A Veronica Mars mystery within a mystery

Last night I watched Veronica Mars. That's kind of a given since it's one of the best shows on television and if you're not watching it… well, it's time. Anyway, the episode ended [*SPOILERS*] rather shockingly with our Veronica (Kristen Bell) discovering that her rich-boyfriend-who-dresses-like-a-kindergartener (Teddy Dunn) may have knocked up his ex-girlfriend-in-a-coma. (Before she turned into a Smiths song character, not in some kind of Talk To Her-like act of perversion.)

Viewers were then invited to check out an alternate ending

here. The scene doesn't really differ all that much until the very end in which Veronica hides in a closet while coma-girl's mother apparently smothers her to death. Veronica is then caught holding the pillow. Now we're supposed to vote on which one we like better.

But first… wha huh? This wasn't just some deleted scene. This would have taken the show in an entirely different direction. Does anyone know what the deal was? I wish I had something clever to say about it all, but I'm mostly just puzzled.