SPOILER ALERT!

Last night, the UPN's much discussed Veronica Mars, finally revealed that the season's overall villain, Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas--the character who last fall blew up the bus that contained eight Neptune High School students--was a teenager, most likely gay, acting out of a fear that it would be revealed that he had been molested by a little league coach (played by Steve Guttenberg) several years before.

In doing so, and in doing so in such a way that didn't play into the audience's discomfort or unfamiliarity with homosexuality or confuse gayness with pedophilia, the show proved that we may have reached a point in society where gay characters can be portrayed as thoroughly evil, with no danger that the audience will associate their gayness with their being evil.

Was Cassidy definitely gay? The show strongly hinted at it, in his reluctance to be physically affectionate with his girlfriend, and his inability to perform sexually with her. It also explains his desperate fear that his having been molested as a child would be revealed. In any event, he was at least confused about his sexuality.

Homosexuality, and gay and lesbian characters, have figured repeatedly into the show this season, and in such a way that nicely illustrated the challenges faced by GLBT teens. Earlier in the year, Veronica solved a mystery involving a group of closeted gay students who were being blackmailed. The show was very sympathetic to the point-of-view of the gay students, and, in an interesting twist that foreshadowed the whole season arc, the blackmailer turned out to be a lesbian, a popular, non-stereotypical cheerleader Kylie (played by Kristin Cavallari), trying to force her girlfriend out of the closet.

In a later episode, the show made it clear that the school also had at least one “out” gay student, Peter, who was killed in the bus crash, and who had clearly suffered discrimination at the hands of other students. In a dream sequence, he's one of the characters who cryptically helps steer Veronica toward the ultimate killer. (In another dream sequence in last night's season finale, Lilly Kane, the murder victim of the first season's mystery and Veronica's best friend, even confesses to a casual same-sex fling.)

Finally, Veronica Mars has repeatedly shown that the characters with whom the audience most identifies--Veronica and her close friends--have no anti-gay prejudice or discomfort whatsoever. Veronica herself has always been completely accepting.

But in choosing to make the season's villain a gay teen, especially a gay teen who is clearly confused by and struggling with his sexuality, the show risked playing into major stereotypes. Indeed, the character did more than flirt with stereotypes, both positive and negative. He was portrayed as physically slight, well-dressed, and bookish. He was also a conniving sociopath, fearful of women, who had been molested by an older man, from whom he contracted a venereal disease which he subsequently passed on to Veronica while raping her--a desperate attempt to prove to himself and his friends that he was, in fact, heterosexual.

And yet, never once did the show confuse homosexuality with pedophilia--there were no loaded terms like “gay pedophile”--nor did it ever suggest that the character had “become” gay because of the molestation. If anything, the show suggests that homophobia -- the fear of being perceived as gay--can lead to desperate acts and horrible consequences.

Yes, the villain on last night's Veronica Mars turned out to be a woman-hating, child-molested, diseased, sexual predator-sociopath. (And for the record, this makes two sociopathic gay teens currently on television at the same time--the other being Andrew Van De Kamp on Desperate Housewives.)

And yet, because of Veronica Mars' casual, season-long acceptance of sympathetic gay and lesbian characters, the show didn't feel like it was pandering to stereotypes, or using them to manipulate the audience's discomfort with the storyline.

Amazing what a few sympathetic characters and an obviously progressive attitude can do for a show, and indicate to its GLBT audience, no?

In fact, by making the second season villain of this oft-buzzed show a gay teen, the writers and producers of Veronica Mars are perhaps making the bold, almost revolutionary statement that gay people are just like everybody else: no better and no worse. And as such, we're just as likely as anyone to be exposed as the villain.