Plot: Taking place almost entirely in Europe, Season 3 finds Earn, Alfred, Darius and Van in the midst of a successful European tour, as the group navigates their new surroundings as outsiders, and struggle to adjust to the newfound success they had aspired to.
Review: It is hard to believe that it has been four years since the second season of Atlanta. Donald Glover’s brilliant series ushered in a creative period for the actor and musician that showcased his talents as a writer and filmmaker beyond the constraints of traditional comedy which he became associated with thanks to NBC series Community. After two seasons, the series took a brief creative hiatus that was extended significantly thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. In that time, not only has Glover been busy, but all three of his co-stars have been as well. Bryan Tyree Henry has appeared in Marvel Studios’ Eternals as well as Godzilla vs Kong, Zazie Beetz was in both Deadpool 2 and Joker, and LaKeith Stanfield has been in everything from Uncut Gems and Knives Out to Judas and the Black Messiah. For the third and penultimate season of Atlanta, everyone returns to characters they know well for a brilliant season that upends expectations beyond what we already have come to associate with this series.
The first two episodes of Atlanta’s third season premiered over the weekend at SXSW and both are indicative that this ten-episode run is more than worth the multi-year wait. Somehow, in only thirty-minute chapters, Donald Glover and his creative team manage to capture the weirdness of everyday life but through a sometimes cracked lens. Neither of these two episodes was what I expected them to be and open the season by boldly jumping ahead several years and do not try to catch the audience up to what we have missed since we last saw Earn, Paper Boi, Darius, and Van. As you have seen in the trailers, this season takes place almost entirely in Europe, a risky move for a series titled after a city thousands of miles across the Atlantic.
In an even bolder move, the premiere episode, “Three Slaps”, doesn’t immediately even seem to be connected to any of the four main characters at all. Atlanta has taken some creative leaps before, most notably the instant classic “Teddy Perkins” which featured Donald Glover under heavy prosthetics for a nightmarish tale right out of The Twilight Zone. This episode opens with a cautionary prologue with echoes of Jordan Peele that may be one of the most chilling five-minute sequences in years. The rest of the episode follows a young boy who is warned by his mother that something bad will happen to him and then it does. To reveal any more of the plot would ruin this great standalone story that touches on everything from slavery to the contemporary view of police officers to white saviors. It is a remarkable episode that ends in such a way that makes you wonder if it was a dream, a nightmare, or just a creative tangent for writer Stephen Glover and director Hiro Murai.
The second episode, “Sinterklaas is Coming To Town”, was also directed by Murai from a script by Janine Nabers. This story brings us up to speed with the main cast who are in the midst of Paper Boi’s European tour. As the quartet converges on Amsterdam for the latest concert, the characters pair off for parallel stories. Earn (Donald Glover) and Alfred (Bryan Tyree Henry) learn about the Dutch tradition of Black Pete, a young boy wearing blackface. When it is explained that it is due to soot from falling down the chimney after Saint Nicholas, Alfred replies “sounds like Santa’s slave, but I appreciate the rebrand.” It is a funny and surreal plot element that ends in a truly odd way. The other pairing finds Darius (LaKeith Stanfield) helping Van (Zazie Beetz) follow an address she found on a slip of paper in her pocket that leads that to a living wake for a man on his deathbed. Again, I cannot reveal anything here as you have to see what happens to appreciate it.
It is interesting to note that Donald Glover did not write either of these two episodes nor does he have credits on the next five. In fact, a distinct writer is credited on each of the first seven episodes this season, all of which are directed by Hiro Murai. What is noticeable right away is how much the dynamic of Atlanta has changed with the geographic shift to Europe. The struggle of Black people in America may have been too on the nose for a series like this, but these episodes still manage to make a relevant and biting commentary but still do so with a very bleak sense of humor. This show has never been about direct laughs but instead the uncomfortable hilarity of the everyday.
While two episodes may be a short sampling to make any sort of judgment call, we can take the first two seasons as enough collateral to predict just how good this run will be. Atlanta is already coming to an end when it seems to be hitting the heights of what it can be creatively and this season looks to be setting up something substantial. There is a mellow murmur under the surface that may be an indicator of something dramatic about to hit these characters and I cannot wait to see what comes next. There are few shows that can legitimately be called brilliant but Atlanta is definitely one of them. These two episodes alone are proof that you don’t need more than a good director, a great script, and a talented cast to turn simple stories into layered and powerful television. Add the fact that it is also very funny and you have one of the best shows out there.
Atlanta‘s third season premieres on March 24th on FX.