Breaking down the controversy: why some viewers hated Nancy Botwin from "Weeds"

September 19, 2023

Breaking down the controversy: why some viewers hated Nancy Botwin from "Weeds"

I remembered last night, no idea why, the show "Weeds" that ran from 2005 to 2012. And started thinking about her lead character, Nancy Botwin. I was deeply in love with her at the time: with her, the support characters, the sets, and the creator (kisses Jenji Kohan, I am a fan). It lasted 8 seasons and came to a very organic ending; weed was becoming legal in a lot of places. The show marked that transition briefly but very well.

But my infatuation was focused on Nancy and Nancy alone. She was the boss. I'm talking 2005; "Breaking Bad" wouldn't arrive until years later, but "The Godfather" had been around since 1972.

The chapter called The Godmother ends with a scene where the doors are closed on Shane (her kid) in an homage to where Michael closes the door on his wife at the end of the movie. Then things get messy, is a drug dealing show, so nothing remains smooth and the conflict remains related whit the drug dealing world, which is a not very nice one.

Remembering that it was not thaaaat famous, especially compared to "Breaking Bad" as a competitor, I did what any adult with insomnia would do to find out why: a Google search. I tried GPT first, but it didn’t answer me straight so I went old school.

And I found out that some people hated Nancy, like really hated her.

Let's see why: "Given how times have changed, with recreational marijuana now legal in a growing number of states, the concept of Weeds comes off as a bit outdated” you read in GameRant. You know what, GameRant? Alcohol is legal, and there are tons of movies about the prohibition era. And some of them are even good, I am thinking of “Once Upon a Time in America”, “Boardwalk Empire”, and gems like that. They were so good that they have canonized outlaws for our entertainment. [i]

Next heater is Brian, from pop culture references, who said: “She often did some shady stuff that I think we were supposed to forgive that I never really did” So, he is offended by the fact that the drug dealer is shady. It happens a lot in that business Brian, get over it.[ii]

Then BuzzFeed pushes the envelope and says: "Nancy started off great. Just a small-time weed dealer, just a single mom trying to make the best out of a bad situation." This is also from Brian who clearly likes women to remain always small-time. Don't you dare become big or successful, especially as a Drug Lady (is that a thing? Like a Drug Lord?). It continues: "The most annoying part was the fact that Nancy rarely took any ownership when things went wrong. There was not even the slightest awareness that she had messed people over and negatively impacted her family." He is worried about the impact her shady actions may have on her family, but more than anything, he feels the need to say "She messed up her children" Stop blaming the mothers! Of course, she did; she is a drug dealer, but she is a woman, so it's not like she had a legitimate expectation or right to have a wife, like any Drug Lord would have to take care of the kids and clean the house. A wife becomes very handy for gangsters, but Nancy is already a wife (or a widow) herself, so it gets confusing, I guess. She is taking care of the FBI, DEA, and bad guys in the competition, and doing all this without a wife. So, yes; the kids get messed and fucked up. [iii]

It's highly unlikely that stuff like that was said about Pablo Escobar Gaviria: “Gosh, he really messed up his children and did shady stuff”.