From Salon.
Let's talk about this week's "Treme." I found it disappointing overall -- unimaginative in most ways, and tone-deaf in others. Except for the hilarious scenes with Antoine (Wendell Pierce) rehearsing his new band and that splendid, wordless, musical opening, much of it was distressingly choppy and superficial, cutting scenes (and musical numbers) short as if with a hatchet and treating every subplot as equally interesting when in fact many of them were not interesting at all. ("On Your Way Down" was the episode title; James Yoshimura wrote it, Simon Cellan-Jones directed.)
But all those other flaws pale beside the hour's horrifying (and buzz-generating) showstopper: an act of savage criminal violence inflicted on one of the show's strongest characters. It was handled fairly tastefully by HBO standards, but also in a way that reduced its victim, a complex and steely character, to punching bag status, and that seemed, for a David Simon production, weirdly off-key.
If you haven't seen the episode, you should stop reading now.
If you have seen it, you know which subplot I'm referring to: the rape of Khandi Alexander's character, LaDonna Batiste-Williams, by two anonymous thugs who invaded her bar after closing time.
Read more here.