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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
This week’s episode of Donald Glover’s hit FX surreal comedy-drama television series, Atlanta, shows us what it means to go big or go home. The third episode of the series’ final season is titled, “Born to Die”. It is written by supervising producer Jamal Olori and is directed by Adamma Ebo (Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.).
In this review, I will be discussing Atlanta Season 4 Episode 3. There will be no spoilers here, as the title of this article suggests. Nonetheless, please read ahead at your own discretion to avoid any possible plot details.
Please note that I have seen the first three episodes of the final season ahead of their respective airings.
Plot Synopsis
According to FX Networks, here is the logline for Atlanta Season 4 Episode 3—“Born to Die”.
I’m tired of all these old heads hating, just let me listen to my Italian drill music and blue eyed trap in peace. Y’all can listen to D’Angelo or whatever.
FX Networks Press Room
Discussion
The timing could not be better for this specific episode of Atlanta. Taking place after the events of last week’s two-part final season premiere, “Born to Die” may not seem like it raises serious issues on the surface. However, beneath its number of layers, we begin to see a continuation of the show returning to its Season 1 roots. Similar to how “The Homeliest Little Horse” shed light on why Earnest “Earn” Marks (Donald Glover) left Princeton University, this Adamma Ebo-directed episode parallels the same narrative outline as Episode 108—“The Club”.
To put it vaguely without spoilers, Alfred “Paper Boi/ Al” Miles struggles to find his proper role in the music industry, while Earn goes through a journey to make sure he has worth in his own professional position. “But isn’t that all of Atlanta?” you may ask. This week’s episode has a particular end to it that is strikingly similar to what we’ve seen with “The Club”.
Immediately, what makes me feel uncomfortable is how the white characters of this episode interact with Paper Boi. They either ask about his skills in rapping or the use of language such as “bought”, indicative of slave terms. It also doesn’t help that some of O’Brien’s production designs and Mosbey’s art direction place an additional layer of peculiarity on the character’s atmosphere. It almost seems to suggest that no matter where he is, Paper Boi will always feel disquiet with his surroundings.
The Internet = Society
What we have been experiencing in the past two or three decades — even longer if we consider America’s Funniest Home Videos since 1989 — is the Westernized societies’ fascination with “going viral”. Paper Boi’s and Earn’s respective subplots have this in common. With the former, we learn that the person who gets the most attention in the music realm is the one more likely to win a Grammy Award, or any kind of accolade. This suggests that there is a system built with a social algorithm to determine individuals’ chances of success. As Paper Boi learns: “We all know that optics is everything”.
The character also learns: “All that goes up must go down”. This is true for everything that goes viral. Once you get your fifteen minutes of fame, you traverse a sort of self-destructive path and come out of the spiral as obsolete. You are no longer as huge as you, at one point, once were. That is, unless you happen to go through more spirals and maintain that magic. (Even Atlanta is a victim of these spirals, having been an Award-winning hit series with the fear of being canceled after its first season, then suffering to keep its essence in following seasons.)
Paper Boi’s subplot examines artists who were not necessarily one-hit wonders, but rather “viral sensations”. There are allusions to Mason Ramsey, Logic, Chief Keef, and most obvious, Ice Cube’s sharp pivot from gangster rap to Are We There Yet?. Earn’s subplot also works well here, with the character finding himself watching a WHAT NOW video, a satirization of the NOW THIS progressive social media-focused news organization. Unlike the aforementioned artists, not everyone can be D’Angelo… Right? I mean, this was a talent who personally got me through the first year of the pandemic.
The Crew of Atlanta
Donald Glover, Paul Simms, Dianne McGunigle, Stephen Glover, Hiro Murai, and Stefani Robinson serve as the executive producers of the series. Janine Nabers serves as the co-executive producer, while Kathryn Dean and Kaitlin Waldron serve as the producers. Ibra Ake, Taofik Kolade, Jamal Olori, and Francesca Sloane serve as the supervising producers. Jordan Temple, David Swinbourne, and Christian Sprenger serve as co-producers.
Alexa L. Fogel serves as the casting director. Tara Feldstein Bennett and Chase Paris serve as the Atlanta casting directors. Kathryn Zamora-Benson is the U.S. casting associate.
Christian Sprenger serves as the director of photography. Kyle Reiter serves as the editor of the episode. Jen Bryson, Cameron Ross, and Gracie Hartmann act as the assistant editors. Eric Binmoeller works on visual effects, while Ashley Sengstaken serves as the visual effects coordinator.
