I was looking back on my last couple entries in this ongoing Treme series recently and it dawned on me that, apart from recapping what happened, I’ve started to get away from any real analysis or breakdown of the show and the characters. Pretty lame. But I’m going to fix all that
Here’s a condensed cliff notes version of what went down last night. Antoine visited his estranged kids for Christmas in Baton Rouge, Albert is slowly engaging himself in a potential relationship with the mother of the kid he found breaking into his house, Toni and Ladonna are nowhere closer to finding Daymo, Creighton made a kick ass Youtube video, Davis had a shitload of gear stolen from his car and is contemplating running for elected office, Sonny tried his hand at playing in Houston to underwhelming results, while Annie continues to make headway toward becoming a legitimate player in the New Orleans jazz scene, and Janette’s situation with trying to keep her restaurant afloat has only gone from bad to worse.
Get it? Got it? Good.
Ok, so building off that here are some additional thoughts on last night’s episode:
-I really liked the relationship between Antoine and his estranged family. It’s been established that he and Ladonna have got along well since their divorce, but it was nice to see that he’s also maintained a good relationship with his kids and Ladonna’s new husband. Some might argue that it was a little too civil and that that’s not how things go in real life, but maybe for some people it does. We’ve all seen shows work the bitter angry ex angle to death, but it was nice to see a set up where everyone can coexist and there are no victims.
-Is it me or did Davis’ character almost border on cartoonish this week? He’s one of my favorite characters and adds just the right amount of levity to the show’s heavy drama, but he came off really broad and silly at points this week, especially at the end in the bar where he implements his “Pot for Potholes” plan. I just hope they don’t slowly turn him into Screech.
-Speaking of that bar scene, what the fuck was with Steve Earle playing outside panhandling for change? I love Steve Earle, but that was the first thing in the series thus far that really rang false to me, especially how everyone just goes about their business inside like a certified rock legend playing outside the bar is just another day in the city.
-Hands down the funniest scene last night was Creighton’s utterly confused reaction to his overnight internet celebrity. When he talked about the wonders of Youtube after watching his daughter’s webcam video last week, he did it with the kind of wide eyed gullibility that suggested he didn’t know the first thing about the site, let alone how quickly shit spreads on the web. Watching his deer in headlights reaction to how fast his burning pro New Orleans missive caught fire was priceless. More John Goodman. Please.
-Finally, Sonny is fast turning into the sorriest, lamest piece of shit on the show. When he went off on those Wisconsin kids a few weeks back for not caring about the real New Orleans, it was easy to take it as just a native defending his local pride. Now we find out he’s just a dickhead from Amsterdam, no more indigenous to the city than any other far away transplant. He’s a poser and a jealous, sad sack poor me piece of shit. And he’s dragging down Annie, who’s really starting to find her way as a legit musician, except that she’s conflicted about moving on without him. Hopefully she’ll get smart and move on.
More next week.
RB
