Product Description
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The hemptress returns in the complete fifth season of the
Showtime's Original Series, Weeds. When pot-selling soccer mom
Nancy Botwin took her homegrown business south of the border, she
found the grass wasn't greener on the other side. Now she's
pregnant with the child of a powerful politician turned dangerous
drug lord; or is she? Doug and Silas are trying to branch out on
their own, Andy is looking to score, and Celia attempts to turn
the tables on her kippers. With enemies out to smoke the Queen
of Green, Nancy's sure to find a whole new crop of trouble in an
all new season of Weeds; starring Emmy and Golden Globe winner
Mary-Louise Parker.
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Though "eccentric" is perhaps a given when it comes to
describing the comedy-drama Weeds, the series' fifth season seems
to test the boundaries of that description with a story arc that
pushes the misadventures of suburban pot dealer Nancy Botwin
(Golden Globe winner Mary-Louise Parker) into very unusual
territory. Having saved her skin in the finale of the previous
season by admitting to Mexican drug lord Esteban that she was
carrying his child, Nancy spends much of the season attempting to
keep her extended brood/employees out of trouble as she
extricates from this current pickle. However, said family is
barely able to stay afloat without her lopsided guidance;
brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk) develops feelings for her
before falling for her obstetrician (Alanis Morrissette), while
eldest offspring Silas (Hunter Parrish) attempts to tackle the
legitimate side of pot (a medical marijuana dispensary) with the
now hopelessly fogbound Doug (Kevin Nealon). And youngest son
Shane (Alexander Gould) continues his spiral into what can only
be described as near-lunacy as he dabbles in alcoholism, animal
slaughter, masochism, and finally, homicide. Though season 5
reads like the same mix of black comedy and sugar-fizz indie
quirk as the previous four, the reality is that the recipe is off
here; moments of honest drama and character development have been
sacrificed for shock effect, which blunts the solid work done by
Parker and her talented castmates (most notably Kirk, Nealon, and
Morrissette). In short, the fifth season of Weeds feels
rudderless--an uncomfortable position for any veteran show.
The extras on the season 5 set feel equally off-kilter.
Commentary tracks are present for 7 of the 13 episodes, most of
which are handled by series creator Jenji Kohan, who seems either
unable to or uninterested in providing more than perfunctory
observations. More informative and entertaining are the tracks
with Parrish and Nealon's thoughts on "Van Nuys" and Elizabeth
Perkins on "Glue," on which she's joined by her onscreen spouse
and daughter, Andy Milder and Allie Grant. Also worth checking
out is University of Andy, a series of 12 webisodes featuring
dubious life advice from Kirk's character, and Crazy Love, a
brief but thoughtful examination of the characters' romantic
lives as viewed by the cast and crew. More extraneous is Really
Backstage with Kevin Nealon, which is a perfunctory
behind-the-scenes glance, while Little Titles offers more
enervated commentary from Kohan, this time in regard to the
opening titles. A gaggle of bloopers, a promo spot with Nealon
parodying Barack Obama's "Yes We Can," and the animated History
of Weed are all forgettable. --Paul Gaita