Dark Brown Waffles

There was disappointment last week. I’d be lying if I said the season got off to a good start. Tonight’s episode though? There were signs. There were stories. There was life. 

The Good

-Antoine’s now the star of the show, isn’t he? The Wire had McNulty and Omar; Treme has Antoine. To an outsider, there still exists a wall between every other character and me, no matter how much I sympathize. But Antoine? It feels like now I know Antoine. It was his search for musicians I think. He laid out a vision that any reasonable person can believe in: “Music to shake your ass to.” I can believe in that. 

-Comparisons to The Wire are inevitable when dealing with Simon’s work. He’ll be forever linked to it; there’s no escaping that accomplishment. One of that show’s finest features were the fringe characters, the ones who showed up only every so often, the ones who were rarely if ever integral to story lines while remaining integral to the show’s world. These characters tend to emerge slowly. There’s no predicting who will and won’t matter. So while I was entertained by Davis’s aunt last season, I was thrilled by her re-appearance tonight. Who wouldn’t be, what with her continued dismissal of her stodgy family, her enthusiasm at attending a bounce show, and her thrill at disappearing off into the crowd with a drag queen? More her. But not much more. 

-And more of…wait, hold on…

The Bad

-I’m sorry to interrupt but as compared to what HBO has done with The Wire’s library of characters, Treme is getting nothing. I can’t find any names for anybody anywhere. Promote your show right goddammit and give a little something back to the fans who relentlessly promote it. 

Back To The Good

-As I was saying, and more of Albert’s friend (Watching Treme had my back, telling me the character’s name is Robinette) who is now hauling for Hildago. 

-Speaking of The Wire, Terry Colson’s explicit instruction not to waste time on useless arrests was as jarring as Bunny Colvin’s similar instructions for the Western. 

-We also got storylines tonight, or at least the hints of them: Toni’s work on the Danziger Bridge Shootings, Albert’s and Delmond’s ongoing attempt at a relationship, Sofia’s struggle, Colson’s balancing act between law enforcement and compassion, Davis’s (lack of) growth and maturity, Nelson Hildago’s political scheming and profiteering, Toni’s hunt for the Abreau story? We can work with this.

-Speaking of Hildago, the anatomy of his scheming is something to behold. He’s such a friendly, enthusiastic supporter of New Orleans in some scenes that you wouldn’t realize how relentlessly he’s stabbing the place in the back. Am I right to think that he walked off with $225,000 of the $250,000 contract he finagled? Or was it only $175,000? There was some dissension in my living room over how many crews he was hiring at $25,000 a pop. 

-It was fun seeing Sonny get robbed. It was better seeing him get outplayed by the kid at the music shop. 

-Not that I want to refight the Creighton Bernette battle all over again, but seeing Sofia crying herself to sleep? That was heartbreaking…and entirely Creighton’s doing. 

-Toni last season was trying to find the body. When she did, LaDonna denied her the search for the justice. This year, she’s got the body, but trying to find the story. Will Mr. Abreau is giving Toni the chance to put together the puzzle. He did indicate that he could accept his son’s death if he really was up to no good. It seems like Toni might be set up to go through exactly the same thing she went through with LaDonna.

-Annie finally became a character who walks and talks and interacts. She also finally became interesting, even if she does possess the same encyclopedic knowledge of New Orleans music that Davis does. Maybe it’s why they get along so well, given Davis being…well, Davis. 

The Bad

-If you’re the man that wrote this, I am absolutely baffled as to how you can have a kitchen in New York City that is almost entirely absent of anybody who isn’t white. There are, I will acknowledge, either one or two black cooks in that room, but nobody who fits the description of the people that Bourdain alleges the entire American restaurant industry would collapse without. I understand this is a small matter but on a show so concerned with detail? Maybe Janette ended up in the one kitchen in all of New York City without the people Bourdain has praised elsewhere; otherwise, I can’t explain it.

-Speaking of Janette, what happened after the subway ended up at Coney Island? Was I getting a cup of coffee when they cleared that up? 

-Sofia is hanging out in bars buying drinks? That’s unbelievable, as in I, as a viewer, literally don’t believe what I’m seeing. And nevermind the fact that she’s 14; she said exactly one episode earlier that going out at night required taking an AK-47 as protection. There’s a disconnect between the implied threat and the ongoing nightlife.

-Albert walking out on his son’s tribute to him was brutal. Perhaps it was being Delmond hadn’t realized that Albert was forced out of Poke’s bar. Perhaps it was something else. 

The Ugly

-It isn’t ugly, but tonight’s other, bigger news has caught my attention. I’m barely paying attention. Better next week, I promise. 

-Oh hey, this.