FX’s ‘Atlanta’ just turned 10. I can’t stop thinking about these show moments.
Every great show deserves a rewatch.
A decade ago, “Atlanta” premiered on FX with two episodes: “The Big Bang” and “Streets on Lock.”
Over the next six years, critics, audiences and Atlanta natives hailed creator Donald Glover’s honest depiction of life in America’s Black mecca.
Through four seasons, we followed Ivy League dropout Earn (Glover), his cousin/aspiring rapper Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), sometimes girlfriend/baby mama Van (Zazie Beetz) and their peculiar pal, Darius (Lakeith Stanfield).
There’s a reason it won two Golden Globes, multiple Primetime Emmys and made stars out of its four leading actors.
It’s a show where the phrases “Atlanta is not a real place” and “this could only happen in Atlanta” converge.
Seasons one and two held true to that. Their storylines — no matter how surreal or weird — were rooted in Georgia’s red clay.
Season three came nearly four years later, and took us to Europe. Yes, it was still a great show, but to paraphrase the poet Omeretta the Great, Amsterdam is not Atlanta.
Season four brought us home.
“Atlanta” ended its run on Nov. 10, 2022. So, how do you reflect on what stands out 10 years after the “Atlanta” debut? I did what any reasonable reporter would do, and spent the past week rewatching all 41 episodes.
Nearly 1,200 minutes later, what moments still live rent free in my mind?
There are too many to count. That invisible car scene? Duh. That pre- “Bad and Boujee” Migos cameo (and the “fourth Migo”). Liam Neeson drinking with Paper Boi at the Cancel Club. The therapy session and vengeful plot twist of season four’s “The Homeliest Little Horse.” The misadventures of Bibby the barber?
All great.
Here are 10 moments from “Atlanta” that still sit with me:
1. Lemon pepper wet
Episode: “Streets on Lock” (Season 1, Episode 2)
The second episode of “Atlanta” is one of its greatest.
No Atlanta culinary staple got a better PR boon from this show than the lemon pepper wing. Let’s be clear, locals have been noshing on lemon pepper (wet and dry) long before Donald Glover and his brother Stephen Glover wrote it into television lore.
With a nod to Vincent Vega’s mysterious briefcase in “Pulp Fiction,” Paper Boi and Darius open the to-go box from J.R. Crickets, their faces bathed in the golden glow of its contents.
Let’s just say that since its “Atlanta” mention the lemon pepper wing’s resurgence is a full-on renaissance. There are guides to find the best in Atlanta. There’s a chance it could become the state’s official chicken wing flavor. The “Atlanta” effect? Wouldn’t doubt it.
2. The trans race debate
Episode: “B.A.N.” (Season 1, Episode 7)
As part of world-building that went into “Atlanta,” Glover penned this episode revolving around the fictional Black American Network (B.A.N.)
B.A.N. appears again on “The Goof Who Sat By the Door.”
Paper Boi is brought on to “Montague,” a talk show where he addresses controversial comments he made on social media about Caitlyn Jenner. He spars with a trans rights activist. Breaks in their conversation come with ads for Swisher Sweets, Dodge Chargers and Mickey’s Malt Liquor.
Next, we meet Antoine Smalls, a Black man who believes he is a 35-year-old white man from Colorado.
The absurdity peaks when Antoine, now calling himself Harrison, dons a blond wig for his roundtable discussion with Paper Boi.
It’s not quite Clayton Bigsby territory from “Chappelle’s Show,” but we’re still laughing. So is Glover, who became the first Black person to win an Emmy for outstanding directing in a comedy series.
‘Spooky thing called slavery’
Episode: “Juneteenth” (Season 1, Episode 9)
Three years before it became a federal holiday, Juneteenth was the focus of season one’s penultimate episode. Earn and Van hit up a Juneteenth-themed party of wealthy friend Monique (Cassandra Freeman) and her white husband, Craig (Rick Holmes).
Craig is obsessed with Black culture, quotes Malcolm X, collects African art and performs a slam poem about Jim Crow.
Over glasses of Hennessy, Earn and Craig take in the latter’s library of Black memorabilia. The entire episode is wild, but it’s this exchange between the two men that stands out.
“You’ve never been to Africa? You gotta go! It’s your Motherland,” Craig quips before asking if Earn knows where his ancestors hail from.
Earn responds.
“I don’t know. This spooky thing called slavery happened, and my entire ethnic identity was erased.”
Touché.
Katt Williams as ‘Alligator Man’
Episode: “Alligator Man” (Season 2, Episode 1)
This entire episode is driven by Katt Williams’ Emmy-winning guest turn as Earn’s Uncle Willy. Oh, and Coach, the gator that lives in his house.
Dealing with his own real-life legal issues, the comedian delivers the performance of a broken man living with his choices. Of course what sticks out is Willy unleashing Coach on Atlanta police as a distraction to escape out his back door while the Delfonic’s “Hey! Love” plays.
There’s also a quieter moment just before that where Willy and Earn talk about the latter not repeating the former’s mistakes.
“Get rid of that chip on your shoulder s---. It’s not worth the time.”
