Weeds (TV series)

Weeds is an American dark comedy-drama television series created by Jenji Kohan and produced by Lionsgate Television, which began airing on the Showtime cable television network in 2005. The show revolves around Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker), a widowed suburbanite mother of two, who turned to selling marijuana to support her family after her husband unexpectedly died. Over the course of the show, Nancy becomes involved in illegal activities on an escalating scale; the first three seasons deal mainly with selling and growing marijuana locally; in later seasons the show features the smuggling of a variety of contraband from Mexico to the United States and the dubious machinations of Nancy's new husband's campaign for the governorship of the Mexican state of Baja California

The first three seasons take place in the fictional town of Agrestic, California. The primary locale of seasons four and five is the fictional beachside border town of Ren Mar. At the start of the sixth season, the Botwin family relocates to Seattle, Washington. The title plays on the word "weed", a slang for marijuana, implying that American suburbs grow akin to weeds. The title sequence of the first three seasons features the satirical song "Little Boxes", while scenes depict suburbanites who dress the same, drive exactly the same sport utility vehicle, and live in identical houses. Seasons four and after depict intertitles.

The show first aired on August 7, 2005 and is currently in its sixth season, which premiered on August 16, 2010.^[1] The first season of the series delivered Showtime's highest ratings, and the debut of the fifth season had Showtime's highest viewership for a show with 1.3 million watchers. The show received and had been nominated for numerous awards. Mary-Louise Parker won a Golden Globe for her performance on the show, and Jenji Kohan earned a Writer's Guild of America award for her work on the pilot episode. The show has also been nominated for 10 Golden Globes and 19 Emmy Awards.

Production

Stevenson Ranch, California, a filming location for Weeds.

The exteriors for the show's first three seasons were shot almost exclusively in Stevenson Ranch, a suburban area of Santa Clarita Valley, California. The shot of the large fountain and Agrestic sign seen in the introduction of Seasons 1–3 was shot at the corner of Stevenson Ranch Parkway and Holmes Place. The name "Stevenson Ranch" was digitally replaced with "Agrestic" initially (and with "Majestic" in later episodes). The overhead, satellite picture displayed at the beginning of the show's introduction (Seasons 1–3) is of Calabasas Hills, a gated community in Calabasas, California.^[2]

A version of this Wikipedia page served as the introduction for episode 7 of season 5 titled "Where the Sidewalk Ends".

Season synopses

Season 1

The series' fictional Los Angeles, California suburb of Agrestic is home to Nancy Botwin, whose husband Judah died of a heart attack while jogging with their son Shane.^[3] Nancy's children, Silas and Shane, both attend Agrestic's public school system in the early seasons of the show

To support her upper middle class lifestyle, Nancy begins dealing marijuana to her affluent neighbors and friends. Andy moves into the Botwin household after Judah's death to help Nancy out, though he also seems to be there to free-load, and to disrupt Nancy's life. Nancy's supplier is Heylia James, a major distributor in Los Angeles' West Adams district whom she met through Heylia's nephew, Conrad (who is Andy's friend).^[4] After losing customers to a medical marijuana store, Nancy begins baking and selling pot-laced brownies. Acting on the advice of her accountant, city councilman Doug Wilson, she opens a retail bakery, stocked with Costco baked goods, as a front for her drug sales. Silas begins dating Megan, an attractive deaf girl at his school. Shane, troubled by his father's death, acts out, such as biting the foot of another child in a martial-arts tournament (as well as licking the blood of his scabbed knee during a soccer practice), earning him the nickname "Strange Botwin" from his fellow classmates.

Nancy has a neighbor and chief antagonist, manic, image-obsessed, manipulative Celia Hodes, who is president of the Agrestic PTA. Celia does not get along with her cheating husband Dean, nor does she get along with her sexually active 15-year-old daughter, Quinn (Silas' previous girlfriend), whom she sends off to boarding school in Mexico after the pilot. Her younger daughter, 11-year-old Isabelle, is overweight and constantly the target of her mother's passive-aggressive comments, though Isabelle seems to be mature for her age, and confident. Isabelle reveals late in the season that she is a lesbian, much to her mother's chagrin. Toward the end of the season, Celia is diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. The brush with her own mortality softens her abrasive personality and leads her to treat her own daughter with more courtesy and respect for a time. She quickly returns to form after her recovery, however. Before her surgery, she meets Conrad and has sex with him. Meanwhile, When Andy is notified to report immediately for his previously agreed-on military service (where he will be trained and then sent to Iraq) or be sentenced to a military prison, he announces that he is studying to become a rabbi as a dodge to avoid his military obligation.

Drug dealing turns out to be more difficult than Nancy thought, which she discovers when she expands her customer base to Valley State College and gets threatened by a rival drug dealer who considers it to be his territory. She then has a brief sexual encounter with him. Also at Valley College, her entire stash of product is stolen by a campus security guard during a fake arrest, threatening the survival of her lifestyle and family. Unbeknownst to her, Conrad and some of his friends pay a visit to the security guard, attacking and severely beating him. The net result is that the guard politely returns the marijuana to a puzzled Nancy, apologizes profusely, and offers to assist her and her business in any way he can. Nancy and Peter Scottson, the single father of the kid bitten by Shane in a karate tournament, develop a mutual attraction, and they end up sleeping together. There is also a mutual attraction between Nancy and Conrad, much to Heylia's annoyance. The season closes with Conrad convincing Nancy to expand by becoming a grower as well as a dealer; however, Nancy then encounters a shocking complications: she learns that her new boyfriend Peter is a DEA agent.

