The Prestige TV Podcast - ‘Atlanta’ Series Finale Recap

Episode Date: November 11, 2022

Charles and Van are back to talk ‘Atlanta’ for the final time. The guys dive into the madness of Darius’s solo journey, then discuss Earn, Alfred, and Van’s experience at a blacked-owned sushi restaurant, as well as the overall surrealism of the show. Later, they rank each season of ‘Atlanta’ and debate where the show falls amongst other shows in the Prestige TV pantheon. Hosts: Charles Holmes and Van Lathan Associate Producer: Jonathan Kermah Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Midnight Boys. Piu-Coo! And we're here to discuss the series finale of Atlanta on today's episode. We're breaking down. It was all a dream. Directed by Hero Marai and written by Donald Glover. And I'm not going to hold you up then. It's an emotional day for me.

I don't know how to feel. So I want to ask you, how you doing, man? It was weird watching what is the last episode of Atlanta. I thought I was ready to let go, but it turns out that I'm not. Oh, I'm not. I'm crying like a baby. Like, I was like, man, I'm ready to let. like my kid go to college and like live day life.

And I was like, no, I'm not ready. Yeah, I thought I was ready to let go of the show. But to be honest with you, this episode proved why, like, I feel like I need Atlanta. You know what I mean? Oh, the end of it gave me, like, there are very few times I get like chills from art. But like that chill of like, they did it. Like there's, there's, I was going to say this to you. before we kind of get into the recap and really into this.

I don't know how you feel about this, but like as I've gotten older, I've kind of realized that it's very, it's not very often where black art gets to go out on its own terms. Go out on top. It's always, whether it's,

you know, the fame, commercialism, the industry, whatever, you know, Chappelle show the perfect example. It's very, very rare that we get to see a piece of art made by black people be like, not only are we going to go out on top, but we're going to go out doing what we've always done. And that's actually what I'll miss.

Because I'm just like, we may, it may be a while before we get that again. You know what I'm saying? Even something like Black Panther and Wakanda forever, a movie that we talked about on the Midnight Boys we both loved, it has Chadwick's death hanging over it in a way where you're like, this is a good movie, but we're having to deal with grief again. We're having to deal with this other thing. In Atlanta, we don't have that. They got to do and end it the way that they wanted to, which,

which is, it's beautiful, you know? Yeah, it's one of those things that's peculiar about the black experience in America is that our art is always tethered to our reality, which a lot of art really is, right? Most art really is, but we never get to, like, fly away, you know? Because there's this reality, this grounded sort of understanding of blackness, it always kind of brings people back to it,

and you want to see something that's a little bit more tethered. But Atlanta was never encumbered by that. Atlanta was, it was definitely true to the experiences of the characters, but sometimes Atlanta went to places to where even the diehard fans of the show had trouble following. But you look at it in its totality, and that's how it had to be, man. That's how it should have been. Yeah.

And I look at this episode, and there's so many jewels and nuggets and lessons and amazing sort of, you know, narrative chances and hilarious moments in there that I thought it was really, you know, reason to be biased, but this is to me a top five, top 10 episode of Atlanta ever. Oh, easily. I think what we're both saying is, like,

it is very rare that not only do you experience it in life, it's a black person, but you get to see it on screen of, like, your boys getting to ride away in the pink Maserati as Dream of a Lifetime place. Like I was getting emotional because I was like, oh, like we don't, we, we so rarely get that moment in life where you're just like, we're just in the car. We're eating Popeyes. It's all all right. I just, that, that seeing that on screen, I was like, fuck.

Okay. We're not going to get this, but that's okay because like they got to do it. They got to ride right away in the pink bozzerati in the way they wanted. And it was, oh man, are you ready to get into this episode? Let's go for it, little brother. All right. So what happens in the series finale is that Earn has roped Alfred into going to Atlanta's first black-owned sushi restaurant to support Vance friend. Darius is supposed to meet the group later after he's finished with his sleep deprivation type therapy. From the beginning,

Alfred is obsessed with getting Popeyes instead of eating at the sushi fusion restaurant. Meanwhile, Darius runs a variety of errands where he meets strangers, people from his past, and eventually a brother we find out who is deceased. We realize that Darius is stuck in a dream loop where the only way out is remembering his safe image. Thick Judge Judy. Back at the sushi restaurant, the meal escalates until the owner, DeMarcus, gives in impassion

and very meta-speech about why black people will support watered-down versions of their food owned by white people, but won't support a black business that's trying to do something different. Darius ends up saving the trio. They escape into Pink Maserati, and back at Alfred's place,

everything seems to be back to normal. Then we get a final shot of Darius looking at the episode of Judge Judy. The show ends on an ambiguous note. Was it all a dream? Then, first reactions to this episode go? It was fantastic. Let's go.

