Atlanta

Donald Glover's new comedy-drama series "Atlanta" starts with a bang, literally. The show adopts the popularized medias res narrative (see: Breaking Bad, Forrest Gump, The Leftovers, the "*record scratch* *freeze frame* 'You're probably wondering how I got myself in this position'" trope/meme...) with Glover's character, Earn, caught in the middle of a shooting. His nice-guy-cruel-world character is clear from the beginning, as Earn attempts to break up the fight. The in-your-face opening felt like a cheap shot, but the rest of the hour-long premiere certainly made up for it. Earn finds out that his cousin (Brian Tyree Henry) is an emerging rap-star; he decides to honor his namesake by earning some much-needed cash and chasing a managerial role for his cousin, whose rap name is ironically Paper Boi. Paper Boi talks a big game, he's "all about that paper, boy", but behind his radio facade is a lonely drug dealer living in a blank-walled trap house. The show's original voice is confrontational and subtly hilarious, seeming to merge Glover's honest hip-hop persona with his quick-witted comedy writer identity. In typical self-aware Glover fashion, the characters all share some sort of inner dissonance as the show confronts racial discrimination and violence in and outside of the hip-hop world. Earn is struggling to make enough money to support his family, but chooses a clearly unstable aspiration. "Atlanta" is a thoughtful addition to the discourse on cultural appropriation and African-American identity. A white radio host casually drops the N-word in conversation with Earn; too shocked to have much of a reaction, Earn turns to a black garbage man as the radio host walks away and asks, "has that guy ever said n***a to you?" The garbage man responds: "I'd break my foot in his ass". Earn's demeanor seems to reveal uncertainty about his identity and how he is perceived. Later, the radio host tells the same story to Paper Boi, but negates the N-word, leaving Earn in a shocked-bordering-amused grin. Right down to the cracked iPhones, the artistic choices and cinematography in "Atlanta" capture the city's truest light. Every shot feels beautifully raw and lends to the atmosphere along with the characters' performances. 

Overall Grade: A