Dark Brown Waffles

The Good

-Tonight may have been one of my favorite episodes that the show has ever done.

-If you hate Sonny - and I do - the takedown he received from a member of Antoine’s band was delightful. “You ain’t in no danger no great musician man.” Sonny’s acceptance of this news was unexpected. He didn’t fly off the handle or into an embarrassed rage. That’s twice this season he’s been plainly shown the score, first in the music shop and second on the street corner tonight (and that assumes you’re not counting the times he has watched Annie tear down rooms while he drinks drinks at the bar). 

-Delmond’s sudden quest to discover New Orleans music over the protestations of his New York girlfriend is audacious. It seems like work that motivates him. That he then made it to New Orleans to take his surly father out for dinner before jovially getting high together was icing on the proverbial cake. Delmond’s connection to New Orleans has always felt tenuous. He was from the city but distant from it in ways that few of the other characters were. Not just geographically mind you, but emotionally too. (Personal note: as I’ve said elsewhere, by connection to the city is tenuous at best, but one of the ones that I do have is with a painter in Morgantown who hails from New Orleans. When I was a child, I used to draw in his studio while my parents hung out with him and his wife. He had a small paint splattered radio that was tuned to Pittsburgh’s WDUQ. It had a nighttime show that played the music Delmond was exploring, music that got played with static and pops and fizzles, in part because of the distance, in part because of the age of the recordings. One my fondest musical memories.)

-Janette’s freakout in the face of her crazy chef, as well as her very slick attack on Alan Richman, was a return to form for her character. Richman is dickbag critic whose article so understandably enraged Janette two episodes ago. We’ve gotten heavy doses of her vulnerability early in the season, but she’s always had the other more confident, more kickass side, something hinted at her during her, “Then we’d all get breaks?” solliloquoy during last week’s episode. Tonight we got the more forceful version. Something had to get her back to New Orleans after all.

-Aunt Mimi! Her presence makes everything better. 

-Speaking of Mimi, the fact that (wo)man Davis was trying to get to cut a bounce track was inspired to do so by how much she didn’t like him is unlikely to set in, right? Who am I kidding? The smile that spread across Davis’s face was a thousand watt celebration of his ability to be an irritant, whether or not he himself realized it.

-“That’s a long way to come for a job.” “Not if you don’t have one.” We will deal with Hildago shortly, but Robinette’s easy relationship with the Texan manages to simultaneously be depressing and amusing. He doesn’t abide Hildago’s nonsense but he does Hildago’s bidding. 

-June Yamagashi: dude can play.

-“He’s right, the music’s too loud. You need to turn it down. And get some more tinsel on the halo.” I’m not sure if Terry’s directive was better than his complaining officer’s utterly exasperated look upon hearing it. Incidentally, David Morse is supremely talented at being authoritative and then vulnerable. He looked anguished sitting alone in his trailer on Christmas. 

The Bad

-Annie continues to be useless. Even as a pawn for the writers, it is difficult to understand her presence. She advances nothing. She accomplishes nothing. She’s almost a week-to-week cypher for whatever musical that the show wants to achieve without turning to Antoine. 

-Does Sofia know her father committed suicide? (I am the world’s biggest moron. Terry offered Toni secrecy immediately after the suicide had been confirmed. That happened at the end of last season. Thanks to commenter EJWhite09 for remembering this. No thanks at all to my addled brain for forgetting it.) Has Toni explained it? Or has Toni explained it and Sofia refuses to accept it? Sofia’s affect was so flat upon hearing of a nearby suicide; Toni practically lost it. Maybe I’ve missed something. Maybe we’re getting to something.

-I don’t want to continue to harp on this, especially after Bourdain bluntly told me I was wrong via a Tweet, but his New York City kitchen is so unbelievably white. Tonight I counted one other chef who wasn’t white (he was standing to her left on the line, between her and Chef) and I don’t believe he made the celebration of her triumphant exit. Bourdain says kitchens at that level are different. I’m more than willing to believe him on that. But why? What’s going on in high end kitchens that precludes the presence of minorities? Is there any explanation available anywhere that explores this huge racial disparity, given the diversity of kitchens at every other level of the cooking pyramid?

-I understand the presence of Nelson’s character, a shameless grifter whose taking money meant for New Orleans and pocketing it while producing little of substantive value, but he’s starting to act like a caricature of the first order. “I’m the first member of my family to vote Republican…” is ham-fisted. 

-Weird editing question: I don’t have TiVo, but did Janette’s friend utter the same line twice during their conversation? It was a reference to her sudden notoriety on the internet. Maybe the old deja vu is acting up.

The Ugly

-LaDonna’s resolve isn’t unexpected but the fact that she’s a wreck portends bad outcomes. Like her finally leaving New Orleans to join her husband and mother and kids in Baton Rouge. How can she stay at GiGi’s? She was sitting and smoking overtop of the place where her body was found. 

-There’s only one truth about what happened about Robideaux’s. There’s only thing that actually happened. Still, it seems Toni is pursuing fool’s gold. People aren’t talking and when they do, they’re conflicting with each other. Abreau went back to Massachusetts as he’d run out the resources necessary to pursue the most accurate story. Surely Toni will recognize when to cut her losses.

-I didn’t catch the name, because I never do, but I assume that the dead man at the end of the episode was Antoine’s drummer. (Per Ed Copeland: the drummer was Dinneral Shavers.) This death had been discussed on other Treme sites. Knowing it was coming didn’t make it any easier to see even if only quickly. Antoine had been absolutely destroying his shows too. I’ve come across very rough explanations of what his season is going to look like. This death falls in line with everything I’ve been told to expect. Still though; this is a remarkable accumulation of suffering. (Meanwhile, Matt Seitz is no doubt depressed that we didn’t get more of the drummer’s heroic struggle against the random kid who shot him.)

-Odd reality about the show: funeral marches have been spectacular up to now, which creates the expectation of yet another stunning parade for the dead drummer’s internment. That makes me very uncomfortable though. “Sorry you died, but we barely knew you and this music we’ll get as a result is going to be fantastic!” Makes me queasy. 

-Finally, Antoine’s students. The fear was palpable during even a thunderstorm. The teacher’s calm, “This isn’t Katrina,” strikes me as a necessary comment that’s unlikely to accomplish its goals. I’m excited to see Antoine get down to business with them, to turn that fear into something. I recognize that this might not happen. I recognize that half of the kids might end up dropping out or worse. But for this moment, I can dream about the scene: Antoine with the kids, expounding upon his theory about music you can shake your ass to.