Atlantagoes back to beingAtlantain its penultimate episode, or at least sort of, since Al’s getaway results in an absolute nightmare that may just prove Paper Boi isn’t cut out for the woods. Nevertheless, one week away from its finale, the show makes its presence felt with a spectacular entry.
The name of the game is “Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World”, a nod to the 20th century American painter who loved using landscapes such as the one inhabited by Al here as the main subject of his work, and that’s simply because Paper Boi took the real estate advice his homie Soulja Boy gave him.Atlanta’scomedyor linearity may not be of the usual kind, but it’s definitely there, as the concept of a safe farm was pitched to him back when he was running from the“Crank Dat Killer” in season 4’s sixth episode.
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That’s not all though, as the usual placement of theAtlantalogo sees the city’s name torn apart by Paper Boi’s shooting when he’s practicing his aim at the beginning of the episode. That might seem innocuous, but the shot does speak of Al’s growing distance from city life and his general stance towards fame, wealth,the music business and even hip-hop culture— Paper Boi is a fish out of the water at certain points and this episode is all about Al just being himself.
Quite literally, Al is just living out the life he referred to in past episodes, such as taking care of his marihuana plants and enjoying small passion projects like trying to fix the tractor that came bundled with his new cabin. Of course, Al isn’t used to this life at all, so he does fumble around quite a bit, with the consequences of his inexperience being nearly deadly.
Paper Boi is a man of the city, from the hood to be more specific, so he’s clearly struck by the hardware shop guy who has a Confederate flag hanging in his store as yet another sign he’s out of his element. Al’s DIY attempt to fix the tractor almost gets him killed, even despite the best advice from the “These Backhoes Ain’t Loyal” YouTube channel (sadly a fake account), and it could be said that, overall, the entire episode is about Paper Boi not being quite suited to a rural lifestyle the same way he’s not 100% happy just watching cable at his city home.
All ofAtlanta’scharacters have changed a fair amount, and in Al’s case, that means for the first time having enough money to try out things he never had before, chilling out and discovering new pleasures. However, when picking up a new hobby, opting for one that doesn’t require power tools or heavy machinery tends to be the safer bet.
Though he ultimately gets the tractor working again, Al also has a wild boar problem as some animals are going after his beloved crops, though him being the city boy that he is means he shrugs off the store clerk’s warning of how dangerous these feral creatures can be,just askGame of Thrones’King Robert Baratheon. From that point on, Al’s worst nightmare gets rolling as his bliss over fixing the tractor is cut short when the thing flips over knocking him unconscious and nearly giving Paper Boi a pretty unique death for a rapper.
The sight of Brian Tyree Henry crawling his way back to his cabin and yelling at the delivery woman who can’t hear through her headphones is amazing, and the entire sequence starts rather unexpectedly to deliver just the right amount of shock. Despite making it back, Al’s problems only get worse when the hogs swing by for their daily weed dose and nearly maul Paper Boi to death.
Luckily, Al kills the hog withhis Amazon deal packageand survives to tell his story, or at least that’d be the case if his reserved nature didn’t keep him from briefing Earn on what happened. “Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World” is great as it feels like it could turn into a horror episode at any given moment, especially due to Al ignoring Earn’s calls the entire time because, after all,would it really be that off-brand forAtlantato kill off Paper Boi in a standalone penultimate episode?
At last, Al gets to enjoy himself in the woods while he talks to Earn in thetype of dialogue that is simply soAtlantaby now that it reminds viewers that this is the same show they’ve grown to love over the years. The only question now that Al, Van and Earn have all received solo episodes is whetherAtlantasaved a Darius-centric plot for its finale?
Atlanta’sfinal season has embodied the bestfrom the series and then some more as the show continues to expand its boundaries, so whatever ending Donald Glover and company have in store is bound to please its fans. That alone is worthy of enjoying a nice drink with a gorgeous view, the same way Al does to close this one off.
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