What I’m Watching: Treme

Treme: Season 2, Episode 3 “On Your Way Down” (B+)

After experiencing a shooting in a club earlier this season, the gravity of the lawless situation down in New Orleans is made infinitely clearer in this episode as Ladonna is attacked in a very terrifying scene that captures her fright and sense of danger as one of her attackers tries to talk his way into her store. That’s easily the most memorable, powerful plotline of this particular episode, but the less grave elements are equally effective. Janette proves herself to be quite the smooth talker when it comes to her impossible boss, somehow getting permission to fly back down to New Orleans to sort out her mess of a life with her burglarized home. Seeing Janette and Albert sitting next to each other waiting for their money and their meetings represents one of my favorite things about this strong ensemble drama, the fact that most of its characters only tangentially know each other, yet their stories are so deeply intertwined nonetheless. Cutting between Albert’s surprise success in his meeting and Janette’s failure to garner sympathy in hers was a brilliant editing movie, contrasting the relief and gratitude Albert felt with the frustration and stress Janette felt. Toni continues to be a hard-hitting investigative lawyer, and it’s no surprise, therefore, that a police commander might be unwilling to help her because, without doubt, she’s sued him. The incorporation of this latest case is smooth and doesn’t feel unnatural to the flow of the show, and it’s both interesting and disturbing to discover just how wrong all of the information that has been passed along has been.