"The New Yorker" Reviews Khandi Alexander in "Treme"

Hilton Als reviews the brilliance otherwise known as Khandi Alexander in next week's issue of The New Yorker: Als writes the actress and co-star of HBO's Treme "acts as though her life depends on it" and is one of three actresses who have managed to surpass their stage and big-screen peers. 

"This list includes Edie Falco, in The Sopranos, and now Nurse Jackie, and Lisa Kudrow in the short-lived series The Comeback; Khandi Alexander completes the trinity. In 'Treme”'(which has been picked up for a second season on HBO), as LaDonna Batiste-Williams, a bar owner in post-Katrina New Orleans, Alexander—the Queens native who was equally brilliant in “The Corner” (2000) and subversive as the coroner Alexx Woods on 'CSI: Miami'—acts as though her life depends on it. She not only brings a linguist’s scalpel to the script—she emphasizes a word like “busted,” say, until you feel just that—she also shows us LaDonna’s need to survive in her newly changed world with a glance, or a gesture."

Absolutely. Treme has become Sunday evening's must-see-tv. Just like in The Corner, Khandi Alexander dominates every scene where she appears. And those facial expressions last night? Brava to a sistah who has been steadily working in tv and film for the past two decades.

The Treme clips are being quickly removed from HBO but Alexander is featured in this week's promo. Watch it AFTER THE JUMP ...