TV Review: Weeds

Genre: Drama
Channel: Showtime
Season: 2 currently airing; 1 on DVD

The premise: Widowed mom sells pot to support her kids and ultra suburban lifestyle.
The result: Mixed bag

Let’s start with the good:
The acting is superb all around – Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon are the primary actors. They do an amazing job – especially as such recognizable personalities, they are still able to be completely believable in their roles.

Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) is a complex character. She is a devoted mom, she won’t deal to kids, and she hides her ‘job’ from her kids.

Nancy is a good friend to a bitchy alcoholic (Elizabeth Perkins) with breast cancer. Even still, she won’t let Perkins show her boobs off to her kids. She’s a dealer, but not immoral.

The mixed:
The pilot jumps into her already widowed and already in her ‘career’. We don’t see what the process was for her choosing to deal, when she started, etc.

The show lacks common sense. She’s living in an upper-class suburban area. She could sell her home, live in smaller place without the maid, and probably get a regular job that could support their new lifestyle. I’m not talking about going from rich to poor – I’m talking about well-off to middle-class. A downgrade? Sure. But, a stable way of life that doesn’t involve drugs, drive-bys, and cover businesses.

The bad:
I don’t think there is any bad per se.

Overall, I recommend a viewing, but so far after the first half of season 1 I am not hooked. If it’s on, sure, I will watch it, but I am not squawking about the TiVo eating an episode of Weeds.

AV rating: 3.5/5