The Best Show You Haven't Seen Is Twin Peaks With Rappers And Invisible Cars

By TeeJay Small
| Published 22 seconds ago

If you consider yourself a television fan, you owe it to yourself to watch Atlanta. The series, which premiered back in 2016, was created by legendary actor, comedian, singer, songwriter, and Yoshi voiceover artist Donald Glover. To date, it serves as Glover’s most foundational work, allowing him an outlet to tell innovative short stories, meditate on his upbringing, and deliver on some of his most outlandish ideas. The show is a modern masterpiece, and the only real downside is that it’s only 41 episodes long.

In case you’re not aware of Donald Glover’s catalog, he might be the hardest-working man in Hollywood. The Atlanta native got his start writing for 30 Rock back in 2006, before becoming a household name as an actor on Community. After seemingly mastering the craft of writing and performing comedy, Glover left Community to pursue a rap career under the name Childish Gambino. His music later evolved from rap into a Stevie Wonder-esque cacophony of retro-futurist jazz funk fusion, culminating in such viral hits as “Redbone” and “This Is America.”

Donald Glover’s Atlanta

After establishing that he can sing, dance, act, write, and perform all at the same time, Glover developed Atlanta. He also stars as the perpetually down-on-his-luck Earn Marks in the show. Earn spends the first season couch-surfing with his parents, his ex-girlfriend, and his cousin Alfred, who is a rising neighborhood rapper under the name Paper Boi.

While trying to make enough money to get his own place and provide for his infant daughter, Earn takes on a job as Alfred’s manager. Along the way, he encounters a series of colorful characters, including Al’s best friend Darius, portrayed by the incredible LaKeith Stanfield.

Darius may not be the main character of Atlanta, but he has become the fan-favorite thanks to his pure hallucinogenic aura. He seems to exist in a fringe space between reality and the dreamlike world of the show, giving fans some early insight into the kinds of over-the-top hijinks they can expect from later seasons. In Atlanta, you’re likely to encounter crowds of strangers wearing cow suits, Scooby Doo-style hidden hallways, and influencers driving invisible cars just the same as rapper drama and the occasional armed robbery.

Hiro Murai’s Surreal Vision

The show achieves this dream-like state by tapping auteur director Hiro Murai. Murai’s vision, in accordance with Donald Glover, creates a distinct visual look and overall vibe that simply cannot be matched. There’s a reason why Glover originally pitched the show as “Twin Peaks with rappers” back when it premiered. The third season, which was shot in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially carries this ethereal energy. In season three, the main narrative is interrupted by a series of disconnected short stories that feel like backdoor pilots for other topsy-turvy horror shows.

Binge-watching Atlanta will surely give you whiplash, as the show bounces seamlessly between laugh-out-loud comedy, terrifying psychological horror, and a deep, almost academic reading of generational trauma. According to a write-up in NME, Glover teased the last two seasons of Atlanta as “some of the best television ever made,” before adding “Sopranos only ones who can touch us.” I couldn’t agree more. Personally, I’d place Atlanta on the Mount Rushmore of TV shows, next to The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Severance.

If you’re interested in checking out Atlanta for yourself, be sure to stream all four seasons on Hulu.