Dark Brown Waffles

The Good

-My wife watched tonight and proceded to ask afterward if anything important had happened. 

“Oh, goodness yes!” I said. 

“Sofia knows that her mom has been lying to her, which is huge,” my friend Evan said.

“And Delmond’s been sewing for his Antoine.” I added.

“The Texan is finding his way around the city and getting his fingers into more pies,” Evan said.

“And Janette has a reason to come back to New Orleans now.” I said.

She rolled her eyes at us and proclaimed herself ready for bed. Such is life liking this show, in which enormous occurrences are rare, and the slowly accumulating ones are commonplace. It’s like life in that regard. I understand all of the critics who bemoan it for being a show in which little seems to occur, but I am not sympathetic to their complaint. What occurs is smaller albeit often just as poignant. There’s something attractive about recognizing those moments too. 

-Example: LaDonna’s spot of her rapist on the photograph cards brought by the police officer was a seen of such startling realism that it was troubling. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been at places in my life where the recognition of something though defeated has brought about that pained, “Oh GOD dammit…” It happens when you think you’re past the thing, whatever it might be, and the thing reminds you that it hasn’t gone anywhere, that it hasn’t been vanquished, that it is lurking. Khandi Alexander’s performance has been jaw-dropping. 

-Speaking of LaDonna, “Where do you think I got it from?” in regard to her husband’s dismissal of the possibility that he has any influence over either LaDonna or her mother was c’est magnifique. That’s French for real good.

-If Alexander stole the show, Wendell Pierce anchored it. We’ve never seen the side of Antoine Baptiste that reared its head: authoritative, insistent, stern. From warning the kid about his language in the classroom, to challenging everybody in the room to understand that music comes from an emotional place beyond what’s written down, to firing Sonny for his continued late appearances for shows, Baptiste was suddenly all business. And then, maddeningly, he wasn’t, as he tried bailing on his newly created and seemingly successful band for the opportunity to go on a worldwide tour with the blind pianist (Henry Butler, per commenter JanieBT) whose name I don’t know. 

-Terry telling another cop to fucking do his job? And that cop’s threat to help Terry develop a reputation? That portends the sort of righteous administrative idiocy that The Wire so aggressively opposed. The cop was entirely in the wrong (and Terry entirely in the right) but its Terry who might face the music? At every exposure of bureaucratic reality, I shudder. 

-The city councillor insisting that Nelson prove himself by paying for the Pigeon Town Steppers parade permits was simultaneously fantastic and troubling. Fantastic because it got the 2nd Line Parade legalized, marching, moving. Troubling because it not only hinted at a further relationship between the City Councillor and Nelson, but also because it legitimized corruption as a mechanism for getting things done in New Orleans. We’re okay with this corruption because it gets the right people parading but we’re supposed to be against it when it tears down functional school buildings that could have been restored? It is difficult to accept corruption when the outcomes are good and oppose it when it is bad. I have no idea if Simon intended for viewers to struggle with this but I found myself doing so. 

-Jacque!

-“Oh, this store has everything…” 

-Delmond’s sewing for his father, and the clear look of awe and appreciation on Albert’s face, was a touching thing. Albert’s criticism has been relentless and withering but we’ve seen a thaw of sorts, haven’t we? Between them getting high and the trip to New York City, it seems as though Albert is more appreciative of Delmond. Meanwhile, the son has figured out possible mechanisms for successful communication with his father. (This entire paragraph reads like something an 11th grader would write after reading a short story. Apologies.)

-“We cannot be good as we must be better than.” The band leader to his students.

-Davis’s bottle of wine for his neighbors in advance of his new band’s practice schedule was a nice touch, as was their willingness to endure his band’s inception. They sounded pretty good though, despite Davis’s insistent need to get on the mic.

-Sofia’s realization that everybody knows her father killed himself was heartbreaking. Again, this is a scene in which most people can sympathize as most people have had that moment when it becomes clear that they were the last to find out. Before you can then deal with the pain you’re forced to confront the shame that comes along with figuring that out. 

The Ugly

-From the very bottom of my heart, I feel the need to apologize in advance for the following: I hate the music produced by singer-songwriters. I have literally no interest in sitting and listening to one performer with one guitar carry on about even the most important of topics, much less anything less. I recognize that I’m supposed to like this stuff. But I don’t. Even a little. So you’ll excuse me if I have entirely checked out on Annie’s struggle to write a single song. I hope she does. I hope it’s great. But if it’s just her and a guitar and a sad lament? Let’s just say I’d rather listen to Rebirth. Or the sound of a drill right before a root canal. 

-Eric Ripert, friend of Anthony Bourdain (who happens to be writing the restaurant scenes), is a kind and generous boss who allows his employees to disappear if a sous chef is in need. That he just hired the employee a few days before she begs out of work is of no concern. This is the mythology of the kitchen. Maybe these things really happen. If they do, great. But it really seems as though Bourdain is being given the opportunity to create a legend for chefs who are also his friends. I’d have an easier time accepting Ripert’s actions if he wasn’t somebody that Bourdain hung around with. 

-Toni takes Terry to the 2nd Line Parade with Sofia, who just discovered that Toni’s been lying to her for almost a year about her father’s death? Really?

-The idea that Davis would have any sway with L’il Calio (that can’t possibly be correct…editor’s note: and it wasn’t. The performer is Ace B, acting as Lil Calliope. Many thanks to Watching Treme for the heads up.) baffles me. That Davis would then think to suggest Public Enemy, The Clash, and Woody Guthrie and expect that man to come back? I don’t know. I think we all just endure when it comes to Davis. 

-Nelson explaining to his ladyfriend that the city is interconnected in a way that is almost within his reach? Gag. That’s plot exposition via sledgehammer. (The same goal is accomplished when Janette and Albert sit almost wordlessly next to one another at the Road Home offices or via a hundred other scenes throughout the show’s season and a half of existence.)

The Ugly

-My friend Evan observed that it wouldn’t have been a David Simon show without a compelling threat of a new, crushingly depressing storyline. In this case, it was the possibility that Jacque gets deported back to Haiti, presumably just in time to die in the earthquake. I have seen spoilers that suggest otherwise but Simon has primed his fans to expect such nightmarish outcomes. Still, Jacque!

-My dislike of singer-songwriter music runs deep, to the point that I didn’t like the songs Hiatt performed on tonight’s show. Here’s one that I do like.