Official 'Atlanta' Season 3 Thread

[SunZoo]

I love the season personally but i’m firm in my assessment that Tarrare should NOT have been the season finale. It should have been either Cancer Attack or New Jazz. Thats my only real gripe with the season.

Also like @Stop_It_5 said I feel like because Seasons 3 & 4 were filmed simultaneously that S3 will be appreciated more in context once the final season airs. I feel like Donald and the team made a conscious decision to leave a lot of the “heavy lifting” with the main characters for the last season for strategic and plot reasons. So the plot threads regarding Earn and Alfred’s relationship, Earn and Van’s relationship, Van’s mental health, Alfred’s career, etc will all be handled in S4.

Season 3 is a 9/10 for me whereas both seasons 1 & 2 were perfect 10’s. I have a feeling i’ll be revisiting Season 3 more often than any of the other two seasons because the Anthology episodes were conceptually brilliant and VERY well executed, mainly the Season premiere “Three Slaps”, “The Big Payback” and “Rich Wigga Poor Wigga”

Also season 3 has some of the strongest overall acting and storytelling. Mainly Cancer Attack and White Fashion. Truly brilliant stuff.


Anyone who writes screenplays or is aspiring to direct and produce this series should be mandatory watching. Anyone looking to produce short films this SEASON should be mandatory watching

I didn't know the bold but that could def change how I feel down the road, interested to see how they wrap it up.

 

[SunZoo]

The Kevin Samuels episode was eerie with the black and white plus it premiering days after his death.

He was in sizeable portion of the episode I wonder if he could sneak in a posthumous Emmy nomination

 

[Ziggiy]

He could be considered for Guest Role but with that being his first acting role and I doubt he had a proper manager I doubt he’ll be submitted.


If anything the white guy from The Big Payback would probably be submitted for Outstanding Guest Actor as he’s a “name” actor and was basically the star of that episode.


I’d love to see Donald Glover win both Writing and Directing Emmys for Rich Wigga Poor Wigga.

 

[Slimkid07]

Man, if you didn't like the season, cool.
If you dug it, cool.
No need to fight trying to convince the next person why their opinion is invalid or to explain themselves.

With the exception of a couple of episodes, I cut for it but I think they went overboard with the anthology episodes this season.

 

[Pillmattic]

On the last episode van’s friend was the same one that she went to the fake drake party with in season 2 (the girl who was dating drakes barber)

 

[semicko82]

He could be considered for Guest Role but with that being his first acting role and I doubt he had a proper manager I doubt he’ll be submitted.


If anything the white guy from The Big Payback would probably be submitted for Outstanding Guest Actor as he’s a “name” actor and was basically the star of that episode.


I’d love to see Donald Glover win both Writing and Directing Emmys for Rich Wigga Poor Wigga.

Three Slaps would be a better submission

 

[Ziggiy]

Three Slaps would be a better submission

Three Slaps was written by Stephen Glover and directed by Hiro Murai. Both have been nominated before but I think Three Slaps might be too “dark” to actually win in Comedy writing/Directing whereas Rich Wigga Poor Wigga hits all the right comedic sweet spots as a satire.

For context Rich Wigga Poor Wigga is more akin to season 1’s B.A.N, which won Donald his directing Emmy. Three Slaps is tonally and thematically more akin to Teddy Perkins, which while nominated, failed to win either writing or directing.

 

[Avisible Man]

Three Slaps was written by Stephen Glover and directed by Hiro Murai. Both have been nominated before but I think Three Slaps might be too “dark” to actually win in Comedy writing/Directing whereas Rich Wigga Poor Wigga hits all the right comedic sweet spots as a satire.

For context Rich Wigga Poor Wigga is more akin to season 1’s B.A.N, which won Donald his directing Emmy. Three Slaps is tonally and thematically more akin to Teddy Perkins, which while nominated, failed to win either writing or directing.

I was looking at the episode ratings on IMDb the other day. It's no surprise that Teddy Perkins has the highest rating of 9.7, while B.A.N has a 9.3. you have the masterpiece, Teddy Perkins (we know they both are but still) and the more artistic and accessible B.A.N.

This season, Three Slaps is the leader, with a 9.0. Rich Wigga Poor Wigga is sitting on an 8.1. It's not surprising given who I'd imagine actually votes on there. Still, tho, RWPW being at an 8.1 is criminal.

Sidenote, The Big Payback, is the lowest rated episode of Atlanta, with a 7.2 on IMDb. You know what that's about.

 

[Ziggiy]

I was looking at the episode ratings on IMDb the other day. It's no surprise that Teddy Perkins has the highest rating of 9.7, while B.A.N has a 9.3. you have the masterpiece, Teddy Perkins (we know they both are but still) and the more artistic and accessible B.A.N.

This season, Three Slaps is the leader, with a 9.0. Rich Wigga Poor Wigga is sitting on an 8.1. It's not surprising given who I'd imagine actually votes on there. Still, tho, RWPW being at an 8.1 is criminal.

Sidenote, The Big Payback, is the lowest rated episode of Atlanta, with a 7.2 on IMDb. You know what that's about.

Funny because Big Payback is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series

 

[Avisible Man]

Funny because Big Payback is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series

It's great. It must hit too close to the bone for some. Probably one of the reasons why Trini 2 De Bone is the second lowest rated episode with a 7.4.

