Weeds (season 4)

Weeds (season 4)

DVD cover
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 13
Release
Original network Showtime
Original release June 16 (2008-06-16) – September 15, 2008 (2008-09-15)
Season chronology

On November 5, 2007, Showtime ordered 13 new episodes for a fourth season of Weeds.[1] It started on Monday, June 16, 2008 and concluded on Monday, September 15, 2008.[2]

The season opener "Mother Thinks the Birds are After Her"[3] was the last episode with "Little Boxes" as the theme song until Season Eight. 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 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 that refers to a plot element in the episode. Some part of the title card morphs into a marijuana leaf. In the highway sign example, a downward arrow designating a lane becomes a slightly larger pot leaf.

Silas and Shane are aged 17 and 13 respectively. However, Silas turns 18 at the end of the season.

Plot

Having lost both her Agrestic grow house and her residence in fires, Nancy relocates her family to the fictional California town of Ren Mar, near the Tijuana-San Diego border.[4] They move in with Andy and Judah's father in Ren Mar. Guillermo hires Nancy to bring illegal drugs from Mexico. She finds out after delivery that her smuggling abilities were being tested- she was transporting legal asthma inhalers. Celia is in jail due to being the official lessee of Nancy's grow house. She bargains to spy on Nancy for the DEA in exchange for her release. Guillermo's men catch Celia spying but Nancy convinces them to spare Celia's life by claiming she was her partner. Andy enters a coyote partnership with Doug, who has recently moved to Ren Mar to evade questions about Agrestic's finances. Isabelle is unenthusiastic about moving from Ren Mar to her father in Detroit and pesters her mother Celia until she lets her daughter stay with her. Silas sets up a grow room in the rear of a gourmet cheese shop owned by a neighbor (Julie Bowen), an attractive woman in her thirties. Despite knowing that Silas is under 18, she becomes intimate with him. She reveals to Silas that her interests in him are just financial and physical, causing a heartbroken Silas to spurn her advances and to end their business relationship. Meanwhile, Shane attacks the most popular boy at school without provocation, in order to acquire a fearsome reputation. He also attracts the admiring attention of Simone and Harmony, with whom he loses his virginity in a threesome.

Guillermo's boss, whose identity is unknown to Nancy, has her open a maternity store. She believes it is solely for money laundering until she finds an underground tunnel entrance in the back room. She is told it is for transporting marijuana from Tijuana. Nancy later learns that the tunnel helps transport other controlled substances, as well as guns and women. Shocked, Nancy informs DEA Captain Roy Till, even though she has begun a sexual relationship with Guillermo's crime boss, revealed as Esteban Reyes (Demián Bichir), Mayor of Tijuana. The resulting DEA raid and shootout ends with most of the Mexican drug runners arrested.

While working at Nancy's store, Celia begins abusing the readily-available drugs. Isabelle and Dean stage an intervention, which spurs Celia to enter rehab and make amends to her family. Dean rejects her attempts, insisting that Celia instead locate and make amends with their oldest daughter, Quinn, who departed during the show's inaugural episode for a Mexican boarding school named Casa Reforma. Newly graduated, Quinn and her boyfriend, a self-styled Mexican revolutionary, drug Celia and hold her hostage in order to extract a $200,000 ransom.

Esteban captures and intends to have Nancy killed after discovering she had alerted the DEA to his tunnel. After Nancy discloses that she is carrying his child, possibly a boy (he has only daughters), he spares her. At home, Shane steals Silas' weed, and Simone and Harmony help him to sell it at school. Doug falls for an undocumented woman he names "Mermex" after witnessing her unsuccessful attempt to enter the United States via the ocean. After much searching, Doug locates Mermex and uses his coyote enterprise to get her into California. Though he expects her to be grateful, Mermex is instead repelled by Doug's unapologetic nature and genital warts. She has fallen in love (and slept with) Andy, now a folk hero known as "El Andy." Scorned, Doug turns Mermex in to immigration. Realizing that poverty effectively prevents him from having to pay any judgments, Doug writes to his estranged wife, daring her to take him to court. In a scene paying homage to The Shawshank Redemption, he then appears to prepare to hang himself, but actually masturbates using auto-erotic asphyxiation. Andy wonders if he is in love with Nancy and questions why he has stayed with the family for so long.