It was amazing. It was full of the DNA of the show. Atlanta ended trending up. Yeah. Which a television show never does. Like, you know, people that had problems with the last season, whatever, people that had problems with early. Atlanta was just getting stronger.

They had three or four seasons more in them of creative juice. I'm sorry, man. I wish it wasn't ending. But I thought it was a perfect send-off. It was emotional. It was reverent. You know what I mean? It was enlightening.

And it was fucking hysterical, bro. So fucking funny. I made, like, I. I watched it this morning three times in a row. So I'm, I was laughing literally at 6.30 in the morning. Six 30 in the morning, I am laughing and going crazy because there are three, four, or three or four moments in this, in this episode that are laugh out loud, funny. I don't know why I laughed hysterically when the guy goes,

you've been only, you, you don't, you've been in here only 30 minutes. He goes, what? And then he goes, minutes. Like, was that funny to you or was over? Did you get scared? I laughed. Oh, no, I was too freaked out. I was laughing when the kid, when the kids are eating the papy sandwiches,

one of them like hump in the air, he's so happy. That's so funny. He's getting a sandwich and he puts his book back down and he starts humping on the ground. It's like, it's hilarious. The dude, your brother at the end was his name? DeMarcus. DeMarcus. Demarcus's whole thing.

Styrical. Just like ridiculously funny. Wait, can I say? What he said, the night queen and slim premiere, we were filled, light out the door, black people hopped up on nationalism. And then he gets in the gut reviews and they're like, they all said the same thing. This niggas servant, boys.

I was, I was just like, bro. What the fuck is it? He's like, he's like, brother man, don't you? Don't show brother man. I had this I had this same feeling you did where it was like I was watching the episode and at first I was like

oh they're just going to end on a normal episode. Like this isn't, they're going to do a very Atlanta thing, maybe troll us where I'm like this is just going to be a regular episode. Garys is going to do something weird. And then as you get farther into the narrative, you're like, oh no, this is so layered. They're doing so many things.

One of the first things I noticed is, I feel like Atlanta subverted the, it was all a dream trope. Because do you remember early, like first season of Atlanta, especially how because it was surreal and because we had not seen black surrealism happen on that big of a stage

when that many people were watching, the meta-commentary of that first season of Atlanta was like how much of this was, like how much of this was a dream. People were trying to say that like, did Paperboy really get shot? And is this like, is he dead? And it was kind of like Donald Glover going back to the beginning

and poking fun of that of our, almost our need to not believe that this could be real, are poking fun at the fact of like, yeah, because we were this show that was doing all of this lynchy and surrealist shit, people were always just like, wow, this can't be real, all this crazy shit. invisible car, all this shit, which I thought was genius. I thought it was genius as well.

And it asks some really deep questions about our perception of our world. You know what I mean? Because in that final scene, you have three characters that just know that they're living in the real world. And one of them that's not sure. And look, it's crazy, bro. I'm on many different types of antidepressants. I'm very open about this. Don't feel bad for me, guys.

feeling just fine. But these medications make you have vivid dreams. And just last night, I dreamt that I was alone working on a farm where I was trying to get a pig back into a pig pin. The pigs were blue for some reason. Okay. And I was trying to get the pigs back into a pig pin. I was loving my life on the farm

until for some reason this group of white men came to the farmhouse looking for some guys that had robbed the bank when all of a sudden I remember that I was one of the guys who robbed a bank. This is all happening, right? How real did this feel to you? It felt so real.

For some reason, reason Neil Long was trying to get in touch with me, and I was trying to make the decision about whether or not I was going to go get in touch with Neil Long or pick up my gun and go shoot these guys who just realized that I am in fact someone that robbed a bank. My thing is, the other guys that are in my dream, do they have a consciousness somewhere? Do they realize like how far this is? Two questions, though. What? I have two questions. about this dream. Sure. At any point did he may adoka show up? No, he didn't. He didn't. He wasn't there. But I think one of that, but she had a kid in the dream. So I think maybe his son was there.

