Weeds Season 3

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I like Weeds. The episodes are short and densely packed with plot and wit. It is a dark drama based on a widow who turns to drug dealing to support her suburban lifestyle. There's plenty of interesting commentary and observation of the conformity of suburban life, and the thin veneer that covers the dark goings on behind closed doors. Weeds inhabits the same world as American Beauty.

I think though that it misses the mark slightly. The problem with Weeds is that it is not dark enough. The inevitable violence of the drug business has a cartoon quality. So the danger that drives much of the plot and the tension is somewhat unreal. When one character is very seriously injured in a non-drug related incident, his injuries and his pain and suffering are played for laughs. Some interesting characters have become cartoon stereotypes. So when another character is beaten up (off screen) by a drug gang it's hard to take it seriously. Instead of being like the Desperate Housewives meets The Sopranos, Weeds has a Buffy the Drug Dealer vibe that disappoints.

I don't think I will buy Season 4. Season 3 ends on a stroke of genius. After three seasons some of the characters are tired. The plot is constrained somewhat by the world it inhabits. Having moved up in the drug dealing food chain the man character Nancy and the story arc doesn't really have anywhere to go. So the writers have destroyed the entire suburb in a fire. Nancy is going to move on, literally, and any characters that no longer work well can be left behind. This is very clever. But is also provides me with a perfect opportunity to say goodbye to Weeds. Wherever Season 4 take Nancy and Co, I'm not going with them.

Comments

Colin Manning said…
I did feel there was the makings of a good series in Weeds and that the suburbanite turned drug lord could go somewhere, but needed to be darker. That series did eventually materialize in the form of "Breaking Bad"
August 20, 2013 at 9:39 PM
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