S5X5 "Threw Away My Tooth" Celia, who has been secretly living in the garage, is finally discovered by Nancy.
S5X5 "Stud-Muffin" Andy has a blast-from-the-past experience when he goes on a date pretending to be his brother Judah in the 1980s.
The premise of Weeds, a Showtime series now in its fifth season, was the story of a upper-middle class MILF suddenly becoming a widow and finding that her deceased spouse Judah, left the family nearly destitute. So in order to maintain her remaining family's lifestyle, Nancy Botwin began selling cannabis.
It's not that she didn't try to get other substantive work; it just happened that she has no job skills that are in demand and that can support her family.
It seemed that the character of Nancy Botwin (the wonderful Mary Louise Parker) had the best intentions of getting out of the pot-selling business just as soon as a better opportunity presented itself but five years in, she has not. Now, here in season 5, we find her having fled Agrestic ("Little Boxes") to live on the Mexico - California border, unemployed and now out of the weed-dealing business having ratted out her supplier. Oh yeah, at the age of forty-something she's pregnant with the drug-kingpin's "boy" (yes, that makes a HUGE difference).
Nancy is back to having no job, she has corrupted both her sons into growing and selling pot or in the case of the younger teenager, simply selling pot.
Her boyfriend Esteban, such as he is, is a ruthless sociopathic killer who has his henchmen do his dirty work with the exception of raping Nancy after she's gotten drunk in defiance of his telling her how to behave.
Nancy appears to harbour no ill-will toward him other than after finding herself spotting and visiting the south-of the border gyno that her boyfriend demanded she see, cracking a joke about rough sex (!)
Weeds was never a show that cried out for respect. It carried no societal messages meant to cause one to ponder the absurdities of the American relationship with marijuana--on any level--though it did make fun of almost every aspect of this. Weeds didn't even glorify pot usage.
It really came down to "weed" being a prop to hold the story up. Now that Nancy is out of the weed-selling business and her older teenage son is trying to start up his own medical dispensary for marijuana the whole weeds thing has gotten incredibly strained and unfunny.
Even more unfunny is the younger teenager dealing large quantities of pot. If "Weeds" were not a comedy, it would be quite horrifying.
I'm not sure that the show has any redeeming qualities except that there are a good handful of very good actors on it. But does that make a show? As a viewer, as a woman, I'm extremely angry that "Esteban" raped the pregnant Nancy but now that he knows that she is indeed pregnant with his "boy," he has done a 180 and is treating her like a piece of fine china instead of just a piece--and she's allowing him.
As a viewer I've put years of time into the show and the characters (granted, in 30 minute increments) and it's a little late to stop watching it now.
However, the fact that that Esteban raped Nancy knowing she was pregnant makes him more despicable and the only way I'm going to be able to justify watching Weeds is if he is coming to a very bad end, preferably at Nancy's hand. But therein lies the rub.
As we've been shown time and again Nancy is an eff-up. In last week's eppy when Nancy had a brief intense discussion with her slightly older sister ("bitchface") Nancy herself admitted to always having been an irresponsible eff-up.
One could say that there's always hope for the character to be redeemed but unless she undergoes a personality transplant I don't see it how that is possible. I see her continuing to eff up, dragging the people she "loves" into harm's way, never taking much more than fleeting responsibility for her actions.
Despite the appeal of Mary Louise Parker, Justin Kirk, and Elizabeth Perkins, the show itself really has no reason for being. It's as if the characters are just constantly lurching around--never progressing--never changing or growing. If anything, they are spiralling further down into their own crap.
Since I became an adult I've felt strongly that I don't wish to waste my time and lets face it, money (for cable) on a crap show. Sadly, Weeds is now a crap show with almost nothing to redeem it. Showtime should tear up the contract which takes the show through a sixth season (!) and weed out Weeds from its stash of offerings.
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