Mallory Dent

Infobox character | colour = #7DC622
name = Mallory Dent
other_names =


caption = Sydney Tamiia Poitier as Mallory Dent
portrayer = Sydney Tamiia Poitier
creator = Rob Thomas
species =
gender = Female
first = Credit Where Credit's Due
last = The Girl Next Door
cause = Maternity Leave
age =
occupation = Teacher
title =
family =
spouse =
episode = 4
children = 1
relatives =
footnotes =
episode count= 3

Mallory Dent is a fictional character on The CW television series Veronica Mars, which debuted during the fall 2004 season. She is portrayed by Sydney Tamiia Poitier.

She was formerly Veronica's journalism teacher, but left her job after becoming pregnant.

Background

Ms. Dent, as she is commonly referred to, was Veronica's journalism teacher through the first half of the show's first season.

Because she was new to Neptune High, she did not know about the tangled history involving Veronica, and so was the only teacher who took Veronica at face value, not based on prejudices. Together with Veronica, she was responsible for uncovering the voting scam that led to Duncan Kane winning the elections illegally.

Her departure

Originally intended to be a surrogate maternal figure and role model, artistic concerns (a lack of storylines in which she could be significantly involved) and budgetary ones (a need for a large guest cast to serve the mystery format) led Rob Thomas, the series' creator, to phase the character out by having her become pregnant out of wedlock. This was only mentioned in passing in a later episode.

After the firing of the replacement journalism teacher (portrayed by Joey Lauren Adams in "Weapons of Class Destruction"), and the death of "her" successor (portrayed by Naima Mora in "Normal Is the Watchword"), the "Neptune Navigator" is now apparently without a staff member in charge of it.

Appearances

Season 1

* 1x02 Credit Where Credit's Due
* 1x05 You Think You Know Somebody
* 1x06 Return of the Kane
* 1x07 The Girl Next Door

References

* "Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season", Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.