once in a while you got to burn down your house, keep your dreaming alive
Don't worry! I will not be only posting about Jedward from now on! I'd like to say that was a momentary lapse in my sanity, but it appears to be continuing, so we'll just have to see. (I may have bought a t-shirt and downloaded an album; it doesn't look promising.)
But in the meantime, more Weeds! Fewer caps and stuff this time around because I got lazy, but lots of over-analysis because, y'know, I'm still me.
This was another good season for Silas/Nancy stuff, so that's mostly what I've taken notes on. He really starts to break away a bit more and is just so totally fixated on dealing and growing and doing basically whatever he can to help her. HE EVEN READS A BOOK. That's srs bsns for Silas. But seriously, god, that bit where he takes the bag and says she doesn't have any other option but to let him sell? And how she doesn't make a huge effort to stop him, because she needs him to do this and at the end of the day that's more important than how dangerous it might be. Sigh.
And then she's so impressed by how good he is, and he's just like, GLOWING because of it, and being all "I'm being a good son." BUT GOD, then when she says if he's gonna do this he's not the good son, he has to pick an alias and be "some random punk who sells for [her]"-and like she's just saying that's who he has to pretend to be, but it's already setting up this weird relationship between the two of them, weakening the mother/son connection that they have.
It's made weirder by the fact that the alias he picks is JUDAH. I get that it's ~a tip of the hat to the old man~ but like, that is Nancy's husband, don't call yourself that? Idk idk. That whole scene-I might be reading too much into it but there are a few times where I feel like the writers are purposefully drawing parallels between the boys and Judah, like how they try to take on the "man of the house" role now that he's dead. And this was a big one, because Silas comes home from work with money for the family and kisses Nancy on the head and then sits down with her, and she rests her feet on his lap and they basically talk about their days. And it's not like that's absolutely not a son thing, but it's a lot more of a husband thing I think?
The mother/son relationship isn't totally worn down this season but it's like the connection they have is sort of separated into two different types of relationship, one where she's his mother and one where she's his boss. Which is kind of best shown in the scene where they're arguing about Tara and she actually does a switchover from one role to the other. "This is not your Mommy talking. This is your boss." Then switching into mother-mode and hugging him: "I'm sorry if she hurt you. Little bitch. You're too good for her. And I love you very much. And you could use a haircut."
I think to a certain extent she is being a good mother here, or at least I understand her intention, because she's not just giving Silas what he wants, buuuut man, that's got to be confusing, right? I feel like consistency is the most important thing from parents, especially if one of them dies, and for Silas to be told that half the time his mother isn't his mother...god, it just makes so much SENSE to me, how things end up.
And I found the Tara thing interesting because she doesn't seem much like Nancy on the surface, but with her complex morals and the way she's kind of deludes herself to make herself think she's doing the right thing-they're actually quite similar? And then the fact that she's involved in the whole drug thing too. And Nancy is so resistant to her at first, just like, pissed about her general existence.
One of my favourite scenes is the one with Nancy's breakdown, when they come home from jail (lol) and she's being weird and they want her to talk to them but she says nothing and then starts stripping off in the kitchen. And how Andy is like wooooooah okay, but tries to hold it together and says "Okay guys, let's give Mommy some space," and he and Lupita start to leave but the boys still just stand there and stare. It's like how I was saying in one of my season 7 posts, about how it's totally normal for Shane to make jibes at Nancy about "throwing all her clothes off" because she was doing it in front of him way back then.
Shane was so heartbreaking this season, oh my god. When he's typing up his resumé for her and he says he's so proud of her for getting a "real job." And then when she puts him in summer school with all the crazy religious people, just to kind of get him out of the way, and he DESPERATELY tries to talk to her about it but she just won't listen. It feels like there are so many times throughout this season where that happens, and she really is so harsh-when she's arguing with Silas about Tara and Shane's trying to get her attention she just says "Go eat some cake or watch Youtube or something." And then when they're fleeing and she has no idea that he had turtles, for an entire year. :( And how he tells Isabelle he thinks his Dad loved him more than his Mom does. (Sidenote: how cute was Shane and Isabelle's friendship? Omg, the cutest.)
And Shane takes on Judah's role in an even more blatant way than Silas, by channelling him in order to say things to the other members of the family. Telling Nancy Judah likes the way she wears her hair now. And:
Nancy: It's making me really sad.
Shane: Why? Don't you love him? (...) He says he still loves you.
Nancy: Shane. This is you talking, isn't it?