Cast

Main cast

Departures

Romany Malco, Tonye Patano, and Indigo do not return, with their characters' whereabouts unknown after the fire in Majestic. In Season 7 Tonye Patano returns as Heylia James for a 4 episode arc.

Recurring cast

Episodes

No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byTheme song
performer(s)		Original air dateU.S. viewers
(millions)
381"Mother Thinks the Birds Are After Her"Craig ZiskJenji KohanVideo of Majestic burningJune 16, 2008 (2008-06-16)1.35[5]
After Nancy burns down their house, the Botwins move south to Ren Mar, a fictional beachfront town within San Diego. After meeting Rad, they break into Lenny Botwin's house and find his mother Bubbie hooked up to a ventilator. Lenny arrives and starts criticizing Andy and Nancy. When Nancy tells Lenny about the Majestic fire, he begrudgingly agrees to allow them to stay at his house. Nancy and Guillermo take a trip to the USA/Mexico border fence. Throughout the episode, Nancy smells of gasoline (after burning down the Agrestic house), and birds keep attacking her. Back in the LA area, Capt. Till interviews Celia regarding the grow house. When Dean, Doug, and Sanjay are interviewed, they claim Celia was in charge of the drug operation in order to protect Nancy. Till places Celia under arrest and throws her into jail. Dean has largely recovered from the motorcycle accident. Opening song sung by Malvina Reynolds.
392"Lady's a Charm"Craig ZiskVictoria MorrowMexican border checkpointJune 23, 2008 (2008-06-23)1.10[5]
Nancy turns her attention back to business. Guillermo breaks the taillight on Nancy's car and sends her to Mexico to have it repaired at Cesar's garage. He also orders her to buy inhalers from a pharmacy in Tijuana. Excited to go on her first international drug trafficking run, Nancy leaves her passport in Ren Mar. The US border patrol inspects Nancy's car and confiscates the inhalers, but they don't find any other drugs. Indeed, Nancy had just completed a dry run; Cesar didn't put drugs in the car. However, Guillermo did record Nancy's trip. Silas grows his strain of MILF weed in Andy's van. Shane tends to Bubbie. After Andy and Lenny fight over a gambling incident from years ago, Bubbie regains consciousness and asks Lenny to kill her. In LA, Celia deals with being in prison until Till sees a picture of Guillermo and Nancy standing together at the border.
403"The Whole Blah Damn Thing"David SteinbergRon FitzgeraldMedical monitorJune 30, 2008 (2008-06-30)0.86[5]
Guillermo and Nancy review the film from her trip to Mexico. After giving her some pointers, he sends her back to Mexico on a real drug run which is successful. Captain Till releases Celia so that she can gather information on Guillermo. Celia discovers Nancy moved to Ren Mar and starts her surveillance. After officials from Majestic confront Doug over his embezzlement from Agrestic's treasury, he flees to Ren Mar as well. The Botwin men discuss the wisdom of euthanizing Bubbie. Eventually, Lenny agrees to have Nancy kill Bubbie.
414"The Three Coolers"Paris BarclayRoberto BenabibShiva candleJuly 7, 2008 (2008-07-07)1.06[5]
The Botwins sit shiva for Bubbie. Doug arrives to Lenny's displeasure. Lenny tries to sell his house. However, after the housing market crash, the house will not fetch the price that Lenny wants. While searching the house, he discovers drug money that Nancy has hidden around the house. Lenny reads Shane's obvious tell and discovers that Nancy deals marijuana. He allows Nancy to rent the house for an exorbitant rent. He then leaves to play poker professionally. Doug contemplates his fall from his privileged lifestyle. Andy and Nancy leave for the desert to receive a drug delivery. When the Mexican border patrol arrives, they make out to create a cover story. However, the patrol turns out to be working for Tres Seis and makes the drug delivery. Nancy has to leave Andy in the desert. When she doesn't return promptly, he walks off with a group of undocumented immigrants. Celia, who proves to be a poor informant, is captured by Guillermo.
