Pubdate: Wed, 19 Oct 2005
Source: Excalibur (CN ON Edu)
Copyright: 2005 Excalibur
Contact:  http://www.excal.on.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3147
Author: Zalina Alvi

DROP IT LIKE IT'S POT

For a station that characterizes itself by pushing the boundaries of
television, most of the programs on Showcase tend to depend too
heavily on shock value and not enough on the critical analysis of
those "boundary-pushing-concepts" in a well-told and thought-provoking
way (exceptions would include Six Feet Under and The L Word). This is
why I'm so pleasantly surprised that their newest addition to the
"wow" lineup, poignantly entitled Weeds, has turned out to be such a
sharply hilarious and intriguing show.

Making its small screen debut last week, Weeds tells the story of
Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker), a soccer-mom who resorts to selling
pot in the 'burbs of Los Angeles to keep up with the bills after her
husband's sudden death.

While I admit that I'm getting tired of shows trying to expose the
dirty little secrets (weeds, if you will) of suburbia, Weeds  is just
so funny and the characters are so absorbing that I don't care. And
even so, the program doesn't just showcase the lucid affairs,
disturbed children and other reprehensible actions of its townsfolk in
a "hey-look-at-how-messed-up-these-people-are" kind of way. Instead it
actually explores the motivations and complexities of the characters
through a well-paced plot and expository, but snappy, dialogue.

But what may be the best part of the show is Nancy Botwin herself, as
well as Parker's genuinely fantastic portrayal of her character. At
first glance, she may seem like another unhappy housewife with a
(supposedly) disquieting outlet, but in reality, she is much more
unpredictable than that. For example, with flexible morals and a
strong maternal instinct, Nancy blackmails a fellow pot-dealer into
not selling to children in exchange for not telling his father that
he's gay. And how does she do this? By randomly charging in on him and
his lover, pinning him down on the bed and forcing him to concede.

Nancy's vow to keep pot and children separate is reflective of the
interesting way that the drug is discussed in the show, which is a lot
less preachy than I would have assumed. It has yet to be seen how the
show will deal with the issue in full, but so far the topic has
certainly been touched upon, and it seems likely that there will be
more dialogue on the consequences and ethical concerns related to
smoking and dealing marijuana to come - something that, by now,
deserves some screen time.

While the show does revolve around Nancy's secret profession as a
pot-dealer, and the bulk of the focus is on that subject, the other
characters and dilemmas that she has to deal with are given their fair
share and all the elements of the story work well together to keep the
show interesting, not to mention shockingly funny.

So, in comparison to other suburban dramas, I would say Weeds - at
least for its first episode - has cornered the market on combining
critical evaluation, shock value and humour in a way that is hugely
entertaining and very refreshing. Wow.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin