Rod and Bassey recap Atlanta.
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TTM 96: White Jazz
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What’s up Bassey and Rod. First off I wanna say I really love you guys take on the show and how in depth you go. It really changed the way I watch each episode. The way Bassey tied the episode with AL getting high to the one where he got stuck in the woods was eye opening. Makes me wonder how connected the rest of the episodes are. I also love the crazy theories you guys have which brings me to my own crazy theory. I think that this entire season is a dream. I think whoever it is alsleep on the plane to Europe and they are hearing conversations about the news and social media and they’re just dreaming about what they are hearing. Because everything from this season has been real life stuff just twisted a Lil bit from Lake Lanier to the most recent episode with Kevin Samuels playing a Robert Smith type character. That’s my wild theory..
P.S. When did Clark County die? In the episode New Jazz Paper Boy said “r.i.p. to Clark County”.. Maybe I missed it.
Elijah
What up, party people. Just writing in to say a few things about this latest episode of Atlanta. This whole season has been great, but man this is one of the best episodes. Did y’all niggas see all the shit those kids were doing to try to be Black enough to qualify for the scholarship? The funniest ones to me were the dudes singing the Shai song, and the dudes who were trying to re-create the Stankonia album cover. Those shits had me dying!
Another thing that had me dying was George Wallace! This man deserves the same Emmy that Katt Williams got for his episode of Atlanta George Dogg was hilarious in this one!
Oh, and speaking of dying, I didn’t know it was him until I saw people tweeting about it, but having Kevin Samuels in this ep is bugged out. Obviously they didn’t know he was gonna die, but the timing of this is crazy. The cameos this season have been wild. First it was Chet “Curry Goat” Hanks, then it was Liam “I Wish A Nigga Would” Neeson, and now Kevin “Mama, that’s MY Orange Juice” Samuels.
Anyway, I’m Audi for now, but before I go I want to say that I’m officially putting this show on the same level as shows like Curb and Southside. I can totally get why some people may not get, and/or like it, but if you do get it and find it funny you definitely have an elite sense of humor.
Leonard
PS: Bassey, I saw that interview you mentioned with Donald, Zazie, and a few others from South By Southwest. It was really good… Oh, and when homie looked into the camera at the end of the ep after telling that white girl he was feeling her more than ever. I was cookin!
Hi Bassey and Rod,
I’m a long time listener, first time writer. I wanted to write in and share my thoughts on Episode 9 of Atlanta, Rich Wigga, Poor Wigga. When the episode finished, I immediately thought of the Mark Twain novella Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain. The novel is about two boys who are born at the exact same time. One boy is born into slavery as with 1/32 black ancestry, falls under the ‘one drop rule’ as being identified as being black but passes for white. The other boy, who is white, and the slave masters true son are switched at birth by the enslaved midwife that delivered them. The story then goes on to examine the concept of race in the antebellum south. When I read it as part of my literature class at VSU (Go Trojans) my professor described it as one of the first American detective stories. If you have the time, I would suggest giving it a chance, it’s pretty short but I will warn you and your listeners, it’s got some hard ‘R’ n-words in it.
Now onto the episode, We talkin’ about ADOS in this episode?!? I fell out when my man in the wave cap gave his explanation. But it does seem to fit into the overarching theme of the ‘curse of whiteness’ that the anthology episodes are exploring. Aaron, like Van’s friend from the Season 2 episode Helen is ‘choosing white’. He has primarily white friends at his school, wants to go to a PWI to be with his white girlfriend, thinks Logan Paul is funny, and resorts to insulting his black-sounding video game opponents with the hard R n-word and black stereotypes when he gets frustrated. But none of that was helping get into the PWI that he wanted to get into because his black father wasn’t about to sign onto a loan that he would be responsible for should his son decide to quit because he and ‘his little girlfriend’ decide to break up. Not paying for your son’s broken heart is black fatherhood 101.
I have to admit, the black-checking lightning round was kind of hard and hilarious at the same time. However, I knew Aaron didn’t stand a chance because he didn’t fall back on the one tried and true black trait, claiming not to know shit. He would have had his check in hand if he’d just said “Man, I don’t know that shit!” for half of those questions. And then Mr. Lee hits him with the killing blow and calls him Clarence Thomas and dismisses him. His whiteness, which had gained him a certain level of access to the white world, becomes a curse and a liability at the most crucial point in his young life. Aaron then reverts right back to being white when he complains to his father about not getting the scholarship, gets rejected by his girlfriend for a ‘real black guy’ that will be going to his PWI of choice. He continues to tap into his whiteness when he builds the flamethrower and then walks to the school to burn it down. The end of the episode, once again turns into a horror story with the Nigerian kid (with the better constructed flamethrower) chases him around the school that has an eerily similar set-up to the video game that he was playing. Aaron learns first hand that cops don’t always say ‘freeze’ before shooting, the Nigerian kid proves that he is black to Mr. Lee by getting shot and Aaron, in the final scene of the episode, embraces his blackness, probably much to the horror of the white audience.
I could go on forever about this episode but I’ll stop here. I just wanted to get that out and say that I really enjoy your recaps and give my 2 ccents. Ya’ll are best Atlanta recappers hands-down!
And oh yeah, the two asian kids standing in front of the american flag as Andre 3000 and Big Boi on the Stankonia cover took me all the way out.
Sincerely,
Andrew
Hi Bassey and Rod,
First of all ya’ll are amongst the best if not the best when it comes to a recap.
I enjoyed New Jazz and loved that episode. I completely missed out on why Paperboi would be at a “Cancel Club” until Bassey pointed it out and I was just applauding. Some university needs to bring in the two of you to teach a course about Atlanta.
I never used to tune in to this podcast until you began covering season 3 of ATL. I’m hooked on the high now, if it’s taken away there’ll be a lot of violence on these Eric Adams streets. So should you guys start recapping This Is Us, I’ll immediately have to start watching that show (must be a lot of episodes since it’s network TV).
Finally, although I never finished Preacher, I taught about the same thing when I saw the dog suit. But wasn’t so sure as this was ATL universe. Once you have seen God on that show in his dogsuit wildness, it’s hard to forget. I might finally go finish that series now. Thank you (Mbana) for the amazing recap!
Hey rod hey bassey and hello Karen’s laugh.
I enjoy you guys breakdown of FX Atalanta . I wanted to comment on the theme of the season and I think this seasons theme is the spirit. There are multiple stories of death ghost culture and souls the things that effect a persons spirit. I think the. First season dealt with the mind or (mental) the jail episode had. A guy who was mentally unstable the many mind tricks played on earn like the club and the trading venture. He went through with Darius . Also Al had a couple of mind tricks played on him as well like the Streisand effect. Episode and the b.a.n episode. The second season is the body (Physical) Season. The opener had a women with gash in her head after an armed robbery . Earn had a foot race with Michael Vick and got beat up by Tracy. Al was physically assaulted and robbed. Teddy Perkins altered his body to an unrecognizable appearance and inflicted a murder suicide. There are many more examples but I want to keep it short. Once again I love you guys sorry. For this long confusing letter xoxo static morales
I love that you two give yourselves props for how great you are at the review podcast game. I listen to a few Atlanta recap shows, and you’re definitely the best at giving the audience added insights and analysis of the show! Also, I’m very excited that you might be doing some additional This Is Us episodes. The show has been back in its best form lately. They are killing this final season.