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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, takes a pause and focuses on Vanessa “Van” Keefer (Zazie Beetz) for a bit. The fifth episode of the series’ final season is titled, “Work Ethic!”. It is written by co-executive producer Janine Nabers and is directed by Glover himself.
In this review, I will be discussing Atlanta Season 4 Episode 5. There will be no major spoilers here, as the title of this article suggests. Nonetheless, please read ahead at your own discretion.
Please note that I have seen this week’s episode ahead of its airing.
Plot Synopsis
According to FX Networks, here is the logline for Atlanta Season 4 Episode 5—“Work Ethic!”.
One time I was gonna be an extra on this TV show but then they started asking me about Social Security numbers and taxes and being up there at 5am. I know y’all ain’t doing that with Taraji.
FX Networks Press Room
Discussion
As it turned out, Atlanta: The Final Season‘s fifth episode is not my cup of tea. Still, there are some matters here worth discussing. In Robbin’ Season’s “Teddy Perkins” (Season 2 Episode 6) we had Glover portraying a lunatic resembling Willy Wonka. When we saw Teddy Perkins, he was the most shocking, uncomfortable character you have ever seen in the series. There was a specific motive in mind for this rather antagonistic personality, and it makes sense. However, this week’s episode of Atlanta, “Work Ethic!”, takes another approach to critiquing Black figures. Much in the same way Aaron McGruder and Rodney Barnes examined “revolutionary” storyteller Tyler Perry and his work ethics through the “Pause” episode of Adult Swim’s The Boondocks, Glover and Nabers do so from a different perspective.
For the first two acts of the episode, we view Kirkwood Chocolate as a Panoptic Big Brother figure. He comes off as a mysterious entity with a god complex — that is to say, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient. Unfortunately, by the final act, the discovery is frivolous and dare I say… anticlimactic. Being a Van-centric episode of Atlanta, I expected the series creator and his writers to develop this lead female character with brilliance. That is not entirely what I got here. Everything that it builds up to within its initial couple of acts is predictable. We get a sense of where it is headed, and along the way, there are beats in the narrative that are not sufficiently strong.
On the other hand, what I found significant was the music curation and the development of Lottie (Austin Elle Fisher). Starting the episode with a little hint of Anita Baker is a great choice on Malone and Udeorji’s part, with the other tracks also being good picks. From an aesthetic point-of-view, what we see is what we get, but there is one minor scene that stood out. It involves a dark (not pitch black) room made by O’Brien. Aside from that, Hasbourne and Terry give Van a fashionable look, yet not what we have seen in the final season premiere.
Lottie
The best appeal to kairos in this episode is how it takes time to address the issue of child actors in modern-day America. In the early-to-mid 20th century, the film and television industry has been rather harsh with young people taking on starring roles. Two figures that we may all be familiar with are Shirley Temple and Bobby Driscoll. More recently, this issue has become a more investigated topic in discourse, especially with the release of former actress Jennette McCurdy’s memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died.
If anything, “Work Ethic!” is not so much a study of figures like Tyler Perry and more so on individuals affected by this specific line of work. With Lottie, we see young people’s naïvety being taken advantage of. Meanwhile, with Van, we find a parallel to parents who force their children into becoming child actors. This is the most we see of Lottie in Atlanta, appearing in some episodes of Season 1 and Robbin’ Season and never showing up in this past spring’s third season.
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 Swinburne, 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 casting associate.
Christian Sprenger serves as the director of photography. Jen Bryson and Cameron Ross serve as the editors for this episode of Atlanta. Gracie Hartmann serves as the assistant editor. 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 are credited as their respective characters, Earnest “Earn” Marks, Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles, and Darius Epps. Zazie Beetz portrays Vanessa “Van” Keefer.
Glover plays an uncredited character for the week, while Austin Elle Fisher portrays Lottie.
Maurice G. Smith co-stars as an older security guard, while Carmen Alexis plays a tour guide. Keisha Tillis plays a joyful woman. Jacinte Blankenship plays a stage mom. Ja’ness Tate plays a first PA, while Robert Covington plays a drug dealer dad.
Madeleine Wood plays Phaedra, while Xaveria Baird plays a maintenance worker named Shamik. Chloe James plays a second PA.
Candy McLellan and Brenda Howard play two women in a television series. Joseph Benjamin plays a dark-skinned man opposite them. Nicole Samuel Washington plays Marcie. Alyse Elna Lewis plays a “jolly little Black girl”. Michael Nesbitt plays an old man.
Scott Deal plays a white actor portraying Abraham Lincoln, while Keturah Maree plays a Black actress. Shalom Obiago plays a Black intern.
Mikia Jeter plays a “drug addict mother”, while Steven G. Turner is credited in the role of “man”. Dayo Abanikanda and R-Smooth play appear as two guards, while Jimmie Cummings plays a Kirkwood double.
Performances and Character Developments
With Season 1 establishing Van’s value as a woman and Robbin’ Season showing that she is beyond just a mother and a partner, last season’s finale, “Tarrare”, exhibited a breaking point for the character and only added more to her existential crisis. “Work Ethic!” serves nothing but to solidify Van’s role as a mother and as a Black woman, although she does mention that she will not always be around for Lottie.
Van has better instincts than other parents in the way that she knows her identity, i.e. who she is as a person. She isn’t succumbing to this larger, capitalistic machine that we call “the industry” nor is she necessarily embracing the Black woman stereotype that she is placed into. What I do like about her in this episode, at the very least, is her refusal to be exploited to the fullest by such an industry. Instead, it is her exploiting it.
Beetz is an outstanding actor, having appeared in Atlanta since 2016 as well as 20th Century Studios’ Deadpool 2, Warner Brothers’ Joker, and Amazon Studios’ Invincible. There is no point in expecting more from her, and yet, she delivers well in her performance as Van. Both the actor and the character have endured many experiences, so an all-seeing eye — so to speak — is nothing surprising to them.
Kirkwood Chocolate is an odd reflection of Tyler Perry, while the critique of him itself is already obsolete. If you have seen The Boondocks episode, “Pause”, then this is nothing new. Rather than depicting him as a closeted homosexual Black male, this satire of the man is instead pretty clear and obvious from the get-go. I am not fond of the revealed portrayal of Chocolate, and next to Perry, it also seems to critique other Black men who have followed similar pursuits, including Eddie Murphy as the Nutty Professor and Norbit along with Martin Lawrence as Big Momma. Fortunately, this portrayal is not as exaggerated as the others.
Final Thoughts on Atlanta Season 4 Episode 5
“Work Ethic!” may seem out of place in this final season of Atlanta. Yet, it is still conducive to that world in more ways than you would think. On the one hand, we have seen this format play out before with “Teddy Perkins”. On the other hand, the critique of Tyler Perry is outdated. With that said, Glover’s episode takes a renewed interest in the figure by scrutinizing him from a different angle. Now that we are halfway through the final season of his beloved comedy-drama series, I do feel that this is the weakest of what we have thus far. Of course, the season has had more good episodes than bad ones, so here’s to hoping the latter half is better!
Donald Glover’s Atlanta Season 4 is now 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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