Atlanta: Series Recap & Final Season Review
"Donald Glover" by britl is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
On Sep. 6, 2016, the FX original Atlanta graced our screens and was instantly a hit, beloved for its incredible performances, hilarious moments, bizarre tone and impressive production. Atlanta follows the lives of its four central characters Earnest (Donald Glover), Alfred aka Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), Van (Zazie Beetz) and Darius (LaKeith Stanfield). Paper Boi is focused on building up his rap career while his cousin Earnest is struggling to deal with managing Alfred’s career while maintaining his tenuous relationship with his on-and-off girlfriend, Van, whom he has a child with, all the while Darius tags along. However, the show doesn't require the audience to have a vast knowledge of rap, the music industry or even the city the show takes place in as it focuses on the characters and the world they are in. The thing that truly makes Atlanta a show that is different from the rest, is the world of Atlanta.
The Atlanta of the show is much different from our world’s Atlanta. Atlanta in the show is a truly bizarre world with vanishing scam artists offering Nutella sandwiches on public transportation, alligators living in people’s bathrooms and the woods inhabiting supernatural entities. Atlanta is one of the first shows since Twin Peaks to offer some unexplainable, dumbfounding and ethereal moments that are unforgettable and feel original.
Atlanta’s first season started off strong and features classic episodes such as B.A.N. where Earnest signs Paper Boi up for a free public broadcast news segment as he must debate about transgender rights and race issues as Dodge and AriZona ice tea commercials continually interrupt their points. This is another point Atlanta excels at, as they flawlessly blend together surrealist comedy and contemporary issues. The show examines race, fame, wealth, success, class, the music industry and a myriad of other issues. It doesn’t point them out but adds an extremely interesting perspective that most other media fails to achieve.
The show grew into itself in the second season, which may be one of the best second seasons of television I’ve ever seen. Every episode is truly impeccable, expanding on all the ideas and characters of the first season. The season features episodes such as the hilarious odyssey with Bibby in “Barbershop,” the otherworldly German festival of “Helen” and probably the most famous episode of the entire show, “Teddy Perkins.” This episode, in my opinion, is definitely one of the greatest in television history. This episode demands to be watched completely blind (seriously, you won’t be disappointed). After the end of season two, the demand for season three was high but because of the cast being involved in other projects and the COVID pandemic, it was pushed back and premiered in March of this year.
Season 3 of Atlanta is definitely the most controversial season of the show by far, as almost half of the season features anthology episodes rather than traditionally structured episodes of the previous seasons. Furthermore, it exchanges the titular city for Paper Boi’s second European tour as we bounce from places such as the United Kingdom to Denmark. The divisive anthology episodes feature none of our central characters as we follow completely original characters in their own random situations. The various anthology episodes are scattered throughout the season and overall give the season a weird pace. This season is not terrible and far from being bad, but it’s only a good season in an excellent show that took years of anticipation to come out. It was a recipe for fan hatred. Atlanta season three was disliked by fans mostly because of its disjointed episodes and even more confusing season finale episode “Tarrare,” in which Van gains a French accent and attacks people with a stale baguette. So, when season four was announced to be released only four months after the release of the third season people were surprised, as it turns out both of the seasons were secretly shot back-to-back.
Atlanta season four just premiered on Sep.15 and is a massive return to the greatness of season two, and the best start to any season of the show. As of writing this article, only three episodes have been released but the direction this season is taking is already intriguing. The weirdness of traditional Atlanta episodes has been full throttle as these first episodes provide some of the strangest and funniest moments of the show so far. The new season of Atlanta is off to a truly amazing start and continues a truly amazing run of the show. I strongly recommend Atlanta as it is a show that is technically outstanding, beautifully written and features some of the best moments in T.V history. Donald Glover created a truly amazing show and the day Atlanta ends will be a bittersweet one.
New episodes of Atlanta come out every Thursday on FX at 10 p.m. and stream the next day on Hulu.