Weeds - Season Three

This season of Weeds took the spirit of the previous season's finale - all conflicts crushing Nancy from all sides at once - and extended that throughout most of the season, as we see her under the thumb of scary drug dealer U-Turn and being blackmailed and threatened by several people for money she often doesn't have. But what makes Nancy so fun to watch is her ability to adapt. Somehow, she always makes it through these crazy and scary situations. Where season two improved on season one by writing better story arcs and cliffhangers, season three improved on season two by making the annoying characters less annoying. Heylia receded toward the background of the show as Nancy had less direct contact with her, and Silas was less of a rebellious, angsty, teenage douche once he started working with his mother instead of against her. As for Celia, she remains the antagonistic bitch that she is, and probably always will, but she is a very entertaining (and often funny) one, so she doesn't bother me too much.

Some other random thoughts: The Hodes' divorce, as well as Dean becoming severely injured, opened up a lot of funny stuff for Celia when she had to actually start taking care of her daughter and ex; Mary Kate Olsen is a slightly better actress than we all thought she was; I was actually looking forward to Nancy being friends with Peter's ex-wife, but I suppose that's out now; Andy starring in "foot porn" had just the right amount of weird hedonism in it to be the perfect storyline for him; Doug seemed somewhat underused this season in that he spent most of it complaining and protesting things; Shane seeing the ghost of his father (or pretending to, it's unclear which one) was really the only thing that didn't feel right to me. This show just didn't need that supernatural element, because while it does get wacky sometimes, ghosts are a whole different ballpark and that's not what Weeds is about.

Best Episode: "The Two Mrs. Scottsons", in which Isabelle and Shane become friends, Andy does foot porn, and Nancy stalks Peter's ex-wife.