Blu-Ray Review: Fifth Season of Showtime’s ‘Weeds’ Produces Nice Buzz

CHICAGO – The fifth season of one of the most acclaimed comedies of the ’00s recently sparked up on Blu-ray with the latest release of Showtime’s “Weeds”. This ADD-riddled season had some serious lows but enough highs to provide a consisent buzz. Once-great, now-good, still-worth-watching, especially in HD.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

The fourth season of “Weeds” ended with Nancy Botwin pregnant by a vengeful drug lord (Demian Bichir) and possibly facing execution, Celia (Elizabeth Perkins) stuck in Mexico, and Andy (Justin Kirk) realizing he is truly in love with his sister-in-law. Creator Jenji Kohan took a big risk at the send of the third season by blowing up her entire concept - taking the Botwins from the suburbs to the border and complicating the lives of their characters with increasingly over-the-top plotlines. It hasn’t yet paid off.

Weeds: Season Five was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 19th, 2010.
Photo credit: Lionsgate Home Video

“Weeds” once had a slight grip on reality and I still think the show is at its best when it finds the humanity in the Botwin family and leaves the ridiculous comic relief to Kevin Nealon. For the fourth and most of the fifth season, “Weeds” is way more inconsistent than it used to be. Kohan and her writers can’t focus on one plotline for long enough, the tone shifts radically, and, I’m sorry, but Bichir is a bore and bringing him in as such a major supporting character was a mistake.

Weeds: Season Five was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 19th, 2010. Photo credit: Lionsgate Home Video

Having said that. “Weeds” is still one of the damn funniest shows on television. Each episode produces laughs and you can’t say that about all or even most comedies on the air. Parker, Perkins, Kirk, and Nealon are all great and Alanis Morrisette was effective in a recurring role in season five. The dialogue is still clever, witty, and brilliantly timed. And there are hints in season five of the show finding its heart again. I liked the final arc of the season when the writers thematically weaved several plotlines of major characters (Silas, Nancy, Andy) trying to change themselves for love with differing levels of success.

If I’m overly critical of “Weeds” as a whole it’s only because I’ve seen how great this show can be. The first few seasons were must-see television with some of the best writing and acting out there. All of the elements of a great show are still there but I feel like “Weeds” might have jumped the shark or at least got it stoned enough to swim past.

Jumping the gun a bit (Lionsgate usually releases previous seasons timed to the debut of the new one), “Weeds: Season Five” is now available in a spectacular Blu-Ray edition. The studio continues to excel in the video and audio department, as anyone who has seen the gorgeous “Mad Men” Blu-ray releases will testify. These episodes look as good as they did in HD on Showtime, arguably better, and come accompanied by fantastic DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio tracks.

Special features on the Blu-Ray release of “Weeds” include Cast and Crew Commentaries, Bloopers, “History of Weed,” “Yes We Cannabis,” “Crazy Love: A Guide to the Dysfunctional Relationships of Weeds,” “Little Titles by Jenji Kohan,” “University of Andy,” and “Really Backstage With Kevin Nealon”.

[15]	By BRIAN TALLERICO [16] Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com [15]