Treme Review: “Poor Man’s Paradise” (Season 3, Episode 9)

Similarly, we get some form of closure to Sonny’s dangling marriage proposal from last week. Linh’s family accepts him fully in a warm and funny scene involving her grandmother. It’s a small blessing to get a scene with no portentous beats, reveling instead in the simple joy of finding somewhere you’re accepted. Later, Linh’s father gives his implicit approval of Sonny and Linh’s coming engagement, only after explaining just what he had to sacrifice to get to America. As much as I love Sonny and enjoy watching him evolve, however, I’m finding it harder to see how he fits into the larger narrative as a whole.

A less optimistic romance is that between Annie and Davis. Davis has to tell his gallery of jazz greats that their album isn’t being released, and that they will therefore not be getting paid. This leads him into a tailspin of drinking and further self-reproach, which leads to him further alienating Annie, who is trying to be tolerant at the same time that her career continues on the fast track. She’s clinging even harder to the memory of Harley now, though, insisting that he be given first credit on the songs she finished from his notes. It all comes to a head when Davis arrives at the recording studio drunk to “help” the mixer to push Annie’s vocals to the front. It’s a professional embarrassment, and it might also be the last straw for Annie.

Meanwhile, Desiree continues to fight the good fight against the senseless destruction of people’s houses, showing up at Nelson’s office to talk further with the contractor. Nelson plays politics well, though, and knowing that NOAH is basically done and they have moved on to bigger things, gives up all the information he has on NOAH. It’s a shrewd move, and it pegs Nelson as a real player now.

Also on Nelson’s side this episode? All of his time learning about and falling in love with New Orleans pays off in a big way when he finally gets to sit down with Chief Albert Lambreaux. Albert is skeptical of the sincerity of the developers, especially when they ask to place his costumes into a kind of museum in the new Jazz Center. He talks about practicing at Gigi’s Bar, expecting blank stares from the suits, but is suitably impressed – or at least taken aback – when Nelson not only knows the cross streets for the bar, but namedrops Ladonna. It’s a fantastic payoff to the series’ main strength – subtle weaving of characters into one another’s worlds.

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