Jen Malone and Fam Udeorji return as the music supervisors, with Whitney A. Pilzer as the associate music supervisor.
Timothy O’Brien serves as the production designer, while Taylor Mosbey serves as the art director. Tiffany Hasbourne serves as the costume designer. Liz Ayala is the set decorator. Denise Tunnell is the head of the make-up department, while Shunika Terry is the head of the hair department.
The Cast of Atlanta
Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, and LaKeith Stanfield portray the main characters, Earnest “Earn” Marks, Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles, and Darius Epps, respectively. Zazie Beetz is credited as Vanessa “Van” Keefer.
Charles Malik Whitfield and Daniel Rashid guest star, the latter as a “young white avatar” named Benny.
Jared Simon co-stars as Yosef, while Paden Falls plays Hoc. Brittany Krall, Mike Dolphy, and Dean Coutris play managers.
Tucker Brown plays Yodel Kid, while Jordan Duffy plays Lil Rick Moranis. Quinn Bozza plays an engineer. Jay Jones plays Gas 90, while Corey Daniels and Kent Fields play two Gangster Type characters.
Zach Humphrey plays a Black man, while Dustin Lewis appears as a high school principal. Enoch King plays a man pretending to be D’Angelo. Gerard Mikell plays Terrance, while Cynthia Barrett plays Lauren. Reagan Higgins plays Lillith.
Performances and Character Developments
To return to my previous point, it seems that Paper Boi is coming back to his roots but as the final season synopsis suggests, his roots — i.e., Atlanta, Georgia — has not been the same since Season 3. In Robbin’ Season’s Episode 208, “Woods”, the character had asserted that he wants to be “real”, someone with whom people on the streets can identify. Then, in this spring’s third season episode, “White Fashion”, Paper Boi denounces his connection to home, saying, “F**k the streets”.
Atlanta Season 3 showcased a dark transition for its main characters, primarily Beetz’s Vanessa “Van” Keefer and Henry’s Paper Boi. That season reminded them that they have a place in this world and that they must not change themselves. Instead, the world must be willing to change in order to reach its ideal state. In this episode, we see that Paper Boi once again speaks for the streets. It is here that he encounters an uncanny challenge: “The streets can’t feed you”. With everything that he has endured, Henry’s character has gone through a lot of development and faces a harsh, yet familiar dilemma. He has to either give up a part of his self for the sake of keeping his fame afloat, or he will have to allow what limited impact the streets have to offer until even driving off fumes can no longer work.
Glover’s character has an interesting subplot but is unable to match the performance given in “The Homeliest Little Horse”. Earn, like Kaluuya’s Chris in Peele’s Get Out, nearly falls down a psychological pit but gets himself out at the last moment. It is here that, similar to Paper Boi, he faces a dilemma, albeit one that is much more…spiritual. His environment gives off an eerie, cryptic tone, akin to that of Twin Peaks. When we had last seen the character before the final season, he had found his white doppelganger’s belongings — a man also named Earn.
Final Thoughts on Atlanta Season 4 Episode 3
“Born to Die” is a cruel title for this episode of Atlanta. It provides the implication that, both in television and in life, an entity is born with the purpose of coming to an end. This is something that we have learned in the series finale of Glover’s previous sitcom program, Community.
[I]t has to be joyful, effortless, fun. TV defeats it’s own purpose when it’s pushing an agenda, or trying to defeat other TV or being proud or ashamed of itself for existing. It’s TV, it’s comfort. It’s a friend you’ve known so well, and for so long you just let it be with you and it needs to be okay for it to have a bad day or phone in a day. And it needs to be okay for it to get on a boat with Levar Burton and never come back. Because eventually, it all will.
Abed Nadir, portrayed by Danny Pudi, in ‘Community’ Season 6 Episode 13 — “Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television”
Maybe this all doesn’t matter, that this mission of trying to go viral or yearn for success is futile in the long run. As one character in this episode of Atlanta states: “[I]t’s not about what feels good. It’s about what survives”. Every thing in this world holds an impact on one another, and that is really how we will make it out alright.
Donald Glover’s Atlanta Season 4 is airing on FX and is streaming via Hulu!
Have you seen Glover’s series? If so, then what are your thoughts on it so far? Let us know! For more comedy and drama-related news and reviews visit and follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
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