Atlanta stretches its humor out of unlikely situations
In case you were still somehow confused, Atlanta is not a comedy show. It is not a sitcom aired at prime-time on CBS with piss poor comedic timing which basically reads “we hope people laugh at some point here.” It’s approach is not to pepper you with poorly written and probably not proofread jokes, it finds levity in places that are far too real and far to close to home. It’s chaotic in it’s approach to making you laugh and unapologetic in making you feel almost guilty for doing so. This week my soccer team had a permit issue with the city so we clashed with a soccer academy for 6–8 year olds. Life goes on and the kids didn’t have a permit so they had to go. We did, we paid for it and we got to play, but knowing that we were technically in the right to play didn’t make me feel any better about claiming the field. That’s how Atlanta treats humor. Unless of course it’s with Darius. Also, spoilers.
The third episode goes for broke, quite literally. Many shows try to tackle the subject matter of making it with limited funds, but few stick to subject matter with adhesiveness of Atlanta. We open the episode with Earn trying to buy a kids meal and getting denied because he isn’t a kid and end with him trying to borrow money from his cousin because the waiter at the fancy restaurant he went on date to up-sold him 20 dollars more than he had in his account. Throughout, the pacing never breaks face. It nudges along, driving home the reality of what it’s like to be flat ass broke to the point where you have to call in your debit card stolen.
That is the true nature of Atlanta, as I discussed last week. It has no reservations on peeling back the perceived reality of television land and offering us a genuine insight into something more. When we do find comedy in the waitress cheerfully offering up the specials and Earn trying to negotiate a kids meal purchase, it’s a very real reflection of what people grapple with every day. I remember planning out my college meals with Excel like precision, leaning into no name brand Mac ‘N Cheese and Mr. Noodle for sustenance until my next paycheck arrived. It feels almost insecure to laugh at it. It feels like a betrayal of personal circumstance.
The fact that the show manages to find relief in these very moments is poignant. It transforms these comedic interruptions in an otherwise somber set-up into moments of emphasis. The fact that they’re accompanied by this feeling of “should I or should I not be laughing at this” insecurity makes them this show’s strongest asset. It makes it okay to talk about shit like this for once, to think about it.
While Earn’s story sticks to the more realistic perils of trying to make ends if not meet at least come within relative vicinity of each other, Alfred and Darius divert into the reality of drug dealing. I have to tip my hat to Brian Tyree Henry, who really sells Paper Boi as a character. While a little more in control of the situation than Earn, and certainly more so than Darius. If Earn isn’t the audience surrogate, Alfred certainly is.
He feels uncomfortable with one foot in either reality, one of a rapper the other of a drug dealer. There is a line he is trying to work, but as he puts it to Earn “you only get paid on commission though, right? Might as well sell drugs.” It’s the kind of do what you gotta do attitude and balance that Earn has been missing in his life. Alfred manages to find a reality that strikes an equilibrium between his aspirations as an artist and his need to provide for himself. It ain’t pretty, it ain’t perfect, but it’s a salvage. He recognizes that there are certain things he is responsible for such as his own well being, and while dreams are nice somebody gotta pay for the cereal and the bullets.
That is the balance that Earn is struggling with through the show and will culminate through the season I suspect. While Alfred is only looking out for himself (and probably in some respect for Darius), Earn has a daughter, but he still doesn’t grasp the concept in doing the necessary before he can do what’s right by him. He can’t rationalize existing in two places and if chasing his dream means abandoning that rationality, that’s what he leans into. He even tries to justify that moment, but wherein other shows would give you the public school “you can be anything you want so chase your dreams” sequence, Atlanta rightfully calls Earn out on his bullshit. Because like Alfred knows, sometimes you gotta do a little bit of dirt.
Keith Stanfield’s Darius is still a much needed presence, acting a foil to both Alfred and Earn. He seems removed from motivations of either, existing in a permanent state of accepted flux. He floats behind Alfred, voicing his concerns and acting as a sort of reverse-conscience, a mirror against which we see Alfred as the one who has his shit together the most. Their conversation about what to call his gun is priceless.
There is a lot in this episode, but for the most part, Atlanta continues to draw Alfred and Earn opposite each other, with Alfred coming out in better light. It will be interesting to see where it goes next, but so far I’m intrigued and I can’t stop watching because there truly is no other show like this on television. It’s not hiding reality behind a thin veneer, it’s hiding its fiction behind reality. And that is as unique as it’s going to get.
P.S. Say what you say about their music, but after today I am unofficially in the Migos’ fan club.
