Weeds - Season 4

Weeds is way different in its fourth season, almost to the point of feeling like a new show. And it pretty much is, if you consider the original premise of a soccer mom that sells weed. Now it's a show about a family living on the run and lots of wacky situations involving Mexicans. Immigration is really the focus of the season, as Nancy becomes involved with some drug runners, who also deal in some seedier crimes. At first she lives with it because the money is good, but she becomes more conflicted as it gets worse, despite getting closer to the man at the top. The finale has enough twists to be satisfying, although for some reason it didn't leave me that desperate for more. The ends of the first two seasons especially were great, this time not as much. The show's creative spark might have faded a bit, as some characters turn into jokes of themselves and it feels a bit more like they're continuing it just because. They said they will make two more seasons, which should be plenty to take care of everything.

The show's still funny though, make no mistake. The dark humor is as sharp as ever in some parts, and seems to branch into different topics more. The beginning of the season is dominated by Al Brooks as Nancy's father-in-law, and everything with him and his outlook on life is simultaneously comic gold and highly depressing. The two brothers sort of flip-flopped in my mind. Silas was much more tolerable, and even sympathetic at times, although he's occasionally still irritating. Shane, on the other hand, had some pretty creepy/terrible plot moments, and he's maturing into kind of a jerk. Andy and Doug are still great though, and their time as nice coyotes was pretty fun. I still like the show, just not as much as I used to. I wonder how the formula will continue to evolve as the story draws to a close in the next couple years.