Atlanta isn’t one of those shows where you can watch the pilot episode and then get on social media and tell all of your internet friends that this show is great, and that you should really watch it. Like Cobra Kai. No, Atlanta is the kind of show where you watch it at your own leisure, and you think about every episode for a little bit, and then come to a pretty definitive opinion after pondering about the layers upon layers of each episode.
I just finished season two of Atlanta, and much like finishing up the first season, I had to think about it for a little bit, but my general consensus is that it’s a really good show. I think the best ways to describe it is that Atlanta is most certainly not the kind of show that’s going to immediately be everyone’s cup of tea, but for those of whom it is, it’s a really good show in that it provokes thought, thinking from alternative perspectives, provides a wealth of situational humor and is pretty well shot from a visual standpoint. The writing is stellar and gets most of its points across without having to lean on the crutch that most everyone in the show is black and doesn’t really require blacking it up in order to convey the story, except when it’s deliberately trying to so.
I think Atlanta is the kind of show that anyone who liked Netflix’s Master of None would be able to appreciate, except Atlanta is a little more socially acceptable right now since Donald Glover or anyone else in the cast of Atlanta hasn’t yet been accused of sexual harassment. But both shows come from the modus operandi of having strong, creative writing, serious societal observation and discussion, and plenty of situational humor to keep the mood from getting too preachy. Both are kind of on a similar level, and in spite of the misconducts of Aziz Ansari, I still really like both shows unapologetically.