I'm not the first one to say that Weeds probably should have ended after Season 4. Season 3 was a little uneven but I think the first two seasons earned itself enough credit to see if they could continue to carry a story with these characters once the Agrestic setting played itself out. After Season 4 it became apparent that they couldn't. If I felt that way after Season 4, why did I stick around to see it through Season 8? Like every other sucker who did I'm assuming because after Season 4 each season I went in kind of expecting it to be the last so in a way I felt pot-committed (oh snap....PUN!!) and had a need to see how it ended. As far as how the story ended, I'm mostly satisfied. I'm less satisfied by the actual execution but the show has been a mess for so long that I can accept that and just take a step back and look at the resolution for each character:
-Nancy: Since she survived a gun shot wound to the head you knew that her story wasn't going to end with her dying. But I'm actually happy with the way that her story ended. Business wise she was successful but she ends up alone and no longer needed. She's a multi-millionaire but she's not really happy. And it's probably what that character deserves
-Andy and Silas: They end in pretty similar places. They both carved out nice little lives for themselves clear across the country from Nancy or her influence. Both have kids. Silas is married, Andy has a restaurant and both seem genuinely happy.
-Shane: Shane was probably Nancy's biggest punishment. As a result of her choices when he was a kid he ends up morally flawed. He's killed as a teenager and now he's a corrupt alcoholic cop.
-Doug: Where Jenji Kohan misjudged the audience is that she thought Doug Wilson needed a resolution to his story. His only role on this show was to still try to make this a comedy. And she failed miserably. He kept trying to be squeezed into the show when they just should have cut him out and focused more on the drama. How are we really supposed to feel about seeing Kevin Nealon as a cult leader dressed in purple robes trying to reconcile with his son who I don't think we've seen since Season 1? It was ridiculous and a huge miss.
Another huge miss and distraction in the series finale was that they tried to get to cute with technology advances 5 years in the future. I'm all for time jumps in series finales. I'm a huge fan of epilogues but stuff like the cell phones and the projection keyboards...too much. It was unnecessary and only took away from the episode.
As much as it was long overdue to end, there is a part of me that's a little sad it's over. Despite it's shortcomings, Mary Louise Parker and Justin Kirk always acted the crap out of whatever they were given.
On a final note, it's weird to think that it may have been my longest tenured scripted television show. Without thinking to hard about it, I'm not sure there are many shows left that began in 2005 that I'm still watching. I think that honor is now held by How I Met Your Mother which started later in that year.
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