7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Everyone's favorite pot-selling soccer mom and hemptress, Nancy Botwin, returns in the complete final season of the hit series 'Weeds'.
Starring: Mary-Louise Parker, Alexander Gould, Justin Kirk, Kevin Nealon, Hunter ParrishCrime | 100% |
Dark humor | 72% |
Comedy | 54% |
Drama | 10% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
There’s a certain delicious irony to the fact that the penultimate season of Weeds ended with yet another cliffhanger, for if any of this long running Showtime series’ (admittedly waning) audience partakes of the same “herbal enhancement” that is at the core of the show, will they even have the wherewithal to remember the huge looming questions which ended the series last year on a note of potential doom? So with that in mind, let’s offer a quick recap for those who may not recall the ins and outs of the dysfunctional yet incredibly intrepid Botwin family. Nancy Botwin (Mary- Louise Parker) has been on a personal and professional roller coaster for years, attempting to provide for her family by creating what had become an unexpectedly huge marijuana dealing operation. Meanwhile, she found herself involved in several criminal investigations as well as subterfuge involving manifold rings of organized crime. As if that weren’t enough turmoil for one widowed mother to handle, Nancy also has to deal with her sons, Silas (Hunter Parrish), Shane (Alexander Gould) and Stevie (Ethan and Gavin Kent), a child Nancy had with the leader of a Mexican drug cartel. Nancy has something of an entourage, including Andy Botwin (Justin Kirk), the conflicted brother of Nancy’s deceased husband, and Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon), who has matriculated from being an ineffective city councilman to a highly effective hedge fund manager. Meanwhile Nancy has also been dealing with a certain form of sibling rivalry with her estranged sister Jill (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who, despite her own lingering “issues”, feels she would be a better parent to Stevie than Nancy. As has tended to happen a few too many times throughout this series’ run, a cascading series of melodramas is rather conveniently solved, leading to yet another potential tragedy as the season ends. In this case, suddenly years of family dysfunction is more or less put aside as all the warring parties agree to share a rather leafy enclave in Connecticut, only to have their celebratory backyard picnic interrupted by what appears to be, in true cliffhanger fashion, a sniper shot aimed directly at Nancy’s head.
Weeds: The Final Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films and Showtime with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This final season continues the generally excellent tradition that Weeds has followed in previous seasons. The series still tends to be somewhat soft looking a lot of the time, especially in interior scenes, though this season gets "out and about" a bit more than last season and therefore pops just a little more nicely, generally speaking. Colors continue to be very well saturated and accurate looking, and fine detail is quite commendable in close- ups. There are some minor contrast issues (some no doubt intentional, as in the opening sequence following Nancy's injury) that sometimes contribute to a minimal loss of fine detail or shadow detail, but otherwise Weeds continues to be a very nice looking series that does quite well for itself in high definition.
Weeds: The Final Season continues the debatable wisdom of featuring a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix that some at least might argue is a bit of overkill, considering the series' tendency to play out in smaller scale dialogue scenes. The best thing about the 7.1 mix is probably the engaging use of music, including the return of original theme "Little Boxes" (without posting any spoilers, there are a number of rather smartly done "stunt castings" of guest artists covering the theme song as the season progresses). Otherwise, while the 7.1 mix only sporadically offers anything that might be termed really involving immersion, fidelity remains superb and the mix is generally quite artfully done, with some good use of discrete channelization in some key sequences.
- Messy: Jenji Kohan. Kohan actually sounds like she's a little under the influence here herself, with a kind of slow and faltering commentary that tends to go off on tangents quite a bit of the time.
- God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise: Justin Kirk and Hunter Parrish. This is the most anecdotal and conversational of the three commentaries. There's not a wealth of insight here, but it's enjoyable nonetheless.
- It's Time: Jenji Kohan, Matthew Salsberg and Roberto Benabib. This will probably be of most interest to longtime fans, as it deals explicitly with the series wrapping up and trying to tie together years of plot strands.
It's probably a good thing that Weeds is closing up shop after eight seasons, for this last year is arguably the weakest the series has offered since Nancy Botwin found herself in dire financial straits after the unexpected death of her husband. There's still quite a bit to enjoy in this season, but Weeds has lost some of its luster along the way, and the seams show pretty obviously in this final year. Longtime fans will no doubt want to follow this show through to its bittersweet end, but my hunch is few others will wants to ford the roiling waters of the Botwin clan if they haven't already at least dabbled their feet in the maelstrom in previous seasons.
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