Grid Effect

See, now maybe that is the problem with Weeds nowadays, they use the best line from the episode as a subtitle. That is a bit of a spoiler, especially when you end up watching the episode and it ends up being the only thing you laugh at.

Even though it was low on the humor (but high on the attempts at it), that doesn’t necessarily make it a failed effort. There are three types of Weeds episodes with this series now:

1) Comedic: What I think the series was meant to be, in which the plot advances ever so slightly but the main objective is to force you to laugh. A good example of this is last week’s episode.

2) Plot-Centered: This was “No Man Is Pudding”. The focus is on tying stories together and introducing new concepts to the characters. These episodes at this point in the series take a back seat to the comedic ones, simply because the plot is starting to seem redundant: Nancy starts a new line of work with a new partner, Nancy is in peril, Nancy’s friends and family unintentionally make it worse for her, somehow everything works out (usually as a result of her charm/sex appeal/people’s generosity) and Nancy avoids dying/being murdered for the 17th time.

2) Bleak Imagistic: The plot advances minimally and the humor is black. This is the worst type of Weeds episode. It seems put here more to shock and invoke thought more so than to story tell. Weeds has made their bed and now they must sleep in it, because a series like this came into the game being mindless but witty entertainment.

The first two or three episodes of this season fell into this category and that is probably why the reaction was less than stellar. In no way did I ever sit down for an episode of Weeds hoping to hear Andy spout superlatives about the meaninglessness of life or hear Shane discuss genocide with his borderline demented grandfather.

“You see this? You see this Mary-Louise? This is how I keep this series arguably a comedy. Now you try it…”

What made this episode more plot centered than anything else? For one, it wasn’t all that funny. Outside of a few choice lines we barely laughed at anything that was said or done. Secondly, there wasn’t many drab depictions of the Botwin’s situation. Sure, Nancy is now working a job she feels is mindless and beneath her (yet another reason for us to not sympathize with her) and everyone’s situation is essentially the same as it was last week’s, but there were no dying great-grandmothers, no careless fathers and no gloom and doom  political commentary. Just wacky hijinks dealt with in a light-hearted manner.

If we looked at did take place this week, Nancy bailed out Celia with Guillermo, supposedly cleared her name (and Celia’s) with the (understandably) vindictive FBI agent, was given a new job working a maternity store at a lucrative lump salary only to discover the store was a front for what appears to be some sort of gambling ring. We said earlier that the plot centered episode were becoming a bit stale, but that isn’t totally true. At least not in this case. We now have a plot whereas for the first three and a half episodes this season we didn’t, at least now we have some direction.

We also liked seeing Nancy acknowledge some fault at the dinner table. Most notably, just how shitty of a parent she actually is, and how abused Celia was by her actions. Never the less, we still need to laugh more when we watch what aims to be a comedy. Outside of the bits with Andy and the illegal immigrants and their abrasive smuggler (which was damn funny, especially when Andy ended up shooting him in the knee), we can’t recall laughing.

I understand the bit with Nancy jacking Celia in the face with the butt of her gun and locking her head in the window and driving around is supposed to be funny, but as much as we dislike Celia she has been punished ten-fold for her crimes against Nancy’s twisted morality.

Basically, the success of this episode is relative to how the season turns out. Because this was more or less a pilot after a four part miniseries about a family in upheaval living with their hateful grandfather.

Back with some links later.