You know what I mean? So, and I was in the, the dream took place both in the past and then in the present. And it's, it's kind of the way Atlanta and these shows, these surreal, you never quite know where you are. Things are just happening. They feel so rich, so lush. and so vibrant that they got to be real, but they're so peculiar that they can't be. And that's kind of what the show was able to do. So looking at it, I understand the dreamlike trans that the show operates in.

And I think very few episodes of the show were able to nail it as much as this one was. So my second follow-up question to your dream is, let's do this now. If you have to have a safe, thick celebrity to get you out of or make you realize

that you are in a loop, a dream loop. Who is that thick celebrity and you can't go for the A-list? It's got to be somebody who is like very, very specific. Bethany Frankel. That was so quick.

Bethany Frankl. If I see a thick Bethany Frankl, I know I'm in a dream. Bethany? If I see thick, if I see thick, if I see Thick, Bethany Frankel, I know I'm dreaming.

Skinny, skinny girl Margarita, Real Housewives in New York is like, daytime TV, same situation. Thick Judge Judy. We see Cree Summer makes an appearance in this episode, you know, and like, and he explains the thick Judge Judy situation to her.

I have a question. Yeah. And this may, make me seem stupid. I never, how did you know that Darius's brother was dead? He looks at, so Darius looks at the,

at the photo and he starts talking and he's just like, hey, how are mom, how her dad? Like, and the brother stops answering. So I thought that that meant that like Darius's brother died

from a disease, along with his mother and father. And also there's a hint where basically his brother is going to him, like he's being weird like you're not going to stay. And I viewed that as the afterlife. And his brother is just like, no, you don't need to be in here with me. You need to go back out there. So I got the sense that his brother was dead.

Makes a lot of sense. I didn't. He's like, yeah, I want you to be out there with them. I knew that his brother was sick. but he's like, I want you to be out there with them. I'll need you to be in here with me. And Darius is like, I can stay.

You know, and that whole time, I guess that's also when Darius is struggling in the tank. Is he not? Right. He's flipped over. And is that when he's flipped over and he's like, I thought I could flip over? That's when he's flipped over and he's flipped over.

So maybe Darius nearly dies in the tank. And that conversation that he's having with him, because, you know, his brother comes back. out after that. And they see thick Judge Judy together. Yeah. So, I don't know, it's, it's very interesting. But even all of that stuff, when Darius came and saved them in the Pink Maserati, I'm like, oh, we're definitely stealing one of Darius's dreams. You, all right. So you're going, you're skipping a little ahead. But let's, we're in Darius

zone. So let's stay here with that stuff about. So was this, was Darius's whole thing, almost a five stages of grief situation or like a Scrooge thing where he's like seen different ghosts because even the first woman she says I think I was trained for a long time to look at this world like a battle

and in some ways it is but I'm a part of this world too this big thing and I'm allowed to dance in it how I want to I took that as like he's meeting can you please respect the first woman please that's crazy summer from a different world.

Can you please respect Cree Summer? Child. Child. Can you... I called it the first woman because I did not catch the fucking name of the character, bro. Her name is Cree Summer. Cree Summer, bro.

She's... Do you think Cree Coresummers... Cree Cores. But I took this as like, maybe this is a five stages of grief thing, or, like... potentially Darius is going through some type of death where these are the people that you meet

before you get to heaven type situation. Hence why it almost ends with him being separated from the group. And I took the ending as being ambiguous. I didn't take the ending as he's still stuck in a loop. I took it as a very inception type of how you perceive whether Darius is in a dream or not says a lot about you and says a lot of,

about how you view the show. I agree. I think that when you watch The Inception, some of the best arguments that I had were with people that go, oh, this is definitely all the dream. Like, the top is spinning. And I'm like, the top is wobbling. I'm like, y'all, the top isn't wobbling. I'm like, yo, the guy's, the top is wobbling. It's like, no, it's not wobbling.

And then you start looking at it's like, and they're like, yo, you look at the way things work out. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense that he wouldn't be able to come back into the states and then all of a sudden he can. You never really see his kids and there is so many different. And in this one, it's legitimately the same thing. I'm wondering which version of Judge Judy is going to walk around. I personally think that Darius went through all of his situations in the tank and that what we have been seeing is real, but I can't be sure.

I do not know. But I know it was real funny. It was real touching. Some of Lekeith's best actors in that scene with his brother. Stop. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah.

