agrestic adj

1 characteristic of the fields or country; "agrestic simplicity"; "rustic stone walls" [syn: rustic]

2 (of behavior) rustic and uncouth; "the agrestic behavior of a country boy"

English

Adjective

1. Of or pertaining to the fields; rural; unpolished.

   The authors early days were filled with agrestic surroundings.

Weeds is an American dark comedy television series. The plot revolves around a widowed housewife from an affluent California suburb who becomes an upper-middle-class marijuana dealer to make ends meet.

It began with a 10-episode first season in August 2005. It was the highest rated series for Showtime that year. A 12-episode second season followed in August 2006, and a third season consisting of 15 episodes premiered on August 13, 2007. The season 3 premiere episode attracted 824,000 Showtime subscribers to the show. It was announced on November 5, 2007 that Showtime had picked up the show for a fourth season consisting of 13 episodes and will begin on June 16th, 2008.

The exteriors for the show are shot almost exclusively in Stevenson Ranch, a suburban area of Santa Clarita Valley, California. The shot of the large fountain and Agrestic sign seen in the introduction was shot at the corner of Stevenson Ranch Parkway and Holmes Place. The name 'Stevenson Ranch', was digitally replaced with 'Agrestic' and with 'Majestic' in later episodes.

The overhead, satellite picture displayed at the beginning of the show's introduction is of "Calabasas Hills", a gated community in Calabasas, California.

Plot synopsis

Season 1

The fictional, affluent Los Angeles, California suburb of Agrestic which is an English word meaning "characteristic of the fields or country". It could also mean "crude: lacking the qualities associated with sophistication" or it could also be a portmanteau of aggressive and majestic. It is home to Nancy Botwin, whose husband Judah suddenly died of heart failure while jogging with his son Shane prior to the start of the first season. Nancy's children Silas and Shane both attend Agrestic's public school system.

Nancy begins dealing marijuana to locals to support her upper middle-class lifestyle. She buys from Heylia James, a major distributor in the Agrestic area whom she met through Conrad, Heylia's nephew. When her customers talk their way into a medical marijuana store with a variety of high-quality pot Nancy's sales dry up, so she utilizes her baking skills and concocts pot-laced brownies to sell off the low-quality product. Later, with the aid of her accountant and customer, councilman Doug Wilson, she sets up a legitimate bakery as a front for her drug sales. Silas begins dating Megan, a deaf girl who lives in the area. Shane, a witness to his father's death, is a more troubled child, and has the nickname "Strange Botwin" at school. He has been known to act out and, for example, bites the foot of another child in a martial arts tournament.

Nancy befriends the manic, image-obsessed, manipulative and controlling Celia Hodes, president of the Agrestic PTA, who has a number of domestic problems. She does not get along with her cheating husband Dean, nor does she get along with her older daughter, Quinn (Silas' previous girlfriend), whom she sends off to boarding school in Mexico in the premiere. Her younger daughter, Isabelle, is overweight and says she is a lesbian, and Celia berates her cruelly about both issues. Toward the end of the season, Celia is diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer, and before her surgery she has sex with Conrad. Conrad is long-time friends with Andy Botwin, the younger brother of Nancy's late husband and the black sheep of the family. Andy says he has moved into the Botwin household to help Nancy out, but seems to just be there to free-load. He decides to study to become a rabbi to avoid military service in Iraq.

Nancy has a brief sexual encounter with a rival drug dealer and then starts dating Peter Scottson, the parent of the kid her son bit in karate class. The season closes with Nancy's plan to become a grower. However, this plan hits complications when she sleeps with Peter, only to find out he's an agent with the DEA.

