Modern television shows like FX’s Atlanta are unlike anything else on television today. Debuting in 2016, the show follows Earn (Donald Glover) and his cousin, Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry), as a famous rapper and a hopeful manager living in Atlanta. The characters navigate the Atlanta music scene with friends (LaKeith Lee Stanfield) and loved ones (Zazie Beetz), dealing with societal and economic issues along the way. The premise of sounding like a comedy is a disservice to the intelligence of this series. Each season peeled back layers of satirical comedy with characters that audiences could care about.
Every season Atlanta attempts to tackle different issues in the context of the location. Season one focused on establishing the characters and the setting. Season two, Robbin Season, focused on the city of Atlanta during a time of consistent robberies. Season three took the group international to Amsterdam and showed how “Blackness” is perceived all over the world. Season four thus far focuses on bringing the characters back home and dealing with new societal divides. Bringing them home parallels where our society is today.
Real, Relatable Characters
Over four seasons, there is a cast of easily identifiable and likable characters. Glover, the show's creator, curates a story that gives each lead solo episodes in every season. Giving these four characters their own episodes lets the audience learn about them individually and makes the group episodes more enjoyable. The camaraderie among the four is infectious but would not be effective without them spending time on their own. Earn, Alfred, Darius, and Van all see the world through entirely different lenses. Each season allows these characters to grow and evolve while also commenting on the state of the world today.
Earn (Glover) is the show's idea of the "Everyman" who is thrown into crazy situations. In season one, he is written to be a Princeton dropout with no focus on his life. A character portrayed as a blank slate has hidden depths that are not revealed right away. The reasoning behind Earn dropping out of Princeton is a plot device for the first season. It is not until the show's fourth season that Glover reveals why Earn was a dropout.
For three seasons. Earn is seen as a Black man navigating the music industry in America. In the fourth season, the character has been recontextualized, with some of his earlier season decisions making sense. Earn is introduced in season one as someone who wants to provide for his family, but by the fourth season becomes someone else. Instead of the family man, was he someone who just craved success in a racist world? It is a deep question that causes audiences to ponder.
Van (Beetz) is another character who is given a realistic evolution over three seasons. A character meant to be a "supportive wife" is given agency through an emotional breaking point. Over the show's third season, Van is mostly absent with brief appearances. There is a mystery behind her absence and as to why she is in Amsterdam to begin with. Season three's finale is a Van-focused episode that feels, on the surface, like simply watching this woman break down. The writing shows that there is more to her than just being a woman and someone who wants to experience a different life. Glover writes her as someone who has craved independence in a racist and sexist world. This finale explains that her tribulations in the past two seasons were a cry for help that no one heard. There is both nuance and subtlety that make this character unlike any other heroine on TV. The horror film-inspired finale helped give Van an emotional payoff to the arc established in season one.
Darius (Stanfield) has been the heart of the entire series since the beginning. His philosophical speeches are some series' funniest moments. The character is also thrown into rather dark situations but is someone who always stays true to himself. He is the humanity of the show and the remainder of there always being good in the world. A character not interested in causing strife gives Atlanta room for humility. Having someone to alleviate the tension helps make the moral messages even more effective.
Alfred (Tyree Henry), as rapper Paper Boi, is an analysis of being a popular Black celebrity. His character has to play two roles which cause internal conflicting emotions, making some of the series' the best episodes. As he becomes better known, it is easy to see how he craves to be himself instead of keeping up a persona. Notably, in season three, episode six-titled "White Fashion," we see Alfred drawing a line between race and social order. It is a character evolution and overall episode that forces the viewer to ask, "Is our mission to help our community or ourselves?" it is a powerful question that the character has dealt with since season one. Such a rare existential question makes Atlanta unlike anything else on TV.
Season Four Follows a Divisive Season Three
Atlanta has not avoided some missteps in its narrative. Having the characters go international in its third season did not happen as expected. Four episodes of the ten-episode season did not include our main characters. Broad swings were taken with Glover wanting to comment on the state of America. They were ambitious ideas that did not always work but offered something different from what came before. This was a surprising season, especially after a four-year gap between season two. Celebrity cameos like Alexander Skarsgård took us on a cerebral journey that provided deep thought.
It was a season that prompted questions but gave no direct answers. The philosophizing was just too much for the audience to wrap their head around at the time. This unique shift of standalone episodes made fans eager and hesitant to see season four. After such a divisive season three, audiences had high expectations for this final adventure. At the time of writing this article only three episodes of Atlanta’s fourth season have aired. After a divisive season with complex ideas, season four combines the best elements of every other season.
The uniqueness of Atlanta and its final season make it one of television's best series ever.