After months of previews and making of docs on HBO, “Treme” has finally arrived. Once again David Simon doesn’t disappoint.
Simon, best known as one of the men behind “The Wire”, Ed Burns being the other, drops us right in the middle of New Orleans, which after watching the show I realize I know absolutely nothing about my Eastern neighbor. “Treme” doesn’t waste time telling us about the city. It doesn’t fill the hour with long expositional monologues. It gets a running start and if you don’t keep up then you’re left behind because it won’t be coming back for you.
There is a language and culture to the world that you’ll have to pick up along the way. Now, like I said, I’ve never been to New Orleans but I am so amazed by it’s ability to exist within the vanilla world of the United States. That’s right I said it, America is boring. Our national cuisine is Mac ‘N Cheese. Our national color is taupe. We’re a boring people. Just spend a day with an immigrant family from Mexico and you’ll see how boring America really is. Somehow New Orleans has been able to preserve and cultivate its culture. A culture united by music.
“Treme” makes it clear in the opening that music is at the heart of the show. Hell, I don’t think there was a single scene that didn’t have music playing and not like a score but actually having music integrated into the scene.
The opening scene reminded me of a drug deal from “The Wire.” A group of men throw out numbers and dollar figures, and unless you’re knowledgable of this world you’ll likely be a little lost straight off, but soon you realize it’s a negotiation. The men are figuring out the fee for a second line parade. What’s a second line parade? Well, I’m not entirely sure.
But that’s the point. Simon and Eric Overmyer are taking us to New Orleans. They’re going to teach us about the people. They’re going to teach us about the music and dear God I hope they teach us about the food. Tonight’s episode was only lesson one. So I can’t expect everything on the first night.
We see some Wire alums. Both Bunk Moreland and Lester Freamon, Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters, are on hand. Pierce, a New Orleans native, is a trombone player hustling for any gig he can get and Peters plays a Mardi Gras Indian Chief who has returned to New Orleans to rebuilt his kingdom. (One of the best scenes in the premiere is Peters emerging from the darkness dressed in his Indian Chief attire. He looked like a fat Big Bird. But in a classy, beautiful sort of way.)
So far for me the show is great. (I could be biased because of my obsession with “The Wire” but I don’t care, I likes what I likes.) The best shows teach me something new and “Treme” is teaching me about a new world. A world that’s just a hop, skip and a jump from my childhood home. It’s embarrassing really, to not know anything about the people in your own country.
The most important thing to know about “Treme” is it’s not searching for sympathy. It’s about the resiliency of New Orleans. Simon and Overmyer have created an homage to the city on the mend.