 

[VicMackey415]

Does anyone have an idea what the luggage and zooming in on the Whyte is about?

 

[Ziggiy]

Does anyone have an idea what the luggage and zooming in on the Whyte is about?

Its white Earnest the man from the boat in episode 1 and also the same man who kills himself at the hotel pool in episode 4. They were letting us know that the timelines of the anthology were real and not some dream.

 

[HYDRO]

I loved this season. I love the way they utilized an anthology method of storytelling. As I said way before the series always been more episodic than serial. It's always loosely serialized in the same vein of Rick & Morty, and it still surprises me when people complain about the fact that each episode can stand alone. I think it is smart because a new viewer can be introduced to Atlanta and pop on any episode without a need to explain while at the same time it's so nuanced that long time viewers can connect everything.

To explain to me what season 3 of Atlanta is about, I feel the Glovers needed to do it as an anthology season in order to give themselves freedom to tell the stories they want to tell without being pigeonholed into forcing the main character's involvement. I feel all of it is needed to explain how subtle and true racism and white supremacy in EVERY aspect has infected the world as a whole. Not just here in America, but abroad as well. It is bold of them to depict white people, both American and European as non-sympathetic characters. There's a sense of truism because we know of these things' raw acts of racism and bigotry exists, but in its surrealist perspective of the show keeps these issue that we know exist entertaining and ironic. I feel it's brilliant writing overall.

I love also the subtle character evolutions of each character we have so far, with the exception of Darius. Darius so knows who he is and has a fixed worldview. He's the only character who is truly "free". He's without any restrictions and live his life how he wants to live it. Everyone else by the end of this season has their own identity crisis:

Van- as the season finale has shown, Van's identity crisis is the more extreme and a true sickness of DISASSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER (DID). For those who seen Moonknight understand this mental illness is when a person has multiple personalities largely due to some early trauma or current deep depression. While the show Moonknight is exaggerated, Van's mental illness is more accurate as we saw signs of her unraveling way back in season 2 with the breakup with Earn and then losing her job. Even when Darius first asked her why she was in Europe, she explained her needing to find her way only to falling deep into becoming a totally different character altogether forgoing her former life. What's interesting with the season finale is we're not exactly SURE how long Van been in Europe. For her, she assumed it was a couple of weeks, but clues such as having such strong relationships with others in Paris, especially on the verge of getting married, her face on magazine covers, the BAGGUETTE that's been harden for 6 months, and her snapping back to reality asking where's Loddie suggests that she at the very least been in Europe more than 6 months and maybe even a whole year as this totally different person. I'm going to get to Earn later, but he truly dropped the ball because he knew from the start that something was wrong and because of his own situation of trying to find himself failed to reach Van as effective as Candice was able to reach Van. I hope in season 4, Van gets the therapy that she long deserved.

Alfred- Alfred's identity crisis been longstanding since season 1 where he is conflicted between the two personas of Paperboi & Al. We see at the start of season 3 of Alfred in full Paperboi mode. He was enjoying the fruits of being an international rap star. He has a huge fanbase, meet with wild groupies, having parties and loving life. By close to the end of season 3, we see Al questioning himself as to if he even wants to do this anymore. He's losing his passion, having writer's block, paranoid about who's really have his back, paranoid about his own fans, pondering if it's all worth it, but it's all he knows. I predict in season 4, Al is going to quit rapping and seek what his true purpose is. If the signs true, this is the possibilities and how this will affect his and Earn's relationship will be interesting.

Lastly, Earn- Earn has the strongest character arc of the series so far. He went from a broke, irresponsible, self-centered loser to now a very successful, responsible, and putting everybody else ahead of himself individual. But he's not at all happy. He never truly expressed his unhappiness outright, but there's subtilties the shows him being incomplete. We first seen Earn having very little sleep due to the demands of being Paperboi's manager. It seems like he cannot have time for himself and doesn't know where he's coming or going. Earn is so consume with work that even Al recognizes it and attempted to have some personal conversation like the old times with no avail. When someone is buried so much into work, it's a sign of ignoring or covering up any emotional turmoil within. And Earn is in an emotional rut because no matter how he is willing to admit it, Earn is in love with Van. The final scene of him and Van together only for her to disappear the next morning is clear of being the case. It's more than him being concern of her state of mind, it's about he yearns for her being back in her life. It's why, as subtly implied, Earn paid for Van's trip to Europe. We know this because of sending Darius to pick her up. It's initially assumed that Van going to hang with the crew, as she was there with them in Amsterdam and with them in London, but they split and went their way with Earn worried sick about Van. I think Van completes Earn, but he's afraid to express it. I predict the final season is going to be where Earn and Van getting married with Earn starting his own management team for music artists.

Grrat break down

Only thing I disagree with is Earn having a happy ending

Its been hinted at since the beginning that Earn and Alfred arent gonna be megastars

 

[semicko82]

Stephen Glover Answers Every Question About 'Atlanta' Season 3

The writer/executive producer thinks season 3 will stand as the best season when all is said and done.

www.gq.com

 

[Nero Christ]

Was not the strongest season but I took it for what it was, I do think there needs to be a bigger conversation about shows being produced during this covid era - damn near every show I watch has come back to mixed reception after having previous seasons that the majority loved; succession, ozark, top boy, snowfall, insecure just to name some.

Covid didn't breed the same creativity the writer's strike years ago did but to be fair, TV in general has been on the decline creatively for awhile