Family drama was at the center of “Light Skinned-ed,” the fourth episode of season four of Atlanta. Earn, played by the show’s creator Donald Glover (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Community), returns home to join his parents for church. He is surprised that his father Raleigh, played by Isiah Whitlock Jr (Da 5 Bloods, BlacKkKlansman), won’t be joining him and his mother Gloria, played by Myra Lucretia Taylor (The Big Sick, Unfaithful).
Earn and Gloria ride in her car and plan on picking up Gloria’s father as well as her sister, Jeanie, played by Michole Briana White (Malignant, Encino Man). Gloria tells Earn that she plans on stealing away her father from Jeanie, who had been preventing her from spending any individual time with her for financial benefit. Earn laughs off the suggestion and doesn’t understand her sincerity. When they arrive at church, Earn and Jeanie get out of the car, leaving Gloria to drive away with Earn’s grandfather.
In church, Earn and Jeanie are confused and pretend that it’s possible that the other two might join them soon. He slips away to call his father for advice, but Raleigh is busy trying to get a new phone in the mall before the kids show up after church. Earn tries to sneak away but is caught by Jeanie, who accuses him of being involved in the plot for Gloria to steal her father. Earn denies it, and Jeanie follows him to the studio after he makes up the excuse that he was leaving the church for work with Alfred (“Al”), played by Brian Tyree Henry (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, If Beale Street Could Talk). They arrive at the studio, and Al is visibly frustrated that Earn brought her there.
In the mall, Raleigh avoids impulse purchases until a hat vendor compliments the shape of his head. She skillfully persuades him to try on some of her products. Eventually, after further flattery, she brings out a special hat for him that she supposedly isn’t supposed to sell yet. He buys it. As he walks proudly with his new purchase to the phone store, he is bumped by a group of screaming children and to his horror, realizes that church is out. A teenage boy embarrasses him in public to get a picture with him and his hat. It is the exact type of confrontation he hoped to avoid.
Jeanie gets on the phone with Gloria and some other family members and fails to convince them of Gloria’s wrongdoing. She then accuses them of treating her differently because she is light skinned, which they reject, and then insults the relationship between Gloria and her father, who always forgot about her. It is met with harsh criticism and people hanging up. Jeanie calls the police to help, and they have Earn call his mother to do a wellness check. The police speak to his grandfather, who responds well to their questions and knows he’s with Gloria, but at the end of the call claims that he has been in Egypt for two weeks. Jeanie further remonstrates with the police while Al and Earn slip out of the back of the studio that Bobby Shmurda supposedly made.
The family, aside from Jeanie, go to an early dinner later. Raleigh lies to Gloria about spending money on anything other than the phone, and it is clear he has a problem with impulse purchases. After some confusion about the bread, Raleigh snaps at the young employee and laments the young for lacking respect. His trepidation surrounding young people seemed overdramatic at first, but the interaction he had with the manipulative teenage boy actualized his fears, and the unwillingness of the young server to pack up some bread demonstrated a hubristic quality to the youth around them. Still, his snap surely also had roots in his anger at himself for succumbing to sales techniques and giving into his bad habits of overspending.
It was refreshing to see Al and Earn in a family setting, and the drama felt poignant and truthful. Still, “Light Skinned-ed” didn’t quite have the usual standard of comedic and thought-provoking entertainment.
Rating: 7.5/10