TV Review: 'Atlanta' Robbin Season Episode 3

Van (Zazie Beets) is back, Earn (Donald Glover) learns that a $100 bill is more trouble than it’s worth, and Paper Boi (Bryan Tyree Henry) hangs with Clark County on an all new Atlanta, episode 3: Money Bag Shawty. Where was Van? This is not a question that the show is all that interested in answering. We know Earn spent the first two episodes of this season homeless despite the fact that Van was getting his mail, including a sizable check.

This sizable check sets the stage for Earn and Van’s date night that quickly goes wrong when Earn tries to show off with a $100 bill. First stop, an upscale movie theater where Earn isn’t allowed to use his large bill. When he tries switching to plastic, things get weird and weirder still with the next customer, a white guy who provides just the right racist punchline to this set up.

Last week we were introduced to Clark County, played by R.J Walker, a rapper and fellow labelmate of Paper Boi. It was Clark County’s hysterical Yoohoo commercial that closed last week’s episode and brings Paper Boi and Darius (Lakeith Stanfield) to Clark County’s studio. Paper Boi is curious about getting sponsorships while also scoping out his friendly rival. What he finds is interesting; not laugh out loud hysterical, but a series of oddly fascinating scenes that Atlanta writers produce better than any series on TV.

Earn’s unfortunate adventure in ‘Stuntin,’ the intentional flaunting of wealth, as in the big check of the opening of episode, continues to go downhill. At a black owned nightclub where Earn hopes to avoid the racism of the movie theater, he finds himself accused of carrying fake money and he and Van are kicked out, despite the fact of the real bill. The scene ends with Earn promising one last place for their night out; the one place in Atlanta where they still respect a big dollar.

With Paper Boi, Darius, and Tracy (Khris Davis) in tow, Earn and Van head for the strip club where Earn hopes that his Stuntin will finally be appreciated. You can probably imagine where this is heading. It is "Robbin Season," after all, and there are ways of getting robbed in Atlanta that don’t involve a gun, or even a threat. There are no real laugh out loud scenes here, but again, Atlanta is a show that thrives on vibe as much as laughs, and the vibe is consistently amusing in this sequence as it was throughout the episode.

Big Money Shawty is short on laughs and yet maintains the feel of the series at its most assured and amusing. The main plot of Earn and Van carries the episode's only big laughs, but the whole of the episode is classically Atlanta—chilled, laid back, and engaging. Stephen Glover was once again the writer on this episode, with Hiro Murai continuing as the series go to director, and the vibe they maintain is consistently charming.

Big Money Shawty breaks from the first two episodes of Season two, Robbin Season, by not opening the episode with a robbery. Last week, we saw Paper Boi robbed by his long time weed dealer while episode one opened with a completely random robbery of a drive thru joint that served to set up the Robbin’ Season concept. Episode 3, however, opens with a white lady on social media complaining about hearing Paper Boi’s latest single on the radio and how it traumatized her children.

FX is not holding back on the R-rating that is new to the cable universe. The mom in the video gets a couple of the bigger laughs of the episode, repeating Paper Boi’s lyrics in her whiny drawl. The payoff for the scene comes with the big check that Earn gets after the video pops off sales of Paper Boi’s record and thus the episode begins. Does this break in the format of ‘Robbin Season’ effect anything? Not really. The episode is about the different ways one can be robbed during Robbin’ Season, and the need for setting up the check, which then demonstrates the point, justifies the switching up on the opening scene.

Money Bag Shawty isn’t the laugh out loud riot of Alligator Man, but it is fully the equal of last week’s Sportin’ Waves. Both episodes two and three are more about vibe and consistent tone than they are about big laughs, though Waves did have bigger laughs from the Tracy plot and from Paper Boi’s travails with new drug dealers, but it was the charm, the consistent vibe of Atlanta that episodes two and three share with the break out opening episode.

Atlanta is so consistent about tone and remaining amusing and engaging that big laughs feel like a bonus. Atlanta is so artful, compelling, and entertaining that it doesn’t need the trappings of a typical television half hour to be as good or better than any other half hour series on TV. The acting is on point with some of the most unique and interesting characters on television, and the scripts, settings, and direction are so consistent that Atlanta transcends the format and thus any expectations you might have for a laugh a minute half hour series.