Who knows that Helen is an actual town in Georgia? Well, it is, and it’s the setting of this episode where we see Earn have his heel turn. This is a very underrated stand-alone episode that someone who doesn’t watch the series can watch and get entertainment from. I got this one down here in ranking because despite being an episode that takes two great characters outside their comfort zone, this is the least replayable episode of the series, and to that, “Helen,” here you are. This is the first episode that focuses solely on Van, and the dinner scene between Van and Jayde is worth the price of admission. A good episode that brings a great conversation about value. My biggest regret in this series is that I wish they made Van’s character development on par with the three male characters. Something for Glover to work on if he creates another show, which I hope he does. Darius is on fire in this episode. From saying “Everything’s made up n–, stay woke,” to his Wilt theory, or the Steve McQueen sequence, his bizarre but witty comments are on point the entire episode. This episode made me want more episodes, and that’s a plus. As someone who disputes charges often, I get everything Earn goes through in the episode. Earn is doing his best trying to make $96 stretch while also making his baby’s mom happy and making sure his daughter is taken care of. The writers do a great job mixing surrealism with realism throughout this episode. Also, RIP Takeoff! This Migos appearance is everything. Earn, Van, and Lottie look like they are about to get their fairytale ending as a family, and this episode lays down the track of how for us. The scene where Earn describes his love for Van through his lens is one of the best in the entire series. The scene beautifully depicts the tale of two ex-lovers who are making it work to raise a young girl. Wonderful episode to have as the series finale approaches. Seeing the Van and Darius pairing in this episode was something I never thought they would explore, but here we have it. Meanwhile, Earn wakes up broke with a woman he doesn’t know, and his life is just not together (looking like Earn of Season 2), and he has one of the longest days of his life. My first time hearing about what Sinterklaas is, coming from my first watch of this show, I went into an immediate deep hole and asked myself the question, “Why?” I think Atlanta is trying to show us how crazy of a concept this is, to begin with, and the shame those folks should have. This show has touched on plenty of things that we as Black people go through on a normal basis, but Atlanta forgot to touch on one thing: the crazy auntie. Don’t look at me crazy; many of us have one, and this episode takes a look closer at Earn and Alfred’s family dynamic. Meanwhile, I feel bad for Earn’s Dad. He has a horrible day at The Mall after spending too much time trying to buy a hat when all he wanted to do was rest before the after-church rush. He usually doesn’t fall for foolishness but that porkpie hat got to him. Thinking about Earn’s dad, he is played by the great Isiah Whitlock Jr. I’m pretty upset now that Glover didn’t make Whitlock and Katt Williams (Earn’s uncle) have one single interaction on the show. The bread was left on the table there. Shoutout to the bite from this episode that made a good sample for Drake’s album, Scorpion. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but Van-centered episodes are not my favorite. Van held back on good intuition a couple of times in this episode in the hope this night will turn out great, and sadly that didn’t turn out to be. However, we get another Gail Bean appearance, and that I love. Van picking up Earn at some shawty’s place is just so wild to me. Ex or baby mama, IDC. That’s a wild way to start the episode. She’s better than all of us for sure. Van and Earn show up at a pretty awkward Juneteenth party with some interesting characters. I feel like everyone reading this knows a Craig. The drink menu had me giggling; I wonder which one y’all would order. “They have a no chase policy” —Tracy Amazing quote from Tracy who provided some of my favorite moments of Season 2. His interview, his scamming, stealing the shoes for the interview in plain sight. Treacherous character, man. The random question this episode made me debate in my head: Would you rather be a popular artist whose longevity was only 2-3 years max (Trinidad James/Chingy)? Or, a very solid artist, whose longevity has been 10 years plus and who may be considered a master in their genre but never have the social acclaim from the people that they deserve (Fabolous or Wale)? Anywho, this episode introduces us to the term “YWA” (young white avatar), RIP to Yodel Kid. This episode is a bit confusing to me when it comes to what the overall message is, but it’s still a good episode. P.S. Let me say, the scene where Earn refuses to drink the Dasani water is the most relatable I’ve ever seen. “Cancer Attack” is such an insane episode of Atlanta. Paper Boi’s phone is lost, and we go on a journey to find out who did it. Was it the kid with cancer? This episode did not advance the plot of the show and is just a fun episode that doesn’t do that much for me, but my favorite thing about this episode is the directing. Just beautiful. Stephen