Growing Belushi starring Jim Belushi is back for Season 3 on Discovery+.
The basic premise of the series is the comic actor moved to Oregon several years and launched a cannabis company on the farm property he purchased in Medford. Belushi tries to keep things fun and light until a fire burned down the barn last season. Season 3 begins with an investigation of the fire.
Ep. 1: "Burning Down the House"
Belushi is convinced organized crime had something to do with the fire.
"There are five different organizations in this valley alone who are growing cannabis and sending it all over the country," he rails about illegal cultivation operations in the state. "Don't tell on them because if you do they can burn your barn!"
The barn was used for drying and curing but, with the building down, a new one has be erected quickly as harvest is coming in a few weeks.
Belushi stresses about that as well. To blow off steam, he sits in the attic and bangs on a drum.
There are two interludes: One is a "cannabis news" report from Discovery's Chris Jacobs and the other has Belushi dressed up as a professor. Today's subject: The History of 420.
After telling the story of the Waldos smoking at 4:20 in 1971, Belushi explains:
"The Grateful Dead were so excited about the term 420 they used it as their secret code to say, 'Let's go smoke, 420.' The term 420 kind of rippled across all these crowds."
Part of the fun is squabbling between Belushi, his cousin Chris Karakosta and Larry Joe Campbell, who was in the According to Jim cast. When Belushi unleashes his German sheperd on Larry, it's played for laughs.
But it's certainly not all fun and games with the fire issue, the race to harvest and Belushi's admitted loneliness. He's recently divorced and both his kids left the farm to pursue other endeavors.
How the fire happened is ultimately resolved by local authorities.
Ep. 2: "On the Road Again"
Jim and Chris hit the road with a first stop in Chicago where they meet with Christie Hefner, Hugh Hefner's daughter who ran the Playboy empire for years. Now she's the board chair of Belushi's Farm.
Jim wants to build the business quickly, Chris and Christie prefer to grow slow. They argue about this throughout the episode.
At each stop - Green Med Wellness in Tucson, Qualcom in Las Vegas and Local Roots in Massachusetts - Jim makes deals despite Chris' protests. Each deal is for brick hash or live resin that will be produced and white labeled for the Blues Brothers brand.
Back at the farm. Larry tries to assert control but the basics of cultivation - such as cloning, which is shown in great detail - elude him. Larry's antics add to the comedic tone of the show.
The visit to Arizona is the most meaningful. Jim hails Jaquincy Kittrell's Black-owned Green Med Wellness as the "first diversity license holder in Arizona," adding: "Which is a big deal as far as social equity is concerned in our industry. It's very important to me."
He gets to jam on harmonica at Green Med's Harambe Cafe consumption lounge. "I've never been to a club like this one," Jim says with a big smile. "I'm chasing the magic."
Ep. 3: "Big Sur Holy Weed"
Returning to a theme from Season 1 when Jim and Chris went to Colombia in search of Santa Marta Gold, the intrepid senior duo head out on a mission from God, as instructed by Dan Aykroyd, Belushi's partner as he was with John, to find the landrace strain known as Big Sur Holy Weed. Leafwell descirbes it as having "mysterious genetics, created in the Big Sur area from either Zacatecas Purple (an original Mexican sativa) or Afghani Skunk."
The episode begins at Sunset Cross Provisions, a grow faciliity in Michigan. Jim and Chris get into a row when Jim jokes about Chris' dyed hair and youngish attire on Weed + Grub. "We jab each other, but not on a national podcast," Chris gripes. On their Big Sur trip, after a few local pranks, Jim and Chris meet Mojave Richmond, who happens to have an original mother plant of the Holy Weed. Jim and Mojave jam in the woods and strike up a partnership.
Incidentally, Bodhi Seeds has a line called Big Sur Holy Bud "to differentiate it from the Big Sur Holy Weed lines by HHF, Danbo and Reeferman," adding: "Everybody that has tried this line has fallen in love with it. Very limited, only 30 packs, then its up to you to make more!"
Reviews of Season 3, Eps 4-6 here.
