Atlanta: Robbin' Season is surreal, hilarious, and sad: EW review
But Robbin’ Season continues to spread playfully outwards, tracking the characters through daily microaggressions and mythic eccentricities. Minor success brings major problems. Earn tries to take on-again girlfriend Van (Zazie Beetz) out for a date night, a bizarre evening that involves a hookah lounge, a Fast & Furious movie, Georgia’s concealed-carry law, and the first interesting strip club scene in years. Glover and Murai have a sharp comedy rhythm, so Atlanta is laugh-out-loud funny even (or especially?) when it’s uncompromisingly bizarre. Comedian Katt Williams’ appearance counts as funny and bizarre—his offscreen legal issues feel like a reference point for his police-besieged character—but the performance goes beyond stuntcasting into real, messy emotion.
Williams’ role also involves allegations of domestic abuse, allegations of an alligator in the bathroom, and the unexpected delivery of a golden gun. Like everything that boldly aims for genuine surrealism, Atlanta is always in danger of becoming too precious, of hitting that Life Aquatic phase where the quirky style becomes empty weirdness. But after a long, awardsy break, the opening episodes Robbin’ Season left me thrilled, amused, and scared. Will success keep spoiling things for Earn? And who’s going to fire that golden gun? A
