Of all the emotionally damaged dramedy heroines on Showtime, I think I like Nancy Botwin the best. I shouldn't say "like", as I think she's an atrocious mother with innumerable personality disorders; maybe I'm most entertained by/care the most about Nancy Botwin. She's witty, she's shrewdly manipulative, and she's got a hell of a way of getting herself out of the tightest of jams mostly unscathed. She's the type of woman you want on your side when the time comes, but if you let her stick around long enough, you might get burned.
And burned is just what her family has been for the past six seasons as she's torn their lives asunder, marrying Mexican drug lords, burning down childhood homes, and sending her family on a wild goose chase of a road trip instead of owning up to her mistakes. After six seasons of endless iced coffees and run-ins with the law, you can probably forgive the rest of her brood for not being as open to having her in their lives after a peaceful three year respite. The Botwin family wasn't living the high life (har har) in Denmark, but they had something that Nancy couldn't give them: stability. They had lives and girlfriends and a sense of home that hasn't really been present in the series since we were in Agrestic, fending off cutting remarks from Celia and trying to find distance from Judah's (figurative) ghost. While Weeds is still a fantastic series, it's almost a little sad to see these characters be uprooted yet again.
On one side of the spectrum, we have Andy, who's really the only Botwin particularly jazzed about seeing Nancy again. Granted, that's expected, as the two go back years to when Nancy was with Judah and they had six seasons of weird sexual tension that still has yet to find resolution. (I refuse to believe that the episode last season where she rejected him is the last we'll see of this plot.) Andy's always been the spirit and kindness of the show, especially in its darkest and snarkiest times, so I fully believe his concern for how Nancy will be once she's out and his excitement at seeing his friend again. (It's very kid-on-Christmas.) I do, however, tend to believe that he's got some sort of resentment buried in there that will come out later in the season. While he's a fairly resilient guy, Andy's also deceptively sensitive and I think having Nancy "abandon" the family, as altruistic a move as it was, won't sit well with him for long.
If Andy does manage to overcome whatever negative feelings he has about Nancy's incarceration, there are still four other Botwin men (and honorary Botwin men) to have to deal with. While Stevie is currently at Jill's house (the moment in the premiere when he called Nancy "Aunt Nancy" was heartbreaking) and Doug really couldn't care less, Shane has a serious case of mixed feelings and Silas is trying to keep his independence on this side of the Atlantic. Shane and Silas had rather interesting reactions to Nancy's return, as Shane was on a rollercoaster (first excited, then disappointed, then relieved, then disappointed) and Silas seemed to have washed his hands completely of his mother in favor of his career, especially once he saw her make a break for it. It's telling how much Silas takes after Nancy in that when faced with difficulties, they bolt, yet they always seem to be running in the same direction. The aspect of this entire season that I'm most looking forward to is Silas confronting Nancy about, basically, losing his most important years and finding out that Judah isn't his biological father. Since creator Jenji Kohan referred to Nancy as the "true north" for the Botwin family, I think everything will eventually be squared away, but the emotional scar tissue is bound to become too much sooner or later, no?
Weeds is just two episodes into its seventh (and possibly final) season and it looks as if the creative rebound of last season was no fluke. While season seven has been a little less breakneck than last season, it's been two episodes of really good set-up, as the emotional groundwork has more than been laid and we're getting to see the operation that Nancy will be overseeing this season. As much as I love watching the gorgeous brunette wiggle her way out of possible confrontations with the shadiest of characters, the main thing that keeps me coming back to the show is watching how the illicit activities she's involved in affects the family dynamic. We get to see Andy's optimism, Shane's confliction, and Silas's resentment played out in a pretty realistic fashion and it's a compelling reason to stay with the show. Of all the emotionally damaged dramedy heroines on Showtime, I think I like Nancy Botwin the best. Why? She's charming, she's wilier than people give her credit for, and, oh yeah...she makes for great TV.
What did you think of tonight's episode of Weeds? Would you be as receptive to Nancy's return as Andy was? Can Nancy's business venture with Zoya's brother be anything but a ticking time bomb?
"Can Nancy's business venture with Zolya's brother be anything but a ticking time bomb?"
I see what you did there.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. I still don't have the same love for the show as I did seasons 1-3, but it has gotten better, no doubt.