Season 2

The second season, while still comedic, has a much darker tone, as Nancy becomes increasingly involved in the more dangerous aspects of the drug "underground". Ignoring Heylia's advice, Nancy and Conrad start their own small-scale growing operation and eventually rent a suburban grow-house. She welcomes other people into her business, including her brother-in-law Andy and Doug. During this season, Peter Scottson tells Nancy he knows she is a drug dealer, and the two are married as part of a deal to legally protect Nancy from Peter. While Nancy's drug activities increase, Celia runs for, and wins, Doug's spot on the town council: she launches a drug-free campaign across Agrestic complete with drug-free zone signs and surveillance cameras.

As the season progresses, Nancy's children become more aware of her illegal activities, though the two sons deal with the issue in quite different ways. Shane continues to have problems fitting in at school, and ultimately takes an interest in Andy's crazy ex-girlfriend, Kat. Silas, on the other hand, takes out his frustrations by committing acts of vandalism, most notably stealing Celia's drug-free zone signs and cameras.

Nancy and Conrad's drug business becomes a hit as Conrad's strain of plant, which Snoop Dogg dubs "milfweed" during a happenstance meeting at a recording studio, but their high profile causes trouble. Initially, Nancy's marriage to a DEA agent keeps her on top while her Armenian rivals are busted, but her marriage to Peter deteriorates as he pressures her to quit dealing. For Nancy, the final straw is when Peter comes over for dinner and manhandles Silas. Nancy calls Conrad and tells him that she doesn't love Peter; Peter hears the conversation with wireless surveillance.

The season concludes with a complex series of betrayals, as Peter demands of Nancy and Conrad all of the cash from a quick sale of their crop. Secretly, Heylia hires Armenian mobsters to kill Peter in retaliation. Nancy's buyer, U-Turn, demands the entire crop of weed at gunpoint. Having just killed Peter, the Armenian mobsters arrive at the same time and expect the proceeds from the big sale to pay for their hit. Only then does Nancy discover that Silas has decided to force his way into the business by stealing the entire batch of weed and demanding to be part of the business. It is at this time he is approached by Celia and a police officer for the vandalism. This leaves Nancy at the grow house, in a Mexican standoff with both the gangsters and the mobsters pointing guns at her in a season-ending cliffhanger.

Season 3

The third season of Weeds begins with several subplots involving the fallout from the botched drug deal of the season two finale.

Nancy

As the season opens, Nancy is told that she has until sundown to find the missing weed. Celia finds the stash in the trunk of Silas's car and dumps it in Nancy's pool 'for her own protection', not knowing that she has endangered Nancy's life. Although angry, U-Turn compromises and agrees to take Nancy's debt in labor. Her first task is to pick up a package from a Latin drug gang led by Guillermo, who forces her to "brick-dance" on a pool table before giving her a bag of "skank weed". U-Turn is furious about getting the wrong package, blaming Nancy for not picking up the expected heroin, and increases her debt in response. In need of cash, Nancy begins working for Sullivan Groff, the crooked developer of Majestic, a rival community that wants to build a sewage pipeline through Agrestic. At first, Nancy can't stand Sullivan, but the two begin having an affair. Celia finds out about the affair and learns Nancy is still dealing, so Celia decides to blackmail her. This leads to a confrontation between the two women as Nancy threatens Celia with a butcher's knife, and Shane encounters Celia on the counter, his mother holding the knife at her throat.

U-Turn is impressed with Nancy and is actually in the process of training her to become his lieutenant. This causes a rift between him and Marvin, an associate of his whom he severely debases. When U-Turn suffers a siezure, Marvin murders him by suffocation and attempts to take over the operations, but Nancy maneuvers the situation to her advantage and all debts are cleared. This leaves Guillermo's group in control of the drug trade in the city, while Nancy, Conrad and Heylia are now free of their obligations and start their normal sales again.

Nancy also makes a short-lived friendship with Peter's ex-wife Valerie, which falls apart after Nancy is the one left the $119,000 from his life insurance. Nancy offers to pay it to Valerie in installments, but the installments are small, which tears the rift further. Valerie hires a private investigator to find out what Nancy is up to with the insurance money. After Shane installs a new home security system, the outdoor security camera catches the p.i. watching the Botwin residence, Nancy confronts him, where he blackmails her into giving him $50,000 to keep quiet about her dealings. Nancy goes to give him the money and records him acknowledging the blackmail on a hidden microphone, ensuring he has to keep his mouth shut or he goes to jail.