Season 2

The second season, while still comedic, has a much darker tone, as Nancy becomes increasingly involved in the more dangerous aspects of the drug world. Ignoring Heylia's advice, Nancy and Conrad start their own small-scale growing operation and eventually rent a suburban "grow-house"—a place where they can grow marijuana indoors using artificial light and hydroponics. She welcomes other people into her business, including her brother-in-law Andy and accountant (and customer) Doug. During this season, Peter Scottson tells Nancy he knows she is a drug dealer, but considers her too small time to be worth busting, and the two are married as part of a deal to legally protect Nancy from Peter testifying in a court of law. While Nancy's drug activities increase, Celia runs for, and wins, Doug's spot on the town council. Her victory is due to the incompetence of her husband Dean (a lawyer), who forgot to file Doug's paperwork, leaving him off the ballot. She immediately launches a drug-free campaign across Agrestic complete with drug-free zone signs and surveillance cameras. Doug and Celia share a strong desire for revenge on Dean, which inspires a brief sexual liaison.

Silas and Megan's relationship threatens to split apart once she leaves for college (she, a very serious student, has gotten into Princeton, while mediocre student Silas is going to a local school). Silas attempts to get her pregnant to prevent this, but instead his success leads to an abortion and a violent confrontation with Megan's father, ending the relationship. Andy tries to develop a relationship with an attractive, sexually formidable administrator, Yael Hoffman, at his rabbinical school, but the relationship falls apart once he drops out due to an incident where a dog bites off two of his toes, which he thinks will invalidate him for military duty.

As the season progresses, Nancy's children become more aware of her illegal activities, though the two sons deal with the issue in quite different ways. Shane continues to have problems fitting in at school and his friends begin to ridicule him for his sexual inexperience (though being hypocritical.) To solve this problem, his uncle Andy takes him to a massage parlor to get a "happy ending" hand job. Gaining confidence, Shane joins the debate team in order to get closer to Gretchen, who later ends up becoming his girlfriend. But he later breaks up with her because of an obsession with Andy's crazy ex-girlfriend, Kat. Silas, on the other hand, takes out his frustrations by committing acts of vandalism, most notably stealing Celia's drug-free zone signs and cameras, which he sees as helping his mother. Meanwhile, Nancy has received threats from an Armenian group of dealers who have grow houses all around her's and see her as encroaching on their territory. Nancy tells Peter, and he has them all arrested.

Nancy and Conrad's drug business becomes a hit as Conrad's strain of plant (which Snoop Dogg dubs "MILFweed" during a chance meeting at a recording studio) pleases their customers; but their high profile causes trouble. Initially, Nancy's marriage to a DEA agent keeps her on top while her Armenian rivals were busted, but her marriage to Peter deteriorates as he pressures her to quit dealing. For Nancy, the final straw is when Peter comes over for dinner and manhandles Silas. Nancy calls Conrad and tells him that she doesn't love Peter but will string him along until the current harvest is done; Peter hears the conversation with wireless surveillance.

The season concludes with a complex series of betrayals, as Peter demands of Nancy and Conrad all of the cash from a quick sale of their crop. Secretly, Heylia hires Armenian mobsters to kill Peter as she believes Peter is planning to kill Conrad after the deal. Nancy's buyer, U-Turn (Page Kennedy), demands the entire crop of weed at gunpoint. Having just killed Peter, the Armenian mobsters arrive at the same time and expect the proceeds from the big sale to pay for their hit, but finding that U-Turn plans on stealing the weed and that there is no money, decide they will take the weed instead. Only then does Nancy discover that Silas has decided to force his way into the business through having stolen the entire batch of weed, and then demanded to be part of the business. Having just hidden the batch in his car trunk, he is approached by Celia and a police officer for the theft of the drug-free zone signs and surveillance cameras, as Celia has footage of Silas stealing the last camera. This leaves Nancy at the grow house, in a Mexican standoff with both the gangsters and the mobsters pointing guns at her in a season-ending cliffhanger.

Season 3

The third season of Weeds begins with several subplots involving the fallout from the botched drug deal of the Season 2 finale: Celia finds and destroys the entire harvest; U-Turn pays the mobsters to leave Nancy to him alone; Silas is arrested and sentenced to community service; Sanjay (Maulik Pancholy), realizes he is gay, but U-Turn forces him to have sex with a woman who becomes pregnant with his child.

During the first half of the season, Nancy works to pay off her debt to U-Turn based on Celia's destruction of an entire pot harvest and U-Turn saving her life. Nancy also gets a legitimate job working for Sullivan Groff (Matthew Modine), a crooked developer from the neighboring community of Majestic, and she soon becomes his lover. Celia, who has also been intimate with Groff, resents Nancy for this.

Silas begins selling pot for his mother using the alias Judah and meets Tara (Mary-Kate Olsen), an evangelical Christian who enjoys smoking pot and helps him sell it too. Shane and Isabelle become outcasts at the heavily-religious Majestic summer school and form a friendship. Shane is also having conversations with his dead father, who he insists is really there, as familial stress increases. Nancy gets called in by the DEA, and is terrified that she is being busted. But it turns out that they've found out about her marriage to Peter Scottson, and have a hefty life insurance policy to give her.

At U-Turn's behest, Conrad and Heylia start a grow business. U-Turn trains Nancy to become a drug runner, while simultaneously starting a war with rival Mexican dealers. When U-Turn has a heart attack, Marvin suffocates him to death and becomes the new boss of U-Turn's crew. Marvin botches an attempted truce with the Mexicans, allowing Nancy to clear all debts for her and Conrad and end the gang war.

