Television Review: Weeds seasons 1 & 2

[juushika]

This is just a quick review for Weeds, season 1 & 2 (Showtime).

Weeds opens with Nancy, a suburban housewife who has begin selling marijuana in order to support her sons and lifestyle after the sudden death of her husband. Weeds begins well with an unusual, intriguing premise, and (with the exception of the child actors) well-cast quirky characters. The writing is sharp, balancing the absurdity of the concept against a fair bit of emotional character development. Between the premise, characters, and too-slick writing, the show tends towards over-the-top, but those instances are played as humor and so the first season of Weeds is a smart, sharp comedy in compulsively watchable, bite-sized half-hour episodes. Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy simply shines—she's a great actor and takes to the show's style with aplomb and surprising depth. All in all the first season is enjoyable, and I recommend it.

The second season however is far less successful, and I'm not sad that I won't continue on to the third. As Nancy goes from a widowed suburban dime-bag dealer to a marijuana farmer dating a DEA agent, the plot simply outscales the show's capabilities: everything is larger, more unbelievable, more dramatic, but it's still conscribed to half-hour episodes. Secondary characters become cameos, character development is overshadowed by dramatic plot twists, and humor is no longer able to explain away the unbelievable plot. It's like watching a soap opera trying hard to be a primetime show. The second season is frantic, fragmented, and wholly unrealistic. There's still some clever writing and Parker is an unflappable lead, but the show starts a swift downward spiral and at the end of the season, doesn't show potential for improvement.

The first two seasons are the only ones currently available on Netflix's instant service, and I have no desire to expend the effort to borrow disks—so that's all I'll ever see of Weeds. I enjoyed it more than I expected, so for some snappy entertainment that still has depth, I moderately recommend the first season. But stop there—as it goes on the show crumples under its own weight, and the loss of the intriguing premise and strong characters is a real disappointment.