425"No Man is Pudding"Craig ZiskRolin JonesPudding containersJuly 14, 2008 (2008-07-14)1.00[5]
Nancy, pretending to use Celia as a partner, convinces Guillermo to spare Celia's life. He makes Nancy the manager of a California maternity store along the US/Mexico border. After Lenny leaves, Silas moves his plants into the house; however, he and Shane disturb a bee colony in the process. Andy liberates himself and a group of immigrants by shooting their coyote. Over dinner, Nancy acknowledges Andy's contribution to the Botwin family, recognizes that Silas is a pot grower, and apologies to Shane for ignoring him. She allows Celia to stay at the Ren Mar house and hires Celia for a minimum-wage job at the maternity store. Nancy gives Doug an eviction notice. Nancy uses her knowledge of Peter Scottson to convince Till to release Celia from his service. While closing the store one night, Nancy discovers a hole in the floor of the store's backroom. Leaving Nancy in the store, the camera moves through an underground tunnel, under the Mexican border, and into the Tijuana garage. It focuses on a handsome man in a business suit just before the credits roll.
436"Excellent Treasures"Julie Anne RobinsonJenji KohanFlip-flop impression on the sandJuly 21, 2008 (2008-07-21)1.03[5]
Nancy walks through the tunnel but is dragged back to the US after Cesar discovers her. The next day, she and Celia discover Ignacio, a Mexican drug-syndicate goon, guarding the tunnel. Later, while Shane sells Bubbie's possessions, Nancy is kidnapped and meets Esteban, the big boss. He gives her a lecture and then flirts with her. Lisa Ferris (Rad's mom) meets Silas and takes a liking to him. While at Imperial Beach, Doug meets and takes a liking to Maria, an undocumented immigrant who was trying to sneak in across the ocean border and was quickly captured by the border patrol. Andy and Doug resolve to become "the JetBlue of coyotes. Competitive pricing without the rape trees and extortion." Isabelle moves to Ren Mar.
447"Yes I Can"Scott EllisMatthew SalsbergPackage of prescription pillsJuly 28, 2008 (2008-07-28)0.77[5]
Nancy resolves to add a bathroom to Lenny's house and hires Shane as the contractor. She visits Sanjay, Clinique, and their son to see how much of the valley they can cover with their sales."You left a vacuum Nancy. People are sad, things are burned they need their weed." Lupita agrees to sell to her clients. Marvin decides to help as well."New town, new pussy." "New Customer Base." "My cousin Vernon, he take care of that. All he needs is the product. After renewing the contacts in her sales network, she asks Guillermo for a portion of his regular weed shipment. He rebuffs her. Nancy then travels to Cesar's garage to obtain an audience with Esteban. While talking in Esteban's limousine, Nancy directly asks him for a piece of the weed shipment. He lectures her on Tres Seis's chain of command and then punishes her with a spanking. To Guillermo's great displeasure, Esteban gives the order to allow Nancy to sell a portion of one weed shipment. Celia and Isabelle visit Mexico to buy prescription Restylane. They spar. Isabelle has deduced that the maternity store is a drug front. Andy and Doug research the coyote business; Doug signs on with the border patrol militia as a cover. After telling her that he is underage, Silas starts an affair with Lisa. Shane discovers salacious pictures of a younger Nancy in silver sequin bowler hat and starts masturbating while viewing them. Capt Till and Agent Schlatter are revealed to be lovers.
458"I Am the Table"Adam BernsteinDavid Holstein & Brendan KellyImmigration signAugust 4, 2008 (2008-08-04)0.94[5]
