For all my complaining, I was amused by Creighton's reprimand to New York: "To New York. F*** you too. You get attacked by some fundamentalist f***ing a**hole and the federal money comes raining down like rose petals." I was amused, but I imagine there will be New Yorkers who are not. Especially so soon after the thwarted Times Square bombing. Those offended, please know that the original rages were cleaned up for the John Goodman character.
There’s been some chat in webland that the characters of LaDonna and Janette are redundant because both women are trying to fix up and save their businesses. LaDonna runs Gigi's Lounge, a bar that's been in her family for generations and an indicator of her different position in New Orleans society than her dentist husband, who, by the way, has been quite saintly so far. Janette Desautel is the chef-owner of Uptown, a successful restaurant with cuisine and clientele, but now, post- Katrina, she can't get her financial footing.
Last night, the restaurant loses its gas line; in this case Entergy is indeed the bad guy and not the ruse as in Davis' con, and Uptown is forced to shut down for the night. I disagree with the idea that these two characters, Janette and LaDonna, are in similar conflicts. Janette actually occupies a unique place in Treme — she is the only female character we see in the act of creating. Annie, seemingly a musician of great talent, is certainly putting her light under a basket. Janette, if you agree that cooking can be an art form, is constantly composing and improvising, like a jazz musician, in her kitchen. For that, I vote she stays. And speaking of staying, I've overstayed my welcome, but here are some items up for discussion:
Catch the Wire reference when Sonny and his friends are planning the trip to Houston? One of his friends mistakenly calls Sonny's native Amsterdam "Hamsterdam" — a nudge, nudge to the Wire's third season when Police Lt. Bunny Colvin tried to contain crime to a no-rules neighborhood. Steve Earle's appearance as a street musician (along with his son Justin Townes Earle) is also a tie back to The Wire. Steve sang "Way Down in the Hole" - The Wire's iconic theme. He was also Bubble's sponsor at AA/NA. He maintains the same hairstyle.
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Article comments
1 - Max
Becoming less and less impressed with this show. It's pretentious, posturing is what it is. People have said it feels "authentic"..perhaps the scenery and music but other than that it feels completely false and trite. The writing is heavy handed and lacks any semblance of subtlety. It's constantly pushing this "New Orleans is holier than thou" vibe that really gets on my nerves.
Also, Davis is possibly my least favourite character in the history of characters. Just awful, awful. Annoying, childish, immature, pretentious, fake, untalented (strippers in my neighborhood? really? you're supposed to be a musician?)...he's a loser in every way. His latest tryst in the bar where he starts to RAP of all things is even worse than his lame guitar song. Legalize pot to pay to fill pot holes? And then he freaks out and looks for the nearest pen as if these lyrics were some sent from above work of genius. We then see a montage of him working all night to make his lame song, which I think we are supposed to be impressed by.
John Goodman's character is similarly one note and bland. Full of righteous anger that is supposed to impress us, yet really he's just a blowhard with no solutions and no insight, just a lot of oh so self righteous anger that, like I said, seems designed to impress us but comes off as more empty posturing.
2 - doctorj2u
Max,
The things you hate the most are the most New Orleans of all. If you don't get it, you never will. Don't waste your time. Time to watch another show for you. Great job David Simon. As a native New Orleanian, born and raised, I love the show. Thank you!
3 - Max
Oh, I don't get it huh? What's not to get it? A bunch of pretentious faux-artsy stuck ups vying to be the coolest and most scene of all? They have those in New York too, they are called hipsters, and everyone hates them.
Always thought of New Orleans as a place full of relaxed, friendly down to earth people. I guess I was wrong. Or maybe its just the whiteys because Antoine, Albert and all those other black characters don't seem to exhibit that vibe of trying so hard to be "New Orleans"... its only the white ones like Davis, Sonny, and Creighton that do that. Probably because they are so insecure due to the fact they are not really "New Orleans" and are infact poseurs.
4 - Geoff
My issue with Treme is that it is missing what made the Wire and Generation Kill so appealing for me: all kinds of people, with all kinds of competencies. Some cops and soldiers were brilliant, some were terrible. Some had serious issues, some didn't. But in Treme, everyone is the best (insert job here.) The best trombone player, the best chef, the smartest professor. Sure their personal lives vary, but they are always supposed to be great, capable people and it's kind of boring to watch. Perhaps it is because we are entering so many different fields, we only see the brilliant protagonist before we move on. And we lose all the delicious conflict watching the protagonist establish themself as great. Instead, we are simply told they are great in words by their friends, and it rings false. Perhaps a second reason is that their adversaries are usually either faceless organizations like FEMA or outsiders. God forbid one of their colleagues, from NOLA of all places, might be making their lives difficult. My least favourite people are usually people who do my job, but do it badly and make my job harder. I can't imagine it's any different in New Orleans.
5 - Kate
Hi Geoff: I understand completely what you are saying about the dimensionality of Treme's characters. Or lack thereof. Generation Kill, which I adored even though I couldn't tell anyone apart under their camo and helmets, came to David Simon and Ed Burns with fully formed characters from Evan Wright's book. The Wire started with a smaller cast (I think, it's been awhile), focusing on McNulty and then spiraling out to add characters. Baltimore was also a world that Simon and Burns knew very well. New Orleans not so much, at least for DS. Simon admits that this is a "love letter" to NOLA, and that pretty much is how the show comes across. Hopefully the characters become more nuanced. Thank you everyone for commenting - there are justified criticisms here and interesting discussion.