Weeds: Season Eight

After eight seasons of social satire steeped in black comedy and family dysfunction, Showtime's hit comedy starring Mary-Louise Parker as a dope-dealing single mom ends by coming full circle to where it all began: the “little boxes” of suburbia (complete with a return to the theme song from the debut run). The Botwin clan winds its way back from the East Coast to Agrestic, CA, which has been renamed Regrestic, appropriately enough. Along the way we learn who was targeted by the sniper at the end of the seventh season (as well as the identity of the shooter); how the Botwins try to go legit with their drug business, with Nancy (Parker) becoming a pharmaceutical rep and green-thumb son Silas (Hunter Parrish) going into medical marijuana research and development; and how younger brother Shane (Alexander Gould) balances his career on the police force with the family enterprise. But with a 6-year-old still to raise, Nancy remains TV's most screwed-up maternal role model. Mixing whimsical crime antics with death threats and murder (all played with gallows humor), this set compiles all 13 episodes from 2012, with extras including cast and crew audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel. Recommended for those collecting the series, this is optional elsewhere. (S. Axmaker)