‘Atlanta’ Season 3 Finale Boasts Cannibalism, Alexander Skarsgard Jerking Off, and the Return of Van

Atlanta has inspired a flurry of questions and raised eyebrows this season from frustrated and confused viewers — specifically, why do showrunners pay two white men with looming racial controversies (one of all facing abuse allegations) to mock themselves toothlessly for the purpose of forgiving or at least alleviating their sins? (Their guests certainly aren’t serving any stories.)

Atlantapreoccupation with whiteness test and White skin-man This season seems to be the main grievance among fans and the obvious disparity between Seasons 2 and 3, aside from its overall disjointness. My biggest concern with the late series, however, is the treatment of Van, who Glover promises will be more of a focal point in the season’s SXSW premiere.

While the show hasn’t shown too much interest in any of the main actors in the previous nine episodes, Van’s omission is all the more obvious, as the show repeatedly hints that something is remarkable. happening in her life while keeping the viewer on their toes. When Van first arrived in Europe, ostensibly wanting to escape unemployment, being a single mother, it seemed like we were about to see her embark on a number of things. Eat and pray for love– Strange quest to rediscover yourself. But she just followed the boys around without saying much, slept with Earn once, and giggled at all of his questions about her mental state before disappearing into the screen. night. In a less charismatic season, this will feel more like an omen and less like abandonment.

Now that the finale has arrived, it seems like Glover perhaps just specifically sees this episode as the pivotal moment, Van’s protagonist. It’s also the first work from Stefani Robinson this season, who contributed hilarious “Barbershop” and heartbreaking “Woods” to the show. Robbin ‘Season. It’s no surprise that Robinson infuses Van with the most humanity and humor we’ve ever seen from her in the span of 30 short minutes. Zazie Beetz was given the chance to really shine as a performer, beyond Van’s usual dry delivery, which made us laugh out loud before punching us in the stomach.

It turns out that Van’s solo adventures are a lot weirder and crazier than we thought in episode two, when she seems to be operating from a more grounded, spiritual place. In “Tarrare”, she is discovered by an old friend named Candace (Adriyan Rae), along with her friends Shanice (Shanice Castro) and Xosha (Xosha Roquemore), running around France with the site. dressed up as a Halloween costume version of Godard’s character with a three-meter loaf of bread in her backpack. She also spoke with a heavy French accent, which I am not cultured enough to appreciate. But her voice was a few octaves higher than usual.

Candace’s interest in Van is understandable, especially when she sees her phone explode from a text message, but doesn’t immediately inquire about her whereabouts or her horrors Amelie change. Instead, Shanice and Xosha followed Van when she visited one of her boyfriends, the actor. Alexander Skarsgaard, and grows drugs in his hotel room as part of the game they play—at least according to her. When they argued later in the episode, Van pulled out his beard and he continued the assault in the bathroom. This isn’t the funniest cameo, but I enjoyed hearing the actor say “ASHANTAAYYY” while dancing around “Rock Wit U.”

After leaving a cracked pipe on the bed and informing the concierge that he had overdosed, Van took the women on motorcycles to an apartment complex that Shanice said “felt like how Candy man.(Shanice and Xosha provide some hilarious commentary throughout this madcap adventure). There, Van opens the safe to find an empty refrigerator and blames a man named Emilio. The women assumed that Van was trying to get drugs, but the reality of the contraband was much more jarring.

As the women prepare to leave, they are kicked out of the facility by a group of menaces who emerge from the complex. They ditched their motorcycles and went to a museum, where Van asked to speak to a tour guide named Emilio. What happens between them is a stupidly interesting exchange in which she asks Emilio to give her the package while nearly beating him to death with her bread. She told us that it was basically as dense as a brick from being exposed to the sun for days. After making Emilio’s face bloody from the monstrous music, he told her it was in a vase.

The women took the package and went to a dinner party that Van invited them to. Shanice and Xosha are completely intrigued by Van’s antics, but Candace is completely disturbed by her behavior at this point. So she followed Van down to the kitchen, where she worked with the chef and delivered the package to him. As Candace and Van move to a corner to talk, we see him pull his human hands out of his pocket and prepare to put them on a pan.

Candace finally calls Van about her new character and asks her what she’s doing with her life. When she asks about Lottie, Van tells her she’s taking her to live with her in France, to which Candace responds seriously and raises her eyebrows to the ceiling, “Eat your hands?”

Something in Van flashed, as she started screaming, throwing discs and asking for Lottie. A character having a mental breakdown while a cannibal party takes place in the background is not something you would expect to see on a prestige sitcom. But the final act of this episode leaves me yearning for more cannibal comedy in the mainstream media. Meanwhile, Shanice and Xosha are sitting at dinner, where everyone is instructed to put napkins on their heads. They accidentally ate a fried finger before pulling out their napkins and running away from the party.

Van and Candace end up having an opposing heart on a park bench after her panic attack. No longer speaking with a French accent, Van revealed that she nearly committed suicide while driving in Atlanta after a dark feeling hit her, and she closed her eyes and veered into the opposite lane. She thinks a holiday in Europe and some Amelie cosplay will make her feel better, but she still doesn’t know who she is at the end of the day.

Roger Do Minh / FX

Beetz delivers an impressive, heartbreaking monologue that feels like it should have taken place in the middle of the season, close to when we last saw her, as opposed to the finale. This could also be why they added a post-credits scene where Earn receives a mysterious bag and pulls out a portrait of Tobias Segal, a recurring guest star this season, to tie everything together.

The episode ends with a weird zoom into his face. Whether this is a foreshadowing that we’ll see him in Season 4 or he’s been a key motif throughout another season with a random guy, who knows. Either way, it’s clear that the hype surrounding “Teddy Perkins” has contributed to this show drawing unnecessary attention to horror.

While tonight’s finale feels like an odd way to end the season, it’s a relief to end with a well-done, gripping piece that re-focuses the show’s central players, regardless whether it makes sense or not. It’s likely most fans will leave this season wishing Stefani Robinson was more involved.