The Chris Moeller Archives

Treme moments

The first season of HBO's "Treme" ended last month, and the network has guaranteed us at least one more season of this tremendous series that's set and filmed in New Orleans. Creator David Simon says the Crescent City is one that lives on its beautiful moments-- such as the spectacle of an elaborately-costumed and orchestrated Mardi Gras Indian parade along an otherwise dingy thoroughfare. His series does the same. Simon seems to truly love people. He's made a career's work on television of displaying our humanity and resilience in conflict against the social institutions that corrupt us.

I thought it fitting to wrap the show's first season by highlighting my favorite five moments of the series so far. A mild SPOILER ALERT is probably called for, but "Treme" is a show wedded more to atmosphere and spirit than to narrative so the more hearty among you non-viewers could probably venture to stick your toes in below...


#5- MEETING ADJOURNS, EPISODE 5: Creighton (John Goodman) is sitting in a planning meeting of the captains of the annual Krewe du Vieux parade at the Mother-in-Law Lounge. Debate centers on the appropriateness, or lack of appropriateness, if you will, of their traditional "tongue-in-cheek" parade given the recent devastation of Katrina. A motion to acknowledge the seriousness of the storm via a riderless horse at the front of the parade is defeated, with a lifesize wax likeness of the late Ernie K-Doe abstaining (presumably as always). When a second line parade then suddenly passes in front of the building and the meeting, Creighton presents a motion for "respite to appreciate the second line." All agreed.

#4- JEAN LaFITTE MEETS HIS PIRATE WENCH, EPISODE 8: On the Mardi Gras Day, Davis (Steve Zahn), dressed as the 19th Century pirate Jean LaFitte, meets our friend Annie (Lucia Micarelli), who's been shacked up in co-dependent squalor with the drug addicted street musician Sonny. Annie, as coincidence would have it, is likewise dressed in colonial garb when she meets Davis. He recognizes her from her previous violin gigs about town, and the two set off to enjoy a Mardi Gras together. Their pairing promises big new developments during Season Two!

#3- LaDONNA FINDS SOLACE IN THE SECOND LINE, EPISODE 10: LaDonna's season-long agony over her missing brother, and the exhaustion endured from attempting to shield their mother from the hideous truths lying at the end of their search, are underlined in the final episode of the season. LaDonna finds her liberation-- and do we all-- when the brass band strikes up the traditional "Didn't He Ramble" during a funeral parade. Actress Khandi Alexander is also a trained dancer who once worked as Whitney Houston's choreographer. In her final scene of the season, she infuses LaDonna with not just a poignant display of emotional release and uplift as a woman possessed, but with some wicked moves to boot. This radiant and ridiculously-talented actress never steps wrong.

#2- ANTOINE RIFFS ON "ST. JAMES INFIRMARY," EPISODE 4: Trombonist Antoine Batiste (Wendell Pierce) had to put his "bone"-playing career on the shelf for a time after having his lip cut during a scuffle with local police. While waiting impatiently for medical attention at the hospital, Antoine treats his fellow patients to an impromptu, refined version of that granddaddy of jazz dirges, "St. James Infirmary." Antoine's first verse: I went down to Touro Infirmary/My baby left me there/My hair's gone gray waiting on this doctor/Sitting in this stone hard chair. Soon, the waiting room is filled with tapping toes, and a man in an oxygen mask gets percussive upon the lid of a garbage can.

#1- JANETTE AND DAVIS ENJOY A MID-DAY NAP, EPISODE 10: Davis has promised his "friend with benefits," Janette (Kim Dickens), a "perfect New Orleans day" in hopes of persuading her not to trade in their injured town for a new life in New York City. This day includes a breakfast serenade by musician John Boutte, beignets from Cafe du Monde ("beignet, done that"), a scenic drive, a po'boy lunch, a night of dancing, and best-of-all, I thought-- an afternoon nap, side-by-side on a blanket next to the Father of Rivers. Though the scene has no dialogue and lasts only 26 seconds, by my count, the look on Janette's face is pure serenity. It's a reminder that even though the city of New Orleans means action and excitement to most outsiders, part of what makes it great is that time moves slowly there. Life is to be absorbed thoroughly over long periods of time, and without haste.

posted by CM @ 7:28 AM