Goddess Rant: Weeds
There was a time where I loved the show Weeds. The story about a widowed mom whose only way to make ends meet was by selling pot to suburbia was charming, and rather hilarious. Nancy Botwin is a train wreck in every sense of the word and Mary-Louise Parker is divine. You can’t help but watch and that’s where the show hooked you.
Weeds just recently started its seventh season and with it came a jump in the timeline. At the end of the sixth season, Nancy was arrested for a murder that her youngest son, Shane actually committed. Her two sons, Shane and Silas, along with her brother-in-law Andy flee to Norway while Nancy is in the clink. Set three years from the end of the last season, the season starts when Nancy is released from prison and sent to a half-way house so she can re-integrate back into society. The family gets word of her release and they head back to the States to be with her. The only thing is, Nancy doesn’t really seem like she wants them there. Thus begins my issue with Nancy.
It occurred to me last night as I was watching the most recent episode. I voiced my concern to Roomie, telling her that with each passing season, Nancy is becoming more and more unlikable. In the episode that aired last night, she pretty much fell into the “bitch” category.
At first Nancy did what she had to do for her family. Her kids were her primary concern and she was selling pot to maintain their living conditions. It seems like as time goes on, she’s become much more selfish and really disregards her family. I just find the whole situation irritating. I’m not saying she needs to be the perfect mom. Her faults are what make her the character she is. But man…..can they just make her….I don’t know….likeable again? Even her oldest son doesn’t really like her. She’s out of prison and trying to get back into the weed business, because she obviously learned nothing in the pen. But first she had to unload a suitcase full of weapons.
Television and films are riddled with characters you love to hate. I loved to hate Krycek on The X-Files and Baltar on Battlestar Galactica. This list goes on. Those types of characters will make you watch something. But if you just flat-out dislike a character, there’s nothing there to draw you in. Nancy is treading dangerously close to that line. Maybe it’s because the season hasn’t really started moving yet.
I guess the writers are trying to keep the show fresh, but instead of showing me something that was fresh and funny and exciting, they’re showing me something that grates my nerves. I won’t drop the show. Not yet anyway. It takes a lot for me to bail out on something after seven seasons. I even stuck with X-Files until the end and that’s sayin’ something. I just hope Nancy doesn’t become so irritating that I can’t take it anymore.
Tags: Mary-Louise Parker, Nancy Botwin, Weeds
