“Atlanta” Season 3 Episode 1 and 2 Review
Donald Glover’s FX series “Atlanta” returned this past week with its third season. Glover starts this season off with two episodes, “Three Slaps” and “Sinterklaas Is Coming To Town,” and both episodes feature that same dark-satirical energy that we’ve seen in the past two seasons.
Episode 1: Three Slaps
The new season kicks off with a dark boat scene that had me prepped for a jumpscare. However, there’s an intense conversation that ensues between a white man and a black man while out in the lake on a boat at night. The black man states his concerns about being out on the boat late and recalls how he almost drowned in the same lake as a child.
“I just felt like I was being pulled,” he describes to the white man. The white man goes on about how the lake is haunted because back then the lake was a town predominately for black people, who were drowned out by white people who then turned the town into a dam. He then goes on a tangent about being white, and how anyone could be white. This scene is unsettling, especially in the last shot where the black man is being pulled into the lake by black arms. This scene made me think of Lake Lanier in Georgia, which many believe is haunted due to it sitting over a cemetery, which I believe Glover was ultimately hinting at.
This scene is a dream and the episode takes on a different toll. We’re then introduced to Loquareeous, a black child who is seen as the class clown. Loquareeous acts out in school again, and his principal and advisor call his mother once again. His mother tells them to stop calling her and then yells at her son for acting out. She then disciplines her son, giving him three slaps across the face and forcing him to dance while telling him that he needs to stop making a fool of himself and how “these white people will kill you,” which symbolizes what’ll happen later in the episode.
After seeing him get hit by his mother in the school’s hallway, the guidance counselor calls Family and Children’s Services. They arrive at his home, and Loquareeous’ mother believes he’s the one who called them and gives her son up to them. Loquareeous is then dropped off at the home of Amber and Gayle, two white women who have already adopted three other black children. The home is smelly, which Amber says is due to them making homemade kombucha that they sell at a market, and messy. Loquareeous looks uncomfortable and has a hard time adjusting to the home and the two women.
Glover then pokes fun at many social media stereotypes about white women, including not using washcloths, not knowing how to properly make fried chicken, which Amber puts in the microwave to cook without any seasoning. The two women even change Loquareeous’ name to “Larry,” instead of getting adjusted to his actual name. They also own a dog, who seems to get treated better than the kids.
The episode then takes a dark turn, where Glover begins to take hints at slavery. We first see the kids gardening for the women in the backyard, where Amber and Gayle tell the kids to sing songs about working. They are then forced to help sell their kombucha and other products at the farmers market, and the kids are seen wearing “free hugs” and “kombucha” signs. They feed the kids terrible and uncooked meals while wearing hand-me-down clothes. It’s unfortunate seeing the kids like this, and you’re left thinking if they’ll ever get help. We think they’ll finally get the chance to leave when a black woman from Family and Children’s Services shows up at the door. She questions the kids about their living conditions, and Gayle begins to get upset and decides to speak to the woman outside. Gayle then comes back into the house and says everything is alright and that the worker left, which we know something is up.
The women then tell the kids that they are going on a road trip to the Grand Canyon, and I could sense that they needed to escape the town because something bad has happened. While getting into the van, Loquareeous looks over to the pile of garbage on the side of the house and notices the social worker's clipboard and a large garbage bag, we can tell that he knows what exactly is going to happen. However, Glover decides to make this story come with a happy ending. The women plot to kill themselves and the kids by driving off of a cliff into the same lake in the opening scene. Instead, Loquareeous helps the kids get out of the van during a pit stop, and when the women are on the way to jump out, he jumps out of the moving van as Gayle looks back.
Loquareeous returns back home to his mother, who finds him in the kitchen doing dishes. He then sits at the dining room table, eating spaghetti, and watching the story of the orphans being found near the lake where a car crashed into. This all comes full circle and makes me think back to the scene where Loquareeous’ mother told him that “these white people will kill you,” and it seems as though he has learned his lesson. Ultimately, this is all a dream, and we see Earn wake up with a white woman next to him in bed.
Episode 2: Sinterklaas Is Coming To Town
It seems as though the boys are having an interesting time in Europe. Earn is still a bit of a clutz, waking up in a hotel room in Copenhagen with a woman who doesn’t speak English. He’s missing his belt and underwear, but still puts on what he does have to make his flight to Amsterdam. In a series of notifications before he heads for Amsterdam, we see that aside from his flight leaving within the next 2 hours, there’s a text from Al stating he needs $20,000, a text from Darius wondering where he is, and a text from Van telling him to pick her up from the airport. He calls Darius and finds out that Al is in jail, which comes as no surprise.
What does surprise me so far this season is that Earn is still Al’s manager given what happened in the season 2 finale. It appears that Earn either stepped up more during the European tour, or Al is getting more adjusted to his fame. After being released from jail in Amsterdam, Earn hands over the $20,000 that Al requested the night before and proceeds to throw the cash to fans waiting outside of the jail. It looks like Al is enjoying the recognition he’s receiving while in Europe, as opposed to how it is back at home. It also looks as though Al is pushing Earn to do more. When Al decided not to perform in Amsterdam after seeing the crowd in blackface celebrating Sinterklaas, he told Earn to handle it, which he did. Earn stepped up and seems to be getting out of his comfort zone and pushing himself to become that big manager that Al needs.
