marylsommers

marylsommers

A bit of a treat for fans of The Wire as a few more familiar faces make an appearance

This weekly blog is for those watching Treme on British TV. Please don't spoil it for others if you've watched ahead, and don't spoil it for yourself if you haven't watched this week's episode yet.

Paul Owen's episode three blog

This week: Annie and Sonny approach breaking point

The Sonny and Annie storyline made a bit of progress in this week's episode of Treme. It has become clear over the last few weeks that there is a big gap in talent between the two busking lovebirds, played by Michiel Huisman and Lucia Micarelli, and Sonny's resentment about this fact feels like a ticking timebomb between them.

This week Sonny is persuaded by two friends with greasy hair, scrappy beards and grungy clothes very much like his own to go on an On the Road-style journey to Houston to play a bit of piano in a bar out there. He does so, taking his leave of Annie with a typically jealous and unreasonable comment to the effect that if she performs with any other pianists while he's away "it'd be like cheating".

Strangely, though, what happens to Annie in the rest of the episode does feel a bit like cheating. She's clearly in demand as a violinist, playing with Steve Earle, who also tries to persuade her to record with a Cajun group he knows, and then being asked by another musician to pitch in with his band.

Annie: I couldn't ? not without Sonny.
Musician: Baby, he couldn't carry you home ?

Interestingly, Annie chooses to take this more as a compliment to her than as an insult to her boyfriend, and looks intrigued by the offer. She does end up playing with this band; Sonny sees this through the window; they exchange guilty looks and pained smiles, and then he leaves. It's a well-handled sequence.

Sonny's mood is not improved by his trip to Houston. We learn this week that he comes from Amsterdam, and ? charming to a fault ? he tells a Texas bouncer who has never visited New Orleans: "I came all the way from Europe but you couldn't drive five hours on the interstate. What the fuck's that?" I wish the bouncer had told him he hadn't the slightest interest in visiting New Orleans, but actually he inexplicably ends up joining Sonny and co for the trip back to Louisiana.

Another couple in trouble this week are the hard-working restaurant owner Janette (Kim Dickens) and her unlovable on-off boyfriend Davis (Steve Zahn). Davis breaks off from his drinks with Janette to flirt with Annie in a highfalutin English accent ("Cheers!"), prompting a mini-epiphany from Janette, who, after initially appearing lost in thought, suddenly gets up and leaves, telling him: "Goodbye, Davis ? cheers."

"Mood swings ... Man ? " he murmurs in baffled wonderment.

And there is some drama at last in the story of Ladonna's search for her brother Daymo, in her passionate plea for information from the prisoner who has assumed his identity ? played by Anwan Glover as a variation of his Slim Charles persona from The Wire ? and in this jailbird's vivid story of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Imprisoned after the storm, the fake Daymo and his fellow prisoners were taunted by guards who would "toss sandwiches over the wire and laugh, like they was feeding animals at a zoo, and we fighting over those sandwiches too, mouldy as they were." I liked his heavy, cynical worldview, and the fact that although he won't go on the record about any of this he does tell Ladonna's mother: "I hope you find your boy, ma'am." Again, a nicely judged scene.

Treme a little Treme for me

Best musical moment: I didn't think the music was particularly strong this week, but you can refresh your memory here and prove me wrong. That said, I did like Antoine (Wendell Pierce) mournfully playing the mouthpiece of his missing trombone, and singing romantically to Ladonna in her bar, nursing his broken lip, mumbling seductive Bunkish nothings.

Wire watch: Treme was a bit of a treat for Wire fans this week, with Jim True-Frost, who played cop-turned-teacher Prezbo, appearing as a record executive, Steve Earle, who played Bubbles's mentor Walon, turning up as an enthusiastic busker (unlike many of the other musicians in Treme, he did not appear to be playing himself), and Anwan Glover as the fake Daymo. In addition, there was a very Wire-ish scene where Toni (Melissa Leo) met up with a police officer with her car facing the opposite way from his. As if that wasn't enough, one of Sonny's friends told him: "It's a big fucking country, man. I mean Texas itself, shit ? It's not like Holland or Hamsterdam or wherever the fuck you're from." Hamsterdam was of course the name of the drugs tolerance zone in The Wire.

Antoine's money troubles: Some sad scenes with his young sons this week, who he always claims he can't afford to go to see. "Does our sister look like us?" one asked. Some gruff, sentimental stuff from Antoine about how much he loved them was met with an unambiguous response from the other son: "I gotta pee."

The Voice of David Simon: Simon didn't write this episode (that task fell to Eric Overmyer and novelist George Pelecanos), but the outrageously bawdy I Want a Little Sugar in my Bowl-style flirtation between Albert (Clarke Peters) and Darius's aunt Lula (Tarra Riggs) bore all the hallmarks of the master: