November 08, 2024
TV REVIEW

‘Weeds,’ 10 p.m. Showtime

This gem of a comedy from Showtime is good … stuff.

For years, Mary-Louise Parker has been the best part of a number of films and TV series. But playing suburban mom-turned-drug dealer Nancy Botwin has been a breakthrough role for Parker, earning her a Golden Globe and Emmy and Screen Actors Guild nominations.

During the first season of “Weeds,” Nancy progressed from being a young widow devastated by her husband’s sudden death to a fairly confident businesswoman, distributing pot-laced treats from her bakery.

Nancy is aided (using the term loosely) in her journey by her catty neighbor Celia (Elizabeth Perkins) and her layabout brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk, Parker’s co-star in HBO’s acclaimed “Angels in America”). The best scenes came when she visited her suppliers, a black family headed by matron Heylia (Tonye Patano).

Now, in Season Two, the residents of the suburb of Agrestic have continued to evolve. Nancy and Heylia’s son, Conrad (Romany Malco), have decided to set up their own grow house. Complicating things, she’s fallen for a single dad, who just happens to be a DEA agent.

After surviving cancer, Celia has decided to run for the city council seat held by Doug (Kevin Nealon), the finance man behind Nancy’s pot operation. To avoid serving in the Army Reserve, Andy has decided to enter rabbinical school.

“Weeds” does a marvelous job of looking behind the expensive curtains at the hypocrisy of suburbia. It’s addictive.


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