There is an old saying that desperate times call for desperate measures. Over the last few years the economy has been on a marked decline. People that have grown used to a certain affluent life style have been forced to cut back on their expenses and even take on additional jobs just to stay afloat. Back in 2005 Showtime saw this trend and came up with a dark comedy for their cable network, ‘Weeds’. It is about a woman who just lost her husband leaving her with two children and a growing pile of bills. Now since the housewife, Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) is not the type to put on a blue vest and work as a greeter at the local Wal-Mart, she does the only thing she can think of, Nancy starts selling pot. The third season of the series is now on DVD released through Lion’s Gate. This series has become the cornerstone for Showtime’s original programming garnering both critical acclaim and the best ratings on their network. One of he main factors in making this show work is the ‘there but for the grace of God’ syndrome. The target audience is generally in a higher economic bracket, this is premium cable after all, and the fear of not having the means to make ends meet is a real one. The series is one of the better examples of dark humor ever shown. It is able to go from realistic to absurd in an instance but never seems to cross the line. Well it doesn’t go too far over the line.

At the end of season two Nancy found herself a victim of here our success. Her illicit product is in such demand that she had to stop buying in bulk from her regular supplier, Heylia (Tonye Patano), and start her own ‘grow house’ to produce her own crop. This came to the attention of some local gang bangers and dealers and as the second season came to a close a huge deal with Nancy has fallen through. She now owes a small fortune to U-Turn (Page Kennedy). Nancy is forced to work off her debt to U-Turn by running errands for him. Usually the tasks result in humiliation for the soccer mom dealer. She is sent to another gang member to pick up some drugs and is forced to dance for him on top a pool table. She returns with low grade pot instead of the expected heroin and her debt is substantially increased. Since her drub business is in shambles Nancy is forced to take a real job as an assistant to Sullivan Groff (Matthew Modine) an ultra slick developer for Majestic, the rival neighboring development to Agrestic where Nancy and her friends live. Nancy’s one time best friend and current adversary Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins) has discovered Nancy’s secret and is using it as leverage over her. Celia also runs for job if councilman replacing Nancy’s financial backer Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon). Celia, coping with self image issues after a mastectomy begins an affair with Groff. This severs a double person of humiliating her ex husband Dean (Andy Milder). Lets just say that June Cleaver or Donna Reed never had to face the problems that Nancy has.

Nancy has always tried to keep her two sons, teenager Silas (Hunter Parrish) and his younger brother Shane (Alexander Gould) in the dark about her illegal job. At this point they not only know they are helping. Shane fills the baggies while Silas is pushing weed around town. Silas finds an untapped market with a Christian youth group and enlists the assistance of one of its members, Tara Lindman (Mary-Kate Olsen). She is saving herself for marriage so she won’t have se with Silas but her definition of sex is along the lines of former President Clinton so Silas is happy with the relationship. Meanwhile Shane is enrolled in a summer school with a decidedly Christian slant. Along with Celia’s daughter Isabelle (Allie Grant) the pair fights back on the grounds of separation of church and state. Also undergoing a lot of change this season is Nancy’s brother in law Andy (Justin Kirk). He has been desperate not to go to war with his National Guard unit. He has tried to become a rabbinical student, shoot off a couple of toes but he still winds up in service. When he and his combat buddy are part of a secret weapons test that kills the buddy Andy gets off the hook in exchange for keeping quite. He then goes into catering porn film sets and winds up in a niche set of films using is three toe foot to a rather bizarre and perverted purpose. He ultimately befriends a biker girl and the gang she is with starts to threaten Nancy, her business and her family.

This series may have a very unusual premise but it works on every level. It is dark comedy at its best albeit not intended for the whole family. The themes explored here are based in reality. Nancy is a housewife. That is what she basically trained for her whole life. She is the kind of woman that went from her father’s house to her husband with very little actual work experience. Being ill equipped for supporting her family she turns to something she initially sees as a harmless crime. This season really concentrates on the deadly backend side of the drug business. It may seem like a victimless crime but people are being killed on the supply side. In some strange way the Bowden family is not dysfunctional. They are a loving family and tend to pull together in a crisis; even if that crisis originated with mom’s illegal activities.

Starting with the second season and continued here the theme song ‘Little Boxes’, the sixties anti-conformity anthem, is done in a different musical style by a different performer. The cast here is excellent. Every actor is incredible in their roles. As always Parker plays the lamentable Nancy with understated charm. She is a normally reasonable person stuck in the most unreasonable of circumstances and fully realizes that her decision at the root of it all. Nealon frequently goes over the top in his character of Doug. He is a man that is uninhibited in his quest for revenge on Celia and his hedonistic tendencies often get him into trouble. Adding Modine to the cast was brilliant. He has such a natural sense of comedy that his oily character is great fun to watch. Adding one of the Olsen twins to the mix was a bit of stunt casting but she does handle her part with talent.

As with the previous two season DVD box sets Lion’s Gate does a great job. The set includes a set of extras that will keep fans busy for hours. This is something to get, watch and enjoy.