erase her identity as a sexual assault survivor, leading the audience to believe that the strength of the character is not tied to her rape." Sarah Whitney, in Investigating Veronica Mars: Essays on the Teen Detective Series, found the episode's portrayal of rape "troubling". She wrote, "One of the reasons this ending has always been problematic for me as a viewer is that it is a too-familiar script. Women are frequently told (or tell themselves) that they have "misinterpreted" sexual situations by missing cues ("leading men on") or by being "unclear" about their lack of consent. Furthermore, the episode leaves us bereft of a villain that can be nailed to the wall for forcible rape." The writer went on to state that instead of placing the blame on a single person, "A Trip to the Dentist" blamed several people for Veronica's rape. Whitney also wrote that despite that the "official resolution of the rape narrative denies a traditional 'whodunit' ending," it makes a statement that she was raped by an "unfeeling class of people." James and Mona Rocha argued that while "Veronica showed poor judgment in the episode, the blame for her rape should not be put on her—instead, Dick, Logan, Sean, Dick, and Cassidy (Beaver) should take the blame. Responsibility and blame aren't zero-sum reckonings, such that adding to one person's blame automatically subtracts it from someone else's." Regarding Logan, they stated that "she wouldn't have been raped, if not for Logan's buying the GHB." On Dick, they wrote that "Dick didn't intend to drug Veronica, but he did intend to drug someone." The pair argued that Veronica made some choices that were causally related to her rape, but they concluded that she did not deserve blame. "If someone like Veronica makes a bad prudential choice that causes her harm, then maybe she should blame herself, but we can't blame her for any moral wrong done to her as a result. She may have acted foolishly, but that was within her rights." Reception Ratings In its original broadcast, "A Trip to the Dentist" received 2.85 million viewers, marking a decrease from the previous episode and ranking 100th of 114 in the weekly rankings. Reviews The episode received critical acclaim. Kenneth Nguyen from The Age commented "'A Trip to the Dentist', is perhaps the most complex, confronting installment thus far of a series that prides itself on being complex and