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TV Review: Showtime's 'Weeds' Season Six

Nancy's taking the family on the run in the aftermath of last finale

By Daniel Fienberg Monday, Aug 16, 2010 6:24 PM

<p>Alexander Gould of 'Weeds' </p>

Alexander Gould of 'Weeds' 

Credit: Showtime

It's not that I don't understand why "Weeds" has become such a popular critical whipping boy. 

If you like a show for a certain reason and the creative team decides they really don't want to make that particular show anymore and they change the tone and spirit of the show so completely that it comes unrecognizable, it's easy to get caught up in a "I like the show the way it used to be and since it isn't that show anymore, it must have gone horribly wrong somehow" mentality.
 
I've felt that way myself at times over the past two years. In fact, I've frequently lamented that "Weeds" ceased to be a comedy long ago and that it's become a weird, twisted half-hour soap opera with occasional awkward laughs.
 
"Weeds" didn't do anything to change my opinion. It was my Best of the Decade list that re-energized my feelings for the show. I put "Weeds" at No. 27 and initially felt like I might have been overrating it, before I stopped and tried to make sense of the downward spiral that the Botwins and the show were in. In the process, I talked myself into recognizing that "Weeds" has always been a show about characters making dumb choices for dumb, but occasionally well-intentioned, reasons. It's like "Entourage" except that "Entourage" exists in a fantasy world where every idiotic decision is protected by an elastic net that bounces the characters higher than they were before. But on "Weeds," every blunder has a consequence and if you really thought that the story of a suburban mom getting deeper and deeper into the drug trade to support her family was going to be endlessly repeatable and that a happy ending was just around the corner, you must have socked away a supply of MILF Weed.
 
So when I tell you that "Weeds" is off to a good start with Monday (Aug. 16) night's sixth season premiere, you have to know that what I'm saying is that it's pushing the story forward in interesting ways, not that "Weeds" has gone back to being the show it was in Season Two. 
 
[More thoughts after the break... This review will obviously assume that you know what happened in last season's "Weeds" finale.]
 
It's become de rigueur for the lazy-minded to call every "Weeds" plot twist an example of jumping the shark (which you should already know is one of my least favorite over-used phrases) and the climactic event in last season's finale was no exception. There's no doubt that "Weeds" ended its last stretch of episodes with yet another action that the show won't be able to sweep under the rug.
 
Alexander Gould's Shane Botwin is now a murderer, having brained Kate de Castillo's Pilar with a croquet mallet. 
 
I've seen casual fans up in the air at a character, especially one as young as Shane, committing such a shocking and heinous act.
 
For serious fans, though, the reaction was more like, "Eh. What took him so long?"
 
Shane Botwin was a sociopath from the pilot episode on, capitalizing on the general state of neglect to emerge as very much his mother's son. Early seasons of "Weeds" revolved around Nancy's descent, always predicated on her desire to keep her family safe. In the past season and a half, though, she has frequently lapsed from valuing the preservation of the family, to holding out merely for self-preservation. With Nancy no longer fully locked in as the Botwin saviour last season, Shane had to take over. On one hand, he killed Pilar because she was a threat to the family, but if it wasn't Pilar, he'd probably have killed somebody else at some point. The first five seasons laid the foundation for Shane's amorality, while the sixth season contributed means and motive.
 
When Justin Kirk's Andy gets an inkling that a disaster occurred, he reacts with, "What happened? Who did Shane kill?" 
 
Like observant fans, he saw it coming.
 
In an ideal world, Gould would have been very much in the Emmy discussion this summer for his work last year and he's the rare young actor capable not just of portraying Shane's slide as dramatically plausible, but also as comedically engaging. 
 
Monday's premiere picks up instantly after Shane's violent act and you have to ignore that, thanks to the wonders of puberty, Gould is aging at a rapid rate, which was the case in previous seasons as well, but never with quite this level of obviousness. As we begin, Shane is reacting to what he did with sarcastic detachment, which doesn't speak so well for his psychological state, but provides plenty of morbid laughs, especially as he tries to get his family to properly identify his murder weapon of choice. Shane's teetering at this point and he has a crash coming, but if you could properly anticipate how and when that breakdown is coming, "Weeds" wouldn't be doing its job.
 
As ever, there are several possible ways for Nancy to steer the family out of the impending crisis and, as ever, she's not taking the easiest approach. Her path? Grabbing Shane, grabbing a confused Silas and heading home for a quick pre-exodus packing, completing with greater alcohol consumption than any normal person, or at least any nursing mother, should be imbibing. This is what Nancy does and when Silas complains that Mommie Dearest keeps leaving them holding their dicks in their hands, Nancy's apology is priceless.
 
"I'm so, so, so, so sorry... For all the countless times I've left you holding your dick, I am sorry. But now you have the handbook for what not to do," she says. It's a terrific delivery by Parker, who has sadly fallen to fourth on Showtime's Emmy promotion in-house depth chart (behind Toni Collette, Edie Falco and newcomer Laura Linney). Parker does "drunk" as well as anybody and her impossibly dark eyes convey more "lost and flummoxed" than usual. When I say that Parker's work at the end of this episode, contemplating Shane, possibly having five seasons worth of flashbacks in mere seconds, is some of her finest to date, you know that's saying a lot.
 
A little bit of effort goes into getting Andy on-board and I won't spoil how that all goes down except to say that Kirk was always sticking with the show for this season. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon, Allie Grant and Andy Milder are all absent. I know Nealon's coming back, somehow, and that Perkins is not, but how (or if) the plotlines from that side of the story are going to be tied up remains to be seen.
 