Murphy’s work in this complements Hiro Murai well. Tom Brady- and Randy Moss-like work here. Another anthropology-style episode we got here is about a Trinidadian caretaker, Sylvia, who has passed away, and the unmindful white parents who paid to take care of their 5-year-old just found out she died. The episode has many resemblances to slavery and the repercussions of the slave trade with how Sylvia raised the kid and left a noticeable impact on him, but the parents didn’t know a clue about her or how much of her was present in their son. Sylvia’s daughter, we come to find out, is very upset that she took care of a white kid and causes a scene at her funeral. One of the minor instances that cracked me up in this episode was baby girl breaking out the Teflar bag at Sylvia’s funeral and the dad wearing a tech suit. These minor instances pop me so hard, and I hope it does the same to you. Paper Boi has a great talent of sniffing out a bad situation, and boy, he is right every time. This episode is very complex, and I’m not going to get into everything in this post, but Glover makes every minute of the episode valuable and makes you stay aware to see the symbolism throughout. I LOVE how the trio of Black men each have something to overcome in this episode, and they do it in a way that makes sense to each character’s personality. Also, I popped for Nando’s, a great establishment. How many seasons did Homeboy in Outer Space run? As a Drake fan, I got a little PTSD hearing the beautiful 1973 song “Liberty” by Amnesty. What a closing episode! The women drinking the “Sunken Place” tea and Darius screaming “wake up” is such a wonderful call back from Get Out. Overall this was a great way to end an incredible series and give us closure to the most unpredictable character on the show, Darius. Darius is hallucinating for most of this episode and the way he tells that he’s in a sensory deprivation tank and not real life is by seeing a “Thick Judge Judy.” The exchange with London is a great five minutes of TV. The way PaperBoi and Van were thinking about Popeyes is the way I dreamed about it especially when the chicken sandwich from there was hot on the scene. Great series finale to one of the best shows in the last 6 years. The first episode is a great one that shows Earn becoming Paper Boi’s manager and getting his song on the radio. Paper Boi had an interesting encounter with an old friend to get the song on the radio. The audacity certain people have when they think they can get away with blatant ignorance. This episode further cements Earn as our protagonist. In this episode, Earn is looking for this jacket he lost and is on a course to find it. Once he finds it, Atlanta tells a heartwarming story of why he needed it. It’s because ultimately it had a storage key in it, and that’s where he’s been staying. Earn shows that he has the potential to be a better father, man, and manager. This was the last anthology episode of the season and also the last Kevin Samuels appearance we see from him before his death. This monochrome episode follows Aaron (a kid who is mixed but claims his white identity more) who is enraged when Robert S. Lee (Samuels) decides to give all the Black students a collegiate scholarship. Aaron gets rejected because he’s not Black enough and then tries to burn his high school down. Overall, not a bad episode, but this is not the Atlanta we are here for. The most Atlanta thing (double entendre) that this show did is to bring out Mike Vick to do a cameo where he just races people. I really wish Mike Vick actually start doing this in real life. Would have been crazy. Better known as the Liam Neeson episode, in this one, Paper Boi heavily considers if his fans, Earn, and Darius are really for him. As he gets lost and ends up at the “cancel club,” he’s on a search to find those answers and runs into Liam. I love how the hat Paper Boi wears is a precursor to something we are going to see in Season 4, Episode 8. I love that when Paper Boi asks Earn who owns his masters, due to his spirit guide/mom questioning him, Earn replies, “You own your masters.” Such a simple, heartwarming moment. Glad we can also see Earn’s manager skills are legit. As a wing connoisseur myself, when Paper Boi opened his box of WET lemon pepper wings like it was that briefcase from Pulp Fiction, I had joy in my eyes. This episode is a follow-up to the night Alfred and Earn had in the opening episode of the series. Alfred and Earn are thrown into a holding cell where Alfred posts bail, and since Earn’s paperwork takes a long time to process, he remains there. While Earn is in the cell, we as the viewer can imagine what Earn feels like. The mental illness, police brutality, and homophobia in places like that are alarming and give insight into what happens in the system. I love to see that Paper Boi took Soulja Boy’s advice and got a “safe farm,” but man, that almost got him killed. This version of Paper Boi is more introspective than we have seen in the past. He took Blueblood’s plant and made it the foundation of his farm. However, hogs intrude and try to ruin his vacation from the world. As the show description says, “They always making Paper Boi go through something.” Seeing Paper Boi triumph at the end and seeing him be