When we last saw Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker), the only thing standing between her and a shallow Mexican grave was a Polaroid of a sonogram, proving her only bargaining chip against the discovery that she was a Federal informant in the Mexican mafia: she's pregnant with the child of the kingpin, who also happens to be mayor. But Nancy's life and, by default, fate is no longer her own, and the fatalistic outlook that appears to be washing over her doesn't serve the character's initial bubbliness well.
Nancy wasn't the only "Weeds" character in perpetual peril at the end of Season 4. The snotty bitch that is Celia (Elizabeth Perkins) was kidnapped by her sadistically awesome daughter Quinn (Haley Hudson), who now is living with a pseudo-revolutionary rebel leader, Rudolpho (guest star Kevin Alejandro, "Southland") in Mexico. Quinn tries to ransom her mother off to all her friends, but they hilariously decline to save their supposed friend.
The rest of the characters aren't faring too much better, either. Andy (Justin Kirk) has fallen in love with his former sister-in-law, which only gets more complicated with the arrival of Nancy's estranged sister, Jill (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Silas (Hunter Parrish) is entrenching himself in the medical marijuana business, pubescent kid brother Shane (Alexander Gould) is selling weed he stole from his brother as he "dates" two teen whores, and Doug (the always-funny Kevin Nealon) is hiding out (still) after having ripped off the leaders of Majestic, which has since absorbed the fire-ravaged Agrestic.
Nancy, beginning to realize that her unborn baby may not be the get-out-of-death-free card that she originally thought that it would be, is doing her damnedest not to spiral into reckless desperation, but we finally see cracks in the veneer as she slugs down whiskey and takes up smoking at one point. There's a strange reverse Stockholm-Syndrome thing happening between her and Esteban, and it's not the only inadvertent trick this resourceful dope-slingin' mama has up her sleeve.
"Weeds" has gone from a dark comedy to a gripping, super-dark comedy - but the comic relief is getting more and more sparse with each passing season. Season 5 is no exception, trading one-liners for suspense and surprisingly versatile acting that raises the bar of the show a solid few notches. Check it out Mondays at 10pm on Showtime - you'll be glad you did.
