When it was announced that Atlanta was coming to FX in 2016 it was clear who the star of the show was going to be, Donald Glover. The lead and creator of the show had already built a legacy as an actor, a writer, and a performer to that point so the transition to head honcho of his own program felt destined. Season 1 followed along this blueprint, for the most part, putting Glover’s Earnest Marks in the role of manager to his cousin Alfred.
In its second season, Atlanta shifted in both tone and style. Multiple episodes focused on relationships between one or two characters for their whole runtime (partly to cover Glover’s absence because of his busy schedule). Though audience reaction has been mixed this season one thing is increasingly apparent; Bryan Tyree Henry’s Alfred has been the best part of the show.
While ‘Teddy Perkins‘ will probably live on as the most memorable episode from this season, Alfred’s performances have been the best parts of the show. Without a doubt the most complete character arc this season has been Alfred reluctantly embracing his place as a public figure. The beginning of the season sees the rapper struggling to accept his status as a public figure; experiencing all of the perils of fame with none of the rewards. He’s famous but he’s still broke. Everybody in Atlanta knows him, but he can’t even get a haircut or a ride. Henry embodies this dilemma perfectly by looking sad as fuck every time he appears in a scene.
The best way to describe Henry’s performance this season is frustrated. From his first substantial appearance of the season in ‘Sportin’ Waves‘ it’s clear that Alfred’s celebrity as Paper Boi has yet to catch up to his day to day life. The episode begins with Al getting robbed by his plug, with the plug constantly reassuring him that he’ll pay him back and that his next song is a hit.
The episode continues with a trash visit to the show’s version of Spotify. The two main takeaways of the episode are that Paper Boi does not want to compromise his realness to please bigger entities and that that position is keeping him from bigger opportunities that cornier artist (shoutout Clark County) are getting.
Maybe the most important two episode stretch of the season is Episode 8 ‘Woods‘ and Episode 9 ‘North of the Border‘. It’s in Episode 8 where we see Al and his possible girlfriend Ciara, an IG personality spending the day together. Their personalities clash constantly as they have differing ideas on their responsibilities as celebrities. To this point, Al still sees himself as a regular person that doesn’t need to do all the other shit that celebrities do. A robbery and existential awakening later and we find Al embracing his celebrity, bloodied up taking a picture on IG with a fan.
‘North of the Border’ is where the cracks in what Al is becoming and what Earn is become more apparent.
“This nigga really think he a bodyguard.” -Earn
“He just trying to earn his money. I can understand that.” - Alfred
Al begins to realize that Earn is not necessarily going to be the best manager but as the finale shows us he still keeps Earn close because he’ll stop Paper Boi from going full Clark County. The last scene of the season where Earn reveals that he put the gun from Episode 1 in Clark’s bag further drives home this point. Al made his deal with the devil and embraced some bullshit, but as long as he has Earn and Darius he’ll never stray too far.
Compare this transformation in Al to the other cast members on the show. We see Darius unchanged despite his traumatic experience in Episode 6 with Teddy Perkins. Earn is still the same Earn, seeking validation and stability consistently. Van to her credit is seen seeking more from her relationship with Earn, but her limited screen time this season makes her growth hard to measure. When compared with what we’ve seen out of Al this season it’s clear that he’s been the main character this whole time.