At the end of the season, Nancy finds her family being threatened by a group of bikers that want to push their "ditch weed" through her. In response, she makes a protection deal with Guillermo, leading to tragic consequences for the entire town, and especially Nancy. Guillermo burns the biker's pot field, but due to dry conditions the fire spreads and begins to threaten Majestic. After talking with Guillermo she decides to move on and goes to her house, spreads gasoline, and drops a match. She calls Andy and tells him to get the kids into the car so they can leave.

Andy

Andy believes that his missing two toes will exclude him from service, and drops out of rabbinical school. His hopes are quashed when he is told to report for duty anyway, and the expected desk job disappears in boot camp when he is told he's being shipped to Iraq. He and his training partner are considered the "stooges" of the camp and are eventually left out in the desert to test a missile that trains on cell phone signals which impales the partner and kills him. Andy runs, and is considered AWOL, which they will dismiss if he gives back the phone. When asked why they treated them so horribly, the base officials replied that the test was originally meant to be conducted on a donkey, but they considered a donkey a more valuable resource than the two men.

After being kicked out of the military, Andy is asked by Sullivan Groff to cater for porn movie shoots, making friends with porn star Lexington Steele on the set after an embarrassing confession that his last girlfriend used a "Lex Steele" dildo on him. Andy is featured in a few scenes, mainly for foot fetishes and the loss of his toes. Later, Andy befriends a biker girl whose drug-dealing brother threatens the safety of the Botwins.

Shane and Silas

Silas is sentenced to community service for the theft of the drug-free signs. Silas talks Nancy into allowing him to sell pot to the other people doing community service, and she grudgingly agrees. While selling the pot at an old age home, Silas meets Tara, a born-again Christian who eventually starts selling too, rising to become Nancy's best dealer. Trouble brews when Tara admits openly to Silas that she's dating other people. By the end of the season Silas realizes that her religious beliefs are too much for him and he's over her.

Shane is enrolled in a summer school that frequently violates church and state law to present religious propaganda, such as subjecting the class to a murder mystery where the solution is an abortion. When Isabelle is also placed in the class, Shane quickly fills her in on what's going on by instantly solving the mysteries, all of which have obvious biblical or creationist answers. Shane is soon ostracized by the other students for his lack of faith, and develops a crush on a religious girl who appears to "save" him. Isabelle rescues him from this fate by stealing her away for her own "salvation". Shane and Isabelle's friendship develops strongly this season; they are seen smoking pot in secret together at one point, and Shane asks Isabelle if she is really a lesbian, to which she asks if he really talks to his dead father.

In the last few episodes, Shane begins talking to his dead father Judah, leaving Nancy and her family wondering whether Judah's spirit is indeed in the house. It has yet to be revealed whether Shane truly saw his father or not. It is stated that Shane was only pretending to speak with his father's spirit because he wanted to move to Pittsburgh.

Other characters

To get back at Doug, in season two, Celia ran for Doug's seat on town council, and won because his name was left off the ballot. She introduces a drug-free campaign, whose introduction is disrupted by Shane and then subverted by Silas. As the project fails she becomes increasingly frozen out of the council, a problem that a brief affair with Doug does nothing to solve, and only makes matters worse when her husband finds out and kicks her out of the house. Celia turns to Sullivan Groff, and in exchange for a house she delivers him a plebiscite merging the two towns and thereby allowing the sewer system to be built.

Doug manages to be re-instated on the council only to find the town merged with Majestic as a result of Celia's maneuverings and Nancy's hard work collecting names. He vows to get back at Groff, first causing a sewage geyser during the televised opening of the new system, and then stealing the mega-church's 18 foot tall illuminated cross.

