Fun Stuff > ENJOY
Treme! From the creators of the Wire
KvP:
George Pelecanos scripted the last episode, and we get a couple of characters that move forward a bit and a couple who don't seem to go anywhere. We get a telling comment from John Goodman's wife about how he's not leaving the house or doing anything constructive. He's very good at hiding it, but his rage is bottomless and it's taking up more and more of him. One wonders how his youtube video will play with the uni he works at. If people on the street recognize him, surely those outside the city will as well. Could turn out badly. Interesting how Delmond's (that's Clarke Peter's son, the trumpet player) arc seems to be taking place almost entirely outside of New Orleans.
Another episode, another slight from Annie against Sonny. Harry's right about the chip on his shoulder, and that he's projecting his insecurity at being an outsider on other people, but I still feel like as he continues to stew over his lack of control he's going to start taking it out on Annie. She's the only good thing he has going and he doesn't feel like he's worthy of her or that she respects him.
A partial resolution to the Antoine storyline and we're almost back to his arc not really having any sort of hook. His dental problem's fixed but according to Melissa Leo's character, his horn is missing, so he's got tough times coming.
Wondering where the restaurant arc could possibly go from here. It will only get worse, I'm guessing.
Lambreaux gets to display the less violent side to his strong masculinity, and he looks on track to becoming the de facto father of another family. Lots of potential for conflict there.
Inlander:
It was nice to see that Janette can turn down Davis cold and without a moment's hesitation when she's not in the mood (which looks like being most of the time, really). Clearly neither of them consider themselves to be boyfriend/girlfriend, so it's an interesting little dynamic going on between those two characters. At the moment Davis's interactions with Creighton are the episode highlights for me. We've obviously skipped a few piano lessons ahead since last episode: their interaction seemed to have evolved somewhat, and I think Creighton is starting to recognise that whatever his faults, Davis is at least somebody who's as one-eyed and passionate about New Orleans as he is.
I don't know about Delmond's storyline at the moment. I guess his function in the show is to represent the New Orleans diaspora, but if I understand correctly he left before Katrina, and he doesn't see himself as part of the city's musical heritage, and every time we go to see what he's up to we get yanked out of New Orleans. I thought his scenes were some of the best in episode 4 and I really enjoyed them, but I don't know if they belonged in the same show as everything else.
With each episode Sonny's chip gets explained (if not excused) a bit more: I think the show's hinting strongly that while he might be a decent enough musician, he's just not good enough to cut it in a town like New Orleans; Annie is clearly more talented and is getting offered gigs left right and centre; Sonny meanwhile is left to trek out to Texas with his fairly loserish mates to play one song before he gets turfed from the stage for a better, more recognised pianist. I think he moved to New Orleans thinking that just doing that would be enough, somehow - but it's not. On the other hand, he didn't seem angry at Annie for taking a gig with another pianist, as we supposed he might based on what he said to her: he was surprised, certainly, and I think he was making a little power-play by making sure that she knew he knew, but at the same I think that the way he sat in the bar listening to her play, and kind of smiled to himself, suggested that his request that she not play with another pianist was only half-serious at most.
I really liked the interaction between Antoine and his ex-wife's new husband (Leonard?). It was really refreshing to see a show that honestly depicts how most peope, I think, try to make a go of that kind of situation and try to get on with each other, rather than the usual boring "old husband hates the new husband" thing that we've seen a thousand times before.
Inlander:
So how many people here are watching this show?
I really liked this week's episode. I've felt in previous episodes that the "Fuck the police!" attitude was a bit too simplistic and knee-jerk, so I really applaud the show for pointing out so sympathetically just how desperate and frightened the police are. It was also a salient reminder that pre-Katrina New Orleans wasn't the magical happyland the show has sometimes risked depicting it as, and that the problems are much, much greater than just fixing flood damage and moving people back. I haven't always liked David Morse in the past but I thought he did a terrific job as the police lieutenant, and Melissa Leo's reaction shots were great too: the way her eyes displayed how her attitude was changing even as the police situation was explained to her.
Speaking of Leo, I realised last night just how much I'm enjoying her seeing a different kind of character from those she's usually cast as. She's typically played fairly shambolic, down-on-their-luck characters, so it's great to see her getting the chance to do something different.
And that interlude with the Japanese jazz fan was so bizarre and strangely touching. It's so rare to get a moment of pure generosity like that in a David Simon show, and it was also a relief to have the "do-gooder outsider" portrayed sympathetically in Treme for once. (Also I watched this episode just after watching the latest episode of the Pacific, so the contrast in Japanese-American relations was rather jarring.)
The only character who I'm a little touch-and-go about at the moment is Albert. In terms of character development I feel like he's spinning his wheels a little.
David_Dovey:
--- Quote from: Inlander on 11 May 2010, 20:44 ---So how many people here are watching this show?
--- End quote ---
Downloading the first 5 eps now, it'll probably take a while, I think our bandwidth got shaped and it won't be back to full speed for 2-3 days. I'll be back with impressions after that, I suppose.
Damnable Fiend:
just something I stumbled across, though it's about The Wire, rather than Treme. sort of an amusing/cool quote.
--- Quote ---Michael Kostroff, an actor who was in town to volunteer for Obama and had a chance to meet him, told the Sun that Obama’s favorite TV show is his own: HBO’s “The Wire,” which chronicles Baltimore’s violent drug culture and the police who quixotically try to stop it.
Obama told the Sun his favorite character is Omar, a stick-up artist who steals from drug dealers and then gives the loot to poor people in the neighborhood.
“That’s not an endorsement. He’s not my favorite person, but he’s a fascinating character.”
--- End quote ---
on-topic I'll probably check out this show after I'm done watching the Wire, and if I still have as much spare time as I do now. Even if this weren't on hbo (or whatever channel hbo uses for broadcasting in canada) I wouldn't watch it on tv, because I much prefer being able to choose when and where I watch things. so downloading and then dvds I guess. plus as Dovey and other people mentioned, that will mean I can stay up till 4 am watching 5 episodes or so in a row whenever I want (like I'm doing right now)
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