The Ashcan

Three things on Treme: “Do You Know What It Means” (S1E1)

Posted on 12. Apr, 2010 by theashcan in Television

Because it’s not easy to write a TV recap, but gosh do we love them, every week Simon and Anupa will be discussing HBO’s latest drama venture Treme. Highly anticipated due to the critical success of creator David Simon’s The Wire, we’re leaving the egghead essays on the New Orleans-set show following musicians and people dealing, post-Katrina, to the experts and bringing you our favourite (or least favourite) moments in convenient list form. Think of the highbrow content and easy delivery like being able to grab a steak via drive thru—just because you want that shit on demand, doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your good taste. Onward, sweet savants, to three things on Treme:

Season 1, Episode 1: “Do You Know What It Means”

Anupa

1.  Being the series premiere, it follows that most of what went on wouldn’t make sense. But does it matter when each scene is so (forgive the cliché) “full of life.” I mean, how do you introduce so many characters—and their peripheral peoples—in the span of an hour and a half and still make them memorable and personable.

2. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of lengthy musical scenes/montages, and it was kind of cheesy, but that middle break after DJ Davis (played by Steve Zahn) cued up Louis Prima’s “Buona Sera” was capital awesome. A nice, mid-episode, review of the people we’ve been introduced during more intimate moments set to a pretty tune. Bonus: The mini-musical breaks: cutting to scenes of Davis in his apartment, going about his biz and pissing off his neighbours to the musical stylings of the once formidable Mystikal.

3. Getting relationship advice from barmaid LaDonna: “I married a goddamned musician; ain’t no way to make that shit right.” So true, girl.

Simon

1. I love the fact that again, David Simon has a show where you might need Rosetta Stone to fully understand the dialogue. I have friends who watched one episode of The Wire then gave up because they couldn’t understand the incredibly (uncompromising) dialect of B’More slang. Ditto in Treme, where New Orleans’ distinct cadence and voice are evident in every word; especially to someone like me who’s only exposure to it had been Gambit from the X-men cartoon. Well… among black people at least. Steve Zahn just sounded like himself.

2. Music is obviously a huge theme in Treme and I love how it was used. Like any great musician though, the show also knew when to just be quiet. Jumping from the spirited revival of the first second line since Katrina, nothing but silence punctuates Clarke Peters during his return home. Although Treme is expected to be less systemically depressing than The Wire, Peters’ scenes showed that Simon can still portray the heart-crushing gravity of society’s shortcomings better than anyone on TV, especially in a show that has every excuse to be heavy handed.

3. Steve Zahn on getting Kermit to network: “You’re gonna stand there and tell me you just want to get high, play some trumpet and BBQ in New Orleans for the rest of your life?” Kermit: “That’ll work”.

Tags: David Simon, Gambit, HBO, New Orleans, Treme, X-Men