What I’m Watching: Treme

Treme: Season 1, Episode 5 “Shame, Shame, Shame” (B+)

This episode featured an extremely intense opening, beginning with a glimmer of hope thanks to the wide smile on Toni’s face and resulting in the flooding of the jail that was containing a hopelessly lost and confused David in Ladonna’s dream. Hearing Toni try to testify on behalf of Ladonna, David, and their family just underlines the preposterousness of the opposing lawyer’s claims, and it’s a shame that this doomed process is taking so long. Toni talking about how the violence in New Orleans that was briefly overshadowed by the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina is coming back is very powerful, and the lieutenant’s response that the police isn’t ready and that the trombone is such an insignificant incident was extremely troubling and compelling. It’s great to see David Morse checking into the show as the aforementioned lieutenant, and I hope to see more of him in the future. Lawlessness sure is exploding in New Orleans, as those gunshots go off in the middle of the Second Line, an event I was not ready for or expecting. It was quite startling and frightening to see that in the midst of such an otherwise joyous and triumphant occasion. Davis getting himself into trouble at the bar is also teetering on the edge of dangerous territory. Fortunately, there are a few positive occurrences happening as well. Antoine getting a new trombone was nice, and Janette stepping up her game to impress the New York chefs was enjoyable. I’m loving Creighton’s videos, and I liked the characterization that he used a certain four-letter expletive as “a command, an adjective, and a noun.”