The final episode of Atlanta was incredible. Darius, played by LaKeith Stanfield (Sorry to Bother You, Knives Out), the most entertaining character of the show, was the focal point of “It Was All a Dream” and got the bow out he deserved.
The finale begins with Darius spaced out, listening to music, while Judge Judy and Popeyes commercials play on television. Earn, played by the show’s creator Donald Glover (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Community), asks Darius if he’s ready to go with them to a restaurant. He then explains that he’ll catch up because he’s going to a sensory deprivation tank appointment. Earn makes fun of Alfred (“Al”), played by Brian Tyree Henry (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, If Beale Street Could Talk), and his broken foot before they head out.
Al spots a Popeyes just across the street as they arrive at the restaurant. Earn tells Al that this is the first black-owned sushi restaurant in Atlanta and that the guy who runs it learned from a genuine sushi master in Japan. Darius picks up a prescription before his appointment and converses with a stranger who overheard his plans to go to the sensory deprivation tank. He tells her how he copes with the intensity of the visions in the tank. If he sees Judge Judy, who’s always on TV, and she’s relatively larger in parts of her body, becoming “thick Judge Judy,” he knows he’s in the tank. This critical setup immediately compares Inception and the items they used to discern reality from a dream. Their conversation ends amicably and wholesomely.
In the restaurant, Vanessa (“Van”), played by Zazie Beetz (Joker, Deadpool 2), thanks Al for coming and notes how it is a big deal for them to be there. Van immediately acknowledges how desperate she also is to go to Popeyes. Darius walks to his appointment before London, played by Naté Jones (Snowfall), pulls up in a car next to him. She insists on giving him a ride. She also gives him a joint and has been drinking vodka. That’s when a police car pulls her over. She keeps it together, even after downing nearly an entire water bottle filled with vodka. Just as she seems to have gotten away with it, she steals the gun from the officer and tries to flee. She hits a child with the car and escapes. As she runs away, she shouts blame at Darius, who finds the gun has appeared in his hand. That’s when he splashes about in the tank.
Darius is offered a break in the tearoom. The assistant says “tearoom” too many times in one sentence. Then a group of ladies also keep talking about the tearoom before breaking out in hysterical, unprovoked laughter. Darius shouts at one of them to wake himself up but is kicked out of the establishment — hilarious. At the restaurant, Al still longs for Popeyes. The delicacies can’t satisfy his craving. They disparage the restaurant, food, and methods of cooking. Darius visits a mysterious guy’s apartment and gives him the prescription. He accepts a bowl of Jollof before telling the man he misses him. He talks to an empty room about their parents as Judge Judy plays in the background and walks out of the room with an enlarged booty.
Darius wakes up in the tank again, gasping for air. After the assistant pronounces “minutes wrong” and glitches in real-time, Darius wakes up again in the tank, yelling. Al tries to leave for Popeyes before the high schoolers get there. The server interrupts him and brings over blowfish cheek – the fish is highly poisonous. Al lies about going to do a rap thing. The mysterious Demarcus, played by Calvin Dutton (Blindspot, Bad Hurt), then appears. Demarcus then points out that despite his traditional practice and standards in the restaurant, nobody respects his restaurant or even eats there because he owns it, a black man. Popeyes, on the other hand, is owned by an Italian family, none of whom are black or have married anyone black, and yet that’s what black people eat because it is being sold back to them in their own image. He tries to force Al to eat the poisonous fish and laughs maniacally. Just after Demarcus instructs his workers to lock the doors, Darius runs in, punches Demarcus, and shouts at the gang to get into his pink Maserati. There is a helping of Popeyes for all of them in the car.
Darius then reveals that he stole the car and claims to be still in the tank. Earn argues against this, but Darius is convinced they are just a part of the dream. The gang, apart from Darius, goes to smoke outside. He sits and watches Judge Judy on TV, we don’t get to see her, but right before the episode ends, a slight smile appears on his face, suggesting that he is, in fact, in the tank. Just like in Inception, it is not confirmed but can be assumed. The title also suggests this to be the case.
“It Was All a Dream” encapsulated many of Atlanta’s best qualities in one supreme episode. There was brilliant comedy, poignant social commentary, surreal and shocking moments, confusion, and beauty, all packed into half an hour. The episode struck the perfect balance of ambition and not taking itself too seriously. Even though it was probably all a dream, and even though Atlanta didn’t always make perfect sense, that did not take away from the pioneering show; instead, it elevated it above its predecessors and set a new bar for television. Atlanta, you will be missed.
Rating: 10.0/10