Debt-free, but feeling lonely, Nancy attempts to befriend Peter's ex-wife, Valerie. The friendship turns sour when Valerie demands the money from Peter's life-insurance payout, which she feels she is earned by her years married to her and the child they have together. Nancy promises to give it to her, but has to first use most of it to replace the money Doug "borrowed" from the Agrestic treasury to help Nancy get back in business. Despite giving her several smaller payments, Valerie believes that Nancy will never give her her full due and that Peter had an off-the-books stash of cash of which Nancy knows the location, so she hires a private investigator to trail Nancy. The investigator finds out Nancy is a drug dealer and blackmails her for most of the remaining life-insurance money in exchange for not telling Valerie or the DEA. Nancy pays the money but ensures the investigator won't come after her again by blackmailing him for blackmailing her. Nancy confronts Valerie by telling her that she would have gotten the money despite Nancy having no obligation to give it to her, but that now, due to Valerie's investigator, Nancy no longer has any money to give Valerie.

Meanwhile, the nearby Christian community of Majestic has been attempting a hostile takeover of Agrestic, with Doug leading the charge due to the large amount of money it will bring in. But Groff's gift to Celia(a new house in Majestic) leads to jealousy, and Doug begins sabotaging the Majestic city infrastructure, although it is already too late, as Celia brings it to a public referendum. Meanwhile, Dean has a motorcycle accident, which forces Celia to take care of him against her will.

Heylia and Conrad are forced to move the grow operation and Nancy negotiates the use of Celia's off-the-books house in Majestic.

Andy has a brief excursion into the pornographic film industry, also at Celia's off-the-books house, and later befriends a group of bikers while trying to score with one of its female members; they want him to start selling their weed.

Nancy turns to Guillermo (leader of the Mexican dealers) to get protection when the bikers threaten her family after she refuses to sell their low-quality ditch weed. Guillermo decides to burn down the biker's cannabis field, causing a huge fire which spreads to the Agrestic area. At that time, thermal cameras spot the grow house and the DEA moves in. Nancy, meanwhile, takes advantage of the fire and pours gasoline throughout her house and lights it with a match, ensuring that she and her family will be leaving and moving on, and there will be no evidence of their drug activities.

Season 4

On November 5, 2007, Showtime ordered 13 new episodes for a fourth season of Weeds.^[5] The fourth season started on Monday, June 16, 2008 and concluded on Monday, September 15, 2008.^[6] The season opener "Mother Thinks the Birds are After Her"^[7] was the last episode with "Little Boxes" as the theme song. The opening credits of subsequent episodes, after a recap of previous episodes, begin with a video title card unique to each episode. For the second episode of the season, for example, a highway sign reads "Weeds", "Created By", and "Jenji Kohan"—the embedded text used for all title cards since the show's inception. Each title card also has a prop or part of the setting morph into a cannabis leaf. In the highway sign example, a downward arrow designating a lane becomes a slightly larger pot leaf.

Having lost both her Agrestic grow house and her residential house in fires, Nancy relocates her family to the fictional California town of Ren Mar immediately north of the San Diego/Tijuana border.^[8] They move in with Andy and Judah's father in Ren Mar. Guillermo has Nancy smuggle asthma inhalers over the border by car, but Nancy discovers that it was a dry run to test her abilities. Celia, in jail for being the official lessee of Nancy's burnt-down grow house, and implicated by all involved, bargains for her release in exchange for spying on Nancy. After Guillermo's men catch Celia spying, Nancy convinces them to spare Celia's life. Andy enters a coyote partnership with Doug, who has recently moved to Ren-Mar to evade questions about Agrestic's finances. Isabelle, unenthusiastic about moving with her father to Detroit, pesters her mother Celia until she agrees to let her live with her in Ren Mar. Silas sets up a grow room in the rear of a gourmet cheese shop owned by an attractive 30ish mother, who despite being aware that Silas is underage, consummates their business and sexual relationships. After revealing that her interest is purely financial and physical, a heartbroken Silas spurns her advances and ends their business relationship. At his new school, 13-year-old Shane attacks without provocation the most popular boy at school and acquires a fearsome reputation, attracting the admiring attention of Simone and Harmony, two of the more dangerous girls at school, with whom Shane loses his virginity in a threesome.

Guillermo's as-yet-unidentified boss sets up Nancy in a maternity store in a San Ysidro mall to launder money (she thinks). But in the back of the store Nancy finds a tunnel opening, and is told it is exclusively an endpoint for transporting cannabis from Tijuana. But Nancy later learns that it is used for smuggling other controlled substances as well as guns and apparently trafficking in women for what looks to be unwilling prostitution. A shocked Nancy informs DEA Captain Roy Till of the tunnel despite an ongoing sexual relationship with Guillermo's crime boss Esteban Reyes, who is also Mayor of Tijuana. The resulting DEA raid and shootout at the maternity shop ends with most of the Mexican drug runners arrested.

While working at Nancy's store, Celia's polysubstance abuse disorder is worsened by the easy availability of drugs from the back of the store. Isabelle and Dean stage an intervention leading Celia to embrace rehab and vowing to make amends to her family. Dean rejects her apology and insists that she apologizes directly to her oldest daughter Quinn, whom Celia sent during the show's first episode to Casa Reforma, a Mexican boarding school. Since graduation Quinn has been living with a Mexican revolutionary, Rudolfo. Celia agrees to travel south to make amends, but upon her arrival, an unforgiving and violent Quinn has her drugged and captured. Quinn plans to ransom her mother for $200,000, telling Rudolfo she would give none of the money to his "faggy revolution", but would instead move to Belize.

