Weeds Season Eight

For those remaining viewers who can't help but rubberneck over the train wreck that Weeds has been for more than half of its run now, the eighth and final season will only provide further aggravation. The guilty pleasures that kept the pro-pot show afloat — gratuitous nudity and crude shock value — have worn thinner than Nancy Botwin's sense of morality. While there was no chance of a satisfying conclusion for the meandering sensationalism and soft politics masquerading as a narrative for this series, the end of season seven would have at least felt like a more confident and justified resolution. No protagonist of a television series has been more deserving of a bullet in the head (save Walter White) than the smug, selfish, despicable matriarch of the Botwin clan. Of course, as conceived by creator Jenji Kohan, there are never any lasting consequences for the eerily ageless drug dealer, who never shies away from using her vulva to her advantage. Weeds doesn't pull a Roseanne and fabricate the show's reality with its parting shot; Nancy (Mary-Louis Parker) simply has a horseshoe glued to the foot of a rabbit that subsisted on a diet of four-leaf clovers before being dismembered and shoved up her supple bottom. Like most of the extraordinarily fortuitous events of the series about a family intent on living outside the law, Nancy's headshot doesn't even leave a noticeable mark, serving as little more than fodder for a couple of hospital-set early episodes and an excuse for the greedy opportunist to have a change of heart about her criminal ways. All of the progress made on the character of youngest son Shane (Alexander Gould) is swept away in favour of more of the same: corruption and amoral behaviour. As the dumb but pretty Silas, Hunter Parish is the show's most improved performer, but that's not saying much. Perverted stalwarts Andy (Justin Kirk) and Doug (Kevin Nealon) are still the only characters that induce the odd laugh; it's hardly enough to warrant even the most tenuous of recommendations for a show so far past its "best before" date. Rather than griping about how frustrating, bloated, nostalgic and ludicrous the series finale is, let's move on to the special features. There are three commentaries spread between two of the three discs. Unfortunately, none of these feature Kevin Nealon and are therefore about as interesting as listening to Jenji Kohan talk about shoes. A gag reel is long, but seldom funny; ditto "Everyday Advice from Guru Doug." "Wrap Up!" is a grating piece of self-satisfied chatter between Kohan and a couple of her writer cohorts, all of whom are comfortable to admit that they seldom had a clue about where to take the show. For the advocacy portion of the program, "Clippin' the Buds: Medical Marijuana and the Marijuana Pill" discusses the show's blatant (and reasonable) pro-legalization stance, but fails to paint a very balanced picture, pointing out the shortcomings of Big Tobacco and Big Pharma (the two major issues the show tackles on its way out to pasture) while neglecting to discuss any downsides of marijuana use, or even the full spectrum of methods of ingestion. Finally, if you somehow haven't had far more than enough of Weeds, there are some deleted scenes. Thank goodness it's over.