This week, Weeds tackled the Oedipal theme head-on; impressive, as we'd worried the writers would let recent icky revelations dwindle away into clever oblivion. Uncle Andy, shaving in the morning, hears the distinct banging of Shane's newfound self-love. After Shane shoves something into a bathroom drawer and scuttles off, Uncle Andy investigates, finding the photos of naked Nancy taken by Shane’s father. "My baby," cries Nancy, who has just returned from a throwdown with the button-cute MILF who is not only sleeping with her son but launching a pot business in the back of her smelly cheese shop. (Nancy, with that trenchant Nancy look, delivered her special brand of maternal love: "You're fucking my 17-year old son. Brad's gonna be 17, sooner than you think. He's a good-looking boy.") It's a world gone mad, Andy posits tentatively.

It's as if the adults are children, and vice versa, Celia is sneezing blood, stealing cash for cocaine that she's apparently snorting like David Carr circa 1986. Celia is loco. “Batshit crazy,” Nancy confirms. It's as if all the loco of this season and last is manifesting in Celia's brain. The opposite effect is taking place in Shane's head; his smackdown of the school's popular guy last episode has earned him a fierce reputation. When he walks the hallways these days, kids step aside. "I think he's Mexican," whispers one. "Huge dick," speculates another.

It is a world gone mad. And so, Nancy must face it. Shredding the photos, she sits her sweet boys down for a specialty Weeds scene: Nancy in a monologue, espousing awkward wisdom to her gorgeous, errant sons while guzzling wine. We remember, in these moments, that Nancy is a single mother. And while she's saying, "It's a little quirky to masturbate to pictures of your mother," we hear: Where's my fucking husband?

Which brings us to another impressive development this episode: Nancy's burgeoning affair with the craven mayor of Mexico. Finally, Nancy has found someone who is her equal. "Nancy is impulsive, she's reckless. But she's not dangerous," declares Mayor Esteban, sitting behind his cherrywood desk twirling a cigar. Mayor Esteban, dapper and corrupt, gets her. Fix me a drink, he demands. "Something dangerous. Something reckless. With a twist." The episode ends with a sweet scene as close to picket fences as the new Weeds may ever get: Esteban and Nancy snuggling on the veranda, framed by two solid bodyguards in the front garden. —Emma Pearse