TV’s great storytellers, David
Simon and Eric Overmyer, return to post-Katrina
New Orleans to find it beset by criminals, exploiters
and government incompetence. In other
words, still in the grips of man-made disasters.
In Season 1, Treme’s characters struggled in
the days and weeks after the 2005 storm and
floods that followed Hurricane Katrina. Season
2 resumes on Nov. 1, 2006, All Saints Day.
Music, food, recovering from loss and building
something new are the driving forces.
Seven months after the suicide of teacher and
YouTube firebrand Creighton Burnette (John
Goodman), his teenage daughter, Sofia (India
Ennenga), is having a hard time with her mom,
Toni (Melissa Leo), a lawyer drawn to the
city’s many victims.
Deejay McAlary Davis (Steve Zahn)’s love for
“bounce,” the uniquely New Orleans version of
hip hop, is balanced by soul-man trombonist
Antoine Batiste (Wendell Pierce) and “trad jazz”
trumpeter Delmond Lambreaux (Rob Brown),
who is trying to find a new sound while staying
true to the old.
Delmond has moved to New York City, as has
chef Janette Desautel (Kim Dickens), but New
Orleans keeps its hooks in and they are forced
to come to the Crescent City’s defense time and
again.
Delmond’s father, Mardi Gras Indian chief
Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters), seems to
be losing the spirit with which he rallied his
tribe months earlier, while bar owner LaDonna
Batiste-Williams (Khandi Alexander), still grieving
her slain brother, again comes face to face with
violent crime.
Crime plays a big, sad part in this chapter of
the New Orleans recovery, and The Wire’s producers
personify earnest law-enforcement efforts
this season with a bigger role for Lt. Terry
Colson (David Morse).
Violinist Annie (Lucia Micarelli) gets some
musical breaks and is ready for her career to
catapult, while former boyfriend Sonny (Michiel
Huisman) just wants to move forward. Jon Seda
(who, like Melissa Leo, worked with Simon on
Homicide) enters the story as an investor from
Texas eager to cash in on the spoils of recovery
— and ready to be seduced by the city’s
charms.
The storytelling is confident, rich and compelling.
And as viewers learned with The Wire, the
rewind button, to catch important but obscure
dialogue, is strongly recommended.
