Weeds, Showtime TV Show
The first season of “Weeds,” Showtime’s half-hour dramedy available on DVD starring Mary Louise Parker, surprisingly begins with Parker’s Nancy Botwin already entrenched as a drug dealing widowed mother. Maybe they didn’t want to emulate HBO’S brilliant “Six Feet Under,” which began with the unexpected death of the family patriarch. It’s an interesting choice, and one so surprising to me that I thought I had erroneously put on the second or third episode. No matter. The back story of Nancy’s perfect little existence in the fictional upper class suburb of Agrestic is given as you go.
It takes a few episodes to find out that Nancy’s wonderful husband just up and died of a heart attack (in front of her and now reasonably so, troubled younger son Shane), and that, in order to raise her two children and afford their relatively nice lifestyle, Nancy has turned to slangin’ (which means selling drugs, in this case weed by the way). Nancy gets her weed from out of town. She goes to the inner city (RE: black neighborhood) and scores from Heylia who runs an extended family business and dispenses tough love to Nancy as she needs it. Her nephew Conrad is even less tough in helping Nancy, perhaps personally interested in her as well. And then there is Nancy’s best customer and business advisor, her accountant Doug, hilariously played by SNL alum Kevin Nealon. Doug is not only an unbelievable pot head and accountant, but also sits on the Agrestic city council. Nealon plays him as a complete happy go lucky buffoon. When Nancy’s good for nothing brother-in-law Andy (also a chronic smoker) moves in, he gets in an argument with Doug about the war in Iraq. He chastises Doug and asks how he can blindly follow Bush’s policies. Doug Answers “I like his wife Laura, I used to buy weed from her.”
And so the show goes. Nancy must juggle her growing (no pun, she doesn’t grow when the show starts, just buys and sells) business with the needs of her children, especially those of the troubled younger Shane who was hit hardest by the death of his father. He watches old family videos of him over and over. Her other son, fifteen year old Silas, is relatively normal; he encounters sex and pot, and is a lot smarter and aware than his mother thinks he is. So Nancy trudges along, trying not to think of her husband and her own emotional and sexual needs, which of course both won’t go away.
But “Weeds” is not only about weed and the Botwin family, no, it’s also very much about its world view. And it’s a cynical and realistic one that pokes constant fun at suburban conformity and the reality of what your neighbors are doing behind closed doors (including; weed, each other, etc.). And in this, “Weeds” is a good show, with interesting things to say. It realizes that people smoke pot. It realizes that people are fool of shit. Its suburban critique is both light-hearted and touching. Nearly everyone in Agrestic has something to hide. This is played out most aggressively thru the character of Celia Hodes. Celia is the perfect, prissy suburban mother that you can’t stand. She hounds her overweight daughter about her diet and runs the PTA. But her whole world falls apart; she finds out her husband is cheating, and that she has cancer. Nancy for some reason is her friend, but Celia has no idea that Nancy sells drugs.
Sometimes though, the show is a little hokey. A sexual encounter that Nancy has with a rival dealer is less shocking than just odd. The music, editing and photography all fail at times to live up to the opening credit sequence. But the acting is solid (especially Parker who has just been waiting for a platform), the characters engaging, and the arc interesting. I’ll be waiting for season two to see if Nancy can keep her business and personal life in check.
Story: A
Suburban mom sells pot to support her children after her husband dies? Great idea!
Acting: B
Good enough, balances comedy and tragedy. Nealon and Parker are the highlights.
Visuals: C Nothing special, at times mediocre.
Originality/Innovation: B
Mainly in the story and it’s frank dealing with Marijuana.
Enjoyability Grade: A Highly watchable!
Special Features: C+
Interviews with cast, blah blah blah, commentaries, recipes for marijuana laced food and more.
Overall Grade: B +
Sometimes hokey, not life changing but fun, funny, and not afraid of real issues like politics, sex, drugs, and the righteousness of a pot dealing mom.
|
