There’s nothing worse than explaining comedy, but the funniest moment inAtlanta’s last season requires investigation.
Darius (LaKeith Stanfield) visits a sensory deprivation tank and loses track of what’s real.
ThinkInception, except his spinning top is Judge Judy’s butt.
Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, and Donald Glover in ‘Atlanta’.Guy D’Alema/FX
We follow Darius out of the tank through incidents that are strange, but not unusual, just regularAtlanta-strange.
Then he wakes up, still in the pool.
How long he was asleep?
Donald Glover, Zazie Beetz, and Brian Tyree Henry in ‘Atlanta’.Guy D’Alema/FX
“About 30 minoots,” says a worried assistant (Daniel Chung).
“30 min-ooooooooooots,” the guy repeats, floating backward.
Creator-starDonald Gloverwrote on30 Rockbefore starring inCommunity.
By comparison, its last two seasons were collectively just fine which can only count as a major disappointment.
Mission drift is a problem for any TV enterprise, especially one full of young talents with multiple offers.
Season 4 gave Earn two monologues, one sorrowful, another romantic.
Glover didn’t cut himself slack, even if Earn was always the fourth most interesting lead.
But how didAtlantasquander Van?Zazie Beetzturned her early focal episodes into arguments for superstardom.
The finale, “It Was All a Dream,” made her a furrowed brow.
Here was a young mom with rough career prospects, punished for any delight she allowed herself.
She tries and fails to stay employed, then tries and fails to have a fun night.
Atlantawas always brilliant about money, and could make poverty look unaspirationally stylish.
In hindsight, the last two seasons had less room for material like that.
Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry) and Earn were now big deals.
(The show is their rise with no fall.)
You could sort of buy Darius as a tag-along whoever.
But Van became a floating appendage.
In season 4, we glimpsed no job, no friend group.
Did the writers just not care anymore?
Her closing season 3 monologue “Who the f— am I?”
sounded less like a confession than a defense of creative indecision.
The ambiguous closing scene just seemed silly, not really about anything beyond an obvious urge to seem ambiguous.
Like30 RockandCommunitybefore it,Atlantaalways cleverly zigzagged expectations.
So it will always be disappointing thatthisis the sitcom where the will-they-or-won’t-they got together.
Conversely, Henry was always locked into Alfred’s weariness.
A typical rise-to-fame story finds a musician struggling with celebrity while yearning for the life left behind.
Alfred was always suspicious of everything.
(He may have hated his fans.)
OneAtlantacritique argued the show was somehow traitorous, creating Black stories for a non-Black audience.
Gloverdiscussed this directlyand approached it artistically; not for nothing did young Earn wear fake FUBU to school.
My thoughts on this profound matter are wanted by nobody, since my choices forAtlantacosplay areJustin Barthaand Socks.
This made the show vastly more interesting than any let’s-pin-the-argument-down analysis.
It’s also why, beyond obvious sense, I way prefer season 3 to season 4.
The European vacation promoted the gang to globe-trotting sensations, with tour clout ensuring zero consequences.
Relatability went out the window.
Season 3 tried to be a concept album.
With a return home and a renewed personal focus, season 4 aimed for back-to-basics.
The result was, well, basic.
Must mean something, sinceAtlantareturned this year as a tendril of the Disney behemoth.
You have to remember, this showdebuted in a remarkable TV period.
Its second season was one astoundment after another, funny-scary adventures that combined brazen absurdity with rap-Gothic thrills.
I’m not sure any of those shows were ever as good as they were in 2018.
It’s a different era now, and even Glover’s off to reboot some IP.
I pray all the creative minds who craftedAtlantafind a home for their talents in franchise-crazy, nostalgia-mad Hollywood.
Without inspiration, it’s just all about that paper, boy.
Seasons 1-2: A+
Season 3: B+
Season 4: B-
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