Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Hunter Parish, Kevin Nealon, Justin Kirk, Andy Milder,
Page Kennedy, Alexander Gould, Romany Malco, Mary Kate Olsen | Written by Jenji Kohan & others
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £24.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 319 minutes | Directed by Craig Zisk & others
At last we have the third season of the comic drama (dramedy?) about pot-selling suburban mum Nancy Botwin (Parker) and her struggle to take care of her two sons after her husband dies. It's the kind of show we're used to seeing from the HBO cable network, but with this and the excellent Dexter, Showtime seems to be snapping at its heels.
Season three opens with Nancy in deeper trouble than usual. After setting up her own grow house, she comes to the attention of a local gang who demand a cut of the profits because she's dealing in their territory. To make matters worse, gang leader U-Turn (Kennedy) makes Nancy his bitch, forcing her to run humiliating errands for him. With her drug business in tatters, Nancy is forced to take a "real" job as assistant to slimy real esatate developer Sullivan Groff (guest star Matthew Modine). Elsewhere, brother-in-law Andy (Kirk) joins the army, son Silas (Parish) joins the family business and hooks up with a new girlfriend (the awful, talentless Olsen) who just happens to be a pot-smoking Christian, and younger son Shane (Gould) ends up at a bible-thumping summer camp. Yep, the show's writers clearly have organised religion in their sights.
Set in the southern Californian suburb of Agrestic (with its "houses made of ticky-tacky that all look just the same"), Weeds cleverly skewers the picture-perfect everyday suburban lifestyle by exposing the reality that lies just beneath the surface — it's a little David Lynch-ian, but not quite as dark; although it is a lot darker than Desperate Housewives. And much funnier, too (Parker turned down the role of Susan, which went to Teri Hatcher). Weeds is clever, subversive and stars probably the hottest MILF on the screen today, big or small. Apart from the brilliant writing, Mary-Louise Parker is easily the best thing in this show about people doing what they have to to survive and get ahead in the world.
EXTRAS ** A series of fake breakfast-TV shows called Good Morning Agrestic, trivia tracks and a pointless biography of Mary Kate Olsen. Not much for a boxset — some commentaries, or even a gag reel, would have been nice.