“Atlanta” Season 2 Recap
Donald Glover’s masterpiece of a television series, “Atlanta,” is finally returning this week with its third season. It’s been five years since the second season premiered, and fans, including myself, are more than excited to see what’ll happen. The trailers for the upcoming season offer glimpses into Earn, Al, and Darius’ journey in Europe ahead of Paper Boi’s European tour with Clark County. However, many are speculating how the tour will go after the events that ensued beforehand in season 2. Here’s a look back at what happened that season for those who may have forgotten.
Spoilers ahead!
Earn and Van’s Relationship
Earn and Van has always had an interesting relationship, especially while trying to raise their daughter, Lottie. In Season 2, Episode 4, the pair take a trip to Helen, Georgia to celebrate Fastnacht, a German celebration. The trip ends up being rocky due to Earn’s jealousy and need to complain throughout the celebration. He and Van ultimately have a deep conversation discussing where they stand within their relationship with one another. While Earn is perfectly fine with their current status, Van wants more and feels like she’s wasting her time, and doesn’t want to be used. The two end up resolving their issue with a game of ping pong, where if Van wins, Earn will only come around for Lottie or money, and if Earn wins, she’ll stick around with him. In this scene, we can’t help but notice how serious the two are in winning the game, but in the end, it’s revealed that Van is the winner.
In the Finale, Van, and Earn are seen together during Lottie’s parent-teacher conference, discussing their relationship. Van tells Earn her plans on moving in with her mother and tells Earn how he should be more present in Lottie’s life. In the Season 3 trailers, we see Van quite often, and can’t help but think there may be some sort of reconciliation between the two, or they could go their separate ways for good.
Paper Boi’s Depression
One of the best things about Season 2 is watching Al, aka Paper Boi, navigate the rapper lifestyle. If there’s one thing about Al, it’s that he always keeps it real, and wants to present himself like that. However in Season 2, Episode 8, viewers see another side of Al. The episode opens up with Al lying on the couch, surrounded by a messy home, as he just sits around, dazing in and out of naps. In the next scene, he hits the town with Sierra, who comes off as his girlfriend, but she’s not his girlfriend. Sierra is an Instagram influencer, he documents every bit of her life onto the social media app. The two end up in an argument, and Sierra doesn’t understand why Al doesn’t own up to his fame, which he responds with not being into the fakeness of it all, especially bragging about it on social media, like Sierra.
After the argument, Al decides to walk home, a terrible idea for what’s to come. He ends up getting robbed at gunpoint, and after escaping into the woods, he encounters an old man who follows Al deep into the woods. The old man scolds Al continuously and pokes fun at him for being lost. When Al decides to give up on trying to go home, the old man gets violent and threatens him with a box cutter, threatening Al to leave the woods, or he’ll be dead. This subtly hints at the idea that it’s time for Al to make a move and stop sitting around often. Al escapes the woods and winds up in a gas station, covered in blood and dirt, however, this doesn’t stop a young fan from asking for a picture with the rapper. Al poses with the fan without a doubt. In Season 3, I’m anticipating seeing how Al handles the European tour, and especially how he handles his thoughts while being miles away from home.
Darius and the Teddy Perkins Episode
The award for creepiest and most disturbing television episode without a doubt goes to Episode 6 of Season 2, “Teddy Perkins.” This episode is the darkest in the season as the ending is a traumatizing and gut-wrenching murder-suicide. The innocent and mindful Darius finds a free piano on a message board and hops in a U-Haul to pick it up. Upon arriving at the mansion to retrieve the piano, Darius is introduced to the creepy and awkward Teddy Perkins, who claims to be the brother of Benny Hope, a famous pianist who owns the piano Darius wants. Teddy gives Darius a background about himself, explaining that Benny is extremely photosensitive and cannot be seen, so he takes care of him.
The story takes many twists, where viewers can visibly see Darius progressively becoming more uncomfortable with Teddy. This results in Darius calling Al to get his opinion, in which Al tells Darius to leave the home and forget about the piano. The consistent Darius decides to stay and learns the dark background of the family, including Teddy and Benny’s abusive father. Without Teddy’s knowledge, Darius runs into Benny, who is unable to speak but holds up a chalkboard informing Darius that Teddy plans on killing them both. With its many twists, the episode ends in Benny killing Teddy and turning the gun on himself. It’s no telling if Darius spoke about the incident since, but it’s heartbreaking to see him in such a vulnerable state. What’s even sadder to see is that he ends up leaving without a piano and is traumatized by what he just witnessed.
Al and Earn’s Relationship
Throughout this season, it’s evident that Al and Earn have quite a rocky relationship. Earn is trying his hardest to get Paper Boi on the map, and Al is a hard sell. In Episode 9, Earn gets Paper Boi a gig at a college campus, which he seems amped up for at first until Earn reveals that they aren’t staying in a hotel, but instead at a fan’s apartment. The fan, Violet, takes a liking to Al and confesses how she has a crush on him. After his performance, Al and his friends mingle with the college crowd, and when Violet catches him talking to a woman, she dumps her beer onto his head. Al is angry, and his friend and pretend bodyguard, Tracy, takes matters into his own hands and pushes Violet down the stairs, in which the guys have to flee the campus. They end up at a frat house where they witness a hazing ceremony.
Al and Earn then get a moment to themselves in the frat house, where they at first are seen laughing at the events that occurred throughout the night. This turns into a deeper conversation, in which Al admits to Earn that he is not a great manager, and how Earn causes a lot of chaos. What hurts Earn the most is how Al tells him that he’s been thinking about getting a new manager, Lucas, who manages Clark County, who they are touring with. This is brought back up in the season finale, which leaves viewers with the question of where does Al and Earn’s relationship stand, aside from them being cousins.
The Golden Gun Finale
In the finale, Earn and Al’s relationship is put to the test again. At the beginning of the episode, Earn meets up with Al to talk to a talent manager, who Al doesn’t care for. What also doesn’t help Earn in this case is that he appears at the meeting with Lottie, which Al questions him on. Later in the episode, the men are seen packing for the trip, where Al finds the golden gun Earn received from their Uncle Willy, aka Alligator Man, in the first episode of the season. Earn puts the gun in his backpack and goes on with the day. On a last-minute trip to the passport agency with Darius, Earn asks him if he thinks Al will fire him. Darius tells Earn that he has seen improvements with him, but if he gets fired that Al will always look out for him.
When they arrive at the airport and go through security, Earn realizes that he’s still carrying the gun with him in his backpack. He decides to slip the gun in Clark’s bag that is next to his and gets through security normally. After they get situated on the plane, Al informs Earn that he saw what he did back at security. Al doesn’t seem upset, but not necessarily happy either. This leaves Earn and viewers thinking of what is next to come? Will Earn get fired for his actions, or will Al let it slide? It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out in the new season.