In the season finale, Esteban discovers that it was Nancy who had alerted the DEA to his smuggling tunnel, and he captures her—probably to be followed by killing her as a lesson to others. But he lets her live after she tells him that she is pregnant with his child, and that it's likely to be a boy (he has only daughters). At home, Shane steals Silas' weed and, with Simone and Harmony, begins selling it to classmates at school. Doug had fallen for an illegal alien he names "Mermex" as she unsuccessfully tried to enter the US by beach. After much searching, Doug locates her and uses his coyote enterprise to get her into California. Instead of gratefully rewarding Doug's efforts, Mermex is repelled by his unapologetic nature and his genital warts. She instead falls in love and sleeps with his Coyote partner Andy, who has become a folk hero known as "El Andy". Scorned and hurt, Doug turns Mermex in to immigration. Realizing that poverty denies those pursuing anything of any money, Doug writes his estranged wife, daring her to take him to court, in a pseudo-suicidal note, and then prepares to hang himself. Andy wonders if he is in love with Nancy and questions why he has stayed with the family for so long.

Season 5

The Season 5 debut attracted 1.2 million viewers, with a rerun on the same night adding another 500,000 viewers for a cumulative 1.7 million.

After Nancy informs Esteban that she is pregnant, she is allowed to live, but Esteban has bodyguards assigned to her and forces her to undergo an amniocentesis to be sure the baby is a boy and his. Anxious for her younger son's safety, Nancy sends Shane to her sister, Jill Price-Grey (Jennifer Jason Leigh), with Andy in Northern California. In the latter, Jill arrives back with Shane and Andy. Jill explains that Shane took pictures on his phone of Andy and her together having sex in bed. Meanwhile, Nancy's older son Silas draws up a new plan to start a legal medical marijuana business, which Nancy funds. The bodyguard mysteriously disappears and Nancy panics because he was probably murdered.

Quinn's attempt to extort money from Celia's family or friends fails, since none of them are willing to pay any ransom, and her later plan to kill Celia and sell her organs doesn't pan out due to her having had cancer. Quinn leaves Rudolfo. Celia tries to get Rudolfo to let her stay with him but he drugs her and puts her on a bus to Texas. With nowhere else to go, she ends up squatting in Nancy's garage, where she finds the body of the missing bodyguard. The new bodyguard catches DEA agent Captain Roy Till and Nancy calls Esteban, who has Till killed. Andy suggests that he and Nancy have an abortion and flee with $180,000 he found in Judah's old bank account, because she will never be free if she has a baby with a Mexican drug lord. Nancy instead leaves a note for Andy, saying she has moved in with Esteban.

Six months later, Esteban proposes to Nancy and she accepts, but a woman from Esteban's past, Pilar, surprises Esteban with a visit. After a heated discussion regarding Nancy's effect on his political ambitions, he tells Nancy that their engagement is off. Cesar, Esteban's chief aide, arranges a birthing room in the house, so there will be no record of the baby's birth. Escaping Esteban's house with Andy's aid, Nancy gets to her obstetrician, Dr. Audra Kitson (Alanis Morissette), who takes her to the hospital and delivers the baby. To protect his political career Esteban will not sign the birth certificate. Nancy moves back in with Andy as an increasingly distrustful and leery Andy agrees to sign the birth certificate, hoping she'll free herself from Esteban; he also gets Nancy to give the baby a Bris, a ritual of Andy's religion but not Nancy's nor Esteban's.

Esteban, in love with Nancy, wanting to see his son, and furious about the bris, comes to Nancy's door to ask her to marry him again. At the same time, an assassin trying to kill Nancy shoots Shane in the right shoulder. Nancy confronts Cesar, who admits that he was involved, and that Nancy was the intended target of the attempt ordered by Pilar. The hit wasn't completed because Cesar could not bring himself to do it. Nancy keeps the betrayal from Esteban in exchange for shooting Cesar in the arm, like Shane had been. Esteban finds himself replaced as a candidate for governor, but with Nancy's encouragement he runs as an independent.

Meanwhile, Shane is experiencing increasing problems. He witnesses violence at the hands of Esteban's bodyguard. He is more aware than Nancy of the violence inherent in his new step-father's character and business, and seems frighted that he could be killed at any time. He begins dealing drugs at school, and when a teacher steals a bunch of product, Shane reacts violently, even killing the teacher's pet bird with a gun. Silas refuses going to study at broad—expressing worry that Shane is going to "crack up". After Shane is unexpectedly shot in the arm, Shane eschews painkillers, saying he prefers the pain. Instead, he begins drinking a lot of alcohol, sneaking it from the refrigerator as desired.

