This episode did a lot of stage setting, as it must. It begins maybe three months after the last season finale, and we need to get an idea of the themes at play this season while catching up to our characters, but damned if it doesn’t do a good job economically reintroducing us to our cast, and giving us some morsels of the things in store.
The episode begins and ends with a street music celebrating in honor of Kerwin James, the first of which gets busted by the cops due to noise complaints. (As Antoine points out, though, “Anyone with complaints about music in Treme, they in the wrong place all together.”) This scene gives us the first of many toe-tapping numbers, with a big brassy rendition of the seminal hymn “I’ll Fly Away.” At the end, a brand new celebrating is just getting swinging when the cops show up again… but this time to act as an escort for the impromptu parade. Thus, the institution has become an ally, though for how long no one can tell.The crack down gives way to an appreciation for tradition, and for a moment, the world seems right again.
While this is happening, Lt. Colson is at a diner grabbing a sandwich. Outside, he runs into a singularly New Orleans character. A young man, dressed like some kind of genie/wizard hybrid with a guitar slung over his back. After exchanging a few words about their sandwiches, the genie hopes onto his Christmas light-covered bike and begins to drive away.
“Don’t ever change,” Colson says, probably while remembering that his ex-wife just days ago called all the inhabitants of New Orleans “dreamers and drunks.” At the time, he thought he was excluded from those ranks, but seeing this quirky character probably helped him realize what we already knew – he is a dreamer. Like everyone else in this show, he dreams of the city of New Orleans, and the bright future that awaits for both it and them if only the world would allow it.
And the bike riding guitar genie? He doesn’t need to be told twice. Rolling into the distance, he gives Colson his cheerful assurance, “Of course not.”
We are firmly back in the Treme now, and I can’t wait to watch the struggle for the soul of the city play itself out. There’s a lot of ways it could go, and a lot of stakes for our characters, and so long as we dream like they dream, that means plenty of meaningful drama ahead.