Finally caught up with Treme 1 & 2 last night, still waiting to watch 3.
Overall...I'm intrigued enough to keep watching, not the least of which is because no HBO show I know caught fire within the first few episodes. Everything needs time to breath and evolve and as an earlier poster made mention, what we have so far is a lot of dialogue, not so much exposition and I'm absolutely good with that.
My main concern is how ham-fisted a some of the show has been in just two episodes. My friend said that Treme, thus far, reminded him of The Wire S5 and I thought he had a point, insofar as in that season, Simon ditched nuance in favor of polemics and in Treme, there's just a lot of heavy-handednes being thrown down. The white Xian tourists, for example. John Goodman's Ep1 screeds (though his explanation of the school situation to his daughter in Ep2 was nuanced).
Of course, it's kind of hard to talk about post-Katrina NOLA without getting polemical. Katrina itself, one could say, is one massive polemic.
So I'm waiting to see what happens.
Characters: I'm skeptical about Zahn but I'll withhold judgment until later.
Joannie from "Deadwood" is back, ftw!
Lester sans glasses and beard = my wife didn't recognize him until I pointed out it was the same actor. I also didn't realize he had killed the thief. DAMN!
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
The 45 seconds of Treme that I've watched so far already gave me that intense feeling of boredom that I got anytime I ever tried to watch The Wire. I'm now as scared as ever to watch any more of it...plus as a friend put it, why would I want to watch a bunch of black folks struggling to get some money when I already see that all day long?
Just saw ep 3 - so the kid Lambreaux beat lived. I assumed he died - especially since Lambreaux was washing his hands at some drainpipe in the dark in one of the shots following the beat down scene; the kid will probably still end up dying. On the whole I'm still giving Treme the benefit of the doubt - it meanders a bit, and some of the scenes are quite clunky - like every scene involving violin girls boyfriend - but all in all its quite good imo.
Generation Kill tho? Straight fire. really enjoying that at the moment.
Who cares about Lambreaux, I wanna know, did McCoy Tyner really bang that girl?
Nah, but that was a slick move she pulled. She knew all her picks would be at that party! She was just messing with her dude.
OK good. I thought that might be the case lol.
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Hamsterdam!
Are we going to see that Dutch busker dude sulk over some bullshit every episode? Say what you will about Wire season 2, there's like three and a half Ziggys on Treme. I fully expected John Goodman's character to punctuate his youtube rant with several interjections of "YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS LARRY?" If he was half-Sobchak in the pilot, he's up to 80% now.
I'm keen to watch episode 1.. can anyone PM me a non-torrent link to ep1?
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Only one more episode left. I've stuck with the series, although I'm still not entirely in love with it. Last night's episode definitely reminded viewers that living in the David Simon universe is often a huge bummer. As I said in my waxidermy post, I think I might like the series better upon repeat viewings.
I have to admit...I find this show to be pretty boring. Nothing happens! Plus I feel they take A LOT of liberties assuming the audience is up on N.O./Mardi Gras Indian culture. I shouldn't have to read blogs to understand what was meant. Do you guys think maybe Simon needs Burns to keep things interesting?
I like it. Great characters...if you have great characters, they could sit around and do laundry and I would be engaged with them. Simon is a master of that....
so, are we led to believe Goodman checked out last night?
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
I like it. Great characters...if you have great characters, they could sit around and do laundry and I would be engaged with them. Simon is a master of that....
so, are we led to believe Goodman checked out last night?
That's what I took it as. That book he reviewed with his class is about a woman who did that exact same thing (checked out in the Gulf).
If Goodman is gone, i'm done......His character is the only reason i've watched this long.
"Nothing happens" is the perfect description..........Wendell Pierce deserves better writing
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I suppose it's sort of a criticism of the show that the final episode has passed without comment so far. I'm actually really looking forward to rewatching the season, I think there's a lot of rich character driven drama that was hard to follow the first time around. The plot elements took so long to unspool that it was really hard get perspective to see what the story was for each character until the end. I think in the post-season interview with Alan Sepinwal, David Simon points this out. He is characteristically irascible, particularly against those who criticize Treme for not being the Wire, but also for those who were expecting one kind of show and got another.
