REVIEW: Atlanta S1E1 "The Big Bang"

Donald Glover (the star, writer, and creator of Atlanta) is a man who refuses to labeled as anything but one thing: an artist. Which has led to him doing a stand-up act, a full screenplay to his album Because the Internet, and now, his TV-show Atlanta.

Anyone familiar with The Donald (Yes, Donald Glover is the only person I will refer to as "The Donald") can recognize he's been going through an artistic journey of sorts, so not only is his music now vastly different compared to his earlier discography, but his comedy is too. Atlanta is no exception to this. It demonstrates a more subdued, contemplative comedy rather then his onslaught of (delightful) dick jokes in his stand-up act Weirdo. I personally don't feel one of these styles is inherently better than the other, but there is no denying that if the show was more of the latter it would've fallen into the sea of crash-humor television seen in shows such as Family Guy, South Park, and etc. 

The style of comedy Atlanta shoots for (and completely hits dead-on) is also unusual or the show's subject matter. Of course, you can only know so much about a show based from their pilot, but Atlanta is about the "rap game" (is that what the kids are calling it?) in, well, Atlanta. From that, one would reasonably expect the show to either be a hardcore, gritty drama, or a wild stoner comedy. But Glover approaches the concept with respect while still being comedic.

Another thing to like about this show is Glover himself, playing the lead character "Earnest Marks", who's your typical down-on-his-luck lead in this episode, but the show hints at some hidden character complexities with his past with Princeton. He gets tangled with the main story of the show when he finds out his cousin is a street-famous rapper known as "Paper Boi", and seeks to be his manager. Almost needless to say, all performances in this show were spot on. Even seemingly throw-away characters managed to be memorable and unique, but someone I particularly liked was the comic-relief character of Darius, played by Keith Stanfield. He was the "weird/crazy guy" type of comic relief, an excellent counter to Earn who is trying to become Paper Boi's manager with as little nonsense as possible. 

All in all, Atlanta is unique but not groundbreaking, and remains to be more than entertaining due to its quirks and characters, but perhaps the most prominent aspect of this episode is its potential, And it's not wasted potential, but... Potential potential? As in I see many good things in the future. There we go. So, uhhhh, The Big Bang gets four Childish Gambinos out of five.

"Apps | FX Networks." Apps | FX Networks. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2017.

★★★★☆