The house renovation begins. Isabelle and Shane start at a new school. To ward off bullies, Shane makes a pre-emptive strike against a popular boy. Doug keeps the border militia at bay while Andy smuggles his first troop of undocumented immigrants into the country. Unfortunately, Andy forgets to demand payment. After catching Celia sleeping on the job, Ignacio gives her a hit of cocaine to keep her awake. She becomes addicted. Esteban calls Guillermo and Nancy to his office for a meeting after Guillermo issues a death threat against Nancy. After Esteban squashes the order, he takes Nancy out to lunch at a Mexican café. While Nancy is in the restroom, a rival drug cartel fires weapons into the café causing damage. They discuss the moral ambiguity of Esteban's charitable work in light of his leading a drug cartel. After visiting Esteban's lion, they have blood-drawing sex.
469"Little Boats"Craig ZiskRon FitzgeraldMexican hero portraitsAugust 11, 2008 (2008-08-11)0.85[5]
Esteban and Nancy have trouble finding time to date. Silas moves his pot plants into the backroom of the cheese shop. Silas hopes the smell of the cheese will overpower the smell of growing marijuana. Nancy discovers that Silas is having sex underage with Lisa. Nancy fears that Silas is not experienced enough to grow pot even if the grow house is in the cheese store. She confronts Lisa Ferris over Lisa committing statutory rape with Silas. When Silas suggests moving in with Lisa, she sends him away to slow things down. Andy discovers Shane is masturbating to pictures of Nancy half-naked. Nancy talks to her children about these developments. Celia's chemical dependency becomes much worse. Nancy fires her for entering the tunnel to find more cocaine. Esteban and Cesar discuss the problems Nancy causes with her troublemaking. Andy and Doug are set up for El Coyote to kill them, but customers at the bar intervene to save them. Andy is honored at a Tijuana bar with a hero portrait. His assault on another student makes Shane the most feared student in school. He meets Harmony and Simone. Esteban unexpectedly arrives at Nancy's house to spend the night.
4710"The Love Circle Overlap"Julie Anne RobinsonVictoria MorrowCondom in wrapperAugust 18, 2008 (2008-08-18)0.88[5]
Dean, Isabelle, and Pam host an intervention for Celia. Celia resists them until Isabelle threatens to contact Celia's mother, Grand Pat. Silas serves as babysitter for Rad while Lisa and her ex-husband Henry have a custody hearing. Silas accepts that they will never have a serious relationship. Shane loses his virginity by having a threesome with Harmony and Simone, two gothic girls from his school. Andy finds Maria in Mexico. When Andy brings her across the border, the militia leader finds them and expels Doug from the ranks. Nancy hires Clinique and Sanjay to replace Celia in the maternity store. Nancy discovers that Guillermo is trafficking women through the tunnel. She then starts having a series of migraine headaches. Esteban and Nancy take ayahuasca, a brew which has powerful psychedelic effects to help Nancy "to unwind the knot in her soul." During her high, she hears the medicine man say, "You know. No more hiding. It's out." Later, Nancy complains that, "I make compromises with myself on things that shouldn't up for debate. I say that I'm not doing harm, but I am." Finally, she imagines one of the women she saw being smuggled standing in the Pacific Ocean.
4811"Head Cheese"Craig ZiskRoberto Benabib & Rolin Jones & Matthew SalsbergNeck and chest tattoosAugust 25, 2008 (2008-08-25)0.82[5]
Celia goes to suburban therapy clinic. Celia helps an airline pilot admit his cocaine abuse problem. Just as she is about to open up emotionally, she is sent to a less exclusive program because she doesn't have health insurance. Doug tries to have sex with Maria quickly, but she insists that he must win her affection. Andy gives him courtship advice; however, Maria is turned off by Doug's boorish personality, hatred for his ex-wife, and admission that he embezzled money. Silas and Lisa start selling pot disguised inside sandwiches. As the business grows, Silas asks Nancy for money to start a grow house. Nancy discovers that Shane had sex with Simone and Harmony. She admonishes him for having sex at age 13. When he says, "Stop pretending to be a mom," she spanks him. Later, she discovers that the tunnel is being used to smuggle heroin into the US and guns into Mexico. Nancy expresses her reservations about working the tunnel to Esteban. He tries to reassure Nancy that the drug trade is "how I build schools and hospitals." Nancy replies: "It's not enough." After Esteban denies children are moving through the tunnel, Nancy calls Capt. Till in order to become an informant for the DEA.
