"Not as awesome as breaking a tooth on some sort of plastic alien fetus."
-Nick, when finding the baby inside the King Cake
Premiered June 5, 2011.
In this episode from season two of the HBO series, it's Mardi Gras 2007 in New Orleans, and the citizens are preparing to celebrate in a variety of ways.
Fidlde player Annie Talarico (Lucia Micarelli) has been invited to a Courir De Mardi Gras celebration with other musicians 2 hours away in Cajun country. Her boyfriend Davis McAlary (Steve Zahn), a local DJ, has never missed a Mardi Gras in New Orleans and isn't crazy about spending this one in the country. He learns his father is riding on a parade float for the first time in years, which provides Davis an out.
Annie in the costume she made for Courir De Mardi Gras. |
Sofia and Toni check out the parade;Sofia is disinterested. |
Delmond pays a visit to Sonny. |
Antoine (somewhat reluctantly) celebrates Mardi Gras with his sons. |
Nelson gets painted up to ride the Zulu float. |
Janette Desautel (Kim Dickens) is living in New York, working as a sous chef at a fancy restaurant and feeling homesick for Mardi Gras. Her spirits are lifted when not only does her boss give her the night off to celebrate but someone mails her a King Cake from New Orleans. This gives her a chance to share Mardi Gras with her flatmates.
Jannette introduces Frank (James Ransone) and Chas (Derek Cecil) to King Cake. |
Police officer Terry Colson (David Morse) is patrolling the parades, hoping to minimize crimes during Mardi Gras.
J.A. Morris says:
This is one of the strongest episodes of Treme. "Carnival Time" feels almost like an anthropological documentary about Mardi Gras. There's a great scene at around the 25-minute mark. It's a montage of the different ways people are getting into costumes, accompanied by the Professor Longhair song "Go To The Mardi Gras". Great television.
Nick finds the baby in the King Cake! |
J.A. Morris' rating:
4 King Cakes.
This is a strong episode of a strong series. It gives a great overview of many different contrasting aspects of Mardi Gras. We see plenty of "laissez les bons temps rouler" as well as incipient Ash Wednesday hangovers.
Harley (Steve Earle) plays guitar at Courir De Mardi Gras. |
Plus the music, as is typical on the show, is pretty awesome. As J.A. Morris says, there are aspects of "Carnival Time" that play like a Mardi Gras documentary, but it's the relationships between the characters and their environment that makes this episode (and Treme in general) well worth watching.
RigbyMel's rating:
4 King Cakes.
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