The third season premiere of Weeds produced a new high for the series, having beaten its previous opening numbers.  It drew in 824,000 viewers, all eager to find out what happens to suburban-mother-turned-drug-dealer Nancy Botwin.

Fans of the show were left hanging when the second season ended with Nancy in a Mexican stand-off with five armed gangsters.  With no cellphone signal and her big stash of marijuana mysteriously missing, Nancy virtually had no way out of the dangerous situation.  When the third season began last month, Nancy was right where viewers expected her to be: facing five guns and trying to make the phone call that would save her life.

Mary-Louise Parker, who plays Weeds' drug-dealing heroine, told the Associated Press that she had to psych herself up again for the particular scene, considering the break she and the rest of the show took before filming the third season.

"It was a little bit tricky to find the mood again," Parker said.  "I had to work myself up into that same kind of froth."

The series revolves around Parker's character, who resorts to dealing marijuana to provide for her family after the sudden death of her husband.  As the series progresses, she becomes more involved with the criminal aspects of drug-dealing.

“[Nancy] is a crook.  She is a gangsta!” Mary-Louise Parker said of her character in terms of what's coming in the show.

Despite Nancy's increasing criminal activity, Parker, 43, said her character readily faces the consequences of her actions, though all the while trying her best to pretend they do not exist.

"I think her narcissism is offset by her naiveté, to make her more palatable than she might otherwise be," Parker told the Associated Press.  "She's kind of a less ruthless version of Scarlett O'Hara: She's going to no matter what, she's going to make it work, she's going to put on that red dress — you know, Scarlett puts it on and goes to the ball."

Parker's work on Weeds has earned her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy series.  However, despite her successful television career, she still holds a special place in her heart for the stage.

"I miss those experiences more than I miss some relationships," Mary-Louise Parker said.  "When I pass by the Century Theater my heart kind of aches, because I remember doing How I Learned To Drive, and when I walk by what used to be the Circle Rep or go to the Walter Kerr [site of her Tony Award-winning performance in Proof], it's like looking at pictures of old boyfriends — but much stronger."


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: The Associated Press
(Image Courtesy of Showtime)