Why Atlanta is Donald Glover's Ultimate Flex

Donald Glover once did a stand-up special on Netflix. He joked about pooping in a toilet in Home Depot (something we can all relate to), he was in the tv show Community and of course he is more widely known for his stage name; Childish Gambino. I even remember him in his old YouTube days, in which he made hilarious comedy skits under the name derrickcomedy. Clearly, Glover has always had the unquenchable thirst of creativity, and that is made obvious through the different projects he's had his hand in. But his latest venture (not counting the fact that he's gonna be playing Lando Calrissian this summer) Atlanta is his greatest flex of creative prowess yet.

So why exactly is Atlanta Donald Glover's ultimate creative flex? Let me shut up for a second and let you watch this...

I mean, the show is downright hilarious. It touts multiple rememberable scenes that are even funnier and crazier than the one you just watched, and all of them are easily meme-able, finding a myriad of gifs, videos, quotes and videos on all of the social medias. I can remember urging my roommate last fall, to watch this show and how I constantly talked about scenes that were simply burned into my mind because they were just so damn funny. It can be silly at times, as can be seen above about the lemon pepper wings and the famed "sauce", that is just so fucking Atlanta. You couldn't get more Atlanta if you wanted to. It can be funny in a sinister way too, just circle back to the same chicken wing scene about how Paper Boy's biggest fan basically threatened his life at the end. You constantly find yourself in these moments of roller coaster-esque comedy t, and the more the merrier.

But being funny isn't the sole reason why Atlanta is so great. This show, much like it's multi-talented star of a creator, who by the way writes, directs and acts within this show, can provide weirdly insightful moments from topics such as race, existentialism, and even the morality of shooting range targets...

It's ability to provide commentary on hyper-specific topics can be such good brain-food for the viewer. From the conversation about shooting a "dog" which isn't really a dog but merely a target and calling out the Americans for shooting at suspiciously racist targets, to this gem of a quote when Paper Boy has an apparent problem with Darius calling his gun daddy: "Yo you' not gonna see this, but you're assumed perversion of the word 'daddy', I think that's stemming from your fear of mortality man". These scenes provide the viewing audience from a break from the normal viewing mode, and forces them to think for a second. These scenes are among some of my favorite as they are hilarious because of their context, and to who is mostly saying them. Easily the most eclectic character in Atlanta, Darius provides a unique layer of surrealism to the show. From his striking fashion sense, to his apparent skills in various entrepreneurial fields, and of course to his various insightful commentaries. We see him at the gun range, we see him selling and breeding puppies, we listen to him blast punk-rock music in his car. Just like his dialogue, whenever we see Darius as the main subject of a scene, we pay attention. In layman's terms, he's just that weirdly intelligent guy who is always doing cool and weird shit.

But the absolute best reason why Atlanta is the flexiest of all the flexes, is the fact that is just so damn undeniably, good. It looks great, from sweeping shots of the Atlanta skyline, to the ability to make common settings such as gas stations, bridges and simply a field of grass look beautiful and satisfying to look at. Of course the main aesthetic can be credited to director Hiro Murai. Not only can Hiro captivate the eye with the pleasing shots, but he has shown ability to be versatile in his shots. From sliding dolly shots, phone camera POV shots, to top-down shots. He likes to show this skill on the initial shots of a scene, effectively setting the tone for the viewer and the scene.

The writing and dialogue are always on point by Donald Glover and brother Stephen Glover. This is evident by the various hijinks Earn, Paper Boy, Darius and Van find them in. The writing provides loads of funny, sad, sinister and serious scenes that are effective in what they aim to do. Most impressively, the show is able to show a perfect perspective on "blackness" (ie: black culture) that many people outside of the black community can experience. The show is well-aware of racism, and is able to show the little-known nuggets of every-day racism that happens consistently to black people across the country. The third episode of the current season, "Money Bag Shawty" showcases this: in an attempt to simply take his girlfriend Van out to a movie, Earn attempts to but them movie tickets with a $100 dollar bill, and is rejected. But then as he and Van are about to leave, a white man pays for his movie ticket with a $100 dollar bill also, and of course he gets his ticket. And when Earn tries to confront the clerk, the white man simply lifts his suit jacket, effectively revealing his "concealed" firearm. But not all of the "blackness" it shows involves racism, it also showcases the true culture of the city of Atlanta, from the legendary lemon-pepper wets, to Season 2's theme "Robbin' Season", which birthed one of the bone-chilling scenes of television I have ever seen within the opening scene. Which is awesome to watch because not only do we get to see an accurate representation of a culture that has been so repressed for so long in our country, but Glover and his team are able to showcase it on a premier network during primetime telivision hours. I think it's awesome that people see that black culture is more than soul food, racism and the Migos. That it can contain very positive and very awful things just as our respective cultures can.

From the writing, directing, acting and overall goodness of this show, I think Glover knows he's at peak performance and is showing it off to the whole world. So, I don't know what you've been doing with your life lately, but watch Atlanta for christ's sake and watch the flex happen before your eyes. And as Earn said two episodes ago...

"I'm tired of getting flexed on, it's my turn"