Treme: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Treme: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie Review

New Orleans' rise from the ashes continues magnificently...

Though often underappreciated and ironically overlooked, David Simon and Eric Overmyer's Treme is as riveting an ensemble drama as any HBO has delivered over years of original programming. Texturally a dense, piercing novel, the acclaimed series (having currently wrapped its fourth and final season) follows the lives of dozens of all too convincing characters and weaves their stories into a masterfully written and acted account of the community, music, culture and very personal, hard-fought struggles of a post-Katrina New Orleans. Its third season is something of a 10-episode revelation, further rejecting convention and traditional television narratives in favor of something richer, more poignant and simultaneously more joyous and heartbreaking than TV fans are accustomed. At this point the cast has disappeared into their performances, the writing is as absorbing and insightful as that which grounded Simon and Overmyer's The Wire, the production design is stunningly realized, the music is as engrossing and infectious as ever, and the enduring spirit and overcome despair of New Orleans, already an inexcusably abandoned American city, that much more potent and palpable.

Treme: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

HBO's reputation for high quality Blu-ray releases remains untainted. Treme: The Complete Third Season features a striking, always lifelike 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation as remarkable and revealing as the two season releases that precede it. Colors are subdued but natural, skintones are perfectly saturated (save a few limited shot), black levels are deep and satisfying, and contrast is consistent and rarely overbearing. Detail delivers as well, with sharply defined edges, nicely resolved fine textures (particularly evident in closeups), and excellent delineation. Uneven noise and minor crush sneak into a handful of modestly lit sequences, but none of it amounts to an issue. Likewise, the slightest hint of ringing appears on occasion, albeit without ever really drawing attention. Thankfully, macroblocking, banding, aliasing and really anything remotely distracting is nowhere to be found. This is as pristine and polished a presentation as a Treme fan could hope for.

Treme: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like The Complete First and Second Season Blu-rays, the latest 10-episode run of Treme sounds fantastic thanks to an absorbing, intimately restrained yet joyously boisterous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. More an immersive celebration of New Orleans music and culture than a standard television series lossless mix, I'd even go so far as to say the engaging, all-enveloping experience nearly steals the show. Dialogue is clean, intelligible and realistically grounded in an already convincing soundscape. LFE output is strong and unafraid, lending support and power to anything that calls for low-end oomph. Rear speaker activity is wonderfully implemented and eerily real, with directional effects and pans that only bolster and embolden the beautifully designed sonic illusion at work. Dynamics are exemplary, and the series' music is full and impeccably translated to the home theater environment, bringing the sweeping, stirring strut and swing of New Orleans jazz to wondrous life.

Treme: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Cast & Crew Audio Commentaries: Five audio commentaries are available that feature key members of the cast and crew, among them showrunners David Simon and Eric Overmyer, producer Nina Kostroff Noble, writers George Pelecanos and Anthony Bourdain, and actors Wendell Pierce and Rob Brown.
• Music Commentaries: Each episode also offers a scene-specific commentary track with WBGO's Josh Jackson and NPR Music's Patrick Jarenwattananon that focuses on the songs, artists, techniques and musical stylings showcased in Treme.
• Welcome to the Underground (HD, 12 minutes): A behind-the-scenes featurette that's much too short and much too promotional. There are some nice interview bits, but nothing scratches any deeper than the surface.
• Behind Treme: David Simon (HD, 9 minutes): The series' co-creator examines the fiction and non-fiction of Treme, and the manner in which the two are blended and balanced in the award-winning drama.
• Chef Dinner (HD, 4 minutes): A group of well-known chefs guest star.
• The Neville Brothers (HD, 2 minutes): The duo discuss their contributions to New Orleans music.
• The Other Side II (HD, 20 minutes): The series' misguided, oddly detached web series continues.

Treme: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Treme has taken its place among the HBO greats. Even at a humble 36 episodes, it offers more emotionally charged drama than anything the network has to offer, and does so without resorting to cheap TV tricks and pulled punches. Everything from its performances to its writing to its music is deftly balanced and brilliantly deployed, and only its tragically short lifespan detracts from the saga as it's (being) told. HBO's Blu-ray release of The Complete Third Season, meanwhile, does have one fault: a comparatively lesser selection of special features and commentaries than previous seasons. It isn't a deal breaker by any means, though, as the 4-disc set's striking video presentation and outstanding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track more than make up for any supplemental shortcomings. Highly recommended.