rewarded with the level of peace he’s been looking for is a great moment. This episode is a brilliant exposé of what performative allyship looks like, especially in the fashion world. Throughout this show, one of my favorite character plots is the fight Paper Boi has with “keeping it real” versus “being accepted in the industry.” “Culture vultures” and “gentrification” is what Glover is showing us to realize that we as a culture need to protect what is ours. Great episode. Season 3 is my least favorite of the show, so when I saw we got an hour-long season opener for Season 4 — to keep it 8 more than 92 with you…I was scared. Y’all will see how much I love the season opener of Season 3, but starting with an episode with the Big 4 is what I needed to see. The Blueblood character interests me because this character is definitely a tribute to MF DOOM and Earl Sweatshirt. But I feel like this character has parallels with Childish Gambino as well. Glover does an amazing job displaying himself through many of the characters on this show, and the expressiveness those characters bring is something I will deeply miss about this series. Previous episodes “FUBU” and “North of the Border” give you perfect insight into the dynamic between Alfred and Earn. Despite Earn’s lack of just “having his s**t together,” when his back’s against the wall, he comes out on the wrong side. Willy (Earn’s Uncle) gave Earn a golden gun at the end of “Alligator Man,” and it reappears here and almost gets the gang caught up until he plants it on Country Man who has his manager take the heat for it. Paper Boi sees what Earn will do for the family, and we see somewhat of a nice camaraderie between the cousins. For everything that happens in this episode, this is a well-polished piece, and it was a great decision to end such a bizarre season on the most compelling character who had the most bizarre turn, which was Van. By the end of the episode, we understand why Van’s character has been this way all season and addresses the elephant in the room which is, “Where is Lottie?” and her mental health. This is a touching episode that made me find Van more fascinating. The invisible car scene is the first moment on this show where you remember exactly where you were when you first saw this scene. Twitter went crazy after that scene. The hoops Earn has to jump through the entire episode chasing down a promoter who owes him money is simply what the episode is about, and that’s good for me. “I’m immune to grits!” from a Tyler Perry-inspired character is a perfect line. The pseudo-horror scenario that the “Mr. Chocolate” character puts Van in is very similar to “Teddy Perkins,” and Zazie Beetz excelled here. Outside the absolutely over-the-top gold this episode displays, I’m very intrigued with the way Van parented Lottie here. Despite having her guard up throughout her stay in the Tyler Perry Studio-type place they are, Van gives Lottie the freedom to explore if she likes acting, and she killed it. Wonder how many parents in real life have to act like this to have their kid hit their potential at an earlier age. Look, let me tell you how ridiculous this show is. In this episode, the show introduces a character named Roberto. They gave this man ample TV time to build his backstory of being an aspiring rapper who wants to get found like Big Sean found Kanye when Sean rapped for him. Roberto wants to make it to get his baby mama and kid out of his mom’s crib. Roberto realizes Paper Boi is at the mall and leaves his job to find him so he can rap for him. He finally finds him, and when he does, an old enemy of Paper Boi comes shooting. Roberto raps for him for a solid two seconds until Paper Boi pushes him into a glass window of a store. Truly hilarious… had me rolling for the remainder of the episode. This episode is very The Twilight Zone-like, and it was awesome. Atlanta’s attention to detail is amazing, and I wished the other anthology episodes were as smooth as this one in displaying the theme. In the Black community, you may hear one of us say we need reparations from white people (because goddamn, we do), and this episode is about a white man played by Justin Bartha giving reparations. This episode is simply about reparations, and it gives a wonderful insight into what those can look like in real life. Can’t wait for the day that all descendants of slaves “get paid” in my best Young Dolph impression. Justin Bieber is Black. Like, is that not funny to y’all? This episode is all about perception, and Alfred learns that the hard way. He squabbles with Bieber, and to his surprise, that just made Bieber a bigger star and PB look more like a clown. The media perception is a constant theme of the show, and this is an introduction that PB needs to think smarter about his brand. Side note: I just went to the Millennium Tour and saw Lloyd who absolutely killed it. He made a good, unexpected cameo here, so shoutout to him. This episode is a great origin story of Earn and Alfred’s relationship. Earn wears a fake FUBU jersey to class that his mom bought him, and to his surprise, another classmate wears the same jersey. Now, the classmates have to determine which kid has the fake jersey. Earn’s anxiety is now riled up, and while I got your attention, this