Week 17: Weeds, Season 2: Disc 3

I'll give one thing to the folks over at Weeds, they know how to coax a cliffhanger out of the proverbial soil. The last two episodes of the series' second year are worth the price of admission alone. The finale had a truly terrific cliffhanger that ensured the Motley Queue household will be a-renting next year to see how it unfolds. As if we had better things to do, anyway. But still.

Although, I am having a little trouble swallowing the sudden cosmic turn in Nancy's boyfriend, the DEA agent played by Martin Donovan. Up until he finds out that Nancy has betrayed his confidence, he is the picture of romantic manhood, all hazy eyes and whispered sexuality. Then bam: he's a feckless blackmailing S.O.B. who isn't afraid to casually throw around the n-word.

Call me crazy, but the sudden aperture in his personality seemed a little convenient. And it didn't play well on screen. He's too damn likable. It's sort of like learning that your sweet old Aunt Mae likes to kill puppies in her free time.

Of course, there's loads of drama in the last disc with Nancy's sons; none of it terribly interesting. It's a lot more fun to watch the repulsive attraction between Celia and Doug form. You know it's going to end badly and that's half the fun.

On a semi-related note: hubby and I caught a few minutes of Mary Louise Parker in a Fried Green Tomatoes rerun on TV last night and unless we're both seeing things, the fetching Miss Parker accidentally tripped and fell into a cosmetic surgeon's knife, rendering her nose much less protuberant than it once was. Check it out and let me know if you agree.

Week 14: Weeds, Season 2, Disc 1

Sorry for the delay in this post, but the Labor Day holiday put a serious wrench in our Netflix mail schedule. It was like the perfect storm of bad timing. Thank you, day off of work. No thank you, postal delays.

Anyway, we watched the entire first season of Weeds in one rainy afternoon last year. We felt like we had the munchies just from watching it. Okay, I just like to snack, but even so, it was a nice excuse to feel like we were in good company.


You probably already know that Weeds is about a newly widowed housewife (Mary Louise Parker) who decides to sell weed in order to keep her family living in their upscale gated California community. It's a funny premise, but I'm still questioning how long this can go on before the series begins taking ridiculous soap opera turns a la the train-wreck second season of Desperate Housewives.

In a way, I feel like it already has. And it isn't helping that two key supporting players, Doug Wilson (played by Kevin Nealon) and Celia (Elizabeth Perkins), inhabit grossly one-dimensional characters. I'm not buying Doug as such a complete ass. And it's inconceivable that Celia can be so evil to her only daughter ("You don't want to be the fattest girl in fat camp again this year, do you?") They are fun to watch but they make the show feel like bubble gum. Neat and plasticky but not a real foodstuff.

It's just this sort of shallow writing that will keep Weeds far away from the lush grasses of shows like Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, and my new darling, Deadwood. I realize this sounds like I don't care for the show, which isn't true. I've got a soft spot for Mary Louise Parker and her lethargic way of speaking, like she is perennially waking up from a nap. And casting Martin Donovan as the hunky-love-interest-who-happens-to-be-a-DEA-agent is brilliant. Ladies, trust me on this one. Although he has a somewhat scarily large noggin, Martin Donovan has to be one of the most underrated actors around. This is the best storyline of the show but is one I'm afraid they're playing out much too fast.

We have one episode left on the disc to finish tonight, which means I better go make some popcorn. And maybe some chips and dip. And possibly some nachos...