Treme

Finally caught up with season two of Treme and happy to report that it’s indeed a keeper.

I was really looking forward to its return after almost a year of waiting to find out what would happen to all these characters trying to make a living in a post-Katrina New Orleans.

The many storylines grow thicker and deeper and the actors all seem to have firmly taken root within the world of their characters.  Like in the first season, there are going to be both tears and laughters, happiness and despair, all splashed with a generous helping of gorgeous jazz music.

We are treated to another Mardi Gras parade (I wonder if this is gonna become routine for the show, but it’s so great I don’t know if I even want to criticize it) and this time to Jazz Fest as well.

New York City is also featured, since now 2 main characters live primarily there, but it’s New Orleans and its daily life that still have the lion’s share, as it should be.  The crime rate skyrockets and it really doesn’t seem like the city will be able to come back from the brink of destruction since one wonders how people can live in a place where you can pretty much be the victim of a violent crime at any point of the day or night.

But there are so many bright spots too, like school kids learning how to play an instrument in the school band, or a musician discovering songwriting, or another one helping a guy not to make the same mistakes he did out of the goodness of his heart.

The Bottom Line: Treme is a very good show that, like The Wire before it, familiarizes us with a bunch of regular people and their daily lives, while at the same time analyzing the corruption within the police and city hall, and the scheming of criminals both big and small.  Watch it.

Grade: 8