Posted by Cory Johnson on 07.05.2008
Welcome to the McGuffin review, thanks for clicking. I'm your host, Cory, and I'll be bringing you all of the utter chaos that is Weeds. Hang on, this is going to be a weird one.
Previously on Weeds, Nancy took the family to see grandma in Ren Mar after burning down her house. Len, Nancy's father in-law, has been playing nurse for grandma and was not thrilled to see them. Nancy had a test run as a drug mule, which failed. Celia continues her nightmare jail experience. Grandma came around long enough to say, "Kill me."
We open watching grandma's monitors beep. Nice opening as the tracings turn into the opening credits.
Nancy darts around the room staring at grandma, noting that her eyes do not follow you. Andy walks in wearing one of grandma's coats. He couldn't sleep in the house with grandma right there and compares it to bunking with Darth Vader. Andy let's Nancy know about grandma's death wish. Len starts yelling from the bathroom about Nancy's hair in the bathtub and wonders where his robe is just as Silas walks in wearing it. Len walks downstairs in grandma's nightgown and hands Nancy a huge clump of her hair. Len yells at everyone, but actually says "good morning SHANE". Andy wants to talk about the death wish, but Len isn't having it.
Celia is in DEA Agent Till's office; Till wants to know everything about Nancy and Guillermo. He says that quality information equals more leniency. Till spills that Guillermo is Puerto Rican and that they really have no idea how he came to run the border drug trade in Cali. Till makes a Moby Dick reference, calling Guillermo the whale and comparing himself to Ahab. He tells Celia to report weekly and encourages her to dye her hair blonde again.
Guillermo and the gang watch Nancy try to pee in the back seat of her hybrid. Guillermo says that another guy took a dump in a bread bag once (would that be a Wonder loaf?). Guillermo lists all the reasons that she got busted-going through the checkpoint right after shift change, wearing that dress to call attention to herself, constantly fidgeting, having all the souvenirs, not having an empty face cream or a cover story. Nancy wants to make a real run right now. Guillermo tells her that school is out and tells her that she is taking his ride as he hands her the keys to his Expedition.
In the van, Andy tries to explain his feelings on killing grandma to Silas and Shane. His thoughts are annoying. Shane thinks they should do what she wants. Silas remembers that Shane talks to dead people, and brings up the fact that they don't have much family left-is it a good idea to kill one of them off? Andy says that she is in pain and that they should help her find peace. Silas questions his method, you know, by killing her. Andy wishes that he wouldn't make killing her sound so much like....killing her (he's gotta be high, he's incredibly annoying). Andy's very philosophical speech on life:
"Look, Silas, life is just blah-blah-blah. You hope for blah, sometimes you find it, but mostly it's blah, and waiting for blah, and hoping you were right about the blahs you made. And then, just when you think you have the whole blah-damn thing figured out, and you're surrounded by the ones you blah, death shows up and blah, blah, blah."
The plan is to use a unified front. Send Shane in to convince Len, while Silas and Andy wait in the van. Shane calls them pussies.
Celia tries to get into Dean's hotel room with Pam. Celia starts rummaging through the room after ordering Pam out to serve as her lookout. Celia finds Isabelle's phone and finds a text from Shane that tells her that the family in is Ren Mar.
Nancy watches as Guillermo's car is packed with pounds and pounds of weed in every nook and cranny. She balks when they shove a person under the back seat, saying she is not going to transport illegals. The guy says that he has a green card...and a prison record. They try to reassure a concerned Nancy that he got prison time for jaywalking.
Shane tries to talk to Len about grandma. Len asks Shane what he would do if that was his mom laying there in that bed. Shane thinks that Len is having trouble letting go. Len blows up, almost tenderly this time, talking about the horrible things that grandma spent her life inflicting on him including hanging his dog.........twice (she said it was an accident, but how do they get up in that tree?). Len shows Shane where the ventilator plug is and tells him to pull it. Shane can't do it. Len gives him a pat on the back.
Nancy made it to San Diego and starts celebrating her successful run. She can't find Guillermo's warehouse, and she is not letting the convict out from beneath the seat. Nancy finds the warehouse, but it has been cleared out, except for a broken table. Sirens blare in the background. The guy under the backseat still wants out.
