Weeds: Season 2

By: Iggy Michniacki on 6.7.2009

The Movie Itself:
Please Note: The review for Weeds: Season 2 contains spoilers for the end of Weeds: Season 1.

Of the first three sesons of Weeds, Season 2 is easily my favorite. By this point the cast is more comfortable with each other, making the great acting even better. Fans are tuning into the show making Lionsgate and Showtime pump more money and ideas into it, and everything is established so all the situations that occur seem more natural (as natural as MILF Weed can get). Basically, the second season is a rare television feat, a ‘TV Masterpiece’.

Picking up immediately where Season 1 left off, Weeds: Season 2 jumps right into the mess that had Nancy (Mary Louise Parker) and her DEA boyfriend looking at very different futures. Nancy’s issues of being caught in a drug war as well as her DEA boyfriend’s jealousy over Conrad (Romany Malco) all seems to come down to one big conclusion that results in continued success for everybody, well… everybody that survives. Season 2 leads further into Nancy trying to succeed as a business woman as opposed to just trying to make enough money to provide for her family. Nancy’s two sons (Alexander Gould & Hunter Parrish) are also stumbling across the truth that their mother is a drug dealer. Just like Season 1, the problems and distractions pile up for Nancy in Season 2 with not only the above happening but also her friend, Celia (Elizabeth Perkins) has taken over Doug’s (Kevin Nealon) seat as city councilman and is doing everything possible to make Agrestic drug free.

Weeds: Season 2 is down right hysterical, but at the same time mixes in enough suspense, family issues, neighborhood drama, and clever twists to keep the masses entertained. With the comedy we also see the harsher side of things as it only seems to get tougher and tougher for Nancy. Nancy’s exploration deeper into the business side starts to put her family and friends in more danger, and takes the comedy tone of the series and mixes it with a harsh reality of the drug-world. The plot(s) for Weeds: Season 2 explores just as many ‘odd’ topics as the first season, but goes deeper and further by dragging others into tough situations. Nancy’s sons start to explore the drug world and Andy (Justin Kirk) really finds himself in a bind by the end of the season. Season 2 leaves the audience on nearly as much edge as Season 1 left them leaving the whole ordeal with a cliffhanger that could change the show completely for Season 3.

As mentioned above, I found Weeds: Season 2 to be the best of the first three seasons. Once again the acting seems spot on, and as mentioned, the cast really seems to interact even better this season after getting some time with each other. The writing has even improved from the first season to this one, with not only better episodes but better scenarios and difficult situations for Nancy and the rest of the ‘gang’. Weed is no longer just a game to make enough money to survive it has now become a business, one way or another, for the majority of the cast sinking Nancy and her family deeper into the drug realm.
Rating: 9/10

The Presentation:
Weeds: Season 2 saw a few upgrades over Season 1 when it came to the video and audio portions of the Blu-ray. Instead of the first seasons Mpeg-2 encode, Season 2 is equipped with an AVC 1080p encoding that shows off a difference. Season 2 holds more of a three-dimensional feel to it than the previous season. All episodes have more of a pop and marijuana jumps right off the screen. The picture is clear and free of distractions for the most part. There is the occasional shot that is plagued with distractions but they are few and far between and pop-up much less than they did in the first season. I believe with the higher encode, plus spreading the episodes over more than one disc has shown a definite upgrade for this season’s Blu-ray video.

The audio upgrade is outstanding as Lionsgate equipped Season 2 with a DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 Surround track that is great. The plagues of the first season on Bu-ray are long gone when it comes to audio. The center channel really shines as dialogue is crisp and clear not being drowned out by background noise or other distractions. The surround sound really does its job here, making the audience feel like they are engulfed in each scene. All the speakers worked well including the subwoofer that was spot-on when it was needed. This audio performance is a definite upgrade over the first season both on paper and in the ears.
Rating: 8/10 (video 8/10, audio 9/10)

The Extras:
Much like the first season, Weeds: Season 2 has a variety of extras available as well. With plenty of episode commentaries and other goodies to pick from, the extras could keep you busy for a while. Oh yeah, this season Lionsgate decided to make a few of these extras in glorious high definition.

Episode Commentary: Commentaries by Jenji Kohan on "Corn Snake" and "Pittsburgh", Commentary By Craig X on "Cooking With Jesus", Commentary by Matthew Salsberg and Leb. L. Spiro on "A.K.A. The Plant", Commentary by Romany Malco on "MILF Money", Commentary by Kevin Nealon on "Bash", and Commentary by Roberto Benabib and Craig Zisk on "Yeah. Like Tomatoes".
Conrad's Grow Room (SD): A behind the scenes look at a ‘tomato’ grow room, and Romany Malco shows you a few tricks of the trade.
Trivia Tracks (HD): A VH1 style Pop Up Video that has facts, gags, and triva throughout the episodes.
MILF Gag Reel (SD): A gag real with bloopers and mishaps from behind the scenes.
Test Your Short Term Memory (HD): A game of memory using BD Java that has (surprise, surprise) a marijuana theme.
Huskeroos Commercials (SD): Celia’s new job as a ‘Huskeroos’ commercial star comes right out of the show. Watch all the commercials uninterrupted by annoying television shows.
Cream of the Crop (SD): Craig X shows off his favorite weed.
Jammin' Nation Extended Performance (SD): The reggae band gets a brief performance beyond the convention performance early in the season.
Slangin' 101 (SD): Weed related slang to catch all us ‘non-cool’ people up in the conversations.
"Little Boxes" Montage (SD): A montage of the theme song presented by all the performers from this seasons opening sequence.
Tools of the Trade (SD): A photo gallery of all the tools you need to grow your own weed… endorsing illegal activity one season at a time.
Rating: 7/10

Overall:
By time Weeds: Season 2 was done it was safe to say I was addicted. This season was even better than the first, as well as a better video and audio treatment for the Blu-ray, there’s no reason to ‘just say no’. Weeds: Season 2 is successful in a variety of ways and everybody interested in a good television series should give this show a chance, especially on Blu.
Rating: 8/10