Note: Full Spoilers for the Weeds season premiere follow.

"She's been rehabilitated," claims Shane Botwin of his mom, Nancy, near the end of "Bags". Of course he's wrong. But would we have it any other way?

I continue to get a kick out of Weeds. I know that some fans have been less than thrilled with the show in recent years, but I've been really enjoying how drastically it overhauls itself so frequently and dramatically, to the point where the series feels like it keeps morphing into its own spinoff every year or two. And more importantly, I still find the show funny and entertaining.

Season 7 begins with perhaps the most drastic changes yet – beginning with a three year time-jump that picks up with Nancy wrapping up a jail stint, and now living in New York. At first, I was a little disappointed that we skipped over so much, including her trial. But then again, if Nancy simply confessed to the crime, there wouldn't be much drama to the trial, now would there? Plus, the time-jump has allowed for the show to age up the kids a bit in a more notable way.

I bought into Nancy's lesbian relationship and didn't find it to be a contrived, "Oh, now she's making out with a girl" moment, simply because of who Nancy is. She's someone who keeps adapting and changing and having that close connection and protection in prison would be very appealing to her.

It was good to see Stevie's location accounted for quickly, as it was my biggest question in the early scenes. At this point, we all know Nancy's a terrible mother, right? That kid probably is much better off believing Aunt Jill is his mom. But that doesn't mean it's not going to be upsetting to Nancy, even though she will also not let it overpower her. Mary-Louise Parker continues to make this woman someone somehow fun to watch, even as we can't possibly agree with the vast majority of her actions.

- Showtime
The premiere did a good job of catching us up with Andy, Silas, Shane and Doug in Copenhagen. Okay, it's a little icky having Alexander Gould playing scenes out with much older actresses as love interests – but while Gould is 17, at this point, I guess we can assume Shane is a bit older than that, right? Plus, I was cracking up at the line, "You will never puppeteer in Copenhagen again. This I swear!" Perhaps even better though was the reveal of Silas Botwin, male model (for a "weird flower water"). Add in Andy's job as a local tour guide and Doug's job as… a guy who's realized that tourists are "up for banging tall strangers" and you have some great stuff; so much so that I would love to see more of it. Perhaps some "Botwins in Copenhagen" webisodes, Showtime?

The payoff on Nancy's jailhouse lover giving her oven mitts was pretty solid. I have to admit, I'd forgotten about that bizarre gift, and was very happy to see it come back so quickly by the episode's end. As for what it lead to – are you freaking kidding me? That's some serious weaponry Nancy has now. How will she use that? And why am I both fearing and excited to find it out?

As the series has progressed, Nancy has come off as more and more of natural born criminal and at this point, she seems up for anything – in both good and very bad ways. How she decides to make use of that suitcase is a good question mark to end the premiere on, and I am looking forward to finding out the answer. But just look at that little smile on her face as she lugs that case full of weapons through the parking lot in the final seconds of the episode… she loves this stuff.

I'll leave you with this: "The ass and the eye?"

IGN Ratings for Bags
Rating Description
out of 10 Click here for ratings guide
8
OVERALL
Great
(out of 10)
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