Treme takes place starting 3 months after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, particularly in Treme, one of the cities oldest neighborhoods. Created by Eric Overmyer, David Simon, and the late David Mills, the trio that gave us shows like Homicide: Life On the Streets and The Wire to name only a couple offer up a raw look at New Orleans that’s unapologetic, in tune with the cities traditions, and very human.

Character portrayal is gritty, honest, and to the point. By the first episode you understand the mannerisms of each character and a slice of their plight but even three episodes in your still no closer to investment in their plots then when the show began. Your entertained and on a whole the points and politics the show takes on in the aftermath of New Orleans post Katrina is enough to draw you in overall. The sympathetic angle of coming back to your home and finding nothing viable, the state of the economy and the lack of financial security running peoples lives amuck, the corruption of authority. These issues inject the show with life which seems to falter when character plots are introduced and panned out. Try as I might I just couldn’t connect with these characters other then their feelings of anger and injustice which is universally felt anywhere on varying scales outside of New Orleans but not enough that you feel a genuine representation to truly transport you into the mindset the show attempts to convey.

The second aspect of chemistry that the show survives on is the music. All throughout the show if its not a brass band performing a funeral march or playing in a club or in the studio its music playing in the background on a stereo or as part of the soundtrack. The show is simply teeming with fantastic music that had me itching for the soundtrack but also the music plays a vital part in introducing the viewer to a characteristic of New Orleans that many know exist but some rarely come to fully appreciate. Tradition really plays a part in the show and if the show can straighten itself out to include both individual stories that take the time to reveal more then just fleeting glimpses of, as I said before, mannerisms, then there can be some real character build up there to help you invest yourself, not only in the beauty of the music and locations, but of the characters plights as a whole. Overmyer and Simon have created some pretty fantastic shows in their time that stood the test of time so I have no doubt they can even out Treme in time. Well worth checking out for the music alone.