Silas and Doug's shop is having problems, as Doug keeps eating their products, is stoned all the time, and does not keep up his work responsibilities. The policeman in their pay begins demanding more money or he will cause them troubles. But then, they are raided by a sting set up by Internal Affairs against the cop, and they lose all of their pot. They go to Dean to help them get it back. But meanwhile, Celia had been working in retail at the mall, gets a job as a cosmetics seller for a Mary Kay-like company. Unable to sell the products, Celia gets Dean to give the pot to her and starts making money selling it packaged with the cosmetics. Doug finds out that Celia stole their pot and he and Dean plot revenge. Meanwhile Andy begins a relationship with Audra; Silas moves in to Esteban's house, and Nancy and Esteban get married at home. Nancy visits Guillermo in prison to have him arrange the assassination of Pilar in exchange for Nancy getting Guillermo extradited to Mexico (where is is quickly freed. It turns out he is in Pilar's pay and tells her of Nancy's attempted hit.). Esteban becomes the front-runner for governor despite Pilar's rejection, but he is arrested in Mexico for suspicion of conspiracy, racketeering and tax evasion. Nancy and Cesar go to get Esteban from jail, but they learn Esteban has been released. Pilar had had him arrested and is blackmailing him into joining her ticket and becoming her puppet in exchange for being freed and her not using all the dirt she has on him for now. Pilar confronts Nancy and tells her she and Esteban must do everything Pilar dictates. Andy announces that he is going to propose to Audra, with his mother's ring, previously given to Nancy by her late husband Judah. Nancy is upset and initially refuses to give Andy the ring, but later relents.

Celia gathers Doug, Dean, Sanjay, Ignacio, and Isabelle, and teams them up to sell drugs, in a deliberate echo of season 1 when Nancy did the same. Andy proposes marriage to Audra, but flees when an armed stalker confronts them—Audra is being stalked by an anti-abortion protester. Pilar discreetly but forcibly escorts Nancy from a fund-raising party. As they walk by a pool Pilar reveals that she knows Nancy tried to put a hit on her. Pilar then suggests that the unfortunate deaths of Shane and Silas, appearing to be accidental, would generate a sympathy vote for Esteban. Without warning, Pilar is hit in the head by an unseen third party and ends up floating face down in the pool bleeding profusely from the head, apparently dead or dying. Shane appears next to Nancy, holding the croquet mallet he just used to kill Pilar.

The Weeds Season 5 finale on Monday, August 31, 2009, averaged 1.3 million viewers, up versus season 4's finale that averaged 1 million.^[9]

Season 6

The sixth season premiered on Monday August 16, 2010 at 10ET/PT on Showtime. In May 2010, Elizabeth Perkins (Celia Hodes) announced that she will be leaving the series.^[10][11] Linda Hamilton will be joining the cast as Linda; along with her partner Fiona, Linda will help Nancy in her business.^[12] It has been confirmed that Mark-Paul Gosselaar has been cast in one episode in the upcoming season. A teaser for the new season was released on June 3, 2010, depicting Nancy disposing of the croquet mallet and evading the police. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alanis Morissette will also be reprising their roles.^[13] Actor Richard Dreyfuss has signed on to appear in at least four episodes of the season.^[14] The season premiere was leaked on August 1, 2010.

On the run again, Nancy abruptly leaves—along with Shane, Silas, and the baby—bringing the croquet mallet with her, which she later disposes. In need of a larger car, the three stop off in Ren Mar to pick up Andy's minivan. Discovering Audra to be held at bay with a cross bow by an anti-abortionist, Nancy helps Andy subdue the attacker. Audra rejects Andy because he had fled and left her alone with the armed attacker, causing their relationship to end. Reluctantly, Andy flees with the family. Meanwhile, Cesar and his brother-in-law have discovered security footage of the murder, which Cesar orders destroyed. Esteban and the FBI begin a hunt for Nancy and the rest of the family as Nancy continues to ignore their persistent phone calls. Andy has new identities created for the family in order to become hidden—switching from the Botwins to the Newmans. Shane's alias is Shaun; Silas' is Mike; Nancy's is Nathalie; and Andy's is Randy. Nancy resides with her sons and brother-in-law in Seattle, Washington, while believing they can establish a real family with ordinary lives.

Cast and characters

The cast of Weeds during Season 2, Left to Right: Romany Malco, Tonye Patano, Mary-Louise Parker, Kevin Nealon, Elizabeth Perkins, and Justin Kirk. This image was also used for the Season 2 DVD box set.

Botwin family

Nancy Botwin

Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker)—adopting the clandestine alias Nathalie Newman in season six—was a loving, all-American PTA soccer mom until her husband Judah suddenly died. To maintain the suburban lifestyle to which she was accustomed, Nancy enters the dangerous world of marijuana dealing. At the start, her regular clients include her accountant, her lawyer, and fellow suburban friends, but as she expands and fights for survival, she is confronted with the violent realities of her business as she jockeys against competitors, gangs, drug lords, and blackmail.

Andy Botwin

Andrew "Andy" Botwin (Justin Kirk)—adopting the clandestine alias Randy Newman in season six—is Judah's brother, a fun-loving, irresponsible slacker. After Judah's death, Nancy reluctantly allows Andy to live at the house, and soon realizes his presence is needed for her business and as a father figure for the children. He is also an archetypal Shakespearian 'fool', behaving like a child but occasionally having moments of great insight. By the fifth season, Andy becomes more responsible in response to Nancy's absence as a mother to her children. He discovers that he is in love with Nancy, who does not reciprocate his feelings.

Silas Botwin

Silas Botwin (Hunter Parrish)—adopting the clandestine alias Mike T. Newman in season six—is Nancy's and Judah's first son, who was traumatized by Judah's death, and takes it out on his mother and younger brother. Silas is impetuous and impulsive, and has been sexually active since the beginning of the show. Although he operates as though he knows everything, he is extremely naïve. After encountering numerous challenges with girlfriends and the realities of the drug business, he decides that he wants in on the action. He pursues plant cultivation, and eventually goes into business with Doug, opening a medicinal marijuana dispensary.

