“The Old Man and the Tree” saw a continuation of the European adventures of the Atlanta crew as the characters visited a billionaire’s hidden home in London. Earn, played by the show’s creator Donald Glover (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Community), Alfred (“Al”), played by Brian Tyree Henry (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, If Beale Street Could Talk), Vanessa (“Van”), played by Zazie Beetz (Joker, Deadpool 2), and Darius, played by LaKeith Stanfield (Sorry to Bother You, Knives Out), arrived for a memorable get-together.
Earn brings the group to the address he was sent, and from its outside appearance, they are all confused. Earn notes how this billionaire’s family supposedly gave out the first loan. Eventually, they meet with Will, played by Patrick Kennedy (The Queen’s Gambit, Miss Marx), who is a friend of Earn’s and invited them there so that Al could meet the South African billionaire Fernando, played by Daniel Fathers (The Witcher: Blood Origin, Snatch). They are brought through the fake home in the front into the real home behind it. It is filled with people and appears much more like a billionaire’s home.
Will talks to Earn and discloses that he has gotten a divorce from his wife, who was a countering voice of reason to his impulsive ideas. He requests Earn meet the artist TJ, played by Sheyi Cole (Boxing Day, The Beautiful Game), who is working and living downstairs. He gets Vanessa to accompany him, and they meet TJ, who shows them his art, which they immediately discern as awful. Earn discovers that Will is paying for TJ to work and live there and asks him what he thinks about turning the entire space into a center for artists. Earn is immediately confused, and TJ, who had been listening to their conversation, explains how it would work as a subscription service whereby the public could pay to access the art. Earn can’t hide how illogical this idea is. In a moment alone with Al, he expresses his awareness of how TJ is taking advantage of Will. Al responds by saying that white people are constantly scamming, so black people should be doing it more. Earn notices the framed picture on the wall of the first loan and focuses on the black man in the background of the photo, who is nowhere close to the money. Earn pushes Will towards helping TJ with his idea for artists and suggests that he should be TJ’s manager, which will cost a lot more money. Will simply agrees.
Al meets Fernando, who asks him if he likes trees. Al thinks he is referring to cannabis but realizes his mistake when Fernando shows him the house that the tree is built around. Fernando emphasizes how it is one of the oldest trees in London. Al is quickly bored. He is much more excited when Fernando tells him he is going up to play poker and that Al can smoke up there. They play poker against each other and two other men. The minimum buy-in is twenty thousand, interestingly the same amount of money as Earn needed to give to Al in episode two, “Sinterklaas Is Coming to Town.” Al beats Fernando in a big hand as the billionaire was describing a story of his having spent a night with a ghost in the shape of a black man. Fernando storms off, and Alfred is unable to acquire his winnings. He eventually snaps and starts cutting down the tree Fernando loves with a chainsaw.
Van explores the party and assures Earn that she is fine despite her pushing multiple fully clothed people into the pool. She tells Earn to live in the moment more. Her actions speak louder than her words here, as it is clear that she is not as alright as she claims to be.
Darius is venturing around the building when he bumps into MK, played by Jasmine Leung (The Vanishing Time), who mistakenly thought Darius was about to hit on her. She remarks on how many black men have hit on her in the past and generalizes that black men are attracted to Asian women before exiting the conversation. Socks, played by Hugh Coles (The Hybrid), introduces himself and claims how he was appalled by MK’s remarks. At first, Darius doesn’t know what he is referring to and then disregards its significance. Continuing the theme of white guilt from earlier in the season, Socks does not let it rest and soon Darius finds himself surrounded by a group of white people who are more offended than he is. MK is chased out of the building, and Will, who had recently been engaged to her, dumps her.
All the commotion regarding MK and Alfred with the tree happens simultaneously. Earn calls a car for the four of them to leave, and Alfred makes sure to steal as much as he can on the way out. Al, Van, Darius, and Earn burst out into laughter in the car until they hear Socks laughing along with them.
“The Old Man and the Tree” was subversive and mysterious as the group entered a novel realm of wealth. Fernando being stingy over twenty thousand pounds was completely unexpected, and Alfred’s revenge was rewarding. Earn’s pronounced reevaluation of how black people should act to make it in this society was poignant and thought-provoking. The white guilt Darius finds himself drowning in is hilarious. Van didn’t learn anything here but has set herself up for larger drama in future episodes.
Rating: 8.0/10