Treme, Ep. 4.02, “This City” bogged down by odd character beats
Treme is a bit of an odd one this week, with “This City” delivering affecting, heart-breaking news to several of its characters while simultaneously featuring quite a bit of what a non-fan might call filler. That’s a bit too hard of a knock for this reviewer, so let’s just call the episode problematically-paced. We open with Albert, who finds out his cancer is back after he’s been in remission for all of one episode. It’s a strange narrative choice. Why the quick turnaround? In “Tipitina”, the fantastic season three finale, he’s sick and starting chemo. In last week’s season four premiere, he’s in remission, and this week, he’s not only relapsed, he’s decided against continuing his treatment. The constraints of only having five episodes for the final season are clearly showing here and one can’t help wondering why the writers chose to pick up where they did with Albert. It’s a bit frustrating- Treme has always been a show to take its time and savor the details of the small moments that lead to the big ones rather than skipping ahead to the dramatic payoffs.
