Weeds (belated) recap: No man is pudding
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- July
- 18
This is going to be a quickie because it’s three days overdue (hey, the day job calls!), but this week’s episode of Weeds was the best so far this season.
Not only did it contrast with last week’s sleeper, which was only exciting for about the last 30 seconds, but it stood on its own as an awesome half hour of television.
Nancy Botwin is going into retail. Who saw that coming? I mean besides anyone who saw the previews last week. There’s been a lot of discomfort about this season and the abandonment of Agrestic and the surburban dealer-mom premise the show was built around. Well Ren Mar is the new Agrestic, and the maternity store/drug money front is certainly a new take on a familiar theme.
But first, what about Andy? Oh yeah, Andy! He was cooling his jets on an Igloo cooler last we saw him. And sidetracked by Celia’s foray into government surveillance, Nancy forgot to be back in 45 minutes as promised. You’d think Mr. Responsible could understand someone being 12 hours late for a pickup.
Besides, he needed the distraction of joining a human convoy to Davenport, Iowa, in order to find his mettle. And find it, he did, putting a bullet in a coyote’s knee, saving the girl and retrieving his oh-so-cool Fall Guy belt buckle. (That was a cool show, Lee Majors’ big comeback.)
But the high point of the night for me was Nancy’s quick thinking. The fact that it resulted in a self-serving release is besides the point, but it rocked when she cracked Celia in the teeth with Guillermo’s gun. Way to get even for years of needling, hair pulling and general annoyance. It was also a great cover, giving her time to figure out Celia’s game and what to do about it. There was a little bit of loyalty on display there too, considering she didn’t know what Celia was up to, except that she’d somehow gotten out of jail and showed up outside with a camera (albeit the disposable kind that I didn’t know they made anymore).
She didn’t have to go out on a limb for Celia, even though she got to knock one of her chompers out in the process. She could just have easily sold her out to Guillermo, who’s keeping her in business. It was great when Guillermo gave Nancy permission to hire Celia but at minimum wage only.
Now to the one minor bit of criticism I had, and it has to do with a scene I liked. I’m not talking about Silas unleashing The Swarm in his bedroom. That was actually pretty cool. No, I’m talking about Nancy’s sitdown with Captain Till. She was awfully confident, and he was awfully shaken when she mentioned that her late hubby had given her some juicy dirt that she was sitting on.
Is he really going to get off her back? When they revealed he had connected her with Guillermo, I didn’t see how they could keep Nancy out of jail for long, and the solution was just a little too easy for my tastes. I actually like Till, and I’d rather see him and Nancy reach an understanding based on the fact that she’s not a big fish and that she’s too slick to be his pawn like Celia. Instead, she seems to have him over a rather improbable barrel.
Whatevs. Realism is not always this show’s strong suit. Besides, this gives us the chance to put the feds on the backburner while we focus on that hole in the shop’s back room.
Is it a tunnel to Mexico? Probably. Is it for smuggling people? Drugs? Probably and probably. Does mall management know about the damage to its property? Probably, but it’s not like they’re going to complain to Guillermo.
I sense another game-changer coming. Not on a par with burning down the neighborhood, but there’s going to be a directional shift, I think. It started with Lenny’s departure and moved ahead with Celia’s arrival and Till’s reluctant truce.
You’d have to be one of Nancy’s old customers to believe a lot of what’s going on, but man is it fun to watch regardless.
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By the way, I’m pumped but torn to see Mary Louise Parker nominated for a best actress in a comedy Emmy. Pumped because she’s an amazing actress who actually makes a good show great. Torn because she’s up against Tina Fey for 30 Rock.
This entry was posted
on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 3:42 pm by Brian Howard.
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