Like what he's doing, I would always say this. Like we're going to talk about it later. All of the actors on this show are, I've never seen a show that it's like, oh no, these are all murderers. Like these are all what he does.

Like he is doing with his face with the grief of looking at that photo, the sense of loss, the sense of like when you lose someone, that feeling of you want to see them again, you want to talk to them again. And his brother not responding when he says, how her mom, how her dad,

I was like, fuck, this is. Yeah. For Donald Glover to give Lakeith, he's like, to give Lakeith not only his own subplot in the last episode to be like, dog cook.

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Applies. See homebibar.com slash price match for details. I want to let you ISO for a bit, Van. If there's anybody who I think is more able to distill what of the primary themes of this episode is you, because you are always the person to tell me that as black people, if we want to get to a certain level, we have to be able to support our own, even if the businesses are.

not. 100% what we want. I want to let you cook because you have been on record about this for so fucking long. So look, I think this, I think this scene actually subverts that idea a little bit. Let me tell you why. Okay. So that's who Van is representing. Van is representing, hey, this is a new restaurant.

We have to support this restaurant. Paperboy eating in this restaurant is going to be a big deal. They've actually, they've structured their whole day, plan their whole day around the fact that they're going to go eat at this restaurant and that this restaurant needs their support. So they're there, and they're getting an experience that is so par to them. And the reason why it's so par is because they're not used to author. authenticity. They're not used to how things are supposed to. They're not used to cultural expansion.

They're used to comfort. And every single thing about eating in the blockbuster sushi restaurant is uncomfortable. See, in many other parts of the world, eating food or experiencing food isn't about comfort. It's about exhilaration. It's about trying something new, trying to something that challenges your palate, experiencing tastes and experiences that you didn't know you wanted to experience, that you didn't know you wanted to have. It's about doing stuff for the fuck of it, for the adventure of it, for the thrill of it, and then go in some place and saying, hey, do you know what, we ate, we ate blowfish. And if it's not cut the correct way, it's poisonous.

And it was a delicacy of blah, blah, blah, and having that experience. What we're in parts of the community, at least where I'm from, you don't have time for that. You want a meal that you know is not going to miss. Because there are other parts of your life that are adventurous and they probably shouldn't be. It's adventurous to maybe go to the mall. It's adventurous to maybe walk down your block.

It's adventure. These are all things to where you've got to look around. So when it comes time to eat, you want something that you know is going to be hidden. And let me tell you something. Don't matter what state in America you end, you have a 90% chance of Popeye's being hidden. They got that recipe down to how we like it. So what turns out is everything that they think is whack about the restaurant is actually authentic. The fact that the sushi is at room temperature.

fact that he's serving the blowfish, the fact that it's being wrapped by a guy who isn't um, isn't, uh, isn't, uh, isn't wearing any gloves. The fact that it's in a block bus, it shouldn't matter. I, and it's funny because everything that DeMarcus said was stuff that I knew, but in the narrative of the show, I forgot it. I remember we did a story about the sushi, the sushi restaurant. It's world famous obviously in the subway in Japan. Everybody knows about that. Is that the one from Giro Dreams of Sushi?

Yeah, Gerald Dreams of Sushi. So, like, so we've seen this. I've seen the guys rolling by hand with no good. I know all of that, but when they were saying it, I was still like,

this is some nigger shit in a blockbuster. So he actually subverted it. And what he said was that that's not even the experience and stuff. That's not even what y'all want. That's not what y'all want.

What y'all want is the easy stuff that's going to make you feel comfortable. And in ways, to me, that's commentary on the show Atlanta itself. That it's not a show that's going to necessarily make you feel comfortable, not a show that where you're going to be unchallenged, not a show where you're going to get, and this is not to diss Martin, because obviously I love Martin, that you're going to get Brumann and Shann and Shannay and all of those places.