Shane Botwin

Shane Botwin (Alexander Gould)—adopting the clandestine alias Shaun Newman in season six—is Nancy and Judah's second son, and was with Judah at the time of his death. Highly intelligent and poorly socialized, Shane's grief manifests itself in bizarre ways, such as talking to his father like an imaginary friend. Called "Strange Botwin" by his fellow students, he is viewed as a freak at school, and is the frequent target of bullies. At home, he is neglected by his family because of their drug businesses. He has a history of making terrorist videos and once shot a mountain lion.

Shane's behavior becomes more extreme upon moving to Ren Mar. He eventually turns to sex, drugs and alcohol. He also becomes increasingly violent and develops a disregard for rules, laws, and other social conventions. He later discovers that he developed a yeast infection from the two girls he lost his virginity to. Shane eventually finds himself redhanded at the scene of a murder to defend the family, and the transformation reflects Nancy's absence as a proper mother to her children. It may also reflect his grief for the loss of his father, perhaps accompanied by guilt because Shane was jogging with his father when he died, and the less than normal lifestyle he has found himself in.

Shane's favorite place is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he asks his mother to move the family there at least three times.

Judah Botwin

Judah Botwin (Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Guest S1)) is Nancy's first husband, father of Silas and Shane, and brother of Andy. Judah dies of a heart attack weeks before the pilot episode. Although only seen in flashbacks and home videos, his memory plays an important role in the series. Particularly, Shane, who witnessed Judah's death, talks of his father regularly. At the end of season three, Shane becomes convinced that he can communicate with his dead father.

Lenny Botwin

Lenny Botwin (Albert Brooks (Guest S4)) is the father of Judah and Andy who lives in Ren Mar. He provided long term care to his incapacitated mother (Bubby) until she asked to be killed. Lenny extorts Nancy for money when he discovers she is a weed dealer; however, he allows her use of his house. He is on bad terms with Andy, Nancy (his daughter-in-law), and rest of Nancy's crew except for Shane. He leaves to join the world poker tour mid-way through season four.

Stevie Ray Botwin

Stevie Ray Botwin (Guest S5&S6) is the third son to Nancy Botwin and first son to Esteban Reyes. He is only an infant, and therefore does not fully understand the events taking place around him. However, he lives with Nancy and will most likely be forced to live in Nancy's shadow like his older brothers, Shane and Silas.

Primary recurring characters

Doug Wilson

Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon (Regular S1-S5; Guest S6)) is Nancy's fun-loving friend and accountant, and is initially a consistent purchaser of her weed. When Doug is introduced to the series he is a city councilman for Agrestic, a position that he treats like a hobby. Through misfortune and carelessness, he loses the seat to Celia. When his many fraudulent accounting practices are finally made known, he feels forced to flee Agrestic/Magestic and follow Nancy to Ren Mar. It is implied that he has had his CPA license revoked. Doug has an unseen wife Dana whom he loves very much but who won't have sex with him. Doug also has a gay son Josh (Justin Chatwin) who appeared only in the pilot episode, though he is referenced in the fourth season. Doug eventually opens a medical marijuana dispensary with Silas, but his atrocious manners and abusive bargaining tactics frustrate Silas and threaten their partnership.

Celia Hodes

Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins (Regular S1-5)) is Nancy's neighbor in the first three seasons. She is a manic, image-obsessed, and manipulative person, who has a love-hate relationship with Nancy. She always hated her husband, Dean, whom she divorces in later seasons. She also hates her two daughters almost as much as they hate her, although the younger one, Isabel, does get affectionate with her at times. She also undertakes disloyal, subversive actions against others, ostensibly to teach them lessons.

Conrad Shepard

Conrad Shepard (Romany Malco (Regular S1-3)) is Nancy's initial supplier, under supervision of his aunt. Nancy met him years earlier through Andy. Although Conrad is very knowledgeable about the intricacies of cannabis cultivation, his aunt never allowed him to grow plants, insisting that they keep their business small. Despite this, he had worked on developing his own signature genetic blend. He becomes Nancy's business associate using this strain, and it is revealed that he has apparently held very strong feelings for Nancy for a long time.

Heylia James

Heylia James (Tonye Patano (Regular S1-3)) is Conrad's aunt and supplier for Nancy. When Conrad goes against Heylia's instructions and continues to see Nancy, and with Nancy's DEA "husband" constricting her business, she forms a grudge against her. Heylia and Nancy eventually become reluctant partners. At the end of season three, she decides to give up growing pot to open a "compassionate care" dispensary. She is not seen again after Nancy flees Agrestic.

Vaneeta

Vaneeta (Indigo (Regular S1-3)) is a daughter and employee of Heylia James. She gives birth to Heylia’s grandchild in season one and alerts Heylia to a drop-off in their business during season two. She also helps with the operation of Heylia's growhouse in season three.

Isabelle Hodes

Isabelle Hodes (Allie Grant (Guest S1-2, Regular S3-5)) is Celia's younger daughter, who frustrates her mother with her proclaimed lesbianism and unwillingness to lose weight. She becomes close friends with Shane Botwin, who bond over their abnormal mothers. Isabelle resents her mother, but seems to enjoy her father's company. She is openly a lesbian and a model for Huskaroo's clothes for overweight children.

