The TV cycle of life continues, as “The Walking Dead” ends (but is coming back in only two months) while “Treme” begins (but is ending forever after this five episode final season)…hmmm, maybe things are more complicated.
The Walking Dead…I guess viewers aren’t the only ones who weren’t satisfied with the third season finale that saw The Governor’s forces lose in their quest to take Rick’s prison, because they essentially re-staged it for tonight’s mid-season finale. What should have been a riveting stand-off (the episode was certainly action filled) was hampered by a rerun feeling. Plus, it’s hard to build true suspense or tension on a show that seems to think even insignificant characters are wholesale necessary. We saw The Governor’s entire fighting force perish along with the man himself while Rick’s crew only suffered the loss of a Hershell (who was probably deemed best to die since he’s an old man…typical) and a few stragglers we’ve never seen before this episode. Rick’s forces were out numbered and outmatched in fire power, but somehow barely sustained a scratch? [Except that they were forced from the prison anyway, so it makes you wonder why they didn’t just voluntarily leave with all their people. Another moment of stupidity on Rick’s part.]
Would it really have been that big a loss if skinny Asian guy succumbed to his pneumonia? Would it have been so terrible if New Alcoholic Black Guy had died? Or New Black Girl Who’s the Sister of Muscular New Black Guy? Or Muscular New Black Guy himself (forever known as Cutty from The Wire but here called Tyrese), who defied the laws of physics to dodge four guys shooting at him? Tyrese’s escapes from death are becoming unintentionally comical, and for what? So the show can have one more one-dimensional character we don’t care about? We know that we’re forever stuck with the always-dull Rick, but why not trim down the rest of the yokels?
Also, I actually liked The Governor more than most of the “good guys,” and was sad to see him and Hershell go over so many who are more expendable. Grade: C+
Treme…By now, you either except the indulgent mess that is Treme and its defiant refusal to turn into a satisfying show or you don’t. You go along with the fact that David Simon (formerly creator of The Wire, otherwise known as TV God) isn’t concerned with Plebeian worries like plot momentum, story lines that go anywhere, pacing that’s faster than two snails having sex, and characters you like or can truly invest in. [Treme might be the first show in history to feature realistic characters that become less well-drawn over time, most of them are so stubborn they’re one-dimensional, because you know they’ll never change or have a real arc.] Simon is going for a feel of such exacting verisimilitude that it actually makes the show feel more staged. One of his favorite new tics is having real-life people (i.e. non-professional actors…and it shows) play bit characters and show up for a scene of exposition-dump, and it dawns on you just how hard you have to struggle to understand what they’re saying.
I think setting a show in post-Katrina New Orleans is a terrific idea, but Treme bungles it by being less interested in the rebuilding of social services or civilization than in exactly which Jazz singer will be playing at which club or what gumbo should taste like. Most of the main characters are musicians or cooks, and if the show ever takes on a larger plot line (like the shady contracting done by Jon Seda’s character or the police corruption frustrating a decent cop played by David Morse), it feels like an annoyance before it can get back to static scenes of New Orleans cooking (poor Kim Dickens) or music. David Simon is clearly in love with New Orleans, and it sometimes feels like he’s using this show as a vacation in New Orleans after slogging through the muck of Baltimore for so long. But I’m not so sure following a veteran reporter (Simon is more journalist than novelist, The Wire is great non-fiction while Breaking Bad is a great novel) on vacation is something most of us would want to do. There’s a reason that the most depressing episodes of The Wire felt riveting, and Treme’s most upbeat musical numbers feel endless. Grade if David Simon were Giving It: A++++ For Everyone Else: C
Agree totally