Treme, Season 3, Episode 7, “Promised Land”

Sam Wilkinson

According to a faithful reader, I'm Ordinary Times's "least thoughtful writer." So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

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10 Responses

  1. David Alexander says:

    I find this whole “white v. non-white people” discussion confusing. You are clear in your dislike for Annie, Davis and Sunny, but to assume the writers hold them in contempt is a bit of a reach. Annie spends her time doing what musicians do — she’s either playing music or getting ready to play music. The look on her face in the hotel room when she realized she was going to miss Mardi Gras was priceless. Toni got the judge (the wonderful Tim Reid!) to buy her a drink because he is sympathetic to her fight — they obviously have a history — and it’s the season. She wasn’t “flashing a smile,” she was getting drunk! The judge also tried to buy Toni’s assistant a drink, but Toni insisted she had to get to court. Toni always has her eyes on the prize. Davis has been and will always be a goof, but he’s a loveable goof (this is a TV show, after all.) Watching Sonny sit in on a meeting while Mardi Gras was going on, particularly when he keeps looking over his shoulder, was a great scene. Believe me, he’s grinding! The show ended great, with Sunny seeking the refuge of work to get him back on track. The only character who seemed not to be working (and I’m sure he would disagree) was Hidalgo, and in the end he got the business card he was looking for. Maybe there are too many characters to keep track of (and care about), but let’s give the creative people a little bit of credit.Report

    • Sam in reply to David Alexander says:

      David,

      Maybe I haven’t been clear. It isn’t that I think the writers have their characters in contempt; it’s that I think that we’re seeing makes it difficult (for me at least, as an outsider) for me to be as sympathetic to some of these characters as I am to others. When I see the adversity of the show’s non-white characters, I am captivated; when I see what counts as adversity for the show’s white characters, I am disinterested. I don’t think that’s what the show’s writers want me to be mind you. I just think that is what’s happening.Report

  2. David Alexander says:

    I appreciate we’re both outsiders here, which makes this show so much fun. I guess my concern is what makes the characters (black and white) so intersting is how they deal with issues in their own way. Antoine cheats on Desiree; Albert endangers his health by putting off the chemo, and is oblivious to the pain he is causing his children; Jacque is smart enough to know his fling with Janette is over. Will we still respect LaDonna and Albert in the morning if they hook up?

    By the way, the scenes with Emeril were great. He has been held in contempt by cooking professionals for a while now, but his speech captured how one survives in a very tough business..Report

  3. Beth Arnette says:

    IThank you for your Treme blog: I enjoy it although I haven’t (yet) read it all the way back to the beginning. That is why I don’t know what you said about Antoine and LaDonna’s Mardi Gras hookup of yore, if you judged LaDonna more harshly than Antoine, because LaDonna is female, even though they were both in relationships at the time.

    I agree that Janette is a fool for preferring Davis over Jacques, although there is the work issue with Jacques. Even without the restaurant trade’s rule of not effing the floor, for Janette to have a relationship with Jacques is now against their corporation’s HR rules (although the fact that they were a pre-existing couple, if you will, may mitigate that).

    I think you are being a bit hard on Janette by saying that her behavior is abhorrent and I hope it’s not because Janette is female: what about the behavior of Davis, who is in a relationship?

    Also, Janette is the female version of Antoine in this show. You will recall her various trysts in New York, one of whom steals from her. So her getting together with Davis was in character for her. And, it was Mardi Gras.Report

    • Sam in reply to Beth Arnette says:

      Beth,

      Thanks for reading. As for your comments:

      -I have always objected mightily to Antoine’s extra-curricular activities. Earlier this season, I wrote about his hookup with the woman in Texas.

      -Janette’s abhorrent behavior isn’t the sex she chose to have with Davis; it’s having anything at ALL to do with Davis. He’s the worst. Jacque is wonderful. I don’t get it at all.Report

  4. Beth Arnette says:

    Aren’t Janette and Davis from the same monied world, at root?

    I know you don’t care for Davis, but I think I remember that you like Aunt Mimi. No Davis, no Aunt Mimi. Davis makes me uncomfortable but he’s still amusing. I can understand him really getting under other people’s skin.

    The week before last showed that Sonny had used a condom with the stripper. Thankfully.

    Antoine hooked up with a stripper in Season One, I think. It’s a wonder these characters don’t contract and spread STDs. But then, it’s a show.Report

    • Sam in reply to Beth Arnette says:

      One of the many oddities of the show is how main characters are used to expose us to more interesting peripheral characters. I’d be fine without Davis, but I’d miss Aunt Mimi. I’d be fine without Sonny, but the Vietnamese community is fascinating. This goes on throughout the show and is plainly bizarre; when main characters are routinely overshadowed by the people that they introduce us to, something is amiss.Report

  5. Brandon says:

    Your analysis is spot on! I was just stating some of the very comments you made to another fan of the show last week.Report

  6. Robin says:

    Davis is ruining the show for me =\.

    And that Annie or Jeanette could ever be into him is unfathomable…

    RobinReport