Treme - Pilot, Do You Know What It Means?, S01E01

Treme has already been renewed for a second season off the strength of the reception of its premiere. I'm not at all surprised, considering the show balances the pain of distress and the healing of hope so well, putting it in the very relatable circumstances of those in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city.

Through both the writing and the camera work, we were given an appropriate sense of disorder. What has happened is clear, what will happen is not, but the people who remain are determined to move in a forwards direction, and at the moment that is the appropriate thing.

We also got a great sense of community. Those who remained behind banded together. The generosity based in the fact that most had little left to give gave hope that there is still a sense of decency in the world. The horror at the idea of the rest of the country abandoning the city and the people who wished to remain, when any one of us would fight for the restoration of our home in similar settings, was touching.

Will I watch again next week? No, I will not. But not because the show doesn't have everything that might make it quality. Simply because I watch television for escapism, and Treme touches reality far too much for my own tastes. But if you think you'd be interested, you will not be disappointed with the delivery.