Len is fishing on the beach and offers Andy a beer (PBR, baby) to go away. Andy tries to wait Len out, but Len starts kicking him harder and harder until he spills it. Andy tells him that he could have told them anything when grandma spoke in Yiddish, but he didn't. Len admits that grandma has voiced this several times. Under the pressure, Len finally admits that yes, he wishes she were dead and all this would go away. Andy asks him if he wants to do the honors. Len will not and they finally hit on Nancy-after all, grandma did say that bringing "not-Francie" into the family would kill her.
Nancy drives the Expedition home and argues with her prisoner about letting him out. She tells him that if Guillermo doesn't call her back in 20 minutes, she'll get him out.
Andy tells Nancy that she has been chosen to kill grandma. Nancy tries to absorb that as her phone rings. Guillermo tells her that he is outside.
Guillermo tells Nancy they had a security breach. Nancy says that she has to go kill her dead husband’s grandmother now. Guillermo tells her that he's been there. Nancy hands him the keys as we cut to Celia desperately trying to unwrap the disposable camera she has. Guillermo hands over her payoff as Celia clicks the shutter....only to find out she didn't advance the film. Celia gets a shot of someone pulling a car door shut.
Doug and Dean watch Andy's porn and wonder if he gets residuals. Dean wonders if watching this makes him gay (I wonder, he’s sitting with a pillow over his crotch with another guy). Doug answers the door, thinking its Isabella, but it's a lady from the council, wondering about the insurance policy discrepancies she has found. Her accusations stop short when she sees that Doug is naked and aroused. Doug shuts the door to go put some pants on. He tells Dean to say goodbye to Isabella and tell her that he's sorry they never got to watch porn together, then changes that to Herbie the Love Bug. Doug asks for his Armageddon bag and tells Dean good bye. His parting shot is that watching Andy’s porn makes him totally gay.
Nancy, holding a candle, tries to offer a eulogy for grandma, fumbling badly. Nancy says that she loved Judah, and Judah loved her and she did everything. She compliments her list of treasures (that they will have to get rid of now). Nancy asks grandma to please not be mad at her. Nancy starts flipping switches on the fuse box, shutting off power to all the rooms but the living room of course. She finally hits the living room switch. The family watches grandma, Shane notes that she is still breathing. Nancy tells Shane to get her a pillow.
Analysis
Weird episode this week, and for Weeds, that is saying something. I am starting to worry just a little about this show, because they went three seasons without missing a beat and now they seem to be tapering off a little. Still, I’d be happy if they have the consistency of the Office, either really great or just ok.
Nancy the drug mule felt like it was cut short, and maybe that was the problem with this episode-they tried to cram everything in with grandma’s euthanasia, Celia’s deal, Doug’s problem and Andy’s moral play.
Celia’s storyline makes sense in the Weeds world, but nowhere else does anything like that happen. Celia the PI spy should be fun to watch though.
Len is a great character, but I do understand why some fans don’t care for him. It is very human, meaning both funny and cruel, and sometimes he is so regular that he isn’t funny.
The ending was certainly shocking, but it didn’t really provoke me the way I think they wanted it to. I really doubt that a lot of hard core right wingers watch Weeds, so it seems like they are wasting a lot of time trying to offend an audience that might not even be there. I guess they didn’t have anything left after the religious Olson twin last year. Let’s hope that necrophilia stays off the list.
Doug Wilson Stone of the Week
That has to be kind of upsetting for you, unless you own a horse.
-pantsless, aroused Doug to the council lady
Things I Wonder
Was anyone shocked when Len called Shane by name? That was a good moment.
How great was it that Silas acknowledged Shane’s talking to Judah?
Does anyone else miss “Tiny Boxes” or doesn’t it matter to you?
Did Andy bug the crap out of anyone else this week?
So Nancy is now a dealer, trafficker, arsonist, accessory to murder, and a killer? That’s quite a rap sheet.
What do you think Doug got himself into?
How weird was that scene with Doug and Dean?
Anyone else miss the big comedy laughs this week?
How long until Nancy discovers Celia?
How long until Doug finds all of them?
Anyone else miss Isabella torturing Celia by pretending to be a lesbian?
PTA’s are just evil organizations, aren’t they?
Showdown time is coming between Len and family, isn’t it?
How long can this Ren Mar thing play out? It’s weird how much of a character Majestic/Agrestic was.
What’s the over/under on how long until Celia sleeps with Till?
Thanks for reading, as always comments and feedback appreciated. I will be back sometime this weekend with my Secret Diary of a Call Girl review and then hopefully Wednesday my next Weeds review will be posted. This is Cory, keep watching.
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