Dean Hodes

Dean Hodes (Andy Milder (Guest S1-2 and 4-5, Regular S3)) is Isabelle and Quinn's father and Celia's husband, as well as Nancy's lawyer and Doug's poker buddy. Dean loves Isabelle, but has a constantly antagonistic relationship with Celia, which eventually leads to a divorce. Dean had a friendship with Doug until Doug slept with Celia. Dean recently performed a legal service for Silas and Doug, but not before slamming Doug's penis in a desk drawer.

Lupita

Lupita (Renée Victor (Regular S1-2, Guest S3-6) served as the Botwins' housekeeper in their days at Agrestic. Eventually though, she discovers that Nancy is a pot dealer and uses this information as blackmail against Nancy so she doesn't have to work as much. She shrugs off her duties afterward but is eventually fired when Nancy experiences money troubles because of U-Turn. Lupita later resurfaces when Nancy gives birth to Steven, and Lupita is hired as his official baby care-taker. She observes that Nancy has a tendency to flee and is always ready to leave on five-minutes notice when working for Nancy.

Peter Scottson

Peter Scottson (Martin Donovan (Guest S1, Regular S2)) is Nancy's second husband. Although they took to each other immediately, Nancy has many problems committing to their relationship. Most importantly, Scottson's employment as a DEA agent adds makes it difficult for Nancy to trust him. Scottson tries to win her trust via crooked dealing including an off-the-radar marriage and selectively busting rival pot growers.

Captain Roy Till

Captain Roy Till (Jack Stehlin (Guest S2-3 Regular S4-5)) leads a local DEA field office. He is the boss of Agent Scottson, Agent "Fundus", and others. Till investigates into Scottson's disappearance and eventually finds Nancy's growhouse at the end of the third season. He begins to suspect Nancy of drug trafficking and recruits Celia as a spy. His partner and lover, Agent Schlatter (Andrew Rothenberg), was mutilated and murdered by Esteban's Tres Seis cartel, after which Till seeks personal revenge. This continues into the fifth season, when Till trails a pregnant Nancy back to her home in Ren Mar. Nancy catches him and, to ensure the safety of her unborn child, hands him over to Esteban. He is then killed by Esteban's men.

Sullivan Groff

Sullivan Groff (Matthew Modine Regular S3, Guest S4) is a real estate developer who has established multiple Christian-themed planned communities anchored with a megachurch. In season three, he bribes the Agrestic city-council to install a sewer-line to facilitate the growth of nearby Majestic, CA. Unfortunately, he makes an enemy of Doug Wilson when the latter discovers that Celia got a more valuable bribe than him. This sparks war between the two men that leads to Majestic taking over Agrestic. Groff has affairs with both Nancy and Celia, is a pot user, and revels his distaste for the religious nature of the communities he develops. He leaves Majestic to establish another community when an arson-induced wildfire burns through Majestic.

Guillermo García Gómez

Guillermo (Guillermo Díaz (Regular S4, Guest S3&S5)) is introduced to Nancy while he is running Esteban's operations in Los Angeles. At the end of season three, Nancy purchases protection against a rival pot distributor from Guillermo. This results in a wildfire that destroys Majestic. He then offers Nancy a job trafficking drugs into San Diego. Guillermo is arrested during the raid of Esteban's tunnel under the USA/Mexico boarder. Nancy arranges his escape as part of a plot to kill Pilar. Guillermo is of Puerto Rican descent; Capt. Till notes that is unusual given his standing in Esteban's organization.

Esteban Reyes

Esteban Reyes (Demián Bichir (Regular S4-5, Guest S6)) is the fictional Mayor of Tijuana in Baja California (Mexico) and the leader of a major organized crime cartel. He is Nancy's third husband and the father of her third child, Stevie-Ray Botwin.

Cesar

Cesar (Enrique Castillo (Regular S4-6)) is Esteban's lieutenant within the crime cartel. Although very loyal to Esteban, it is revealed that he has alternative loyalties as well. As a part of Esteban's operation, he runs an auto repair shop that specializes in the repair of broken tail lights.

Other recurring cast

Episodes

As of September 2009, 63 original episodes of Weeds have been produced and broadcast. The first season began August 8, 2005 and consisted of 10 episodes. The second season premiered on August 14, 2006, airing 12 episodes. The third season debuted on August 13, 2007, airing 15 episodes. The fourth season began June 16, 2008, and the fifth season on June 8, 2009, both with a total of 13 episodes. The sixth season, with 13 more episodes, is slated to air in August 2010. Creator Jenji Kohan has written 15 of the episodes, including each season's premiere and finale.

Some of the show's episodes encountered leaks. It had appeared on the Internet prior to their showing. Creator Jenji Kohan has stated that she does not mind episodes being distributed on the internet in this way, saying, "Revenue aside, I don't expect to get rich on Weeds. I'm excited it's out there. Showtime is great, but it does have a limited audience."^[15]

In 2006, before Season 2 started airing on Showtime, the first few episodes were leaked online.^[16] Before the third season began the first two episodes appeared online on July 22, 2007 (nearly a month before the August 13 premiere date). The third episode appeared online on July 24, with the fourth appearing just three days later. The fourth episode was, however, an incomplete version—among other things, some dubbed lines were not complete (notably part of a voice mail message by U-Turn is spoken by a distinctly different actor), and a card simply reading "End Credits" was inserted instead of the actual credits. On August 1, 2010, the first episodes of season 6 leaked online. Due to the high quality of the leaked episodes, downloaders of the torrents speculated that they were leaked intentionally to garner interest in the show and to create internet buzz.^[16] Episode leaks of other Showtime programs such as Californication and Dexter were seen as giving weight to this theory.^[16]

Media

Opening music

"Little Boxes" is the opening song for the first three seasons of the show; the version recorded by Malvina Reynolds is used during the first season. In seasons 2 and 3, the song is performed by various artists. In season 4, the Malvina Reynolds version opens the first episode. Thereafter, the original titles and music are replaced by a short clip, different for each episode, which bears relevance to the plot or some scene later in the episode.

