Treme -- a post-mortem

Cafe Society
1

After watching the season finale, which showed what everyone was doing before Katrina, I think a re-watch will be rewarding. Seeing what these people lost and how things changed for them – it adds something.

I like the show. (I’d never seen Steve Zahn in anything so he didn’t annoy me like he annoyed people who were familiar with him.) There are a few blogs with info about who the musicians are, the places scenes were filmed, even explanations about the food. :slight_smile:

What it lacked in plot, it made up for in color and music.

What do you guys think?

2

It was worth the wait just to see and hear Lloyd Price sing Stagger Lee. Far fuckin’ out, man. We really enjoyed this series, with its mix of actors and real artists (both, in the case of Lucia Micarelli). It was difficult sometimes to tell who was faking and who was playing. I didn’t care for John Goodman’s scenery chewing throughout and was actually happy about the outcome of that subplot.

3

I loved it, but I need to rewatch the season to fully process it. It was David Simon all over, from the Altmanesque interweaving of stories, to the return of familiar faces from previous projects, to the touches like having the season begin and end with a second line, both involving Bunk (I mean Antoine.)

Plus, the food and music made me want to get back to N’awlins in a bad way. Time to check out Travelocity.

4

I thought it fit the character. Creighton’s not a low-key guy.

The guy who told Bunk he didn’t have any cards did one of my late husband’s favorite songs – Ain’t Got No Home.

5

I really like many of the actors involved, and took a big liking to many that I had not seen before. Great setting, etc. But…

It just left me cold. Never seemed to go anywhere and sort of dragged on. Got to the point of just watching it because I had come this far.

6

A couple pf things about this series really annoyed me:

  1. Constant “celebrity” cameos. And when we aren’t getting cameos we are getting obscure musician name-checks.
  2. Explication. It feels like every 5 minutes a character is explaining some aspect of New Orleans culture or music.

It doesn’t feel organic.

It just feels like the writers are trying too hard to make us love New Orleans. Almost like they are trying to force us to love New Orleans. Which only makes the rebel in me not want to love New Orleans.

7

Even the two second lines were book-ended by Antoine arguing with the same cab driver, presumably over the fares he still owes (seriously, how can that man even get a cab?)…

I loved it. It didn’t have dramatic moments and larger-than-life characters like Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, but its characters have real moments. Simon’s gone out of his way to discourage people from expecting The Wire, but it has the same grand theme: the death of a city by the gradual failure of the institutions that are supposed to support it.

The minor celebrities here are important precisely because they are part of the community and the culture. Antoine represents session musicians everywhere, because he is a brilliant player who everyone knows, but in this town he is surrounded by a dozen guys who are as good or better. And Sonny can only dream of being the musician Antoine is…

While the flavor is certainly pro-New Orleans, it’s not a travel poster. Davis makes the point that NO has “great moments,” but Janette immediately counters that moments “don’t make a life.” Delmond says early on that while the city likes to celebrate its music and musicians it does little to support them, and players have to leave to be successful.

Delmond and Janette leaving for New York seems symbolic (not just in the ironic “if I can make it there I can make it anywhere” sense): these two characters are heading there less than five years after nineeleven (copyright Giuliani associates all rights reserved), and we’re watching the show about five years post-Katrina. Victims are victims, and all suffer at the loss of homes and families, but because New York is a media center its losses became America’s losses, its victimhood America’s victimhood. I’m not saying New York was treated better by its institutions, but New Orleans was, and is, treated to a lot more questioning of its right to exist as a city – which is what Creighton was there to express.

Creighton, like Davis, like Sonny, like Antoine, like Albert, is a romantic. It’s worth noting that he and Sonny (and Janette) are transplants – they came to town loving the city they had created in their heads. Reality can’t compete with that, and Katrina made the difference that much more stark (of course it kept Sonny off drugs for a few months, so it probably delayed his nadir rather than causing it).

Again like The Wire, the show will return next year and will introduce new characters and deal with different aspects of post-Katrina NO, possibly including the dismantling of the public schools, the realization that the federal money Bush promised is not coming, and…?

The first couple of posters had it right – it’s a show that requires patience and multiple viewings. Individual moments may be satisfying or unsatisfying, but moments don’t make a life (or a series).

8

A-men to that!

There were little touches I liked a lot. Like “This Machine Floats” on Steve Earle’s guitar - an obvious reference to “This Machine Kills Fascists” on Woody Guthrie’s guitar.

Another: Steve Earle’s character (what WAS his name) was trying to write a song as Annie watched - then she contributed a snippet of lyric. SE sang that song over the closing credits.

Yes, I’ll be rewatching and savoring it.

All in all, I thought it was excellent!