episode shows the sad reality of bullying and the social structure wearing certain clothes brings into the school place. The biggest plot from Season 2 is Paper Boi realizing how he wants to stay true to himself and make a huge impact on the rap game, but he needs the manager to do it, and Earn might not be the guy going forward. After the incident at the pajama college party, the two cousins had the much-needed convo that it may be time to part ways. Earn and Tracy’s fight at the end of the episode is just crazy. This episode was a wild ride. A hilarious episode that sets up nicely for the Season 2 finale and “FUBU.” The pettiness displayed in this episode is something Aretha Franklin or Kevin Durant can’t cook up. Also, we get the first Tracy appearance since Season 2, which was amazing. This is one I don’t want to write about because I just need y’all to watch. This is one I know that after rereading this piece next year, I’ll be mad at myself for ranking it so low. “Woods” to me is a resemblance of a storytelling Kendrick Lamar track or an introspective, no-chorus Drake rap song. It’ll make you contemplate your way of life and do something about it. I love this episode so much because after it, you can see the change in the character of Paper Boi. Paper Boi is adamant he won’t “sell out,” and by the end of the episode, we see how he starts his evolution. There’s a quote from this episode I want to leave with y’all that states: “Nobody wants somebody famous to look just like them,” and just wow. Oh, man, how this episode will always stand the test of time with the way social media and media manipulation are today. This episode is just brilliant. The fake commercials inside the show that is already inside of another show are amazing. This is PEAK Atlanta doing everything they do well at an all-time high. Paper Boi appears as a guest on Montague where we see him in heated debates with Dr. Holt. The man above (who is Black) says he identifies as a 35-year-old white man. This racial sketch combined with the one talking about trans issues makes for one of the most layered television we’ve seen in a long time. The Coconut Crunch-o’s ad stole the show. I need y’all to know as I’m typing these, tears are rolling down my face from remembering how funny that jawn is. When everyone thinks of this episode, we think of Katt Williams’s performance as Willy/Alfred’s father, and that’s exactly where we’re going to stay. Williams earned an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Performance, and it’s a joy seeing our legends shine. “Barbershop” is the episode of Atlanta that had me hollering with laughter the most. Who doesn’t love the Black barbershop. … It’s like the biggest safe space in the world. It has its toxic ways and conversations at times that are working to get better, which will be due to the community ethos the space provides. Paper Boi’s barber Bibby has to be the most unserious person in the world, and Paper Boi joins his adventure because a brother needs a haircut. Bibby takes Paper Boi on a trip to his woman’s house just to steal money, feeds him old chicken, tricks Paper Boi into stealing lumber, and gets in a hit-and-run all in one afternoon. It’s a comically golden episode, and you feel sympathetic for Paper Boi in the end. This episode was so good that many people I know thought Thomas Washington was a real person. In this episode, we see Donald Glover create a revisionist history, mockumentary-style episode about Disney and A Goofy Movie being the “Blackest movie” in the Disney catalog. SCAD grad and Disney animator Thomas Washington accidentally becomes CEO of Disney in 1992 after the Rodney King riots. Thomas Washington is a Black man who we follow to his demise. This episode is hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. The incorporation of Tevin Campbell and real scenes from the actual movie are incredible and bring a sense of realism to this episode. When Donald Glover plays these outlandish characters (Mr. Chocolate, for example), he goes IN. Teddy Perkins (a spoof of post-surgery MJ) is a character we are introduced to when Darius goes to Teddy’s House to buy a piano. This leads to one of the most haunting episodes of TV ever. There are lots of subtle references to the movie Get Out. Stanfield and Glover had brilliant performances here, and the episode was the best-directed episode to me. Shoutout to Hiro Murai. This is one of those unique TV episodes that will stand the test of time. This episode is a masterpiece. Simple. This episode could have been a movie itself as the symbolism shown is worthy of an ivy league dissertation. This episode perfectly depicts how systems of whiteness (whether on purpose or just by living) protect themselves while oppressing people of color at the same time. The Season 3 opener is based on a true story about Devonte Hart and focuses on Loquareeous, a kid who is taken from the custody of his mother and grandfather and has to stay with two white women who feed him raw chicken and live in unstable conditions. Let me also mention we waited FOUR years for an Atlanta episode, and they delivered. Coming back to television featuring an episode that is not focused on the main characters is something only Donald Glover can get away with.