Conrad and Heylia start a new growing operation, initially at the behest of U-Turn. After U-Turn's demise, Nancy secures new funding for the operation through an investor, Doug. They disguise the operation as a company that makes fountains that look like little houses. But when Celia investigates "Aguatecture," she uses her information in the attempt to blackmail Nancy. Ultimately, Celia cashes in and winds up renting out the home Groff gave her as a growing house for Nancy, Conrad and Heylia when their harvest is threatened by a building inspection. Doug eventually installs the cross in the house, which leads to its discovery by the DEA on thermal maps.

Season 4

Showtime has confirmed a fourth season of Weeds, with at least 13 episodes. The fourth season is currently scheduled to debut on Monday, June 16, 2008. The plot of season 4 revolves around Nancy relocating her family (and her drug business) from her burned-down Agrestic neighborhood to the beach town of Ren Mar on the San Diego/Mexico border.

The first episode of this season entitled "Mother Thinks the Birds are After Her" is the last time "Little Boxes" will be used over the opening credits, after which it will be replaced by new credits and an unknown theme song.

From what we know, the show is taking a whole new direction. Showtime has guaranteed that the show will still contain the iconic dark humor that is loved by the fan base. However, the new setting will affect the coloring and overall atmosphere of the series.

Cast changes include the downgrade of characters played by Romany Malco and Tonye Patano since season one from regulars to guest stars, season three's Mary Kate Olsen and Matthew Modine; Season two introductory Kat portrayed by Zooey Deschanel, season three introductory Guillermo portrayed by Guillermo Diaz and new ensemble member Albert Brooks will join the cast for several season four episodes. Mexican actor Demian Bichir has been cast to play Esteban, the mayor of Tijuana and Nancy Botwin's love interest in season 4.

Pre-air episode leaks

The first episode of the third season was scheduled to air on August 13, 2007. On July 22, 2007, the first and second episodes of season 3 were leaked on the internet. On July 24, 2007, the third episode was leaked, and on July 27, 2007, the fourth episode was leaked. The fourth episode was not a complete version; among other things, some dubbed lines were not complete (notably a voicemail message Nancy receives from U-Turn is spoken by a distinctly different actor, and in place of the end credits a card is inserted reading "End Credits"). As of December 2007, all 15 episodes of the third season were available online. Due to the high quality of the leaked episodes, some have speculated that the episodes were leaked intentionally in order to garner interest in the show and to create an internet buzz. Weeds creator Jenji Kohan has shown a positive interest in the Weeds episodes leaking online, saying, "Revenue aside, I don't expect to get rich on Weeds, I'm excited it's out there. Showtime is great, but it does have a limited audience." In 2006 before season 2 aired on Showtime, the first few episodes were also leaked online.

Cast and crew

Main Cast: †Main cast as of season 1, episode 4.‡Main cast as of season 3, episode 1. Previously guest stars.

Guest stars:

S Billed as Special guest star.

Crew:

• Creator: Jenji Kohan
• Producer/Director: Brian Dannelly
• Producer/Director: Craig Zisk
• Director: Christopher Misiano who also directed and produced many episodes of The West Wing, a series in which Mary Louise Parker had a recurring role as Amy Gardner.

Impact

Critical response

Slate magazine named the character of Nancy Botwin as one of the best on television and one of the reasons they were looking forward to the return of the show in fall 2007.

Time magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 Returning Series of 2007, ranking it at #9.

