Some television shows are created to last ages - see South Park - while some are meant to last only a few seasons - see The Wire. When the latter attempts to become the former, there is typically a drastic decrease in show quality. Showtime's Weeds - which ended its seventh season last Monday - is on the brink of such a demise.
Weeds depicts the tale of Nancy Botwin and her family. Nancy (Mary Louise Parker) is a widowed mother who begins selling weed to make ends meet. She drags her two children and brother-in-law through non-stop perilous adventures. Her family continues to brave hardships and survive in hostile environments. When the show debuted in 2005, it served as social commentary for the surreal suburban environment where everyone looks the same on the outside. Behind closed doors, however, lies a whole other world filled with unhappy marriages, pot, gangsters and more. This premise for the show was enticing, but by season three, our main characters move away from the fictional suburb of Agrestic. Since then, the Botwin family has never truly stopped running away. The family's "home" is perpetually changing as they always sneak away from the hands of villains.
Although the finale had its fair share of exciting drama and comedy, it was not up to par with past season finales. Jenji Kohan, head writer and creator of the show, had her contract expire at the end of this season. Thus, questions about the end of the show have been centered around the season seven finale. For an episode that was supposed to provide the dual possibility of either ending the show or leading into another season, I was disappointed.
While fans still enjoy the show, the originality that used to set it apart from the rest has disappeared. The show has been following the same repetitive cycle: get involved in illegal activities, screw up, get caught, escape the environment and move on. The show's protagonist, Nancy Botwin, has learned nothing. She keeps going back to dealing weed despite her numerous slip-ups. She gets married to man after man and compulsively controls her children. Of course, if Nancy learned to stop her illegal activities and manipulation, the show would have a hard time continuing.
Sure, there are a few strong plot developments which keep the show from getting too repetitive. For example, the maturation of Nancy's sons, Shane and Silas, is both intriguing and entertaining. Still, the cyclical general plotline ends up overpowering any smaller developments. For the sake of art, this show needs to end soon - not now, and not in two seasons. Give Kohan one more season to end her show in style and with certainty.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