And the thing is, it's so clever, because we never REALLY know if it is. For all we know, Judah's ghost is legit in the house speaking to Shane, though that does seem like the least likely option. But it's like, initially you kind of assume that Shane's faking it for attention, because that makes a hell of a lot of sense considering how much he's being ignored. BUT, it's equally plausible that he's actually having some kind of psychotic break and hallucinating. If he's pretending, it's so interesting because he's saying things he wouldn't feel able to say otherwise (presumably), like when he's talking to Andy and he asks why he let Nancy down and why he's not taking better care of them. :'(
Even back then, Shane wanted to come along and help out with the drug stuff. Like he fights against it at first but then it just becomes something he's being left out of, and it doesn't even matter what it is, he just wants to be involved. And god, when Nancy gives him that little heartfelt speech about how things are gonna get better: "We'll rent a house, at the beach, one summer. Take walks. We'll look back on this as the dark time." It made me so sad, because things never really do get better, the dark time just goes on and on. (Although, they do end up living by the beach for a while, so that amused me a little bit.)
Oh my god, and the bit where Nancy is HOLDING A KNIFE TO CELIA'S THROAT and Shane walks in. They just go ALL OUT building Shane up as a murderer, don't they? It's amazing. He's all "Were you really going to kill her?" Which, also: EVERYONE JUST ASSUMES THAT NANCY KILLED PETER.
Andy: We all knew that U-Turn story was bullshit. I guessed poison, was I right? Silas thought you smothered him in his sleep. Shane has some wild theory about you and a samurai.
Nancy: My whole family thinks I'm a killer.
And it's so interesting because for one thing Shane is basically growing up to believe that his Mom kills people or at least WOULD kill people if the situation arose, but also because yes Nancy, your whole family thinks you're a killer, BUT THEY LOVE YOU ANYWAY. Even during the time they all believe this, they still cling to her, nobody changes. It's a little alarming, but also sort of sweet, and it sets it up nicely for when Shane actually does kill someone and they all stick by him.
To go back to the bit with Celia and the knife for a minute-as Celia leaves, she says "You're a fucking sociopath!" to Nancy, which I found really interesting, because if you look at the definition of Antisocial Personality Disorder it really sounds eerily like Nancy. Although I do think she's capable of remorse. But otherwise, Nancy to a T? I like that, because it's not just lazy writing like "oh, Nancy's kind of reckless and manipulative, just because!"
There was less in the way of Andy/Nancy and Silas/Shane this season. I did like Silas and Shane's little chat in jail, and how when Tara slept over Shane seemed really gleeful about that fact. (Perv.) Plus when Nancy gets super pissed at Andy for leeching off of them, and she grabs him by the waistband of his pants and he just goes totally docile and submissive and leaves the room with his tail between his legs. (I am not even going to talk about Andy's storylines this season, because they were gross and unfunny and STUPID and he was the least likeable he's ever been, the end.)
But in the meantime, more Weeds! Fewer caps and stuff this time around because I got lazy, but lots of over-analysis because, y'know, I'm still me.
This was another good season for Silas/Nancy stuff, so that's mostly what I've taken notes on. He really starts to break away a bit more and is just so totally fixated on dealing and growing and doing basically whatever he can to help her. HE EVEN READS A BOOK. That's srs bsns for Silas. But seriously, god, that bit where he takes the bag and says she doesn't have any other option but to let him sell? And how she doesn't make a huge effort to stop him, because she needs him to do this and at the end of the day that's more important than how dangerous it might be. Sigh.
And then she's so impressed by how good he is, and he's just like, GLOWING because of it, and being all "I'm being a good son." BUT GOD, then when she says if he's gonna do this he's not the good son, he has to pick an alias and be "some random punk who sells for [her]"-and like she's just saying that's who he has to pretend to be, but it's already setting up this weird relationship between the two of them, weakening the mother/son connection that they have.
It's made weirder by the fact that the alias he picks is JUDAH. I get that it's ~a tip of the hat to the old man~ but like, that is Nancy's husband, don't call yourself that? Idk idk. That whole scene-I might be reading too much into it but there are a few times where I feel like the writers are purposefully drawing parallels between the boys and Judah, like how they try to take on the "man of the house" role now that he's dead. And this was a big one, because Silas comes home from work with money for the family and kisses Nancy on the head and then sits down with her, and she rests her feet on his lap and they basically talk about their days. And it's not like that's absolutely not a son thing, but it's a lot more of a husband thing I think?
The mother/son relationship isn't totally worn down this season but it's like the connection they have is sort of separated into two different types of relationship, one where she's his mother and one where she's his boss. Which is kind of best shown in the scene where they're arguing about Tara and she actually does a switchover from one role to the other. "This is not your Mommy talking. This is your boss." Then switching into mother-mode and hugging him: "I'm sorry if she hurt you. Little bitch. You're too good for her. And I love you very much. And you could use a haircut."
I think to a certain extent she is being a good mother here, or at least I understand her intention, because she's not just giving Silas what he wants, buuuut man, that's got to be confusing, right? I feel like consistency is the most important thing from parents, especially if one of them dies, and for Silas to be told that half the time his mother isn't his mother...god, it just makes so much SENSE to me, how things end up.
