pinkasphalt

Tonight we watched the first episode of Treme. I have to admit that after The Wire, I have pretty high expectations for this show. Although it is too soon to say if Treme will manage to reach the heights The Wire achieved, I feel optimistic after episode one.

There are some great actors, including John Goodman and Steve Zahn, as well as a few favorites from the Wire: the actors that played Bunk Moreland and Lester Freamon. The characters so far are teasingly tantalizing. They reveal glimpses of themselves in this first episode and promise fascinating stories to come. The music of New Orleans is another character that you look forward to getting to know better as the story unfolds. And of course the city of New Orleans is a constant character, destroyed and yet at times still majestic.

There is a great Elvis Costello cameo where a music geek is standing next to him in a bar. The geek wants to chat but is trying to be cool and not surprisingly ends up looking like a dork. You want to laugh but then you wonder if you would be any cooler if you found yourself in a bar standing next to one of your musical heroes.

To me The Wire was largely about emotions and about the human condition. Treme looks like it might be the same. This is not surprising. What is surprising is that even though this is David Simon, what predominates so far seems to be hope and the endurance of the human spirit.  I love stories about hope, and endurance is just one of the many faces of stubbornness, which is a specialty of mine. All that to say, I think I’m going to like watching this story unfold.

Jus’ opinion is more succinct than mine: “I like it. I like anything with the whore from Deadwood. Plus it’s got Bunk. And John Goodman; he was in the Big Lebowski, he was friends with the Dude. Also, he was in Raising Arizona.”

So there you go: two thumbs up from us for episode one.

Here are a few favorite bits of dialogue I typed while watching. They might not be word-for-word perfect, but the essence is there.

- That’s because the media, and no offense but you are one of the worst offenders, likes a simple truth that they and their viewers can get their simple minds around.

- This is not a natural disaster, this is a man-made fucking catastrophe of epic proportions.

- You telling me all you want to do is get high, barbecue and play trumpet in fucking New Orleans your whole damn life?
- That’ll work.

- You’re doing this [for me] because …. I dated your sister for three months.
- My sister says you’re an asshole.
- Oh yeah, I can see how she might say that.

- [After stealing some CDs] Justice aside, this shit is karmatically mine, cause mine got stolen from my car. (Note: I plan to use this from now on, as I go around taking possession of shit that is karmatically mine.)