Atlanta Review: Stuntin’ Ain’t Nothin’

Story posted March 18, 2018 in CommRadio, Arts & Entertainment by Zach Hall

Atlanta shows no signs of slowing down as the third episode of the season is just as witty and creative as all that came before it. Alfred continues to deal with his rising success and the baggage that comes with it and Earn learns what it really means to stunt on someone. As always, if you are not all caught up with Atlanta, be warned that there will be spoilers ahead.

The cold opens for episode one and two focused heavily on the season two tagline “Robbin Season”. This week, Atlanta takes a different approach to setting the tone for the episode. In this week’s episode, a concerned mom is venting on her Instagram story about the vulgar lyrics in Alfred “Paper Boy’s” song that was on the radio, which her daughter heard. She then proceeds to read the lyrics causing her to slowly break down in tears out of offense. The concerned women is a very stereotypical representation of a white suburban mom who is easily offended. At the bar, Darius tells Alfred that, “This white women’s tears are the best thing that could’ve happened to you. Her tears are powerful.” Along with this, a bartender asks Alfred if he can “put him on a song,” which Alfred finds annoying because of how aggressive and desperate he came off as, which then leads him to go “stuntin’” on people. Earn feels as if he is not as capable as Alfred at being able to do so, but Alfred gives the advice that all you really need is money, which Earn runs with. This sets up Earn’s arc for the episode, which is to prove that he is able to stunt, despite what people might say.

This week’s episode also sees the triumphant return of Van and, from what it seems, her and Earn’s relationship is going great. The way Earn and Van converse in the beginning of the episode suggest that they are in a happy and healthy relationship. It is still unclear how much time has passed since the first episode, but it seems that despite Earn’s less than fortunate situation from the end of season one didn’t hinder their relationship in the slightest.
Van plays an integral part in Earns arc throughout the episode. In the beginning Earn receives a good amount of money and decides to celebrate by taking Van out on a date. There are three locations that Earn attempts to take Van: the movie theatre, a club and a strip club. In each of these locations, Earn attempts to stunt on people with money in order to impress Van and prove that he is capable.

At the movie theatre, Earn tries to pay for VIP tickets with a hundred dollar bill. He gets declined and moments after sees a white man pay for his ticket with a hundred dollar bill successfully. Earn attempts to confront the cashier, only to be flashed a gun by the white man. Earn’s second attempt leads him and Van to a club. After only being seated for a few moments, a security guard informs Earn that the hundred he used to gain entry was fake. The owner confronts him and refuses to believe Earn that the bill is actually real. After being walked out by the security guard, he informs Earn that everyone else knew the bill was fake, just not the owner. After two failed attempts, Earn decides to go to a place where “they know how to treat people with money.” This of course leads Earn and Van to the strip club. Earn attempts to go all out for this one, even going as far as to rent a limo and invite Alfred and Darius. Throughout the duration of the trip, Earn is constantly schemed out of more money. Earn brings the confusion of his failures to Alfred, who tells him, “Money is only an idea. You have to act like you’re better than people to be treated like you’re better than people.” After being fed up with the night, Earn and Van decide to leave. Outside of the strip club, former NFL quarterback Michael Vick is challenging people to races for money. Earn sees this as an opportunity to finally stunt on someone and this time in front of a crowd. Unsurprisingly, the night ends with an embarrassed Earn riding home in a limo wallowing in his crushing defeat. Earn is a smart guy and doesn’t really fit the demeanor of someone who would act like he’s better than everyone. It seems Earn is trying to gain some confidence and respect to match up with Alfred’s growing success.

Alfred’s side of the episode sees him and Darius go into the studio with Clark County, the rapper he and Earn met in the previous episode. Alfred asks Clark how he was able to land the Yoo-hoo advertisement, as well as a song on the new “Fast & Furious” movie. Clark puts that accomplishment on his manager’s extensive connections in the business. Clark even offers to get his manager to pull some strings for Alfred. This begs the question of whether or not Earn is doing enough, or is even able to do enough for Alfred’s career. Alfred didn’t jump at the idea, but it’s possible in future episodes that Alfred will realize this and choose to move on to another manager. Also in the episode, it’s revealed that behind Clark County’s nice guy demeanor is a dark side. The engineer’s production software crashed twice, causing Clark to verbally attack him each time. After the second crash, Clark proclaims that he is going for a walk. His friends then tell Alfred and Darius to go home, suggesting that they are going to rough up the engineer for Clark. It’s not shown, but it’s clear Clark’s goons were going to punish him. We’ll most likely be seeing more of Clark County, as his extensive connections in the business may be able to help out Alfred in the future.

Alfred is still experiencing new things with his fame and Earn is still struggling to earn the respect he so desperately wants. In the coming episodes, it’ll be interesting to see how Earn and Alfred’s professional relationship holds up, especially now that there are other offers on the table.

Check back each week for an in depth look at each new episode of Atlanta.  

Zach Hall is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email zth5043@psu.edu.