July 13, 2006

TV Review: Weeds

Posted in Television at 3:41 pm by Captain Morgan

Yep, I watch it. And I love it.

Spoilers below. Just a warning.

For those who haven’t seen this incredibly original show, let me break it down for you. Nancy, played by the hilarious Mary Louise Parker, has recently become a widow. Her husband had a heart attack in front of their young son, Shane. Rather than getting a normal job, though, Nancy decides to become a marijuana dealer. Yeah, it gets even better from there. Affairs abound, both hetero and homo. Nancy’s slacker brother-in-law comes into town, and the craziness gets even crazier. He has cybersex with his nephew’s 15 year old deaf girlfriend, decides to become a rabbi in order to get out of his Army reserve duty, has sex with the mother of Shane’s new friend, and smokes up with a city council member, who is one of Nancy’s main clients. In order to make an opposing dealer leave her alone, she has sex with him. Shane shoots a mountain lion with a BB Gun, bites a kid during a karate competition, and writes a rap song about killing a kid at school. Her teenage son Silas has sex at least twice by the fourth episode, gets high on E, and punches his brother in the face. Nancy’s friend Celia, played by Emmy nominated Elizabeth Perkins, replaces her daughter’s candy with chocolate covered laxatives, and fights constantly with her husband about the affair he’s having with his half his age tennis instructor. Celia’s daughter, not to be outdone, replaces her mother’s diet pills with anti-diarrhea medication and displays lesbian tendencies.

The second season starts in August on Showtime. The first season should be out on DVD soon if it isn’t already out.

Granted, the content of this show isn’t for everyone. There are times that I can’t believe some of the things uttered by the characters. But that’s one of the things I like about the show. It’s never boring. Always surprising. It’s not like anything else on TV. Even though you know Nancy is doing something unethical, you still want her to suceed. Even though you know Andy is a complete putz and a loser, you can’t wait to see what he’ll do next. That’s good TV.