Imagine you live in a poor section of Atlanta, Georgia with a baby and no money in your pocket and your cousin just becomes a rap star overnight. For Earnest ‘Earn’ Marks this is a reality and quickly becomes a gift and a curse inserted into his life. The show follows Earn and his cousin turned rapper, Alfred ‘Paper Boi’ Miles, along with the forever interesting and misunderstood Darius. The three young men have to figure out how to turn a hit rap song into a fruitful music career to escape the poverty of the ATL.
Earn is portrayed by the creator and producer of the show, Donald Glover, whose charisma on screen really gives the show a unique flavor setting it apart from any other hip-hop themed series. Glover really has his hands on every aspect of the show from writing to directing and all things in between and for anybody who has been following his entertainment career, it is crystal clear how much of his creativity comes through in every scene. His acting is probably the best he has performed in his career and the writing of the show is a great middle ground between comedic genius mixed with gloomy undertones. He really brings life to the character of Earn and leaves you believing there could be a real person in his shoes living in Atlanta, right now, going through exactly what he is going through. This show could possibly be the best work he has done in any form of entertainment.
The supporting characters are all well written as well. A stand out is Van (played by Zazie Beetz), who is Earn’s on and off again girlfriend and mother to his baby. The interactions that ensue between the two characters’ ooze with chemistry on the screen. When they are getting along and joking with each other you really are rooting for them to work out their problems and be happy together but when they start to argue there’s the feeling that, ‘maybe they aren’t good for each other and should go their separate ways’ sinks in. Most of the tension between them is based on the fact that Earn is managing his cousin’s rap career keeping him away from his baby but at the same time, he’s doing all of this to build them a life and make a good living for his family and get out of the situation they are in.
This season is short, with only ten 30-minute episodes but there are some excellent episodes that will have you wanting to re-watch them over and over. My favorite has to be episode 7: B.A.N., which places Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry) in a PBS style interview covering topics he is not comfortable talking about at all. The answers and discussions that happen during the interview are hilarious enough but then they add on custom-made commercials during the episode advertising famous black community stereotypes. These were so well done and the whole episode had me bent over in laughter the whole time. Other stand-out episodes include episode 2: Streets on Lock and episode 8: The Club; however, every episode will have you completely entertained from beginning to end.
Atlanta is an amazingly written and produced show with memorable characters and excellent mix of comedy and drama. It’s been received very well and has been green-lit for a second season. If Donald Glover can deliver a season 2 as good as this premiere season and keep the wheels rolling this can easily be the crowning achievement of his career. If you like a little dark comedy with a healthy mix of drama, then you will thoroughly enjoy this series on FX.
Reel Talk gives the first season of Atlanta 3.5 reels
