Weeds: Season Five (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)When did Weeds cease to be Weeds? Was it when Nancy left the drug business to be little more than the manager for a maternity-wares store? Was it when Nancy found herself locked into a relationship with a politician from Mexico? If you're looking for an exact moment, it's when Agrestic burned to the ground, taking with it Nancy Botwin's growhouse and all semblance of what made the show relevant. Since leaving Agrestic, the inherent comedy of a soccer mom selling weed has completely vanished with the story of Nancy's crumbling family taking center stage. What happened to the show I used to enjoy?
The first episode of the fifth season, ends on a note that tells you exactly what has happened to this franchise. Some people will look at it and say, "Awesome, Weeds is still loose." Others will say "What the hell was that?" After twenty-some minutes of Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) stressing over whether or not shady lover Esteban (Demian Bichir), a Mexican politician, will have her killed for carrying his baby, she wanders into a mini-mall, distraught and with a smoothie in hand. Suddenly, a flash mob breaks out, and people begin dancing to Michael Franti and Spearhead's "I Love You". The song certainly fits with Weeds' free-love policy, but the inclusion of the musical number at all tells a more discerning viewer exactly what has happened to a once funny show: it's become little more than whatever the writers want it to be for a given episode.
Now, Andy (Justin Kirk) has inherited the funds of dead brother (and Nancy's husband) Judas, purchased a bunch of items for cheap laughs (the General Lee, for example), and just idles about until he picks up a love interest (Alanis Morissette) halfway through. Shane (Alexander Gould) steps up his role for the season and becomes a badass courtesy of one of Esteban's rough-around-edges guard dogs, ultimately going too far in the final episodes. Really, the writers pushed his character to a point where, while it makes sense for what he's been raised on in the last four years, the transformation comes without warning. Nancy's oldest son, Silas (Hunter Parrish), has a brief stint as the owner and operator of a pot club, until it's shut down and he's written off to the sidelines, which is fine considering the sizable role he played in the previous season. Kevin Nealon, as Doug, has finally become obsolete in the series - but he's not the only one. For the entirety of season five, Celia (Elizabeth Perkins), Dean (Andy Milder), Doug, and Isabelle (Allie Grant) sit around with no real purpose, until the writers decide to reboot the series putting Celia where Nancy used to be.
It just doesn't work. Nancy's baby-daddy drama. Shane's badassery. Silas's business woes. Any of it.
At this point, it's important to note an important distinction. The story of Weeds may have fallen into complete disarray, but there's still a bit of decent comedy to be found. Most of Doug's lines have passed from being funny, but Silas, Shane and Andy still get their fair share of laughs. Nancy on the other hand, her life is just so ridiculously convoluted for convolution's sake that it's hard to get even a smirk out of it. With each visit to ex-partner Guillermo, whom she screwed over in the fourth season, there's one of two predictable outcomes. Either she's not quite as in control of her life as she thought, or she has an angle that Guillermo hasn't considered. This occurs about four or five times in the series and by the third time it's just annoying. By the fifth time you want to hit the writers in the temple with a hammer.
The show has lost touch with its roots. It started to flounder in the fourth season, despite pressing the reset button, and has now just turned into a completely new show. Whether it's out of necessity or boredom, it's no longer as fun. You can tell even the writers are frustrated with the show's current direction as they attempt to restart the cannabis plotline while simultaneously writing Demian Bichir's character further and further out of the picture.
DVD Bonus Features
Once you've wound your way through a clip show of Andy-isms, a blooper reel, some audio commentaries and a behind-the-scenes segment with Kevin Nealon (who's funnier in this segment than he's allowed to be in this season of the show), you'll get to some of the more interesting extras. First up, the opening "Weeds" title cards from each episode have been rounded up into a collection for your review (it's neat). Second, the crew of Weeds layout all the twisted dids, shoulds, and should nots of the show's dysfunctional relationships. If you needed proof of how much the show has twisted upon itself to distract you from moving off target, here it is. Finally, there's a flash-animated/clip-show history of weed and a featurette titled "Yes We Cannabis" a campaign-styled video with Kevin Nealon standing at a podium rambling off cheap one-liner pot jokes with political themes.
As a final note, the lack of indication in the box set of where each extra feature can be found is quite irritating. Instead, you have to cycle through the discs until you find the right one.

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