Carnival Time for Treme: I Know Your Heart

'Anybody can be a TV critic for a month. After that you need stamina.'
- Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian

With four episodes left in Treme's second season on HBO, aside from a reviewer reviewing reviewers, there's plenty of stamina among those covering the show. This week Dave Walker has a scoop on which team announced the meeting of the courts. You'll never guess.

There's also Walker's weekly Treme Bible at NOLA, LA Times (David Simon interview), BuzzFocus, HitFix, The New York Times, AV Club, Time Magazine, Salon, The Boston Globe, HBO, Back of Town, Watching Treme, NPR and the Gambit's Where to Watch guide.

Episode 17: Carnival Time

Treme's cast of characters find themselves at Carnival, 2007. Spoilers aplenty, so watch it first.

First things first, Davis is a shoe whore. After the Muses queen's shoe (pictured) rolls by in spectacular LED lights, he starts working riders with: "You objectify me then you deny me? Woman, thy name is cruelty." Davis is also a coconut whore, but between Annie and Rio, he has no luck.

Everyone's Mardi Gras tradition is different, but the same thread runs through each. Anything can happen. Anything does. Waking up early to see the Mardi Gras Indians' new suits, drinks in the Marigny with the Society of Saint Anne, riding in Zulu, chasing chickens or chasing beads it's many versions of the same thing, often involving feathers and/or alcohol.

Lt. Terry convinces a reveler to holster her breasts. "This is the Muses parade. Everybody on that float is female." Bourbon Street drunks with camcorders hoping to record amateur videos are the other kind of boobs at Mardi Gras. Terry disarms a Muses parade-goer with a shoe lure. "So I ain't gonna get the shoe?" asks the perp's date. Murder-wise, 2007 was a banner year for Carnival safety after what we had come to expect. "A one murder Mardi Gras," Terry says.

Al "Carnival Time" Johnson sits in with Antoine's band on Bacchus night with his epynomous song. Al is a resident of the New Orleans Musicians Village and you can sometimes get him to play "Carnival Time" on piano, even when it's not. Antoine's class has a discordant try at "Little Liza Jane," then "Do What You Wanna." A band leader friend once bucked the parents at his school and insisted on waiting until his students played well enough to march at Mardi Gras. He's at a different school now.

2007 Cornell Williams talks Antoine into letting him take a shot at cleaning Sonny up because he's been there. Sonny's intervention comes complete with an oystering trip with Cornell's uncle. There are no beads involved, but at least he doesn't catch carnival crabs.

Sofia is practically holding up a neon sign asking for the truth about her father's suicide, but Toni can't tell it. On the day she lays her husband to rest, she loses her daughter. Loses her to the point of Davis saving the day at a Radiators show as underage Sofia bellies up to the bar listening to: "Keep on playing children, it's a long long journey home."

The St. Augustine High School Marching 100 rolls by on Mardi Gras, with Antoine and LaDonna's sons regretting the musical background they missed. Antoine has lined up his Tarty Gras, but Desiree reminds him that "It's Daddy time." LaDonna opts out of the day entirely. Cyril Neville plays the Mother in Law lounge as Antoine looks for a Baby Doll of his own.

Nelson has never heard of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, so 2007 Oliver Thomas gets him set up, complete with blackface. "If this is right, I can't imagine what wrong is in this town." The usual "make the right donations, meet the right people" takes a few shortcuts with OT backing him. Cigar at the ready, the big shot is a Zulu Big Shot for the day. Computer cable deals are broached, so it's a networking ride. Nelson trades a coconut for a Tarty Gras hookup.

Delmond has a musical moment under the Claiborne Bridge as the Mardi Gras Indians' "Shallow Water Oh Momma" blends in "Killer Joe" by Quincy Jones on a boombox, and the sound he's been looking for seems near. Terence Blanchard's "Requiem for Katrina" is a beautiful example of that kind of synthesis.

Big Chief Albert looks spectacular in the best costuming I've seen on Treme. "You looking real pretty, Daddy," is not a compliment you would hear in many other cities. Big Chief looks fine enough to pull off his own Tarty Gras. Delmond gives his father some space, and walks away with Not Delmond's Girlfriend.

Anthony Bourdain-scripted Janette has an Everywhere Else It's Just Tuesday call from a friend. 2007 Eric Ripert is a sweetheart and gives Janette the day off with dinner at Le Bernardin with the roommate who's cleaning up for the Church of Chang. Subtitles for Chef would be helpful.

Speaking of subtitles, Annie goes to Cajun Mardi Gras. For a New Orleans diehard, there is no "Something different this year," so Davis seizes upon his Rex riding daddy to ditch the fais do-do. Annie is ready for chicken chasing in her capuchon as the capitaine shouts, "We're going to make sure you Yankees don't fuck up our Mardi Gras." Officer and a Gentleman style, they've got noplace else to gumbo. After riding from home to home collecting charite' for the gumbo pot, revelers head to the cemetery to pay their respects to a lost friend.

Watching a Mardi Gras Courir is a reminder that Treme can be a window into a culture viewers are unfamiliar with. In New Orleans it's easy to fall into a "Who doesn't already know this?" mentality. The answer being, much of America. Treme's writers, actors, music supervisors and designers have made a world where characters have the chance to realize the grandest embodiment of themselves at Carnival.

We begin to see what Annie sees in her boyfriend when she says, "Davis, I know your heart" as he watches over a lost child.

Carnival Time ends on a fishing boat with Sonny getting his chops busted about his beadless Mardi Gras. Cue: "The Day after Mardi Gras" by Alex McMurray. Everywhere else it was just Wednesday.

Photo by Jeff Beninato. Taken at Canal, where nobody cares (as per Lt. Terry).

Follow Karen Dalton-Beninato on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kbeninato