Weeds
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In Brief
Television has given us a number of unconventional mothers, from Roseanne Conner to Peg Bundy, but none of them can hold a candle to Nancy Botwin. A recently widowed mother of two, living in the trendy upscale suburb of Agrestic, she spends her days attending PTA meetings, taking her sons to soccer games and dealing marijuana to her friends and neighbours.
last edit by
spamballis
28 Mar 2008
In Depth
Despite what you might expect, her dealing is not justified as some ham-fisted struggle for survival. In what is a terrifically unsubtle skewering of America's suburban middle class, the series suggests that Nancy deals simply to maintain the trappings of her lifestyle: Her gas guzzling SUV, her maid and her lattes. In the hands of a lesser actress this character could have been an instant turn-off but Mary-Louise Parker sells her brilliantly, bringing an air of bemused detachment to the role that makes Nancy instantly likeable.
But no comedy can survive on the strength of its main character alone and happily, 'Weeds' sports a bushelful of instantly recognisable yet uniquely twisted supporting characters: There's Andy, Nancy's unemployed brother-in-law who is perpetually hatching cockamamie schemes to make money, Doug Wilson, Nancy's accountant and best customer who also happens to be the town councilman and, of course, Heylia James, Nancy's weed distributor, the gun-toting matriarch whose whole family is employed in weighing and packing weed around the kitchen table. Last but certainly not least, there is Celia Hodes. The perfect foil for Nancy's cool, hands-off approach to parenting, Celia is the psychotic president of the PTA, who hides cameras in teddy bears to spy on her eldest daughter's sexual activities, probably because she's not getting any herself.
But no comedy can survive on the strength of its main character alone and happily, 'Weeds' sports a bushelful of instantly recognisable yet uniquely twisted supporting characters: There's Andy, Nancy's unemployed brother-in-law who is perpetually hatching cockamamie schemes to make money, Doug Wilson, Nancy's accountant and best customer who also happens to be the town councilman and, of course, Heylia James, Nancy's weed distributor, the gun-toting matriarch whose whole family is employed in weighing and packing weed around the kitchen table. Last but certainly not least, there is Celia Hodes. The perfect foil for Nancy's cool, hands-off approach to parenting, Celia is the psychotic president of the PTA, who hides cameras in teddy bears to spy on her eldest daughter's sexual activities, probably because she's not getting any herself.
last edit by
spamballis
1 Apr 2008
Cast
Character
Actor
Arlene
Sullivan Groff
Sanjay
Celia Hodes
last edit by
TIOTI
3 Aug 2007
