When I reviewed Weeds: Season Four, I was refreshed and enamored. By moving the Botwin clan to Ren Mar, Weeds was able to give its main family and story line a complete restart. They masterfully wove season 4. Perhaps before season 5 they should have burned everything to the ground and started over yet again.
Matriarch Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) begins the season knocked up by Mexican drug lord, Esteban (Demian Bichir). Nancy gives birth to Esteban’s baby, naming lovestruck brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk) as the father. Why? Well, something about Esteban’s evil boss Pilar (Kate del Castille) and the tendencies of Mexican voters. Meanwhile Doug (Kevin Nealon) and Silas (Hunter Parrish) have a legal weed business masking an illegal weed business. Shane (Alexander Gould) has grown into a guy who deals drugs, bangs chicks, and roughs people up. Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins) has become a loathsome character. There is nothing redeeming about her. You don’t like her, you don’t even care enough to hate her. She is a waste. A bitch. A loser. At some point there was sympathy - she had cancer. Maybe she was really feeling bad about being terrible - but now she’s just a punching bag in the cast.
If I can be perfectly honest, I was basically uninterested in most of the plot of this season. It was complicated, frustrating, and convoluted. Whatever charm existed in the small town of Agrestic and even the new and exciting first season in Ren Mar seems to be gone. The plot has no soul even though the writing retains its flavor. The characters are in a rut it seems, with no way to evolve. Perhaps they have all lived out their story arc and there isn’t anything left to do with the characters. Whatever the reason, after a series of lackadaisical situations with ho-hum results, even the end of the series finds us where we’ve been before - with Celia bringing together the same characters we’ve known for 5 seasons to start a weed selling operation. Ho - hum.
And yet, somehow the writing was better than one would expect with such a dodgy plot. While I have tired of the story line, the show remains funny and at the very least the acting remains superb. Sure we know that Doug will never actually hit rock bottom and will happily exist wherever, but Nealon brings a liveliness to the character that keeps him endearing. The always amazing Mary-Louise Parker delivers her lines and plays her part with the same pizazz she always has. Alanis Morissette, appearing as Audra, the OBGYN whom Andy falls in love with, is an inoffensive addition to the cast although her anti-abortion stalker storyline, while brief, is one of the more interesting (and therefore most neglected) of the season.
Weeds still delivers laughs. It still is an enjoyable 24 minutes of time. But that’s basically it and compared to what Weeds used to be, it is unfortunate.
Weeds looks great on Blu-ray. It is presented in widescreen. The case is an improvement on the Season 4 case, but it sticks a little and you have to pull it apart
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Like with the season 5 DVD, there is nothing inside the case to tell us where the bonus features are. Most of them are nothing special. There are bloopers, chats with the cast, hilarious moments. The most fascinating special features are the “Little Titles by Jenji Kohan”, which showcases the title “scene” before each episode with her commentary. The "History of Marijuana" is interesting, if for no other reason than to demonstrate that this is a show educated about the drug instead of just laughing about it. The longest and most interesting special feature is “University of Andy” where Andy Botwin regales viewers with information on how to live life the way of Andy. Truly, this was more engaging than his character in season 5.
"Weeds: Season Five (Blu-ray)" is on sale January 19, 2010 and is rated NR. Comedy, Drama. Directed by Craig Zisk, Paul Feig, Scott Ellis. Written by Jenji Kohan, Roberto Benabib, Matthew Salsberg. Starring Alexander Gould, Allie Grant, Elizabeth Perkins, Hunter Parrish, Justin Kirk, Kevin Nealon, Mary Louise Parker.