Soundtracks

The music supervisors for the show include Gary Calamar (along with music coordinator Alyson Vidoli) (27 episodes), Amine Ramer (4 episodes), and Bruce Gilbert (3 episodes). The original score is provided by composers, Brandon Jay and Gwendolyn Sanford.

DVD and Blu-ray releases

The Region 1 Season One DVD is only available in 4:3 pan and scan format. The Region 2 and 4 releases are all in anamorphic widescreen. Season One was released on Blu-ray on May 29, 2007, and Season Two was released on July 24, 2007. Both seasons include all episodes in 1080p widescreen with Dolby Digital EX sound and either DTS-HD (Season One) or LPCM (Season Two), as well as extras exclusive to the Blu-ray release. Season Three was released on Blu-ray on June 3, 2008. Seasons One to Three on Blu-ray are multi-region discs, but Season Four has been region-locked to region A only. This is due to a lack of broad international pick-up by non-US broadcasters at the time of release, meaning Showtime does not wish to prejudice any future transmission rights negotiations by having the season available to own before it could be broadcast in the countries concerned.

In late 2009, Weeds Season Four and Season Five have been aired in at least one region B country, namely The Netherlands.^[21] Subsequently, a region 2 DVD of Season 4 has indeed been released.^[22][23] However, the region 2 DVD release was not accompanied by a region B Blu-ray. Showtime have not commented on whether they ever anticipate releasing a region B Blu-ray version, whether or not any further non-US transmission rights are agreed. The same region locking has been applied to Blu-ray Season Five.^[24]

An extra feature on the Season Two DVD was rejected by the British Board of Film Classification since it was regarded as "likely [...] to promote and encourage the use of illegal drugs".^[25][26]

Books

On August 7, 2007, Simon Spotlight, a division of Simon and Schuster, published In the Weeds: The Official Guide to the Showtime Series by Kera Bolonik, which features interviews with the show's creator, its writers and crew, and the entire cast. It also features detailed character and plot descriptions, recipes, and lots of trivia and behind-the-scenes information.^[27]

Reception

In its first year, Weeds was the highest rated series for Showtime. Its fourth-season premiere attracted 1.3 million viewers to Showtime, the channel's highest-ever viewership; the season as a whole averaged 962,000 viewers. Season 5 premiered to 1.2 million viewers, with a rerun on the same night adding another 500,000 viewers for a cumulative 1.7 million. The final episode of the show's fifth season aired on August 31, 2009 and attracted 1.3 million viewers.^[9]

Slate magazine named the character of Nancy Botwin as one of the best on television and one of the reasons they were looking forward to the return of the show in fall 2007.^[28] Time magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 Returning Series of 2007, ranking it at #9.^[29] The New York Times opined the show is "transforming for Showtime."^[30] Metacritic scored season two, four and five a score of 78, 67 and 73 respectively.

Awards and nominations

Won

Nominated

Golden Globe Awards

Best TV Series-Comedy (2006, 2007, 2009)

Best Performance by a TV Supporting Actress Elizabeth Perkins (2006, 2007)

Best Performance by a TV Actress in a Musical or Comedy Mary-Louise Parker (2005, 2007, 2008)

Best Performance by a TV Supporting Actor Justin Kirk (2007)

Screen Actors Guild

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Mary-Louise Parker (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)

Ensemble In A Comedy Series (2007, 2009)

Satellite Awards

Outstanding Actress in a Series-Comedy Elizabeth Perkins (2005)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-series, or TV Movie Elizabeth Perkins(2006)

Best Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical Mary-Louise Parker (2006, 2008)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or TV Movie Justin Kirk (2007)

Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical (2007, 2008)

Emmy Awards

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Elizabeth Perkins (2006, 2007, 2009)

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series Craig Zisk, for the episode Good Shit Lollipop (2006)

Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series (2006, 2007)

Outstanding Main Title Design (2006)

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, for the episode Good Shit Lollipop (2006)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Mary-Louise Parker (2007, 2008, 2009)

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, for the episode Mrs. Botwin's Neighborhood (2007)

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, for the episode Crush Girl Love Panic (2007)

Outstanding Comedy Series (2009)

International distribution

•  Canada — Showcase
•  Austria — ORF1
•  Germany — ZDFneo
•  Serbia — TV Avala
•  New Zealand — Prime
• — HBO
•  Slovenia — RTV Slovenia 1
•  Israel — yes Stars Drama
•  Poland — HBO Comedy
•  Portugal — RTP2
•  France — Canal+
•  Netherlands — Comedy Central
•  Bulgaria — BTV Comedy
•  Australia — GO!
•  Spain — Cuatro and Canal +
•  Brazil — GNT
•  Czech Republic — HBO
•  Croatia — Croatian Radiotelevision
•  Belgium — RTBF and Prime
•  Montenegro - Atlas
•  Trinidad and Tobago — Showtime
•  Norway - Showtime
•  United Kingdom - Sky One

References

External links

• Official websites:
  • Official website on Showtime
  • Official website on Showcase
• Weeds at the Internet Movie Database
• Weeds at TV.com