Talking of hype, when Mary Louise Parker was spanked in an episode of Showtime’s Weeds this summer, the message boards and blogs went into overdrive. It was an international spanking sensation! Most people seemed to agree that it was a great scene – perhaps the best EVER in a TV show. But now the dust has settled and the hype has died down, does it still stand up? Let’s take a closer look.
This publicity shot showing Mary Louise butt-naked whilst cradling a python is a good place to start. It makes it clear what the star attraction of this show is going to be – and I don’t mean snakes! And what is the name of her character? Nancy BOT-win – clearly some interesting signals are being sent out here!
And the signals just kept getting stronger and stronger.
Nancy is a recently widowed mother of two living in an affluent suburb near Los Angeles. She makes ends meet by selling marijuana, often with disastrous consequences including (at the end of series 3) burning down her house. Series 4 sees Nancy relocate her family to the fictional border town of Ran Mar. She is told to run a maternity store used as a front to disguise a back room tunnel that runs to Mexico, in order to facilitate drug trafficking.
At the end of episode 5 (first aired July 14th) clips were shown of the next episode:
Nancy is asking too many questions of Esteban Reyes (Demián Bichir), who is the local mayor and the kingpin of the drug cartel for which she is now working. The very last clip contained the following dialogue:
Esteban: “What would it take to make you stop?”
Nancy: “Answers?”
Esteban: “How about a spanking?”
Now that’s what I call a cliff hanger!
In Episode 6, Esteban continued to threaten to spank her, and then finally, the previews for the next episode clearly showed him forcibly putting Nancy over his knee and delivering one swat before it faded out.
So this wasn’t just a spanking scene, but a spanking storyline stretched over three separate episodes with teaser trailers each week! By now Showtime viewers (not to mention internet kinksters the world over) were on the edge of their seats waiting to see the full uncut version of Mary Louise Parker’s bottom warming. Would it live up to expectations?
On July 28th 2008 episode 7 first aired:
Nancy and Esteban are seen in the back of a limo. Nancy is winding up her boss again and asks him to give her “a piece of the next Weeds shipment.” Big mistake! This is the opportunity he has been waiting for, and in the back of a car there’s nowhere to run!
Grasping her right arm with his, Bichir pulls Parker across his knee in a manoevre which in freeze frame looks almost balletic. His left arm in the small of her back then makes sure she goes fully across.
Swan Lake!
The view cuts to a side-on camera, and we can see the shocked expression on the face of a mature woman who has just realised she is about to be treated like a naughty little girl.
Hey, I’m 43 you know!
Once her head is right down over his knee, we cut back to a full-on view. She is wearing a short, backless summer dress. Surely he won’t lift it up and bare her bottom…
YES!
Black Lacy Panties!!
The spanking begins in earnest. The first three blows are not shown landing – instead there is a close up of Bechir’s face. It is contorted with suppressed anger and the determination to make sure he does this job properly! He swings his arm in as wide an arc as is possible in such a confined space.
The camera pulls back and we see spank nos. 4 – 6 land fully and squarely on her left cheek.
Pancake shot!
Cutting back to the side-on camera, Nancy conveniently lifts her head up so we can see her face looking shocked and then wincing in pain. An audible intake of breath is heard as the sting from blows 7 – 12 start to bite.
No 11 was a real stinger!
As the spanks continue to rain down on her unprotected lower buttocks, she attempts to free herself by wrapping her right arm around Bechir’s neck and raising her body. But he re-adjusts his weight and forces her back down.
Get out of my face!
Increasingly desperate to escape, she tries kicking her legs instead but only succeeds in sticking her bottom up even more! Bechir continues to spank the now fully exposed seat of her panties as hard as he can until she lets out a deep-throated grunt of which Maria Sharapova would have been proud.
Wow!
After 20 plus spanks have landed, he picks her up off his lap and dumps her uncerimoniously back into her seat. Her face is a picture of female bewilderment, hurt, and humiliation.
The lady is leaving (with a red bottom).
Bechir adjusts his jacket and smooths down his hair. The door of the car is opened, and there is a nice final ironically submissive touch as Nancy says “Thank you Mr. Mayor!”
Of course it wasn’t long before Chross posted the scene – July 29th (the next day!) in fact, whilst still “half asleep!”. His posting produced many wonderful appreciative comments including this one from Dan N: (who knows a thing or two about Cinema Swats)
I am dumbfounded. No, I did not expect anything of this quality. Not after the U.S. film and TV studios have stiffed us on spanking scenes these past forty years. The most recent spanking in a major feature film that I can compare to this is the Patrick Bergin-Sean Young fireworks, in “Love Crimes” (1992).
This Demian Bichir-Mary Louise Parker spanking is even better, because while Sean Young modestly took her swats (23 of them) on the seat of her jeans, MLP did the unthinkable: She allowed the spanker to RAISE HER SKIRT, and spank her on her panties!
Of course that’s what we are used to, in spanko world. But not on mainstream TV. This is the first film or TV spanking I have seen, where the swats do not fall on the lady’s outerwear. THIS, my friends, is a seminal moment in TV.
God bless Mary-Louise Parker! God bless the producers of “Weeds!” This is a scene we collectors will treasure, forever.
And it didn’t end there. No, there was even more to come. So stay tuned and I will write another post about the remarkable follow up scenes and also take a look at the life and career of Mary Louise Parker.