Just like the image of Willy sprinting toward freedom in a robe, his words to Earn feel like they’re addressing all of us.
Racing Mike Vick
Episode: “Money Bag Shawty” (Season 2, Episode 3)
“Atlanta” was always a show that didn’t waste cameos. So, including former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Mike Vick in that mix felt like an obvious choice.
Toward the end of this episode, Earn sees Vick racing strangers and taking bets outside a strip club. Naturally, feeling like he’s got nothing to lose, Earn challenges him.
We don’t see the race, just a defeated Earn licking his wounds afterward.
Regardless of where folks land on the spectrum of public opinion on Vick, the show makes its point when Van looks at Earn and says, “It’s Michael Vick.”
We expect greatness from our Black stars. “Atlanta” the show got that. Just don’t try and beat them at their day jobs.
The Helen breakup
Episode: “Helen” (Season 2, Episode 4)
Like Atlanta, Helen is a place more easily experienced than explained. The quirky alpine village in Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains has always fascinated locals and visitors. This makes it a perfect setting for an “Atlanta” episode. Side note: Ride the Georgia Mountain Coaster when you get a chance.
It’s also where the couple goes to celebrate Fastnacht, and Van’s German heritage. It’s downhill after a girl mistakes Earn for being a white guy in blackface. Yikes.
As Earn fails to embrace Van’s German connections, we watch their relationship begin to crumble. Taking a cue from “Love and Basketball,” the pair play ping-pong for their relationship.
Teddy Perkins
Episode: “Teddy Perkins” (Season 2, Episode 6)
You can’t unsee his face. You can’t unhear his voice.
There’s a good chance that in the last decade, TV hasn’t seen a character more befuddling than Theodore “Teddy” Perkins.
Darius meets the eccentric recluse — played by Glover in whiteface — when going to pick up a free piano.
First off, it’s his intro. Like Bela Lugosi in “Dracula” in 1931, Teddy Perkins emerges from the shadows with his opening line.
“Was that Mr. Wonder?” are the first words we hear.
That a simple Stevie Wonder query comes off as unsettling is a testament to Glover’s creepy, Emmy-nominated performance.
Teddy eats soft-boiled ostrich eggs, questions whether rap music is “insufficient” as an art form and keeps his brother locked in a basement. There are obvious nods to Michael Jackson. Teddy wants to create a museum celebrating controversial fathers to stars such as Joe Jackson, Marvin Gaye Sr., and Earl Woods.
By the episode’s grim turn, we’re speechless. When Stevie Wonder’s “Evil” plays and we see Darius take mental stock of what just happened, we’re all still left thinking the same thing.
“Who is Teddy Perkins? What did I just watch?”
That ‘Laffy Taffy’ scene
Episode: “North of the Border” (Season 2, Episode 9)
It’s one of those scenes that makes you feel like you’re in a southern surrealist fever dream.
After a series of unfortunate events following a performance in Statesboro, Paper Boi, Darius and Earn find themselves hiding out in a frat house where hazing is taking place.
Our three protagonists sit on a couch with a giant Confederate flag on the wall behind them. What follows is one of the series’ more gratuitous but quintessentially “Atlanta” scenes.
In the foreground, a line of naked pledges, faces covered with hoods, await orders. Their pledge master turns on D4L’s “Laffy Taffy” and demands the nude bros dance.
Snap music meets the confederacy.
Trapped in Atlantic Station
Episode: “The Most Atlanta” (Season 4, Episode 1)
Few things make Atlanta feel more like the biggest small town than a trip to Atlantic Station. You’re going to run into people you want to avoid. You’ll get lost in the parking lot. You might start feeling trapped.
Now, imagine you’re going to do all of that with your significant other. It’s an experience anyone who has lived in the ATL long enough knows too well.
Van and Earn’s trip to the city’s outdoor mall takes you inside its urban legend. “Atlanta” never skimped on directly or indirectly referencing notable landmarks.
Here, the location becomes a character in and of itself.
Earn’s quip that, “I kinda just wanna leave,” is a feeling we all know too well.
Soulja Boy and ‘safe farm’
Episode: “Crank Dat Killer” (Season 4, Episode 6)
“I basically invented YouTube.”
That’s a line from rapper Soulja Boy that could’ve come at any point in his career, but in this instance, he’s talking to Paper Boi.
A serial killer has its sights set on Black people who made dance videos in response to Soulja Boy’s hit, “Crank Dat.”
Naturally, Paper Boi calls the man behind the track and dance to gauge how seriously he should take the threat. The latter tells him to find a “safe farm,” along with a NSFW jingle.
It’s fitting when we see Paper Boi ultimately find his safe farm toward the show’s end.
‘Atlanta’ is still Atlanta
If anything, these moments are a reminder of how Atlanta — the city, the show — still astound and confound us.
Glover’s brainchild connected because true locals love our southern comforts, bask in ATL pride, celebrate the weirdos, and don’t hide our warts.
Outside the cozy confines of our perimeter, “Atlanta” proved we’re a city whose stories people want to watch.
When Earn asks Van, “What’s so great about Atlanta that you can’t leave it behind?”
My response would be, “Well, have you seen the show?”