Weeds season 4, ep1 gets an "eh" from me, what about you?

When I say “eh” I mean neither here nor there.  First of all, I’m really bad at remembering show or movie details so it took me a minute to remember all that was going on at the end of last season.  I mean I remembered the big stuff…anywayzzz.

I feel like the first episode didn’t really resolve much for me.  We get to see where Nancy and her troupe has landed.  That whole twist of fate is a little odd, and I’m not sure it will do the show justice.  The show worked for the soccer mom type in the typical “little boxes” suburban community selling drugs.  Ya, I know actions have consequences so that would not have worked for long either.

And what’s up with Andy’s grandmother all comatose in the living room of his estranged father’s (Lenny Botwin) house?  That gave me the creeps, but I guess because it touched a personal nerve for me…to top it off, she’s in the pic I’m using for this post…oh well…

There’s some promise for the Lenny Botwin character because we are now connected with Nancy’s dead husband, Judah…a story line that the writers have not spent much time exploring on the show.  Plus, I like that he calls Nancy “Not Francie”.  It adds just a little lightheartedness to this serious and zany situation.

It seems like I’m not the only one a little nervous about the drastic change in locale.  We shall see if life in Ren Mar will match up to Agrestic.  I’m not touching the whole deal with the birds and Nancy smelling of gasoline.  Symbolism blah, blah, blah…

As for Celia in jail…I guess that’s where the writers have a shot at bringing the whole premise of the show back together.  We’ll see where that goes.

Here’s a recap from Cleveland.com (trust me, i didn’t pick an ohio link on purpose…guess it’s just my lucky day to shout out to my boring state)

The territory seemed a bit played out at the end of the third season.Showtime’s dark, dark comedy, “Weeds,” had gone about as far as it could satirically skewering suburban American life.

Series creator Jenji Kohan must have sensed this, too. Having seared middle-class consciousness and scorched any number of handy targets, she decided to turn up the heat. We’d seen plenty of marijuana smoke during the first three seasons.

Now it was time for fire.

PREVIEWS
“Weeds”
What: The cable comedy starring Mary-Louise Parker begins its fourth season.
When: 10 p.m. Monday
Where: Showtime

“Secret Diary of a Call Girl”
What: The American premiere of a comedy starring “Doctor Who” sidekick Billie Piper as a London hooker.
When: 10:30 p.m. Monday
Where: Showtime

Kohan says that the theme for the fourth season, which begins at 10 p.m. Monday, is change. No kidding. And the spark for that change is provided by Mary-Louise Parker‘s dope-dealing Nancy Botwin. With the towns of Majestic and Argestic battling fires in the third-season finale, Nancy soaked her house in gasoline and torched it.

Out of the flames rises the fourth season of “Weeds,” an uneven series capable of sublime insight and lunatic brilliance. For those of you unfamiliar with Nancy’s morally ambiguous neighborhood, here’s the, uh, dope sheet for the characters.

We first met Nancy as an upper-middle-class wife and mother living in the California suburb of Argestic. When her husband, Judah, died of a heart attack, Nancy began dealing marijuana to support her sons, Silas (Hunter Parrish) and Shane (Alexander Gould).

With forces closing in from several directions, Nancy decided it was time to reinvent her life. The fourth season begins with her on the run with the boys and Andy (Justin Kirk), Judah’s younger brother.

“It’s time to move, so let’s move on,” Nancy says.

Back in Argestic, DEA agents are questioning Doug (Kevin Nealon), Dean (Andy Milder) and Isabelle (Allie Grant). Each is quite happy to serve up the judgmental and controlling Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins), who is arrested as the suspected leader of the drug operation.

Meanwhile, Nancy and the boys have landed in Ren Mar, a seaside town near Mexico. Nancy’s sarcastic father-in-law, the gambling-addicted Lenny Botwin (Albert Brooks), reluctantly agrees to let them stay.

“Weeds” remains an erratic series, bouncing from labored moments to inspired nonsense. Perkins provides the most inspired nonsensical moments in custody and Brooks in a role that might bring him an Emmy.

The introduction of his character gives the series a delightful new level, and his work in the third episode of the season packs both a comedic and dramatic wallop. Post-fire, Brooks is providing the fireworks.

He’s listed as a guest star. Kohan and her team should be doing everything in their power to upgrade him to series regular.

Here’s some more links of interest…

New Feed Researcher

The Toledo Blade article about Albert Brooks