It's not a show like that. It's a show to where you're going to get some things that are done the right way, but you didn't even know that they're being done the right way or you didn't even know that you wanted them. So I picked up on a lot of the same things that you did, and I think that there's this symbolism

of the blowfish versus Popeye's, authenticity versus a white corporation selling you, selling authenticity back to you. And what I think is genius about this episode is that is interrogating something that I think has been kind of if Donald Glover has any kind of nor star,

it is that. Because DeMarcus says, that's our future, salt and battered, being sold back to us in our own image. And it reminded me about a Donald Glover quote

that he gave. I brought it up on the show before on interview Mag, what he was asked about Dave, the other FX show that is about a white rapper. And he said,

people think I'm pretentious. I can be a snob, but I think in entertainment or art, it's important to know the difference between things. Like, Anthony Bourdain wasn't pretentious, but he definitely knew the difference between a dry age Wagyu and a smash burger. Neither is better or worse than the other. They're just different experiences. I wouldn't want to have either every day, but I would never confuse the two. I expect the same of my audience. And to me, that's what this show. Like, that is what the show has been about. And that's what this last. episode is about is about the detrust, the distrust that especially a black audience has with black artists, where to your point, we want that comfort. If I only have so much time in my day, I want to go back to that thing that I know is going to hit all the time. I distrust the fact that when he starts talking about like, you distrust the Chicago nigger, a New York nigger,

you think he's going to come up on a lick. That is a commentary on us, As viewers, the audience where we have a distrust when a black artist does something that we will let a white artist do. And we will never look. We will, if a white actor does something weird, we're not conditioned to be like, why is he doing weird shit? But as a black audience, we are very conditioned to be like, yo, relax. Why are you doing this? Like, give me back the Atlanta I want. Why are you going to Europe and having these one-off episodes?

This ain't fucking black viewer. Give me what I want. And that's why I think it's so cheap. It really does end on kind of a fucking old. It does. You know what's crazy about that? I think that Donald Glover didn't understand Anthony Bourdain. I once watched Anthony Bourdain say that, like, he ate a burger in an airport, and it sent him spiraling into depression.

I think that he went to a Johnny Rockets or something. and he ate a burger and it sent him spiraling I think I think that there was something that's important to Anthony Bourdain that's also important to to Donald Glover

and I think what was important to Anthony Bourdain was something that is the authenticity. See there's a difference between the smash burger and the Wagu are not it's not that one is a smash burger and that one is a Wagyu it's about how they were made

if somebody spent I think this is kind of what we're talking about and rest of peace Anthony Burdane I think this is what Anthony Burdane is talking about if you go to Johnny Rockets which I used to love Johnny Rockins I'm not dissing Johnny Rockins and you get a burger there right the burger's coming there

the burger's not made to be the best burger it can be. The burger's not made with any inspiration. You can make a wagoo with inspiration and you can make Wagyu a smash burger with inspiration. Both of them can be inspired.

It doesn't, for Bourdain or anybody else, I used to see Anthony Bourdain eating at a, and I'm on a tangent here, but I'm going to finish it. I used to see Anthony Bourdain all the time eating at a taco truck outside of on on Libreya outside of the woods bar across street from a Burger King to be walking and I would just look at him as like you love this place and he'd be like great tacos I used to see Anthony Bourdain all the time eating there he's like you love like no cameras no nothing like you love this place like a it's like a little taco truck is like

right outside hey great tacos like great tacos like great tacos I'm like hey man man, big fan. See him, I'll be, I keep on walking when I was taking my walks. I think the more important thing was not the, because I guess that statement makes it seem like Wagoo

is super expensive and super refined takes all of that and the smash burger is a cheap way. What really matters is the inspiration behind both things. I don't mind, I don't know if Dave is as inspired as Atlanta is,

but I don't think that Donald thinks that it is. And I think what we're really litigating when we're talking about art, specifically black art, is how inspired it is. Like, if you're, you can make a fantastic,

dumb-ass thing if you really want to make it. If it really means something. And we can look at something and see when it's being handled with care or when it's being thrown out there as more product than art. And I think when you're,

when you're looking at the airport burger, I think it was an affront to Bourdain because he was like, the food that I eat, I want to know that someone created it to say something. And so for us, the question around art is, is everybody making stuff making it to actually say something, to mean something, for it to have some sort of importance? and does Popeyes mean anything?

This guy that was, this guy that had this restaurant, he was trying to say all kinds of things. This Popeyes mean anything. Are they trying to say anything? By the way, this is not a shot to Copeland family because I know the Copeland family from down there in New Orleans. You know, like, the Copeland family

were okay people, decent people, a fun Christmas time. But, you know, I think that's the question. So then I want to ask you this. because I actually think that this is a very nuanced. It's a nuanced thing where I'm like, I'm not painting what Donald Glover is saying in a black and white terms. Because, like, think about it.

