I'm not going to be coy. After two episodes, I love this show. I know there is a camp that “has faith in Simon.” That's not me, I've never seen The Wire. While the show admittedly hits several of my buttons, it hooked me from the beginning with characters. Well, characters and music.
While the cast has shown to be fairly well-rounded, several have already made a solid impression. A lot has been said about Steve Zahn's character already. I'm apparently in the minority in that I like him and he has many of the best lines, but I don't feel he is the most intriguing. John Goodman's Creighton is incredible, with his on-point rants about FEMA and the failing priorities of higher education. Antoine is among my favorites as well, with his embarrassment at playing on Bourbon and his tumultuous relationship with LaDonna. The best performance so far has been Albert, who has shown a few different sides, from his determination to rebuild to his savage beatdown of the tool thief. The best scene of the second episode was the ending, where Albert resumed Indian practice with just one other guy.
The real star so far has been the music. I'm not a big New Orleans music guy, but the breadth of music coming from the city over the past century is unrivaled. From jazz to Dr John, and The Meters to Mystikal, there is plenty to work with. Moreover, using the music-ingrained-in-the-show approach was the right move. Many of the best scenes have involved live music, from the aforementioned Indian practice, to Davis blaring out his neighbors with Shake Ya Ass, the Second Line parade and of course the montage to Louis Prima, supplied by Davis on the radio.
As someone that has has never seen The Wire, I am impressed that Simon could transition so well to what must surely be a completely different type of show, moving from a crime drama to a character-based drama heavily reliant on music. On the other hand, I can see how the setup used in Treme would be appropriate for a drama like The Wire. Simon spends the first two episodes of Treme introducing us to a large ensemble of characters. In a crime drama, we would be meeting police officers and drug dealers. An underlying tension would be provided by the knowledge that these two factions must eventually collide. This is not the case in Treme and I can see where this might worry people. So where is this going? No events are on the horizon, the major “event” is actually in the past. And while the aftermath of Katrina may provide drama in a variety of ways, it is not likely to pit characters against each other the way the drug war pitted cops against dealers. This is likely going to be a different kind of show, whether or not America accepts that. We don't know where this drama as going at all, if it even goes anywhere. I'm not so sure it has to. When Davis asks Kermit if he all he ever wants to do is play trumpet, get high and barbecue in New Orleans, Kermit responds, “That'll work.” And I believe in a television drama, that'll work for me too.
Tim's fantasy football opinions can be found over at Solomons Lines and can be followed on Twitter @SolomonsLines.