The scene that won me over was the end where Albert Lambreaux is playing bass and Delmond is on his horn and Albert is absolutely busting Delmond's ass. If that scene had played out early in the season, it would have made Albert really look like a jerk and a hard ass, which he is. After Delmond has come around, though, you can see the affection, even though Clarke Peters plays it without winking. I will freely admit that the arc was a teeny bit corny, but I thought it worked.
By the last show I was also really starting to enjoy the cameo-porn aspects of all of the musicians on the show, particularly how they actually let large chunks of musical performance play out even though it's death to the narrative flow.
I still place it behind the Wire and Generation Kill, but I feel a bit better about Treme than I did a week ago.
I'm gonna miss this show. Hope it comes back next season. Some scenes are "cringy" but I can really relate to the drama in this. It speaks to my life experience.
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street_muzik said:
Hope it comes back next season.
HBO has definitely picked up a season 2, so we'll see Treme again. No idea when, hopefully it will be sooner than the year and a half waits between some of the seasons of The Sopranos and The Wire.
HBO has definitely picked up a season 2, so we'll see Treme again. No idea when, hopefully it will be sooner than the year and a half waits between some of the seasons of The Sopranos and The Wire.
production for season 2 is supposed to start sometime in sept. apparently...
I think I may tap out on this show. I understand what you guys mean about the characters, but damn this show is pretty damn boring. I think the writing could be much, much better. I trust that it portrays New Orleans life and culture as perfectly as possible, but I feel that in doing so it shuts out the audience who is NOT well-versed in it. I shouldn't have to run to blogs after every episode to find out the whos, whats and whys. I mean, shit, after a full season with a heavy focus on Mardi Gras Indians I STILL don't know a thing about why they do what they do. Not that I expect the show to spell everything out for me, but man, do they have to take so many liberties?
Also, Ladonna's character gets on my damn nerves. I understand her brother's missing/dead, but damn she's such a selfish, angry and unappreciative woman in every scene!
Plus the music is FANTASTIC but came across as overwhelming and maybe a little overbearing as it seemed they tried to squeeze as many songs as they could into each episode. Yes, I understand that the music is very much what New Orleans is about, but there were more than a few scenes where they'd toggle back between 3-4 songs at one time. That could very well be because they wanted to showcase as much as possible in case this was their one and only season though.
i loved it. loved the flashback in the last episode. i actually like the lack of exposition. you just have to dive into it.
i like this quote from that sepinwall interview:
"Well, you made 'Generation Kill' for 26 Recon Marines, and now you've made 'Treme' for at least 400 New Orleans musicians. So by your standards, you've become almost sickeningly populist."
The last episode really tied it together for me. Im looking forward to series two.
I also thought the flashbacks to the beginning of the hurricane onset worked well in the finale and really made the character arcs click.
This all makes me wonder if Treme has a third season in it? theres no reason it couldnt go on I suppose, although it would really surprise me if this turns out to have the longevity The Wire had.
I say bring it on Mr Simon.
I'm wondering what they're going to cover in Season 2. New characters? Struggles of jazz musicians? FEMA and the feds screwing everything up? Beignets and boudin? The violin playing girl getting back together and breaking up again with that greasy long-haired dude? If that's it I'm definitely not watching.
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
Herm said:
I mean, shit, after a full season with a heavy focus on Mardi Gras Indians I STILL don't know a thing about why they do what they do.
They do a lot. Here's some background for you...
Back when New Orleans slaves would run away, they'd often find refuge with the Choctaw tribe of Indians that lived in the surrounding areas. So there was naturally an allegiance between Native and African Americans that carries forward to this day.
Many say though that what really kicked off the Mardi Gras Indian tribes donning feathers and such was Buffalo Bill's Wild West show coming to town back in the 1880's.
Musically, Mardi Gras Indians merged Congo Square type African drum with Native American drum circle traditions...which at least in my mind, fathered what has come to be known as funk once artists such as Fats Domino and Professor Longhar applied street-level Mardi Gras Indian rhythms to the already commercial forms of r-n-b nd rock-n-roll.