What is the most, one of the most joyous scenes of this episode, is them enjoying a Popeye sandwich? I actually think that what this episode is trying to litigate is that, like, no, there is a beauty in that, like, you can enjoy a spicy chicken sandwich at the end. end of the day, it might be all you want. That might be the most fun you have, um, eating a meal all week. But there is a difference. And that's what I think that like, especially as black consumers sometimes, we have trouble discussing where it's like in our

pursuit to be hopped up on that national. We just saw a queen and slim. Let's go. Let's support black art. Let's support black businesses. Is that. How honest can we be with each other about the art that we consume? You know what I'm saying? It's like, perfect example. Black Panther Wakanda Forever is not whack. It's a great movie. But if it was whack, would any of us have the courage to say it?

Because that's not a conversation you should be having out with company around, you know, because sometimes you feel as if, hey, we might not get anymore, if we don't support this. So we can't truly litigate whether we like it or not. And that's what I think a lot of this is saying is like, if black art is of a lesser quality, as a community, have we created a space where we can say it? If it's of a higher quality, have we created a space where we're giving our black artist room to experiment,

room to fail, room for understanding, or are we just like, what really did happen with Atlanta Season 3? He's like, this ain't what I want. Fuck that shit. Y'all are an empty cavernous blockbuster now. I'm going back to get me some Popeyes. Yeah, yeah. And if we can't have honest conversations about our art

and honest conversations about whether or not we're in this simulation, then are we to the point to where we're just wasting our time, spinning our wheels? Well, can I ask you this? Do you think? Because like both of us, it's part of our jobs where, like, you create things outside movies, you've won an Oscar,

I create things outside of this job. But a lot of what pays our bills are being critics. Do you ever feel the push and pull as a black critic to be like, there's what I believe about this thing, but there's also the responsibility

of like, you know how hard it is to make black art in a way that I don't think maybe... Oh, I don't like criticizing black art. I don't. I don't even like... I like... analyzing it, but I don't like criticizing it.

I don't. I don't feel, except for rap. And the reason why is because for rap, rap is like we're dominant in the genre, at least as artists. So me saying that your bars is whack ain't going to stop somebody else from getting

signed. You know what I'm saying? But, you know, when you go to a black movie, especially one that was pretty Ballyhooed, and it doesn't deliver, or you feel less connected to it. Sometimes, then people throw all kinds of things around you. It's like, you go to a movie

and like it's all you couldn't relate. So now I'm less black because I didn't like this shit. So you know what I'm saying? And so I don't like to be critical of black art because it doesn't seem like there's a safe space to do it. I mean, I think part of the push and pull of my own career is that like I want to do,

I want to critique black art because I think criticism in general, if we hold things to a higher standard, than what we get generation after generation will just be better. I think what Donald Glover has run into is like sometimes Donald Glover will say this shit out loud and you'll be like, you're being an asshole.

Shut the fuck up, sit down. Which I'm just like, I've been called the asshole. A lot of times I am the asshole in the room because I'm just like, maybe it's not the time right now to like be honest. Where I don't know if other people who because there's so little black art created on a mass scale for a mass audience for a variety of reasons, you do have to always make that calculation.

You have to make that calculus of, do I be the asshole right now and say, this didn't live up to my standards of art? Or do I just support this because we might only get three or four of these things a year? Yeah, stuff. I just think we have to be a little braver. You don't think so? I think as a community, we need to be braver. I get why people don't want to be.

Like, I think if we want more challenging black art, and that's not to say that challenging black art isn't being made. It's being made every day. But I'm saying if we don't want more challenging black art being made at the highest level at these companies, like you have to ask for it, you have to demand for it, or you have to have to have, what honestly the symbol of the blowfish is

you have to eat the poison blowfish like sometimes that shit will be prepared wrong and you might like you might got to take it on the chin but a lot of times if we're more adventurous if you eat that it widened your it widens your palate you know what I mean instead of always running to Popeyes yeah that's true

it's true and you know if you run to Popeyes all the time you're not going to experience some of the most beautiful things about life You know, it's, I can, I see it both ways. I like Popeyes. Who don't like Popeyes? I mean, I'll be honest with you.

Popeyes gave me diarrhea once. I'm like, fuck this point. But it was a Popeyes in Philly, so I don't know. You went to a Popeyes in Philly and you got diarrhea? Jesus Christ, you light-skinned niggas. Ah! You light-skinned niggers, you can't even handle the motherfucking Pop-I's, you and Drake.

