This is just like the super dome

At the end of season 3 Agrestic (name changed recently to Majestic) is destroyed in a massive inferno started by Mr. Guillermo Garcia Gomez. Guillermo lights a marijuana field on fire after Nancy hires Guillermo to be the “muscle” for her business. The crops he destroyed belong to a pot-growing, motorcycle gang who beat up Silas. In Guillermo’s attempts to get even, he burns down the entire town. And so ends the Agrestic chapter of weeds and the “little boxes” intro that I love so much.
While the good people of Agrestic’s worldly possessions are being consumed by flame, they are evacuated and staying in Agrestic’s version of the “super dome” that sheltered the people in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Doug is kind enough to point out the differences with his banjo accompanied signing. For instance he sings, “This is just like the super do-ome, except everyone is white and middle-class...” As he walks around notice the things that are going on in the background. There are girl scouts selling cookies, pedicures being offered, yoga circles, and plasma TV’s. Oh and please believe there was a man on a Segway. And 4 people roaming about the room selling pot.
Are these the things that comfort us? YES. Who doesn’t feel a little more secure with a tagalong cookie in hand? Or in Agrestic’s case, a joint in hand. Time and again I see the characters on Weeds turning to the bottle or the bong in hard times. Of course, it happens in real life too. Why is that? What is it about losing control or losing our inhibitions that makes us feel better? Maybe it brings our super ego’s a little closer to our id. Maybe under the influence, people are more in touch with their desires and they care a little less about their self-presentation?
As for yoga, mani-pedis, and TV. Well, these are some of the things that have become a part of our pop culture. The familiar is always a comfort. No matter how superficial and ridiculous it may seem. Pop culture critics may frown upon these activities, but are they really that bad? Yoga is like exercise and meditation. Surely, they can’t argue with that. Watching television is like entering a fantasy, similar to reading a good book. Getting a pedicure is a way to relax. It could be compared to taking a hot bath or something. Smoking pot is an escape, much like a glass of brandy or whatever they use to drink back in the day (plus they totally smoked weed too). The segway I have no excuse for. The point is, “high culture” and “mass culture seeks to accomplish the same things. Humans all have the same needs. We just choose to fulfill them in different ways. The people of Agrestic are in no way injured, sick, hungry, worried for the safety of family members, or in need of water. So obviously their needs are a little different then the needs of the people in New Orleans. They just needed the comforts of home.