Weeds Season Six Overall Score: ★★★ 1/2
I’ve had kind of a hit or miss relationship with Weeds since season three ended. After everything moved out of Agrestic, I wasn’t quite sure if I would be as into the exploits of Nancy Botwin and her family of ne’er-do-wells as I was in their initial outing. True to my theory of three, the show floundered a bit and just was’t all that interesting until about the end of season four, when Esteban became a major player in the Botwin family.
Fast forward to season six and Nancy is on the lamb from her estranged husband, complete with illegitimate love-child in tow. What followed was a very erratic season with brilliant character moments oftentimes being overshadowed by some insanely meandering plots. Richard Dreyfuss was quite underused as Nancy’s smitten high school teacher, and the revelation that Silas had a different father came out of nowhere and felt like it was a thing “just because.” It was nice to see Silas fighting against this criminal lifestyle, but the season ended with him STILL being dragged along by the family and not quite able to break free. Personally, I think Silas’ tipping point had been reached much earlier in the season and it would have been nice to see him try and run off to find himself while the Botwins hit up their side quests in Michigan.
That’s not to say that I didn’t like this season. There were a couple episodes that were really good and gave us some strong and memorable moments. I just wish the show had been a little bit more steadily paced instead of dancing around being engaging. What a finale, though. If there is one thing every season of Weeds has excelled at, it’s their season finales. Every single finale has managed to leave me wanting more, and this season was no exception.
Is this season worth watching? For the most part, yes. The world of Weeds is still rich and full of dark humor that remains entertaining to this day. Mary Louise-Parker is way easy on the eyes with a mother’s ferocity to boot. It’s fascinating watching her evolve from the frappe-sipping suburban mom to the drug-dealing kidnapper and master manipulator she is now. Still, I wonder if some of the soul of this show burned down with Agrestic.
Here are the ratings I gave this show on a weekly basis, whether or not you care. Since my Week In TV posts started five episodes in to Weeds, I’ve gone back and given the previous episodes their proper ratings. Enjoy.
S6 x 01 – Thwack ★★★★☆
S6 x 02 – Felling and Swamping ★★★☆☆
S6 x 03 – A Yippity Sippity ★★★☆☆
S6 x 04 – Bliss ★★★☆☆
S6 x 05 – Boomerang ★★★★★
S6 x 06 – A Shoe For A Shoe ★★★★☆
S6 x 07 – Pinwheels and Whirligigs ★★★☆☆
S6 x 08 – Gentle Puppies ★★★☆☆
S6 x 09 – To Moscow, And Quickly ★★★★☆
S6 x 10 – Dearborn-Again ★★★☆☆
S6 x 11 – Viking Pride ★★★☆☆
S6 x 12 – Fran Tarkenton ★★★☆☆
S6 x 13 – Theoretical Love Is Not Dead ★★★★★