Weeds 8.06 ‘Allosaurus Crush Castle’ review

Whew, what a great episode!

Nancy Botwin is a funny lady again. No longer is she walking around like a zombie like she has been doing for most of the season. She’s also matured. She’s grown all the more wiser to how her choices have been effecting everyone around her. And we finally are getting to see the show bring back the playful quality that makes the series so unique and interesting.

What I loved most about this episode was how honest it felt. Weeds has always been a great show, in my opinion, because it allows its characters room to breathe. So often, a television series will bombard its characters with either an issue of the week or a huge plot that ultimately leads to negative fan reaction (the writers of Gossip Girl can tell you all about this one). Character driven stories have proven to be the most successful, largely because they don’t have to rely on anything for shock value. Everything that happens, just feels natural.

For example, this week Silas managed to track down R.J. (guest star) in what appeared to essentially be a mental institution. He’s back on his meds now, and tells Silas that his drugs are locked away in a closet at his parent’s house. Silas dresses like a burglar and breaks into the house, only to find he’s just walked in on a surprise party. Conveniently, the lady of the house hired a stripper for the occasion. Silas is then forced to comply with the demands of the horny, middle-aged women who tell him to take off his shirt. This sub-plot could have been really cheesy and worthy of more than a few eye rolls. Instead, it didn’t feel cliché. Somehow, it worked and managed to push Silas into a new direction and possible new career path by the end of the episode.

Nancy is looking for work. Only this time, she wants to do something legal. After she is turned down for a job by a marketing firm, she makes contact with the father of Stevie’s teammate, Terry (), a pharmaceutical rep who drops off free samples to the fathers who hate him because his son is so bad at soccer. Terry offers Nancy an opportunity: a play date for one evening between Stevie and his terror of a son Kyle, for a position as a  sales rep within his company. Nancy accepts but is unprepared for just how terrible Kyle really is. But we end up getting some amazing dialogue between Nancy and Kyle, which you can see below…

Nancy: You’re into bugs and dinosaurs and not so into sports, so I’m thinking you’re pretty smart, right? And inexplicably mature. Do you know what mature means? No? Grown up. Able to handle things, like the truth. And getting hit with blocks. Lots of blocks are going to come your way in life, Kyle, lots, especially if you go on acting like this. You’re going to grow up, and people are going to hate you. Really not like you, at all. Forget girls. Forget friends. Sure some might act like your friends, but really they just want something from you: money, sex, drugs. You’re an asshole and it gets you to the top. Then, guess what? There’s nobody else there. So you double down and keep working and before you know it any family you had is long gone too. But, I’m thinking it’s not to late for you to do things differently.

Kyle: Is this cause you got shot in the head?

The monologue was very telling of what Nancy may have been like as a child and also lends itself to the drastic development, which occurs within the episode. Nancy finally has a legitimate career.

Meanwhile Jill drops a bomb on Andy and Doug: she’s pregnant, and doesn’t know who the father of the baby is! And so, they consider playing pool (or darts) for who should take the responsibility of who the kid is, leaving Jill to decide she wants to raise the baby on her own.

And Shane decides to charge his classmates to write their essays for him at the police academy. He is reprimanded but manages to outsmart the professor.

Naturally it also has to come back to marijuana somehow. And so, as it turns out Nancy’s new employer is currently working on developing synthetic pot with real THC. Nancy recommends Silas for the job.