TV on DVD: Weeds (The Complete Second Season)

Creator: Jenji Kohan
Starring: Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Justin Kirk, Kevin Nealon, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould, Romany Malco, Allie Grant
Original Airdate: 2006

***1/2 (out of ****)

I know what you’re thinking: Why would I review the second season of Weeds without having reviewed the first? Despite not reviewing the first season of the series I did watch it, and honestly, I wasn’t impressed. I was so unimpressed that I couldn’t even motivate myself to type my thoughts on it. Remember how Seinfeld was referred to as “the show about nothing?” Well, that was essentially my reaction to this show’s inaugural season. I felt as if absolutely nothing happened and was perplexed why it was garnering such high praise. I thought Mary Louise Parker’s acting work as a widowed pot dealing suburban mom was fine but nothing more and when the finale ended I had little interest in watching its sophomore season.

I definitely wouldn’t lose any sleep over not finding out what happened to the residents of Agrestic, California and was particularly annoyed that fine supporting actors were criminally underused. I thought the show had one angle (Mom dealing pot) and it wasn’t nearly as clever or interesting as the writers believed it to be. Nor did I understand why we were supposed to find it funny or connect with it on any meaningful dramatic level. She sold pot and that was it. But everyone I knew just wouldn’t let me hear the end of it and kept ranting and raving about how good the show was. They told me I was sure to love the second season. I’m glad I listened because they were right.

I’m all for second chances but I certainly didn’t expect to get the surprise I did when I unenthusiastically popped the second season into my DVD player. I’m happy to report that this season is not only a VAST IMPROVEMENT over the first but so much of one that it’s hard to believe it’s even the same show. What’s the opposite of a sophomore slump? If up until now the pot dealing came across as just a gimmick, in this season it ingrains itself into the fabric of the series, affecting the lives of every single character. The first season may have ended with a whimper but the second concluded with me on the edge of my seat anxiously awaiting the resolution to a thrilling cliffhanger.

I can’t say I liked every character but I sure ended up caring what happened to every one of them as each are given ample time to shine. Nancy Botwin may be about as deserving as Dina Lohan for a “Mother of the Year” award but the beauty in Parker’s performance is how she makes us not care and root for her anyway. No matter how stupid or selfish her mistakes are she convinces us that they come from a real place. It took a little while, but now I’ve finally gotten to see the show everyone was talking about. What a turnaround.

When we last left Nancy Botwin (Parker) in season one she was adjusting to her new life as a widower by dealing marijuana to continue her family’s middle class lifestyle. She also had to deal with the arrival of her lazy, freeloading brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk) and her expanding partnership with fellow drug dealer Conrad (Romany Malco) which evolves from just dealing pot to actually growing it. Her personal life takes a new turn as well when she ends up in a relationship with Peter Scottson (Martin Donovan), who she discovers is a DEA Agent in the first season’s somewhat underwhelming finale. Looking back now, it almost seems fitting the season would end on that note because it would be the first sign the writers would start to explore the rewarding creative potential of Nancy’s two worlds colliding.

If Season 1 was set-up then Season 2 is all pay off. At its start we know Nancy’s relationship with Peter has trouble written all over it and can only end badly but what surprised me most is how we got there and how many people it affected. Of course, Peter reveals himself to be far less than what Nancy believes him to be but the show is clever enough to give us some revealing moments with him also. He’s not exactly a bad guy, just someone with such a strong moral code and attachment to his job that he really believes he’s doing the right thing, as warped as it seems. It’s that small detail, evident in the writing and in Donovan and Parker’s performances that makes the relationship so believable.
That may be the storyline at the core of this season but there’s definitely enough other craziness on the side that will keep you fully entertained. The best of which is a hilarious battle for spot on the town council between the selfish, manipulative Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins) and clueless. sleazy accountant (and client of Nancy’s) Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon). This is one of those rare cases when two actors are paired together who have such unbelievable chemistry that you can’t imagine the two even being able to exist on screen without one another.

All my complaints about the squandering of Nealon’s talents in the first season are addressed as he’s given a huge role here to sink his teeth into and knocks it out of the park. All that trademark smug sarcasm that made him the all-time greatest anchor of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update is on full display here, except with a lot more depth to it. Perkins’ Celia I found to be just a crazy bitch in the first season and she still is, except this time there’s some humor and a few endearing qualities to go along with that bitchiness, and it makes a huge difference.

When we last left Celia she was a victim of both breast cancer and her husband Dean’s (Andy Milder) infidelity but now she’s in the driver’s seat taking control, which is where she belonged all along. Of all the hilarious sub-plots this season, Celia finds a way to be involved in most of them. Whether it be her husband getting tasered out of his job, her outrage at her lesbian daughter Isabelle (Allie Grant) starring in commercials for plus-size children’s wear or her mission her mission make Agrestic a “drug-free zone” she hardly gets a breather this season and neither do we. Most memorable Celia moment: Finally getting her comeuppance courtesy of Nancy’s youngest son Shane (Alexander Gould) at her ridiculous (bordering on delusional) anti-drug lecture featuring a Sasquatch.

It’s funny how last season I nearly slept through depressing home movie footage of Nancy’s ex-husband in the writers’ failed attempts to show us how his death affected her and the kids, but this season their grief is instead evident IN THEIR ACTIONS. Like her son Silas’ (Hunter Parrish) relationship with a deaf girl escalating far past where it should and Shane’s pre-pubescent curiosity. The latter results in a masturbation speech from his uncle that belongs in the television hall of fame.

Speaking of Andy, he dedicates himself to becoming a Rabbi so he can get out of serving in Iraq. Even the most unlikable, one-dimensional character, Nancy’s supplier Heylia (Tonye Patano) is given a hilarious sub-plot involving a militant Nation of Islam leader. And just when I thought this couldn’t get any better Zooey Deschanel shows up as Andy’s crazy ex-girlfriend. I’m still trying to figure out how her performance managed to exceed my unrealistically high expectations. She’s may be the only actress who can make stalking seem adorable and the worst part of her guest arc is knowing eventually it’ll have to end. If I had to pick a lowlight of the season, it would be the contrived (but thankfully brief) appearance of Snoop Dogg. Why did someone have to tell him about this show?

On paper all this seems like too much but amazingly it isn’t because the series’ never loses its focus on Nancy and her struggle to just get by and determination not let her family down. Despite making horrible judgment calls left and right she’s able to keep it together and push forward. This is the season that won Parker the Emmy and what impressed me most about her performance was how grounded and in control it seemed at all times despite the insanity of the material. You really could picture a woman like this living in your neighborhood and chances are you wouldn’t mind, pot dealer or not. There is a moment when Nancy finally does break and it has such a huge emotional impact because we were building toward it for so long.
When the finale ended I felt like I’d been put through the wringer in terms of what you can experience during one season and now I wouldn’t dare argue its far superior to nearly all the crap being trotted out by the major networks these days. Not to mention it's also really fun (but impossible) to guess which artists are performing the opening theme, "Little Boxes" for each episode. A lot is jammed in but nearly all of it clicks, thanks in no small part due to Parker’s amazing performance and the efforts of the supporting cast.

It isn’t the best show on television, or even the best show on Showtime (I think we all know what that is), but I can’t recall a series ever taking such a leap creatively from its first to second season. Not only is knowledge of the first unnecessary to enjoy the second, I’d say everyone should start at 2 and just save themselves the trouble. It's what I should have done. This is a darker, funnier and altogether better effort. It remains to be seen whether the show has hit its creative peak here or they’re even bigger surprises in store for Season 3. But that I even care is a great sign.