All I see are Weeds. . .Please Stop The Pain

I am itchy and bed-ridden with poison ivy. I cannot do or think of anything but rashes and weeds. Luckily, I just watched the season premiere of the television show Weeds the other night, so I’m able to channel this myopia into a post for the day.

Though I loath weeds in general right now, the one playing on Showtime happens to be quite agreeable. Here’s why. . .

Parker vs Parker, or, Waiting for Odysseus: Why Weeds is one of the best shows on TV

In Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw is widely believed to be pretty cool and sexy. She always walks around with stylish handbags and writes an edgy column dishing out romantic advice to love-struck women. And when she sits down to blow out the candles on her birthday cake she only has one wish left: to be just 1/10 as cool and sexy as Nancy Botwin, Mary-Louise Parker’s character in Weeds. This woman’s cool sexiness (or sexy coolness if you prefer) is so effortless and natural it’s almost scary.

If you’re not familiar with the plot of the series, here’s an executive summary: single widow mother, whose husband has died, needs to find way to care for her children and maintain the standard of living to which she has grown accustomed. She decides to sell pot in her quiet little suburb. Let the fun begin.

To over-simplify the series: Parker is all that matters. Sure, there are lots of kooky/frightening plot twists and hilarious characters, but they all float around in a zany, peripheral hurricane. Parker is the eye of this chaotic storm, calmly resolving one crisis after another as her world tries hard to fall apart around her.

I’m most intrigued by her romantic life, which plays out like The Odyssey, but told from the view of a strong, smart, and faithful Penelope. Her husband has disappeared, her son is causing problems, and the hordes of suitors and would-be lovers have appeared on her doorstep, clamoring to be let in and given a chance to win her beauty. But romance seems to be next to impossible for a woman like Botwin. Sure she has her flings, but her heart usually isn’t in it and her relationships usually come off as something less than authentic.

It’s not just that it’s hard to imagine any of the cast of characters being able to live up to her expectations; it’s hard to imagine ANYONE being able to live up to her standards. Anyone, except of course, for her former husband.

Which begs the question? What kind of demi-god built such an idyllic life for himself (big house, pool, beautiful/capable/lovable wife, adorable and reasonably well-adjusted children) only to pass away so mysteriously? He has left his Penelope for good and, barring some soap-opera type plot twist, will not be coming back. She’s going to have to learn to fend for herself, (read: deal marijuana), which is ok, because we love watching her do it.