So... while I thought this was a great, unique and endlessly fascinating season of television, it's also by far my least favorite season of Atlanta. I get what they were doing, I really do, but I got so attached to these characters that I just can't help but be disappointed in how little development we got of them after four years of waiting. Earn literally was barely in it (which I'm pretty sure is an intentional move from Donald), and Darius was kind of relegated to the quirky sidekick when I think he had more depth in past seasons (although I'm sure this is because of Lakeith's availability). Al remains the best character and any episode that focused on him was easily my favorite part of this season. I did really enjoy the anthology episodes but by far the best episodes to me were the missing cell phone one and the tripping one, both of which center around Al and both of which happen to be the most similar to the past seasons. I know this post sounds really negative but like I said I do think this was an incredibly unique season of TV that I don't think I've ever really seen anything like before, and if the characters are more involved in S4 (which is airing in a matter of months if they stick to their word) then I can see myself retroactively liking this season more in hindsight, but as of now i kind of just look at this as a totally different entity than the first two seasons of the show
About the episode itself, it was about time we got a Van episode and while I wasn't crazy about a couple of the choices (mainly making her directly involved in human trafficking corpses to feed to cannibals lol), I did really enjoy the episode, it was definitely one of the funniest of the season and when Van had her breakthrough/breakdown towards the end I thought Zazie did a really great job. Alexander Skarsgard was also really funny in his scenes, and I'm now pretty convinced that was the role that Donald wanted Ryan Gosling to play The ending took a second to click for me too but I realized that it was Earn getting "white Earn's" bag because he wasn't alive to claim it. Not quite sure what the purpose of the scene was quite yet unless it was only really there to connect the anthology episodes with the main episodes in a really interesting way, which it did a great job at. Also cool as one last way to include the ghost theme in the season, which I'm now sure every episode had in some form
Stefani Robinson wrote last night's episode, and she said that when she wrote it, she didn't realize it was going to be the finale. https://tvline.com/2022/05/19/atlanta-fx-recap-season-3-finale-ending-explained-standalone-episodes/ Fans may have expected the finale to focus on Earn, Al and Darius, and Robinson admits she didn’t know this episode would be the season finale while writing it. But it “brings some sort of finality” and “answers these questions that we’ve been having all season,” she believes.
That after credit scene had such a Twin Peaks vibe. Love the Deftones shout out too. the final scene where it sounds like the dude is choking on pee had me dying overall it was an entertaining season, but definitely need more Al and Darius next season.
Skarsgård's character lol! So funny to see him do that after seeing The Northman a month ago. Bizarre episode, but I liked it.
Great episode, great season. The anthology structure of the standalones reminded me of High Maintenance but mainly focused on race relations. This season might’ve been the funniest IMO. Some of the most absurd moments in the show too. I loved it. Hopefully s4 comes soon.
Holy shit this episode was wild. Might be my favorite of the season. Seeing someone get beat with a baguette was not something I thought I needed. But here we are.
Season was really entertaining. Agree with everyone that i wish there was more Darius, Al & Van. Also? I missed Atlanta this season. I lived there for awhile and it’s just such a vibrant and interesting city and i love the show’s portrayal of it.
"You really fucked me back there. The paparazzi got hold of the story. I might lose the Baby Shark movie." All-time cameo by Skarsgard. Whole episode was amazing.
I think I agree with this thread's general view on the season. Overall I liked it, and I love how it's willing to stretch the boundaries of what it's capable of. But with Season 4 being the last one, I do hope they re-focus on the main cast.
I loved this season but yes I did want maybe 1 or 2 more episode to tie the through line together. Also bro in the photo kinda looked like Socks.