Awards and nominations

Awards won

Awards nominated

: Best TV Series-Comedy (2006, 2007)

Best Performance by a TV Supporting Actress Elizabeth Perkins (2006, 2007)

Best Performance by a TV Actress in a Musical or Comedy Mary-Louise Parker (2007, 2008)

Best Performance by a TV Supporting Actor Justin Kirk (2007): Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Mary-Louise Parker (2006, 2007, 2008)

Ensemble In A Comedy Series (2007): Outstanding Actress in a Series-Comedy Elizabeth Perkins (2005)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-series, or TV Movie Elizabeth Perkins(2006)

Best Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical Mary-Louise Parker (2006)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or TV Movie Justin Kirk (2007)

Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical (2007): Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Elizabeth Perkins (2006, 2007)

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series Craig Zisk, for the episode Good Shit Lollipop (2006)

Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series (2006, 2007)

Outstanding Main Title Design (2006)

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, for the episode Good Shit Lollipop (2006)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Mary-Louise Parker (2007)

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, for the episode Mrs. Botwin's Neighborhood (2007)

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, for the episode Crush Girl Love Panic (2007)

Episodes

DVD releases

The Region 1 Season One DVD is only available in 4:3 pan and scan format. The Region 2 and 4 releases are in anamorphic widescreen.

Season One was released on Blu-ray on May 29, 2007, and Season Two was released on July 24, 2007. Both seasons include all episodes in 1080p widescreen with Dolby Digital EX sound and either DTS-HD (Season One) or LPCM (Season Two), as well as extras exclusive to the Blu-ray release.

CD releases

Weeds: Music from the Original Series

• Released September 13, 2005

1. Malvina Reynolds - "Little Boxes"
2. Nellie McKay - "David"
3. Peggy Lee - "A Doodlin' Song"
4. Sufjan Stevens - "All The Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands"
5. Michael Franti & Spearhead - "Ganja Babe"
6. All Too Much - "More Than A Friend"
7. Sons & Daughters - "Blood"
8. The New Pornographers - "The Laws Have Changed"
9. Joey Santiago - "Fake Purse"
10. NRBQ - "Wacky Tobacky"
11. Marion Black - "Who Knows"
12. Martin Creed - "I Can't Move"
13. The Mountain Goats - "Cotton"
14. Joey Santiago - "Birthday Video"
15. Flogging Molly - "If I Ever Leave This World Alive"
16. The Be Good Tanyas - "The Littlest Birds"
17. Hill Of Beans - "Satan Lend Me a Dollar"

Weeds: Music from the Original Series, Volume 2

• Released October 17, 2006

1. Elvis Costello - "Little Boxes"
2. Zeroleen - "All Good"
3. Of Montreal - "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games"
4. Jenny Owen Youngs - "Fuck Was I"
5. Fern Jones - "Strange Things Are Happening"
6. (The Real) Tuesday Weld - "Bathtime In Clerkenwell"
7. Gwendolyn Sanford & Brandon Young Jay - "Shane Digs Gretchen"
8. Rogue Wave - "Kicking The Heart Out"
9. Regina Spektor - "The Ghost of Corporate Future"
10. Dengue Fever - "One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula"
11. Aidan Hawken - "Neighborhood"
12. Squirrel Nut Zippers - "It Ain't You"
13. Gwendolyn Sanford & Brandon Young Jay - "From Agrestic to Las Vegas"
14. The 88 - "Not Enough"
15. Sufjan Stevens - "Holland"
16. Gwendolyn Sanford & Brandon Young Jay - "Huskaroo TV Spot"

Opening Music

• In season one, the title song "Little Boxes" is performed by its writer, Malvina Reynolds.
• In seasons two and three, the title song is performed by a different artist for each episode with the exception of the season finales, which again use Reynolds' version.
• The season three finale also used Pete Seeger's cover of the song over the closing credits.

Books

On August 7, 2007, Simon Spotlight, a division of Simon and Schuster, published IN THE WEEDS: The Official Guide to the Showtime Series by Kera Bolonik, which features interviews with the show's creator, its writers and crew, and the entire cast. It also features detailed character and plot descriptions, recipes, and lots of trivia and behind-the-scenes information.

References

External links

• Official Website
• Sky One Weeds Website (United Kingdom broadcaster)
• Showcase Weeds Website (Canadian broadcaster)