Weeds...Is in the Weeds

Mary Louis Parker is one of my favorite actors, and for the first two seasons of Showtime's Weeds, her adventures as a suburban drug mom, with a strong supporting cast and plenty of subplots, entertained the heck out of us.But season three has turned what always had a hint of satire and spoof into full-blown parody--of itself. Just as Arrested Development eventually turned ridiculous, Weeds has jumped the shark by being too unrealistic, instead of just unrealistic enough.The trouble started with the armed stand-off ending season two--the kind of thing any writer would have trouble digging themselves out from. As soon as I saw the last episode of season two, I knew the show was likely over for me. Season three has unfortunately confirmed this, as the gyrations and plot-ridiculousness done in order to extricate Parker's character from that stand-off did too much violence to the series.Further, the cousin's hilarious army adventures play out as too unrealistic for the tone of the rest of the series--especially in a "disguise" scene where he comes home--while the way in which Parker's character continues to act surprised and "I'm-just-an-innocent-girl-who-knows-nothing-of-this-world" has become grating--and unbelievable. At this point, she either had more backbone and knowledge...or she's dead. This is especially glaring during scenes with the sociopath U-Turn, in which she says things that are just for the viewer's benefit, to be funny, that have nothing to do with the actual scene.