Food-wise, when someone serves gumbo and you see Louisiana locals dumping heaps of what we call gumbo file' into their bowls...that's another result of that Native American culture merging with African American culture. Gumbo file' is actually sassafras, which was a commmon ingredient within Choctaw cuisine.
Culturally, as you can easily garner from Treme, Mardi Gras Indians sew up elborate suits which they wear at particular times, including Mardi Gras and their very own Super Sunday. There are many different Mardi Gras Indian tribes who compete with each other to be the prettiest Indians in the streets. This competition used to often turn bloody, with knife-fights unfortunately serving as the pre-cursor to the Chopper City mentality of modern day New Orleans.
Each tribe has a chief...who runs the show, a Spy Boy...who scouts out the terrain as his gang marauds through the streets parading, and a Flag Boy...who sends signals from the Spy Boy to the chief.
Tribes also often serve as social clubs...meaning that since blacks were often denied insurance, the tribe acts as the overseer of its flock. If you are a member and your child gets sick and has to go to the hospital, the tribe will kick in to cover the expenses. Your grandfather passes away and the tribe will take care of the funeral. You fall behind on your mortgage payments and the tribe is there to help you catch up.
Mardi Gras Indian culture completely permeates the culture of New Orleans...in that friendly exchange between different races becomes the norm...all in the spirit of genuinely looking out for your neighbors. As Mardi Gras Indians parade through the streets, they might be accompanied by a brass band and always a host of second-liners, which are the folks who dance and play percussion instruments behind the first line of Indians/musicians. And there are always designated spots, and some spontaneous, where an Indian tribe is going to be able to stop for food and libations. You never just cook for your immediate own within New Orleans culture, as you never know who else might be coming down the street with a hungry belly at any given time.
Anyway, there ya geaux, Hermito. There's a whole lot more that could be said on the subject, but that's the basic summary.
Comments
Overall...I'm intrigued enough to keep watching, not the least of which is because no HBO show I know caught fire within the first few episodes. Everything needs time to breath and evolve and as an earlier poster made mention, what we have so far is a lot of dialogue, not so much exposition and I'm absolutely good with that.
My main concern is how ham-fisted a some of the show has been in just two episodes. My friend said that Treme, thus far, reminded him of The Wire S5 and I thought he had a point, insofar as in that season, Simon ditched nuance in favor of polemics and in Treme, there's just a lot of heavy-handednes being thrown down. The white Xian tourists, for example. John Goodman's Ep1 screeds (though his explanation of the school situation to his daughter in Ep2 was nuanced).
Of course, it's kind of hard to talk about post-Katrina NOLA without getting polemical. Katrina itself, one could say, is one massive polemic.
So I'm waiting to see what happens.
Characters: I'm skeptical about Zahn but I'll withhold judgment until later.
Joannie from "Deadwood" is back, ftw!
Lester sans glasses and beard = my wife didn't recognize him until I pointed out it was the same actor. I also didn't realize he had killed the thief. DAMN!
Well, I still watched Good Times and Sanford & Son back in the day.
Yeah, dude's next comment was...at least Good Times was funny.
Generation Kill tho? Straight fire. really enjoying that at the moment.
Nah, but that was a slick move she pulled. She knew all her picks would be at that party! She was just messing with her dude.
OK good. I thought that might be the case lol.
Are we going to see that Dutch busker dude sulk over some bullshit every episode? Say what you will about Wire season 2, there's like three and a half Ziggys on Treme. I fully expected John Goodman's character to punctuate his youtube rant with several interjections of "YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS LARRY?" If he was half-Sobchak in the pilot, he's up to 80% now.
herm posted a megaupload in the beginning of the thread
so, are we led to believe Goodman checked out last night?
That's what I took it as. That book he reviewed with his class is about a woman who did that exact same thing (checked out in the Gulf).
"Nothing happens" is the perfect description..........Wendell Pierce deserves better writing
The scene that won me over was the end where Albert Lambreaux is playing bass and Delmond is on his horn and Albert is absolutely busting Delmond's ass. If that scene had played out early in the season, it would have made Albert really look like a jerk and a hard ass, which he is. After Delmond has come around, though, you can see the affection, even though Clarke Peters plays it without winking. I will freely admit that the arc was a teeny bit corny, but I thought it worked.
