Weeds

For years Weeds is being the "everybody-talks-about" series but I never had the opportunity to watch it. But finally I did it, and I did it desperately because the show is addictive. So finally I could understand why it got so much attention.

First of all, the cast is amazing. Mary-Luise Parker, as Nancy Botwin, fits so well in her character and she is so charismatic and so beautiful and so subtle, gentle, comprehensive and polite that it's almost impossible dislike her. Elizabeth Perkins, as Celia Hodes, my god, that woman rocks! She's so naturally dried by the unhappy life she has built that even a spontaneous smile seems like a rock. I can't believe that Elizabeth Perkins never won an award for this character until now because every moment is an outstanding performance and I mean it! It's a shame that her character lost so much of her potentials to a point of being kicked out of the show because Celia was one of the gears of the show.

The most interesting things about the show were not the drugs, neither was Nancy living a hell each new day, nor the mistakes each character does during the episodes, but yes the social matters that it pointed. I'm Brazilian and I live in a small suburban city like the imaginary Agrestic/Magestic, so... I know a lot how is to survive in a place where you're surrounded by ignorant people that are moved just by an inexistent appearance. It's so revolting to a point that sometimes you just want to do things just to provoke them and play with their abstraction of reality, and the series shows it in a very intelligent and interesting way so you feel connected by it.

But now, after 6 years and some changes, Weeds seems to have lost most of what made it so interesting during the years becoming just another dramedy and Weeds is now just all about a woman dealing with an everyday drama that doesn't fit anymore. While the first 4 seasons were amazing and subtle in its subject, the last 2 seasons lack of the cleverness that once existed. Weeds now is being pushed to something we don't know anymore and it's showing signs of tiredness and completely losing its identity and also its characters. But that happens with every kind of show sooner or later.

But anyway... if you have the opportunity to watch at least the first 4 seasons, do it. Weeds is not about dealing with drugs, but a way to express the hypocrisy of each single person in the world.

I give 8 just for the show in a whole, but the first 4 seasons deserve 10.

I haven't been a dedicated fan of a TV series since Moonlighting back in the 80's but I'm totally hooked on Weeds. Mary-Louise Parker plays the role of Nancy Botwin perfectly! As a widowed housewife trying to maintain an upper class lifestyle for herself and her two sons by selling weed, she obviously encounters problems maintaining her two roles....mother and drug dealer. Parker really emphasizes this "dual role" and she does it brilliantly....you'll find yourself really feeling for the character and cheering for her all the way. Elizabeth Perkins in the role of Celia, Nancy's close friend, is phenomenal. Watch her carefully in this show, her brilliant acting and her characters dry sarcastic nature provides much of the shows' comedic value but it is sometimes very subtle. I personally think Perkins deserves a supporting Emmy for this one. In short, Jenji Kohan has scored big-time with Weeds and I hope it enjoys a good long run on Showtime....I'm definitely a dedicated fan! My only suggestion....episodes should be an hour long!

Good lord, this show is good. It's thought provoking. Really, so many of the decisions made are poor, so many of the characters do fairly rancid things. But you can't help loving them and you can't help loving the plots. I've fallen in love with every member of the Botwin family. This is a smart, very funny, sexy and sophisticated show. I'm not going to summarize anything here because I'm sure people are aware of the premise.

It sounds like it could be ho-hum, but you must see it- each episode, people are dealing the characters deal with difficult decisions. Sometimes there's deliberation, sometimes there's regret- the show's smart enough where it assumes we know what the "right thing" was that one should have done. Most often, the characters don't do that right thing, and yet we love them, maybe even think "I would have done that." This is a show that basically says, beneath the normalcy, everyone is pushed to the limit in some way. It's no where near as dark as "Twin Peaks," but somehow, without the freakiness/fear, it reminds me of it because it's intelligent and it shows what lies beneath a bit.

When you watch it, watch out for Shane Botwin who is the Id of the show, and Andy, his grown up version who I personally hate yet am totally charmed by.

Ah, and yes, the acting is superb.

Here's hoping it goes to DVD!

Weeds is a hilarious comedy, following other trend-setting shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under that deal with real life issues (using real life language). Sometimes wonderfully dark, and sometimes very blunt, the humour seems to suit each episode's general mood.

The quickly progressing story lines provide plenty of interest and we quickly develop a sympathy for the main characters through some genuinely emotional dilemmas, especially Nancy, but this is no doubt helped by the fact that she is a gorgeous soccer mum in distress.

The small number of episodes in each series might be a little disappointing, but is easily forgiven in helping to maintain the high quality and originality of each episode. I can't wait for season 2.

Weeds is about Nancy Botwin a working mum and housewife who gets into the darkest situations when her husband unexpectedly drops dead and she is left to raise two kids, a brother-in-law and rustic area's secret addiction to home-grown weed. Using this; as a way of dealing with her emotional collapse, in return for providing for the family by dealing marijuana to neighbours and spacey school-kids. Nancy is played with perfect pokerfaced- untelling-drug-seller mum by Mary-Louise Parker, ex-West Wing star who talks on a less political and more social tasks of day to day life. She is groomed for any social eventuality. Alongside the mum of two is youngest Shane (Alexander Gould) who played the voice of Nemo in 'Finding Nemo' who is less stutter and more into the wild flights of fancy. Older bro Silas (Hunter Parrish) who is eager to get his school life on the OC-type list by doing anything or anyone possible.

Yes, selling drugs makes good TV? Weeds outshines the morally ambiguous judgement on drugs. Some of the people who do drugs are good, some are bad. But it's the person we judge, not the substance. While it seems a bit Desperate Housewives, it's got a lot more going for it. With bitchy neighbour Elizabeth Perkins who makes the typical rich mum attitude take a leap forward.

Verdict:

With its entwined spontaneity, this is addictive and yet bizarrely enjoyable. Like most TV shows trying today: firmly planted in reality.