There were no weapons of mass destruction!

In this episode Andy gets a letter from the Army telling him that they’re sending him to Iraq. Just before this scene, Andy admits to Doug that he signed up for the Army Reserves to impress a girl a long time ago. This makes perfect sense, because we all know that Andy Botwin is no hero. Through out the episode Andy tries to find a way out of his predicament. First, he considers marrying a man. At one point, he asks Nancy to cut off his big toe (he chickens out when he realizes she’ll actually do it). Finally he decides to go to Rabi school. Apparently that exempts a person from service.
I like this particular clip because it’s hilarious and because it shows us a different, less shallow, side of Andy. He actually has some opinions about politics and he doesn’t want to fight in a war that is contributing to the “corporate take-over of America”.
In a scene later in the episode Andy is floating face down in the pool. Nancy hits him in the head with a beach ball and asks,
“What the hell are you doing?”
Andy- “Practicing to be dead in case I go to Iraq.”
Nancy- “There is very little water in Iraq.”
Andy- “Then I’ll float in a pool of blood. Or oil. Whatever they’ve got, I’m ready to float.”
I love Weeds because the writers aren’t afraid to make statements, take sides, or take risks. Usually it’s the shows on HBO and Showtime like Weeds that get a little more courageous with their political commentary. The only network show that comes to mind is Boston Legal (love that one too). This episode came out in 2005. This was right after Bush was re-elected and still relatively popular with at least half of the country. So, this little dialogue was a pretty bold statement. I see it as a reflection of the democrats’ frustration that Bush actually got elected to a second term.
In this scene Doug represents the stereotypical stupid American-blindly going along with whatever his government wants him to believe. He defends the war without actually knowing what the hell he’s talking about. There were tons of “Dougs” tricked into believing there were weapons of mass destruction and terrorists hidden in Iraq. Since finding out that neither one was true, people have just been accepting the new excuses. It’s not exactly popular to be into politics. Some people don’t concern themselves with it at all. To them, politics don’t matter until a policy directly affects them. Start a war-I don’t care, keep gays and lesbians from getting married-I don’t care, but you try to take away my gun and I will start a revolt! People like that absolutely infuriate me and I’m glad someone said something about it. Thanks Weeds :)