“I’m sorry, you might want to go away because I don’t like you, and I have a bad habit of losing things I don’t like in fires.” – Zoya
So, Zoya’s back, and she’s none too impressed to see Nancy making moves on her brother. Nancy’s “gay for the stay” cellmate is quite the possessive ex-con, taking her ‘away from both Dmitri (Pablo Schreiber) and his supply before making her take the walk of shame back to her halfway house. Good news abound, though, because even though Shelby has taken Counsellor Ed’s position, she’s unable to have Nancy taken back to jail for her late arrival — in fact, Nancy has been outright released. Apparently all it takes is a quick romp with some Eastern-European siblings for the feds to clean you out of their system. Clearing them out of your system, however, is another matter. But we’ll get to that.
Silas and Andy are butting heads as they try to embark down different paths. More than anything, Andy seems to be nostalgic of his time in Copenhagen, where he was uninhibited by Nancy’s presence and free to roam wherever his feet and Copenhagen Wheel would take him. While he’s trying to get some free publicity for his legitimate business, Silas is padlocked in the backroom, attempting to keep the publicity to a minimum. Unfortunately, Silas still has a few kinks to work out with his messenger service’s public image, having unintentionally invited a confrontation with the local competition.
Denny — the dealer that Nancy scared off from the Vehement building in order to open up more clientele — is well aware of Silas’ territorial encroachment. Representing “Pouncy House” he and his business-associate — and possible girlfriend — Emma (Michelle Trachtenberg) make it clear that Silas needs to back out and give up the game. I’m not sure what to expect out of Miss Trachtenberg’s guest appearance yet — her character gives me the same sort of vibe as Mary-Kate Olsen: cute, quirky, but ultimately, inconsequential. Hopefully I’m proven wrong.
Shane’s apprenticeship isn’t exactly going as he had planned — he’s learning plenty, but not about the system that he’s trying to work. Exploring more of the morally grey area that he wants to inhabit, Shane discovers that his cop mentor has a drinking problem (thirty days of sobriety out the door) and an estranged step-son that doesn’t much enjoy his company. It’s subtle, but since Shane killed Pilar, he can be very much in-tune with others’ feelings. Though I’d hesitate to go so far as to call it empathy, Shane is at least sympathetic to the detective’s situation. As a kid from the suburbs with three dead dads, Shane’s got some experience with estrangement.
Like I said, the feds still need something from Nancy, and Doug’s computer doesn’t exactly yield the motherload of dirty secrets Nancy expected. Finally taking up Foster Klein’s (Aidan Quinn) offer for dinner, Nancy wires up and fails miserably at extorting anything from Vehement’s CEO. Not put off by the pair of mismatched hickies on Nancy’s neck, he accompanies Nancy back to her apartment, where they are met by Silas, Doug, and Dmitri who are all itching to talk business.
I think this may go down as one of my favorite scenes in Weeds, at least this season. I mean, some wild and crazy things just hit the fan, and Nancy’s dumbfounded silence just makes it all the more pristine. And then Zoya walks in. If I was “doubled over” when Dmitri and Klein were trying to exude their alpha-maleness over each other, then I was at least quadrupled over in tearful laughter as Zoya embraces Silas and Andy like old family, demands where Shane is, and sends Nancy off to bed. It looks like the Botwin family finally has a new matriarch, and it’s “high” time for everyone to get shaken back into reality before they end up being lost in a fire.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.