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I liked how charming Alfred got along so well with the Dutch jail guards.
Tirhakah Love: The most I can giveAtlantaright now is gorgeous gowns.
I think the most successful episodes were Paper Boicentered.
He gets into the most delightfully weird but altogether plausible situations on the show.
His story lines feel like they hit season threes premise of tryna export Atlanta to Europe.
I will say Ava Grey knocked me down as Lorraine in New Jazz.
), or a commentary on social-justice celebrities (Khalil).
I didnt love stopping for a half-hour parable whenever the main story started to boil.
But that meant I never felt comfortable watching it.
AJB: I find your beautiful gowns critique intriguing, Tirhakah.
Gone are the careful close-ups meant to alert us to the subterranean communications and thoughts of its main characters.
The lighting this season also wasnt always kind to our dark-skinned brothers and sisters.
In this supposed renaissance of Black film and TV, these decisions feel lazy and rote.
Overall, the episode brought narrow imagination to the wonders black-and-white cinematography can reach.
The stand-alone episodes kept aligning with the white mores they sought to critique.
Just look at the cameos this season Chet Hanks, Liam Neeson, Kevin fucking Samuels.
TL:Okay, wait, not you saying Im into whyte asstheticks!!!
I think what amplifies that staid visual style is its usual Atlanta setting and its jumpiness.
But your critique becomes more pronounced when were in tired-ass Europe for the majority of a season.
But overall, the stand-alones felt like they were these windows into whiteness through theAtlantalens.
Tryna be surreal or whatever within a white context just to see how shit goes.
Think thats the case in the reparations and Trini joints.
But the outsiderness of those episodes just didnt work within the structure of the season.
RH:I asked Who is this for?
Look at how bad it is!
without any additional insight or engagement past that initialWow, thats fucked up!observation.
If I could expunge Chet yelling WorldStar!
from my brain, that would be great.
I can forgiveAtlantafor being purposefully vague in terms of timing which tour is this?
How long have they been in Europe?
Is it weeks or months that Van has been missing?
but the disjointedness of both the main story line and the stand-alone episodes not so much.
A lot of the time, it felt like the thesis wasShits weird.And, I mean, shits weird.
But what else??
AJB: What else, indeed.
Weve gotta talk about Van.
The show has always had a problem with imagining and fleshing out the interior lives of Black women.
But this season made this fault glaring.
(Although, lets be 100 here.
Season three had some damning framing of bad Black mothers.
Van wasnt the only one.)
Why has this show struggled so mightily with her character despite having the charming Zazie Beetz in the role?
The creatives behind the show are obviously aware of this critique, if Donald Gloverinterviewing himselfreveals anything.
Episode six,White Fashion,was Ive definitely seen this before on a better show.
Theyre always stealing ideas; episode nine, Rich Wigga, Poor Wigga, was Black and White episode?
Why do they hate Black women so much?
; and episode ten, Tarrare, was They gotta stop biting these better shows tho.
There is risk there, I guess, in her turning into this baguette-wielding, human-body-part-trafficking mercenary and moll.
But isnt that just as status quo-affirming as those stand-alone episodes?
And I think we got the latter.
I dont think she deserves a write-off, though.
If youre gonna give us this Aquarius-ass character, at least turn the high jinks up a notch.
Lets see her go bigger!
(Though I will say that accent felt like a villainous act.
If thats the case, isnt Earn also a shit dad?
To have her thinking about parenting is so silly.
Like, is she about to be some sad FOMO mom by the end of this?
AJB:If that happens, I will scream, Tirhakah.
), but Vans story goes from text messages to cannibalism andAmeliecosplay in too few turns.
Im still mad aboutthatbob.Atlantahas a softer touch with (cishet) men.
Men get much of the oxygen and sympathy.
Seeing what effortless cool is possible with these characters makes me expect more.
But it isnt the first show about rap, a business that centers dudes, to also center dudes.
AJB: My last question is: What isAtlantathe series without Atlanta the city?
RH:Without Atlanta the city, this season ofAtlantacould have been anywhere.
Do I thinkAtlantacan build an entire alternate-reality framework?
Im wary, and weary.
TL:As far as where the show goes, Im on the fence.
But its hard to trust the direction right now.
It really makes me think about how Glover and the Gang were heralded as geniuses or whatever.
Its a finite resource that, it seems to me, the show is running low on.
Ill be watching, but very, very cautiously.
I wished we felt more of a sense of location.
(Ireallyloved watching Paper Boi tripping out to Stereolab in Amsterdam.)
Whatever the intent, it felt harrowing.
And it did not pair well with weed.
Maybe thats all I need from a fourthAtlantaseason …
