Treme is The Wire creator David Simon's exploration of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on one particular working-class neighbourhood of New Orleans. The pilot opens with the area's first jazz parade through the streets since the disaster and ends with a funeral parade – not the first – through the same battered places. Between the two fundamental rhythms of life and death is the story of the struggle of the people of Treme to restore harmony to their city and among themselves.
Like The Wire, Treme is a sprawling business that is going to take a little time to pull itself together into a cohesive and coherent narrative. For now, it is mainly the characters establishing themselves and dropping the smallest seeds of plot into the clearly fertile soil. Each one leaves you wanting more, from trombonist Antoine Batiste (Wendell Pierce, one of the most well-known and well-used members of Simon's repertory company), whose talent is all that stands between him and penury, to Mardi Gras Indian Chief Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters, another central member of the company), who is busy restoring a downtown bar so he has somewhere to practise. Then there's Antoine's sister LaDonna (Khandi Alexander), who is trying to trace her missing brother with the help of civil rights lawyer Toni (Melissa Leo), and the intensely irritating Davis (Steve Zahn), a DJ in love with New Orleans but forever trying to subvert its hedonistic spirit with pleas and plans for its inhabitants to "stick it to the man".
It's as elliptical as ever. It's got no obvious heart yet (if a heart is something we should be looking for), but Treme is as supple and confident as a jazz riff in the hands of a maestro. Which is of course – despite the occasional false note, such as the impossibly snotty British journalist who sneers at the city during his report, and the odd moment of preachiness, as when Toni's English professor husband rails against "this manmade catastrophe" to the same reporter – exactly what Simon is.
