Farewell to Atlanta, the rap series that rocked the small screen

In 2014, comedian Donald Glover left the excellent comedy Community, much to our regret. And then, he had the wonderful idea to continue his musical career started under the name of Childish Gambino and to draw a series from it: Atlanta. On paper, the series seems to be a rather classic musical work on the rap scene and its issues. We could then summarize it as follows: Alfred and Earn, his manager, are two cousins ​​who are trying to break through under the name of Papier Boi.

But that’s what happens on the surface. In practice, trying to define Atlanta is mission impossible as the series has allowed itself daring but neat incursions into all genres, all formats, all references to other works. You’ll be hooked by a musical saga with grating humor and you’ll stay for endearing characters, anthology episodes, a chilling comment on racism and a disjointed narration that David Lynch would not deny (Twin Peaks). While the fourth and final season is finally available on OCS, we have to face the facts: we must say goodbye to Atlantaone of the boldest comedies of recent years.

An eccentric and endearing band

If you’re looking for a hassle-free dive into the heart of the city of Atlanta, a lazy get-together or political awareness, congratulations, you’ve come to the right place. Donald Glover’s series brings all these scenarios together in a totally improbable whole. But that’s what makes all the charm of these 30-minute episodes, which stop at nothing. In Atlantayou will follow Paper Boi in a hairdresser’s mess, Earn who is desperately looking for his lost jacket during a drunken evening, his girlfriend Van who is trying to escape a drug test, or their friend Darius who has to redo his passport in a few hours.

With its disjointed episodes relating more to specific slices of life than an overall picture, this dramatic comedy perfectly captures the disillusions and hardships of an entire generation of black American thirtysomethings. Like series like Insecure, Atlanta paints the portrait of characters as lost as they are talented, who turn out to be ultra endearing. At the end of the 41 episodes of the series, you will still ask to follow the adventures of this eccentric gang, we guarantee it.

mind-blowing episodes

But if Atlanta has earned a prominent place in the serial landscape and in the hearts of viewers, it is above all thanks to its inventiveness. With a particularity of size: its originality is always put at the service of a political purpose, mainly denouncing racism in the United States.

Sometimes erected like the black-mirror racial discrimination, Atlanta exploded many formal and narrative constraints. The four seasons are thus largely disjointed, passing from complete episodes around the main characters to incursions suddenly further away from the original frame. Season 3 is notably interspersed with more or less anthological episodes, centered on white protagonists and their sometimes uninhibited racism. We reassure you: you will sometimes be dropped while watching Atlanta, and this is normal. Let’s say it’s part of the surreal Paper Boi experience.

But it is above all two episodes in particular that have imposed Donald Glover as an essential series author. BAN, the seventh episode of season 1, a kind of television parody interspersed with imaginary pubs, was thus the first side step of the series, a bit confusing. For directing this absurd and experimental chapter, Donald Glover won an Emmy Award, becoming the first black to win in this category.

And then, in 2018, the second season ofAtlanta pushed the sliders even further, with Teddy Perkins. This character, strangely resembling Michael Jackson and embodied by Donald Glover himself endowed with a whiteface, swung the series into horror for a hard-hitting episode. A master class that you really should discover, even without watching the entire series.

From comedy to drama in a snap

However indefinable it may be, Atlanta remains above all a series on music, on its backstage and its big ego problems. Through the character of Paper Boi, an entire industry is in turn brought to light and then cynically criticized for its omnipresent racism. The third season, in particular, tackles the rapper’s European tour from all angles, even the less glamorous. Atlanta thus seized a classic format of comedy, in 30 minutes, to transform it into a pinnacle of dark humor and satire, with uneven but unforgettable episodes.

In four seasons, Donald Glover has explored absolutely every facet of racism in American society down to its darkest corners, from blackfaces to police violence through the marketing recoveries of political movements.

The rapper, actor, director and author constantly uses unease to disturb his viewer and you never know whether to laugh or cry in front of Atlanta. This singular tone culminates in the last season of the series, always wacky, which brilliantly concludes this surprising adventure. Sometimes too perched and centered on itself, the series will clearly not suit everyone but could well keep you in suspense until the end. In short, Atlanta is to series what Paper Boi is to rap: often narcissistic, sometimes lazy, but above all completely brilliant.

Atlanta, seasons 1 and 2 available on Disney+. Seasons 3 and 4 to see on OCS.

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