As premieres go, Monday's "Weeds" episode doesn't necessarily set up a blueprint for the season to come. Yes, the Botwins are on the run, but they currently don't have much of a destination or plan. That's a prospect that some viewers will find worrisome but which I'm OK with. After a little while bumping around, I'm prepared to follow the Botwin journey again, just to keep up with the unfolding consequences.
 
"Weeds" returns to Showtime tonight at 10 p.m. 
 
But why wait? Watch the premiere now:
Dan-feinberg-sm
Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
Related Searches: TV, review, reviews, Showtime, Weeds

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  • I want to watch it, but I haven't seen Season Four or Five yet. I don't know if they ever aired here, as neither of them are out on Region 2 DVD yet, and I really couldn't be bothered paying for Amazon.com's international shipping.

    I'm sure I'll catch up some day, but it's not really a priority.

    August 16, 2010 at 6:40PM EST Reply to Comment
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    whiterok

    Thanks for the review. I came into the show a few seasons in via netflix instant. I've since worked my way back but found the latter seasons to be hilarious. I will probably wait for streaming rather than sign up for showtime and crawl through a new season 30 min at a time. But this review makes it harder to wait.

    August 16, 2010 at 7:03PM EST Reply to Comment
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    M

    Wow, I think you are being WAY too easy on this show. It's one thing for a show's premise to evolve, but this show has pushed the premise to the point where it's not even the same show anymore. In the early seasons it was a show about a mother who happened to be a drug dealer. Now it's about a drug dealer who happens to be a mother. And while you might argue that this evolution was natural, I don't think anyone watching those early seasons would have predicted that Nancy would go from small time suburban pot dealer to drug kingpin living in Mexico. I guess I could see praising this evolution if it really seemed like the original premise had gotten tired, but I think the show could have continued to mine Nancy's suburban malaise while exploring the dangers of the drug trade through Conrad and Heylia (characters I still don't understand their reasons for dropping; especially given that Doug and Celia hung around needlessly for so long.) Even so, I might be on board with the show's new direction if it was even remotely grounded in reality. Unfortunately all of the show's original, relatable social satire was removed and replaced with over the top antics and dumb shock value. And, maybe it's just me, but I get the impression from watching the show that Mary Louise Parker can't wait to get the hell off of it now.

    August 16, 2010 at 7:46PM EST Reply to Comment
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    hound

    This show is a dramedy ... It reminds me of anime. Soap opera that tries to be funny and clever. It's trying to be different. Why was the original premise so great? A drug dealing mom? It's really not very interesting. I'm sure lots of moms have dealt a little pot. But Nancy doesn't just deal a little pot, she becomes a gangsta. Nancy is a criminal, and Weeds has some of the most insane characters on TV. Weeds never changed. It started out weird from the beginning and it got progressively weirder, just like people.

    August 17, 2010 at 12:57AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Col Bat Guano

    My problem with Weeds is that they accelerated the premise much too quickly especially for a show with so few episodes per season. Going from a suburban pot dealer to wife of a Mexican drug lord in five seasons is just beyond believable or relatable for me. While some feel the suburban mockery was stale, I found it funny. Now there is little of that feel. Of course I will probably still watch it just for Andy Botwin.

    August 17, 2010 at 9:30AM EST Reply to Comment
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    JanieJones

    Dan,
    I think your review was spot-on.
    MLP is always amazing to me.
    Kirk is his typical self as Andy.
    I can't wait to see what he has up his sleeve in aiding the family as they are on the lam. I think some good hilarity will ensue.
    I admit that I wondered what Jenji was thinking when Nancy went from small-time pot dealer to reaching heights of Mexican drug lord's wife but Weeds is quirky (more so than NJ, UofT, etc) so I'm in until the end.
    The last few seconds when Nancy was driving, looking in the rearview mirror at Shane, actually sent a shiver down my spine. Gould is perfection in his part.

    August 17, 2010 at 9:50AM EST Reply to Comment
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    sarak

    I started watching Season 1 of Weeds on Netflix Watch Instantly and quickly caught up all the way til the end. Do you know if Netflix streams it, a la 'Party Down', or do we have to wait until the end of the season/DVD release?

    August 17, 2010 at 10:39AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Dave P

    I think we could foresee the massive change coming on this show very early on. I started on Season 1 just last year and quickly caught up because it was so incredibly funny in a biting sarcastic way. But I remember talking to the friend that turned me on to the show and remarking at how the producer/writers hate EVERYTHING. They threw crushing barbs at suburban life, city life, motherhood, drugs, you name it. They were vicious, in a funny way, of course. They're hatred for the status quo palpably jumped off the screen.

    And they pointed their unrest at themselves too. The first season "Little Boxes" montage was great, but they changed it each season, and then dropped it altogether so that they could have a different image each and every show. After taking a hatchet to suburban life, they took the hatchet to their intro, and then finally swung it at their characters, and really, the audience too. Because this IS a totally different show. Really dark and cruel last season, imho. After watching the first seasons I feel bad for anybody that tried to jump on for the first time last season. They had to wonder what all the hype was about and why their friends recommended something so dark.

    August 17, 2010 at 2:00PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Truck

    Once Kevin Nealon broke the 4th wall and walked around playing banjo and singing about the cast of the show I was out. I've never seen a show ruin itself with such precision.

    August 18, 2010 at 3:50PM EST Reply to Comment
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    ben

    the creators politics have ruined this show about suburbia and family

    August 19, 2010 at 9:36AM EST Reply to Comment
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    helene

    this show is brilliant - 6 episodes in (5?), i'm totally hooked. they are all brilliant right now. And of course i'm in love with stevie!

    October 3, 2010 at 6:27AM EST Reply to Comment

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