Donald Glover fans have been waiting a couple years for something new to be released from the mysterious creative. On September 6, FX aired a two-episode special to present Glover’s highly anticipated television show Atlanta, a combination of his talents as a writer, producer, director, and starring actor. The show follows two cousins, Earnest ‘Earn’ Marks (Donald Glover) and Alfred ‘Paper Boi’ Miles (Brian Tyree Henry), through their successes and failures working their way up in Atlanta’s rap scene. Atlanta is labeled by FX as a comedy series but presents an appealing intersection between dark-witted humor and drama, which contributes to the growing genre of non-comedic comedy television.
There is a surreal mood to Atlanta that evokes an unusual feeling while watching; many characters are offbeat, and consistently throughout the show there are moments that leave the viewer puzzled or completely unsure of what to make of what just occurred. That odd feeling is an important part of what Glover wanted to capture while developing the show.
Atlanta brings a lot to the table; It subtly addresses social issues that are laced into the humor through casual, daily encounters. The goal of the show is not to address issues such as race and violence, but it covertly does, making the impact of the messages more effective. For viewers familiar with Glover and his work, it is hard not to notice the parallels between Earn’s inner-conflicts and Glover’s own life. Glover, also, grew up in Atlanta, always dealing with being different: a “hipster-type” and the odd one out in a typically unsafe, gang-affiliated area and being made to feel “less black” because of it. Atlanta is conscious of how much of the world claims black culture.
It is refreshing to be able to see Glover channel his notable writing skills through his own show. With Atlanta, Glover effectively ties together intense and emotional events with strange and eccentric moments that even go as far as to feel dreamlike. In one scene, Earn is sitting on the bus late at night, holding his sleeping daughter, when a man makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and angrily insists that Earn eats it. At the next bus stop, the man bolts out and disappears into the woods, leaving the viewer dumbfounded. The comedy’s main function is not to be funny; rather, a lot of it is sad, thought-provoking, and bizarre. It’s clear that Glover wants the viewer to think intently about what they’re watching – more than the average TV comedy.
Every time Glover creates something we get a little more insight into his mysterious mind and his obscure, elusive character. Atlanta is one of the shows to watch this fall; it is safe to say that we are happy Donald Glover is back.