4912"Till We Meet Again"Michael TrimRoberto Benabib & Rolin Jones & Matthew SalsbergElectric power-sanderSeptember 8, 2008 (2008-09-08)0.93[5]
Unable to accept the human trafficking operation the tunnel is being used for, Nancy fills in Agent Till on Esteban's operation. During rehab in her new facility, Celia realizes that her problems are nothing compared to the other members and decides to fix her issues. Maria, fed up with Doug and in love with Andy, seduces Andy into having sex with her. As revenge for her actions, Doug calls immigration and gets Maria deported. Agent Schlatter comes to the store with a woman posing as an expecting dad, Sanjay correctly guesses he is gay and a cop. Nancy tries to ease his fears and then secretly lets Schlatter know what room the tunnel is in. Shane steals some of Silas' weed and starts selling it. The DEA raids the store and arrests several of Guillermo's men while Nancy and Esteban are together in another area. Celia asks Isabelle for forgiveness for being a bad mother. She then gives an insulting "apology" to Dean before he stops her and tells her she should find Quinn (sent to a Mexican boarding school in Season One) and apologize to her instead. Till tells Nancy she will be "arrested" and then let go due to a lack of evidence. She maintains that she doesn't know who Guillermo's boss is. Cesar states he obtained a report about the raid from a mole in the DEA. With Esteban's blessing, he uses the report to capture Schlatter and tortures him until he gives up Nancy's name before killing him.
5013"If You Work for a Living, Then Why Do You Kill Yourself Working?"Craig ZiskJenji KohanGift basketSeptember 15, 2008 (2008-09-15)1.01[5]
It is Silas' eighteenth birthday and Nancy is struggling to keep her involvement in the bust a secret from Esteban. Meanwhile, Andy evaluates his relationship with Nancy and Shane starts dealing weed at his school. Celia, inspired by rehab, is trying to make amends with Quinn in Mexico, but is sedated and kidnapped by her in order to extort a $200,000 ransom from Dean. With Dean acting as Nancy's attorney, her "interrogation" is going according to plan until Till is called out of his office and receives news that Agent Schlatter was found dead hanging on a border fence. An enraged Till kicks Dean out of his office and demands Nancy gives him information on Schlatter's killers so he can get revenge. While driving to Mexico to meet Esteban, Nancy orders a last-minute birthday present for Silas and has an emotional message for him. While in Esteban's office, he receives confirmation of Nancy's involvement in the raid. In order to prevent Esteban from killing her, Nancy hands him an ultrasound and reveals that she is pregnant with his child, who she believes is a boy.

References

  1. ↑ Kimberly, Nordyke (November 24, 2007). "Showtime Deals 'Weeds' a Fourth Green Light". Archived from the original on July 6, 2008. Retrieved February 26, 2008.
  2. ↑ "Showtime Cultivates 'Weeds' in June – Fourth season paired with 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl'". Zap2it.com. February 13, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Showtime – Weeds Episodes". Retrieved September 20, 2008.
  4. ↑ "Ausiello Scoop: Albert Brooks Joins Weeds - Ausiello Report | TVGuide.com". Community.tvguide.com. April 14, 2008. Archived from the original on June 11, 2009. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Berman, Marc (March 2, 2010). "Weeds Ratings". Mediaweek. Archived from the original on April 18, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
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