Weeds, Season 5 – CliqueClack Preview

Weeds is back. And I don’t mean, like, returning to Showtime’s lineup (although season 5 premieres this Monday night, at 10PM), I mean, it’s BACK. As in, while season 4 was kinda Mexico crazy, season 5 gets right back into season 3’s saddle and gets us set for an awesome ride!

Not ready for season five? Go check out a clearly battle-scarred Kona, and her virgin diary. Marathoning through season 4? Read Jane’s take on the DVD set first. But, for those of you ready for a new season:

Like many fans of the show, I tired very easily of the world that Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) sunk her family into this past season. Mexican drug kingpins, angry, almost violent, sexual encounters with Esteban (Demian Bichir), and the overall seedy underbelly of a world that an upper-middle class family would never encounter in real life. Weeds had become something that none of us, Nancy included, were prepared for. The season 4 finale, in which Nancy is caught informing to the DEA, and subsequently slips Esteban an ultrasound picture of their love child, set me up to believe that season 5 would be more of the same ugliness.

With all of that trepidation, I popped in a screener for the first three episodes of the new season, fearing that what I was about to see would completely turn me off of a show that I had really grown to enjoy, once upon a time. Boy was I glad to be wrong!

The enjoyment immediately begins with the “previously on” sequence. The cut shots of telling scenes from seasons’ past was like a humorous video that you might show at your parents really screwed up 25^th anniversary party. Even with all the heavy, the show felt light again. Nurse Jackie picked up on Weeds‘ dark tone, but the elder show was finally moving back into comfortable ground; maybe not sitcom territory, but more Californication craziness than anything else.

I still lament the lost opening of the show that I so enjoyed the first three seasons. I know why it was changed, but “Little Boxes” was a great juxtaposition to the subject matter of the series, and I particularly enjoyed the guest singers that came in later years. The new, take-a-relevant-item-from-the-upcoming-episode-and-write-“Weeds”-on-it, was a bit too dull for my tastes. The season 5 premiere opens with a speculum being removed from a woman’s vagina in a gynecologist’s office … it was cute.

The one storyline that I really didn’t get on board with was Celia’s (Elizabeth Perkins). I’ve never been a fan of the character, so giving her a continuing arc (kidnap and ransom at the hands of her banished daughter, Quinn (Haley Hudson)), didn’t do much for me. But I loved how … let’s just say, the show’s other stars haven’t changed their opinion of her.

I got a little excited when the pilot seemed to give the impression that we were returning to a “home-centric” setting, but, alas, it’s not to be. The end of the third episode left a lot of questions still up in the air, but, at least the dark tentacles of Mexico don’t appear to be set to play an overriding theme going forward. While everything is certainly not back to “normal”, with it toned down a bit, I was able to accept the fact that we merely must embrace the crazy. That’s the show.

Silas (Hunter Parrish), is back to being awesome, after a weird trip through older-woman lusting. His relationship with Andy (Justin Kirk) returns as a major concept, and he’s also developing a really hilarious connection with Doug (Kevin Nealon), who is also back to form. Shane, or at least Alexander Gould, is going through puberty, a bit jarring considering that the premiere picks up right where the finale’s timeline left off, but, I suppose, it’s too much to ask the actor to stunt his own growth for the sake of his art. I begrudgingly accept that.

I am still very mixed about Nancy herself. Forget about the decision to support her family by selling drugs; how has she moved so far a field from mourning her lost husband, Judah? Where has she gotten to in life, as she finds herself running from men looking to kill her? I know that television is meant to be removed from reality, but how did this happen to her? I’m not putting the blame on outside forces, as it was all of her own doing, but I still feel for her. Clearly, she’s lost.

Two major guest stars are due this season: Jennifer Jason Leigh, as Nancy’s estranged sister, and Alanis Morissette, as Nancy’s gynecologist. The first three episodes only introduce Leigh, and I was not impressed. I can fully understand the sisters’ distance from one another, and it was just pathetic when sister Jill made an impromptu remark about how she wishes she were Nancy. It was an unlikely cry for help from someone who seemed to need something for us to feel bad for her about. I don’t know where the show plans to take her arc, but, so far, I’m not so into it. Hopefully, Morissette will be more worthy of the hype.

Two other people appear to be in for somewhat larger roles, both employees of Nancy’s beau, Esteban. Cesar (Enrique Castillo) and Sucio have both received significant screen-time through the first episodes, and Sucio, lineless and all, is extremely funny. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that he makes the whole Mexico fiasco worth it, but it’s worth considering.

Two quotes stood out so much that I feel the need to share them with you, spoiler-phobes be damned. So, if you’d rather be surprised, stop reading here. But get set for some fun on Monday night; you won’t regret tuning in.

• Nancy, to Esteban, after seeing Cesar shoot two men, and having Esteban suggest that Cesar take her home: “No, he must have a lot on his mind. The sudden death of two work friends … he should take some time to process.”
• Andy, to Nancy, upon seeing that her Esteban-ordered gynecologist is Mexican: “A Mexican gyno? Nance, if you’re putting together a Mariachi band, yes, go Mexican. Down there, you want a Jew.”

I told you; Weeds is BACK!

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jun 07, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT