TV Review: Weeds Season Premiere - "Doing the Backstroke"

When last we left our hapless heroes, at the close of season two, things weren’t exactly going swimmingly. In fact, it was a standoff of Tarantino proportions. By all accounts, Nancy’s DEA husband of convenience, Peter, had been offed by the Armenian mob. Silas, in a fit of teenage rebellion, had disappeared to points unknown, and Shane had taken it upon himself to scout out Pittsburgh as a new home for the family.

Meanwhile, Nancy and Conrad, not knowing any of this, but realizing that their crop has become a hot commodity for all the wrong reasons, were all set to sell out to up and coming gangsta U-Turn when the Armenians burst in demanding the pot. Guns were drawn in every direction, forcing Nancy to open the safe, only to find the pot was no longer there.

As I said, just about everybody involved had seen better days.

Don’t expect a cookie-cutter resolution to these dire events in the season premiere of Weeds. As this Showtime series embarks on its third season, Weeds continues down its serpentine route satirizing the dualities of suburban middle class life. In fact, with this opener, Weeds further entrenches itself as the most fully realized comedy series ever aired on American television.

The genius of Weeds has always been in its ability to hold our frailties and hypocrisies to the light. “Doing the Backstroke,” this season’s debut episode, continues that tradition, and kicks it up a notch. Without giving too much away, everybody survives the Mexican standoff — for now, anyway. After all, it was never really about a drug deal gone bad, any more than the series has ever really been about dealing pot in the suburbs. That’s all metaphor to explore larger issues of corruption at every level of life.

Weeds doesn’t bat you about the head to deliver that message — it tickles you into submission instead. Running jokes are woven subtly into the thread of the plot, pointing to our dependence on cell phones as lifelines, our tenuous relationships with friends and relatives, and our day to day struggles to make ends meet. That it’s all delivered with a wicked wink and an impish grin makes it all the more enticing.

Article Author: Ray Ellis

Ray Ellis is a freelance writer who has been dissecting pop culture and its effect on how we view ourselves for over twenty years, ruffling feathers and dragging unsuspecting pedestrians along for the ride whenever possible.

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