Atlanta (2022 - Season 3)

 

Rating: ★★★ 

FX's Atlanta finally came back for its third season, after - like so many shows - struggling to get shooting and post-production done in order to get a solid release date because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I really enjoyed the first two seasons, especially more so the first one. I appreciated the grounded serial/procedural aspect of the show in season one, which seemed to promise a series that will revolve around the life and struggles of Earn (Donald Glover). That's why it was a bit surprising for me when season 2 shifted away from that in favour of the more absurdist-anthology driven episodes. Nonetheless, being a fan of the absurdist-satirical aspect of the show too, I did enjoy season two for the most part as well.

However, this 3rd season - centering around the main group's escapades throughout major European cities - just feels completely lost out on an island untethered from the show's solid foundations laid down in the first two seasons. Creator Donald Glover and his fellow showrunners just never really strike the same cord between absurdist comedy and intriguing drama. Maybe we can just blame it on the pandemic, but I have an intuitive feeling that Glover and co have hit a brick wall in terms of the narrative arc for the main characters. Earn and Darius feel like mere caricatures of their respective modest and wacky selves in season 3. Alfred/Paper Boi continues to carry most of the charisma, just as he has from season 2 onwards, but I just don't feel like any of it is going anywhere significant in terms of TV drama. Van's arc throughout the season is never really established at any specific moment in order to make the supposed cathartic realisation in the final episode, feel... you know, cathartic. 

Fortunately, the anthology episodes of this season somewhat saved the season. Except for the first episode, I found all of them (episode 4, 7 and 9) semi-profound and intellectually stimulating through that usual American race relations lens that has also come to be a trademark feature of the show. Episode 9, "Rich Wigga Poor Wigga" might just be the magnum opus of the entire series - it's everything about what this show is known for in one episode coming together in one weirdly funny and yet uncomfortable way. It will be interesting to see if the show has a future, and if it does, where it goes from here.

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