Hulu’s 4-Part Dark Comedy Sleeper Hit Is the Perfect Weekend Binge

Atlanta's debut on FX was highly praised by critics and had no peers on television at the time. Donald Glover created this series, which depicts the life of a struggling music manager and his cousin's attempts to establish a career as a rapper. At the time of the series' debut, the show's storyline was familiar compared to other television series. But the show almost immediately proved it wasn’t interested in playing by the usual rules.

Across four seasons, Atlanta became one of television’s most inventive and unpredictable shows. It's currently one of the best series to binge-watch due to its unpredictability. At 41 episodes total, Atlanta is perfect for a weekend binge and has plenty of crazy ideas and moments to stay with you long after the show concludes.

‘Atlanta’ Starts as a Story About Chasing Success

Atlanta follows Earn Marks (Glover), who dropped out of Princeton and returned home without money or an idea of what to do next. He found out that his cousin Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry) was now a local rapper known as Paper Boi, and persuaded him to let him manage him. Earn wants to help Paper Boi turn his local success into global success so that he can also improve his own life and provide for his daughter. Unfortunately, Earn is still trying to figure it out, so he is living in many different places while trying to hold a job.

Alfred’s journey isn’t much easier. As his reputation grows, he begins to face the strange and sometimes uncomfortable realities of fame. What starts as a promising music career slowly becomes more complicated. That rise through the hip-hop scene provides a loose narrative backbone for the series. But Atlanta rarely treats it as the main event.

Even when Atlanta drifts into bizarre territory, its characters keep things anchored. Each member of the central quartet feels distinct in a way that many TV comedies struggle to achieve. Earn is someone who tends to overanalyze everything; he often thinks one step ahead to get through situations that go out of hand. Darius (LaKeith Stanfield), Alfred’s eccentric friend, could be the most unpredictable character. He floats through scenes offering bizarre but fascinating perspectives that often make no sense — because when they do, it is an even bigger surprise. Van (Zazie Beetz), Earn’s girlfriend/ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, completes this group. She is usually the most grounded person there, although she often deals with issues regarding the direction life has taken. Together, they make up the emotional centre of the show. Their friendships and tensions give Atlanta something solid to return to, no matter how strange an episode becomes.

‘Atlanta’ Thrives on the Strange and Surreal

One of the main things that makes Atlanta so distinct is that it doesn't shy away from the unusual, showing comfort with the unknown. The show often bends reality in small, subtle ways, making typically mundane experiences into something unusual.

There are times when a strange interaction happens or an unexpected turn of events happens. There are also times when each episode could function as its own story, with almost no visual connection to the other episodes in the series.

The embrace of experimentation allows the show to look at large, complex issues without being preachy. Issues such as race, class, celebrity, and identity are always present, but they are processed through strange situations that allow viewers to formulate their own interpretations. Because of this experimental nature, Atlanta can sometimes feel like you are opening a mysterious box. That is, you really don't know what you're going to get from one episode to the next.

Why ‘Atlanta’ Is Still Worth Watching Now

Atlanta is widely considered one of the best television shows of the 21st century. It has been critically acclaimed for its creativity and intelligent writing, as well as its willingness to take risks that many shows would deem too risky to pursue. The show's biggest strength is probably its curiosity. This show is always asking questions about the lives of the people who populate it, including what ambition means to them, what success is, and how quickly things can go from being mundane to being surreal.

That inquisitive attitude has inspired a new generation of television shows that combine humor with innovative narrative forms. Even years after it premiered, it still feels fresh. It is also easy to binge 40 episodes of Atlanta in one sitting, so whether you tune in for the story that revolves around the music industry, for the quirky humor, or simply to enjoy the unpredictability of the show's surreal episodes, there will always be something new and surprising waiting for you at the end of each episode.