And I found the Tara thing interesting because she doesn't seem much like Nancy on the surface, but with her complex morals and the way she's kind of deludes herself to make herself think she's doing the right thing-they're actually quite similar? And then the fact that she's involved in the whole drug thing too. And Nancy is so resistant to her at first, just like, pissed about her general existence.
One of my favourite scenes is the one with Nancy's breakdown, when they come home from jail (lol) and she's being weird and they want her to talk to them but she says nothing and then starts stripping off in the kitchen. And how Andy is like wooooooah okay, but tries to hold it together and says "Okay guys, let's give Mommy some space," and he and Lupita start to leave but the boys still just stand there and stare. It's like how I was saying in one of my season 7 posts, about how it's totally normal for Shane to make jibes at Nancy about "throwing all her clothes off" because she was doing it in front of him way back then.
Shane was so heartbreaking this season, oh my god. When he's typing up his resumé for her and he says he's so proud of her for getting a "real job." And then when she puts him in summer school with all the crazy religious people, just to kind of get him out of the way, and he DESPERATELY tries to talk to her about it but she just won't listen. It feels like there are so many times throughout this season where that happens, and she really is so harsh-when she's arguing with Silas about Tara and Shane's trying to get her attention she just says "Go eat some cake or watch Youtube or something." And then when they're fleeing and she has no idea that he had turtles, for an entire year. :( And how he tells Isabelle he thinks his Dad loved him more than his Mom does. (Sidenote: how cute was Shane and Isabelle's friendship? Omg, the cutest.)
And Shane takes on Judah's role in an even more blatant way than Silas, by channelling him in order to say things to the other members of the family. Telling Nancy Judah likes the way she wears her hair now. And:
Nancy: It's making me really sad.
Shane: Why? Don't you love him? (...) He says he still loves you.
Nancy: Shane. This is you talking, isn't it?
And the thing is, it's so clever, because we never REALLY know if it is. For all we know, Judah's ghost is legit in the house speaking to Shane, though that does seem like the least likely option. But it's like, initially you kind of assume that Shane's faking it for attention, because that makes a hell of a lot of sense considering how much he's being ignored. BUT, it's equally plausible that he's actually having some kind of psychotic break and hallucinating. If he's pretending, it's so interesting because he's saying things he wouldn't feel able to say otherwise (presumably), like when he's talking to Andy and he asks why he let Nancy down and why he's not taking better care of them. :'(
Even back then, Shane wanted to come along and help out with the drug stuff. Like he fights against it at first but then it just becomes something he's being left out of, and it doesn't even matter what it is, he just wants to be involved. And god, when Nancy gives him that little heartfelt speech about how things are gonna get better: "We'll rent a house, at the beach, one summer. Take walks. We'll look back on this as the dark time." It made me so sad, because things never really do get better, the dark time just goes on and on. (Although, they do end up living by the beach for a while, so that amused me a little bit.)
Oh my god, and the bit where Nancy is HOLDING A KNIFE TO CELIA'S THROAT and Shane walks in. They just go ALL OUT building Shane up as a murderer, don't they? It's amazing. He's all "Were you really going to kill her?" Which, also: EVERYONE JUST ASSUMES THAT NANCY KILLED PETER.
Andy: We all knew that U-Turn story was bullshit. I guessed poison, was I right? Silas thought you smothered him in his sleep. Shane has some wild theory about you and a samurai.
Nancy: My whole family thinks I'm a killer.
And it's so interesting because for one thing Shane is basically growing up to believe that his Mom kills people or at least WOULD kill people if the situation arose, but also because yes Nancy, your whole family thinks you're a killer, BUT THEY LOVE YOU ANYWAY. Even during the time they all believe this, they still cling to her, nobody changes. It's a little alarming, but also sort of sweet, and it sets it up nicely for when Shane actually does kill someone and they all stick by him.
To go back to the bit with Celia and the knife for a minute-as Celia leaves, she says "You're a fucking sociopath!" to Nancy, which I found really interesting, because if you look at the definition of Antisocial Personality Disorder it really sounds eerily like Nancy. Although I do think she's capable of remorse. But otherwise, Nancy to a T? I like that, because it's not just lazy writing like "oh, Nancy's kind of reckless and manipulative, just because!"
There was less in the way of Andy/Nancy and Silas/Shane this season. I did like Silas and Shane's little chat in jail, and how when Tara slept over Shane seemed really gleeful about that fact. (Perv.) Plus when Nancy gets super pissed at Andy for leeching off of them, and she grabs him by the waistband of his pants and he just goes totally docile and submissive and leaves the room with his tail between his legs. (I am not even going to talk about Andy's storylines this season, because they were gross and unfunny and STUPID and he was the least likeable he's ever been, the end.)