This a continuation of my last article “Atlanta — a mid-season review-”, so go read that before moving forward with this. 

Atlanta had its last episode on November 10, 2022, airing on FX and released on Hulu the next day. It’s been a fun and strange ride that I can’t believe is over. I feel empty now that I don’t have the show to look forward to. I might be having post-series depression. Anyway, the show hasn’t had a bad season, and each season felt like it got progressively better. Though season three strained away from the characters of the show, it still gave me the odd eerie feeling that something isn’t right. The feeling everyone who watches the show has grown fond of.  Let me review the last five episodes EVER in this show.  

Episode 6: Crank Dat Killer 

After finishing the show I can say that this is a top-tier episode; would make it in the top five. The plot of the episode is that there is a killer that is going around shooting people who made crank-dat videos. Alfred–aka– Paper Boi made one back in the day and is scared that the killer will see it and do what killers do… kill. He even calls up Soulja Boy to ask for his help. 

During this, there is a cut to a new deadbeat character and shows him reassuring his wife (who is dropping him off at his mall court job)  that his rap career will blow up and that she and their kid won’t have to live with his parent’s house. This is the best setup to a joke ever because later when Paper Boi is running away from the killer the deadbeat character jumps out and starts rapping. This is in hopes of Paper Boi seeing his talent, but in the end, he is shoved into a glass door by a running Paper Boi. 

A side plot in the episode is Earn and Darius getting shoes from “The Shoe Man” who is parked outside of the mall in a van. When they find the shoes they are looking for the price The Shoe Man names isn’t what Earn expected. He just has to kiss Darius…

I give this episode a 9.9998/10 for being one of the funniest and oddest episodes in the whole show’s run. 

Episode 7: Snipe Hunt

This was a heart-filled episode, with it being a family trip with Earn, Van, and their daughter Lottie. Earn rented out a whole campground to celebrate Lottie’s birthday and in hopes to rekindle something with Van.

I found this episode to be a peaceful, charming break from the high point of “Crank Dat Killer.” Though at times I thought to myself “why have nice character/story development when there’s not going to be a payoff for that development.” 6.7/10.

Episode 8: The Goof Who Sat by the Door 

This episode has nothing to do with the main characters but is a documentary in their universe. This documentary is about how a black man became the head of Disney and created The Goofy Movie. This episode is a commentary on how the black community didn’t have that much representation in movies back then, and then came The Goofy Movie. 

I enjoyed this episode because I would forget that I was watching a fake show. It was so well done that I actually thought for a second that I was watching a real-life documentary about the goofy movie. For purely that reason I give it an 8.9/10

Episode 9: Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World

After the events of “Crank Dat Killer ” Alfred took Soulja Boy’s advice to buy a safe house. Alfred is alone on a farm doing various farm activities. When he finds out that a group of boars is eating his “crops” he makes a plan to kill them. Sadly during his various farm activities, he injures his leg under a tractor and has to crawl back to his house. As he gets to the front porch the boars come and attack him. The already injured Alfred then proceeds to kill a boar with his bare hands (and a cast iron skillet). 

I didn’t really like this episode besides the ending with him killing, but so it goes. I mean this is the second to last episode in the show’s run and it wasn’t up to my expectations. 7.89/10

Episode 10: It Was All a Dream 

This is the end. The end of it all. This episode is a very Darius-heavy episode, with him going to a deprivation tank before sushi dinner with Earn, Van, and Alfred. 

The sushi place was Van’s idea, since it is black-owned, and bringing a famous rapper (Paper Boi) would be good for their business and the community as a whole. Unfortunately, there’s a delicious Popeyes right next to the sushi place that catches the eye of all the members of the group. 

During this, Darius is in and out of reality thinking that he’s still in the tank. He goes through many experiences, like meeting a girl at the drugstore, seeing his dead brother, and even seeing an ex who steals a gun from a cop. During this, he explains how he checks if he’s still in the tank by watching Judge Judy. If she looks “physically” different he knows he’s in the tank

While Darius is in this state, he goes to the sushi place, where at that point the situation with the other group has escalated to the point where the owner is forcing them to eat poisoned fish. Darius, thinking he was in the tank, punches the owner and steals a car. They all run into the pink car and drive away… with popeyes of course. 

The last scene shows the main characters sitting in the room eating popeyes and telling Darius he’s not in the tank. When they move the party outside, Darius stays to watch Judge Judy. It ends with him giving a grin; leaving us to interpret if the whole show was even real or just in Darius’s head. 

*******************

Now instead of me giving a review of the last episode, I’m going to do something very special that I’ve never done.  I will be interviewing a couple of viewers of the show to get their thoughts on the ending of this show. 

“I’m sad that it ended, and on that cliff hanger. We get a backstory of Darius’s family life that was not previously shown, and I just want to see more of that.”  – Will Buckley

“I had mixed feelings about the last episode. It was a great standalone, but to hold the title season finale, is so underwhelming. Like they brought up a storyline during the therapy episode about how Earn wants to move to LA, but it never sees the end. Still great, but just somewhat disappointing”  -Ryan Winzen

Also Tyler The Creator, rapper, producer, and philanthropist had this to say

“Was legit sad knowing it was coming to an end. Love this show, this moment was great. Congrats on making something specific and special.” -Tyler The Creator