Weeds Season Three Premiere
“Doing the Backstroke”
While Cultural Learnings provided an extensive preview of the season’s first four episodes a few weeks ago, it is important that we view tonight’s third season premiere of Weeds as just that: a premiere. For a majority of viewers for Showtime’s dark comedy series, this was the first time they returned to the world of Agrestic and the cliffhangers left behind last season. And, well, it’s important that we view it as a premiere, and judge it accordingly.
The verdict? “Doing the Backstroke” is an episode that is entirely incapable of satiating our desire for finality, and certainly doesn’t wrap any of last season’s cliffhangers in a clean fashion. And yet, despite all of this, it is a smart half hour of television that blends comedy and drama to complicate the series’ dynamic even further.
And, well, I think that’s what we’re looking for from the series. From the moment the episode opens cold with the invasion of innocence into the second season’s dire cliffhanger, you know that the show’s tone isn’t changing: while driven by drama, this is ostensibly a dark comedy series.
Cultural Learnings 