By the last show I was also really starting to enjoy the cameo-porn aspects of all of the musicians on the show, particularly how they actually let large chunks of musical performance play out even though it's death to the narrative flow.
I still place it behind the Wire and Generation Kill, but I feel a bit better about Treme than I did a week ago.
HBO has definitely picked up a season 2, so we'll see Treme again. No idea when, hopefully it will be sooner than the year and a half waits between some of the seasons of The Sopranos and The Wire.
production for season 2 is supposed to start sometime in sept. apparently...
Also, Ladonna's character gets on my damn nerves. I understand her brother's missing/dead, but damn she's such a selfish, angry and unappreciative woman in every scene!
Plus the music is FANTASTIC but came across as overwhelming and maybe a little overbearing as it seemed they tried to squeeze as many songs as they could into each episode. Yes, I understand that the music is very much what New Orleans is about, but there were more than a few scenes where they'd toggle back between 3-4 songs at one time. That could very well be because they wanted to showcase as much as possible in case this was their one and only season though.
i like this quote from that sepinwall interview:
"Well, you made 'Generation Kill' for 26 Recon Marines, and now you've made 'Treme' for at least 400 New Orleans musicians. So by your standards, you've become almost sickeningly populist."
I also thought the flashbacks to the beginning of the hurricane onset worked well in the finale and really made the character arcs click.
This all makes me wonder if Treme has a third season in it? theres no reason it couldnt go on I suppose, although it would really surprise me if this turns out to have the longevity The Wire had.
I say bring it on Mr Simon.
They do a lot. Here's some background for you...
Back when New Orleans slaves would run away, they'd often find refuge with the Choctaw tribe of Indians that lived in the surrounding areas. So there was naturally an allegiance between Native and African Americans that carries forward to this day.
Many say though that what really kicked off the Mardi Gras Indian tribes donning feathers and such was Buffalo Bill's Wild West show coming to town back in the 1880's.
Musically, Mardi Gras Indians merged Congo Square type African drum with Native American drum circle traditions...which at least in my mind, fathered what has come to be known as funk once artists such as Fats Domino and Professor Longhar applied street-level Mardi Gras Indian rhythms to the already commercial forms of r-n-b nd rock-n-roll.
Food-wise, when someone serves gumbo and you see Louisiana locals dumping heaps of what we call gumbo file' into their bowls...that's another result of that Native American culture merging with African American culture. Gumbo file' is actually sassafras, which was a commmon ingredient within Choctaw cuisine.
Culturally, as you can easily garner from Treme, Mardi Gras Indians sew up elborate suits which they wear at particular times, including Mardi Gras and their very own Super Sunday. There are many different Mardi Gras Indian tribes who compete with each other to be the prettiest Indians in the streets. This competition used to often turn bloody, with knife-fights unfortunately serving as the pre-cursor to the Chopper City mentality of modern day New Orleans.
Each tribe has a chief...who runs the show, a Spy Boy...who scouts out the terrain as his gang marauds through the streets parading, and a Flag Boy...who sends signals from the Spy Boy to the chief.
Tribes also often serve as social clubs...meaning that since blacks were often denied insurance, the tribe acts as the overseer of its flock. If you are a member and your child gets sick and has to go to the hospital, the tribe will kick in to cover the expenses. Your grandfather passes away and the tribe will take care of the funeral. You fall behind on your mortgage payments and the tribe is there to help you catch up.
Mardi Gras Indian culture completely permeates the culture of New Orleans...in that friendly exchange between different races becomes the norm...all in the spirit of genuinely looking out for your neighbors. As Mardi Gras Indians parade through the streets, they might be accompanied by a brass band and always a host of second-liners, which are the folks who dance and play percussion instruments behind the first line of Indians/musicians. And there are always designated spots, and some spontaneous, where an Indian tribe is going to be able to stop for food and libations. You never just cook for your immediate own within New Orleans culture, as you never know who else might be coming down the street with a hungry belly at any given time.
Anyway, there ya geaux, Hermito. There's a whole lot more that could be said on the subject, but that's the basic summary.