Weeds Series Finale ‘It’s Time’ Recap and Review

Suburban mother turned pot dealer Nancy Botwin has been through it all. 4 dead husbands, three children, countless brushes with death and danger, and now…eight seasons later, she finally has decided it’s time for her to answer the question…

…who is the person, Nancy Botwin, wants to be?

The series finale of Weeds, appropriately titled “It’s Time,” takes us several years into the future. Nancy married the rabbi, and her name is now Nancy Bloom. She lives with her teenage son Stevie (guest star Mateus Ward), whom Rabbi David adopted (before his untimely death), in Old Sandwich, Connecticut at the Botwin compound. Marijuana is legal, and she owns several stores where she sells an elite brand of pot. Tim Scottson (guest star Daryl Sabbara) is her assistant.

In the future…they have paper thin plexi-glass phones, and virtual keyboards, which is something I have been waiting for (personally).

Silas has married Megan (guest star Shoshannah Stern), and the pair live in California with their baby girl. Shane is drowning in self-pity, resentment, and alcohol with Oullette (guest star Michael Harney). Doug has invented his own guru-style religion, involving orgies with his followers. And Andy lives back at the home he grew up in Ren Mar with a daughter named Lenni (after his dead father). He also owns a restaurant.

The episode opens, and the widowed Mrs. Bloom is back to debating in suburbia at a PTA meeting, with tiger streaks in her hair. She is preparing for Stevie’s bar mitzvah, and awaiting the arrival of Andy who hasn’t spoken to her since he left her on the lawn several years earlier.

Nancy quickly begins to feel abandoned and alone, as Megan wont let her hold her granddaughter, convinced she is responsible for causing many years of torment to the man she loves. Shane won’t recognize he needs to seek professional help. Stevie wants to go to boarding school. And Andy has let her go.

Meanwhile, Doug reconnects with his son Josh (guest star Justin Chatwin), who has only appeared in the first and last episodes of the series. Josh turned out well. Nancy advises he not have children who turn out to be teenagers like he was. He’s married to a man and they live together in a nice home with wood floors, and a pug.

Stevie’s post bar mitzvah party sees the return of several familiar faces, including Dean (guest star Andy Midler), who reveals that his daughter Isabelle, is now I-SA-BOY; Marvin (guest star Fatso-Fasano) Sanjay (guest star Maulik Pancholy) and Clinique (guest star Julanne Chidi Hill), and while Sanjay reveals he had too much cock in his mouth to be a vegan, Guillermo (guest star Guillermo Diaz) reveals to Stevie that his father was a gangster, not a politician like Nancy told him.

If this final episode wants to remind us of anything, it’s that Weeds is really a series about identity. The choices we make, ultimately define who we are, and in the past ten years Nancy hasn’t given an ounce of attention to the woman she wants to be. Her eye has always been on the prize. It’s always been about the task at hand, never slowing down for anyone or anything.

Now…she has no one left to look after.

“Andy my husband is dead, and my family…”

“Stop it, you’re going to be fine. Things happen, things change, we cant control it. But the one you can control is how you think about it, so look at this way, you’re free, you did you job, now it’s done. No one there to answer to.

 “No one to come home to”

“No one to hold you back from becoming the person you always wanted to be. Doing only what you want to do.”

“Who is that? What is that?”

 “Time for you figure it out….time for you to face yourself.”

 “And then, there were none…”

At the end of the episode, Nancy decides to sell her business. Silas tells Nancy he hurt her, but he doesn’t hold the grudge. Shane agrees to go to rehab and cut ties with Oullette. Doug apologizes to Josh, proving he has a heart after all. Andy says goodbye to Nancy.

Let me just say…this WAS A SERIES FINALE! It captured everything you could have hoped for, including “Pittsburgh,” and “pants.”

I will be the first to say it, Weeds had it’s moments of what I’d like to call “down time,” especially this season, but when you put in perspective and realize this is the moment they have been leading up to, it all feels forgiven. This is great television, no matter how you slice it. Weeds has been a series that wasn’t afraid to “go there.” And like life itself, Weeds was often surprising, exhilarating, and yes sometimes empty. Nancy has taken on us on an amazing journey.

Eight seasons, I (and many of you) have followed this woman’s life, anticipated her every move, questioned her motives, and (for some of you) hated her to the core. And now…there isn’t a story left to tell (at least one Showtime isn’t interested in producing any longer). No longer will Nancy Price Botwin Scottson Reyes Bloom go on existing as an incarnation brought to life by the talented women, writer Jenji Kohan, and actress Mary Louise Parker.

Although Nancy is technically going to be alone when the series fades to black forever, there is something so cathartic about this moment. Nancy, Andy, Doug, Silas, and Shane. It’s a rare moment in television, when the audience really just gets a moment so simple, but beautiful at the same time. We know these characters, we know their stories, and after eight seasons these characters, they have been through anything and everything together. Now there is nothing left to do…but sit in silence, and share a joint.

And somehow…that’s just perfect.

 Bye Nance, it’s been great!