Treme Season 3 Primer

Nelson Hidalgo:

Don’t ask Nelson what he does, or what he makes. He came to New Orleans to help buy and sell land, looking to make a pretty profit off of the mad grab for real estate. Using his contacts, he greased Councilman Thomas’ palms in order to make his wheeling and dealing go smoother. In the course of his time in New Orleans, he came to love the city, growing to understand the culture and the people intimately, even taking part in some of the more esoteric aspects of the town. It all goes to hell, though, once Councilman Thomas is ratted out and starts to go down in flames. Nelson becomes a persona non grata in the town he grew to love.

Terry Colson:

Terry respects the law almost as much as he respects Toni Bernette. One of the seemingly few honest cops left on the force following the mass exodus as a result of the storm, Colson isn’t thrilled by the resurgence of crime in his city which is still badly undermanned. The crime is one thing, though – the corruption of his own department is something else. Cops who killed at will during the storm are being covered for through the loss of evidence and suppression of witness testimonies. Cases are being worked at half-effort. Following the death of her husband, Colson grew close to Toni, but his growing frustration with his own department reflected onto her, and now they are at odds with one another even though they are working toward the same goal.

Janette Desautel:

Music may be the biggest draw for the show, but anyone who has been there know it shares the New Orleans spotlight with the food. Thus, we have Janette, a struggling restauranteur. She employed Ladonna’s brother, used to date Davis, and she used to have a restaurant in the city until Katrina washed her dreams away. She scraped and struggled to keep the business afloat, but the fates aligned against her one too many times. She tried doing mobile catering, but ended up exiling to New York, where she bounced between restaurants. Her most recent posting gave her a stage on which to show off her culinary talents, and drew enough attention to give her an opportunity to head back to New Orleans. She has yet to decide, but given the glee she showed when she saw the trolleys running again, and the new relationship she has with her old sous chef, the odds are good she’ll be back.

Delmond & “Chief” Albert Lambreaux:

The Chief is the head of a tribe of Indians, a group of musicians and performers who lead chants and marches in the city for various holidays. They create tribal dress by hand, and survive off their fierce pride. Albert was one of the first back to New Orleans in his tribe, and pushed the men to get to work to be ready for their moment in the sun. He also took a stand against the local government and cops by squatting in a housing project untouched by the flood but still set up for demolition.

His despondency over his failure in that regard was compounded by getting kicked out of the bar he had been living in, and running into constant roadblocks while trying to remake his home. It fell to his son, accomplished New York jazz musician Delmond Lambreaux, to pull him out of his funk. Delmond had only recently come to understand his own ambitions and attachments with regard to New Orleans. Father and son recorded an album of Indian tunes crossed with standard jazz, and Del gave his father a phony “advance” off the sales to circumvent his father’s pride and allow him to continue rebuilding his house. Now they are together in New Orleans, rebuilding the house and their relationship, with promises of further records to come.

So there you have it, hopefully you’re up-to-date and ready for tomorrow night’s premiere. Be sure to check back on the site tomorrow night for our review on the season three premiere of Treme.