and collaborated with Diane Ruggiero to write the teleplay. The season finale was directed by Michael Fields, and was first aired on May 10, 2005, in the United States on UPN. The finale concludes the storyline of Lilly Kane's murder, as Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) finally discovers the identity of the murderer after investigating the mystery with her father Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni) throughout the season. Thomas said that the finale was more ambitious than the average episode, requiring a larger budget and more filming than usual. "Leave It to Beaver" was watched by 2.99 million American viewers on its original airing. Critical reaction to the episode was generally positive, and several critics praised Thomas' use of red herrings. Background The first season revolves around Veronica's investigation of her best friend Lilly's murder. Prior to the murder, Veronica was dumped by her boyfriend, Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn), who was also Lilly's brother. After Lilly was killed, Veronica's father, County Sheriff Keith Mars, accused Lilly's father, popular software billionaire Jake Kane (Kyle Secor), of being involved in the murder. This provoked Neptune's wrath and Keith's ousting as sheriff in a recall election. Veronica's mother, Lianne Mars (Corinne Bohrer), developed a drinking problem and left town. Veronica's "09er" friends—wealthy students from the fictional 90909 ZIP code—forced her to choose between them and her father; Veronica chose her father. After being voted out as sheriff, Keith opens a private investigation agency, Mars Investigations, where Veronica works part-time. Veronica helps her father solve cases and conducts her own investigations on behalf of friends and acquaintances at school. Veronica discovers new evidence which suggests that Abel Koontz (Christian Clemenson), the man imprisoned after confessing to Lilly's murder, is innocent. As Veronica delves deeper into the murder case, she also works on other investigations, seeks her mother's whereabouts and deals with the aftermath of being drugged and raped during an "09er" party. Things get more complicated when Veronica falls into a relationship with Lilly's ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), who for a time held Veronica partly responsible for Lilly's death and went out of his way to harass her. In the previous episode, Keith proves the innocence of convicted murderer Koontz, who had falsely confessed to murdering Lilly.