So see, no, no, you know what, this is the problem. I'm trying to go vegan. I'm trying to go vegan. And everybody's looking down on me. Like, me and Cree Summers are trying to live an elevated life. Man, shout out to Cree Summer. Shout out to the vegan. Shout out to all of that stuff like that.

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It matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay. Can we get into some serious questions? Let's rank the Atlanta seasons. Ooh. Okay. So I would go one. One overall.

Number one is the best. Number one is the best. I will go one, four, two, three. This is wild. I would go season two, number one overall. I'm going to go last season, number two, season one, season one, number three, at season three last. So I go one, four, two, three. You really rate season two that low.

I love season two, but I think this season was really, really, really, really good. Oh, this season was... This season was really good, man. Season two... I'll be honest with you. Season two and season four are kind of a tie. They're kind of a tie. They're kind of a tie.

I got season one as being the best season. But season two and season four were kind of a tie. Really, season one, season two, and season four, they're really kind of in a tie. Don't know. Don't know. Stick to your rankings. I'm sticking to my ranking. So season one, season two, but I got, they're so close.

They're all so great. And I like season three. But it's definitely. And it's just definitely less than the other. So that would be my ranking. Kerm, what's your ranking? Yeah, Kerm, what's your ranking? I would go one, two, four, three.

One, two, four, three. Okay. Damn, y'all really don't like season two like that. Teddy Perkins. Teddy Perkins is probably the best episode they've ever done. Come on. Come on. That episode, when I first watched it, that shit was scary.

I was like, I had to rewatch it and, like, getting understanding, I guess. But at first, I wasn't, I wasn't feeling it at first. I won't even hold you. I'm not the biggest fucking Teddy Perkins fan. Teddy Perkins would be creeping the nigga out. Like, like, like. This is why I know y'all won't eat the fucking blowfish. Wait, alligator man?

Y'all ain't fucking with alligator man. No, that episode's hard. That's really, that's one of my favorite was. Alligator man is hard. But Teddy Perkins used to. Kind of freaking a nigga out, man. Teddy Perkins is freaking a freaking nigga out. I'm not going to lie, bro.

I like Teddy Perkins. Teddy Perkins was the shit, but it's other episodes that I fuck with more than Teddy Perkins. I'll be honest. How much you eat sushi, man? Huh? I eat it all the time. I eat the rolls, though. I don't do sashimi.

Dog! I don't eat the rolls, though. I eat the rolls. I don't do this. Sishimi, man. I like it. I've tasted before. It's cool, but.

It's not, look, not everything is for everybody. I do rolls, man. I sit down. I go to the finance a restaurant. It's the problem. You can't expand your, your fucking palate. I've tried it. I didn't like it.

You know, I, look, I tried it. I'm a nigger, okay? So, like, I tried it. Like, I tried it. You know what I mean? That's all a nigga could ask for. God damn it. I tried the shit.

All right. So let me ask you this then. This is actually the, real curse question, the one we should probably end on. Hey, before we end, I got to talk about all the hilarious moments in this episode. I just got to talk about it. Oh, go, go. Okay, so these are the most hilarious moments in the episode to me.

Number one, the old McEarn had a farm. Hosterical. It's hysterical. Pretty good. I ran it back, okay. The, like, what do you woke up and he was? 30 minutes ago and he goes, what?

He goes, what? He was 30 minutes. I don't know why that was so funny to me. Oh, no, Cree Summers asking Dick, Judge Judy, like, what is? And he's just like, you know, anything. Anybody. Right.

It's the hilarious. And then, like, we forgot all about Darius's ride. When she took the gun out of the cops, holster. And then he's like, what? And then all of a sudden, he's got the gun in his hand.

He's like, what? I'm like, yo, where's this going? I don't know why it's always funny, but I will say it is always funny in a comedy when somebody hits a pedestrian on a bicycle. Yeah. I was dial out. I was just like, this is the funniest shit ever. Honestly, the entire speech by DeMarcus at the end.

The Marcus killed it. Yo, he said, what did he say? Every Japanese sushi restaurant worth it soy sauce does it that way. No one seemed to notice, but if a brother from Alabama does it the same way, suddenly the fish is dirty. Right. It was Alabama, and then after that it was a nigger from Florida. What do you say?

They live in Jersey. They did Jersey. Jersey. It's like, and none of them even married black. And by the way, and people from Louisiana, especially of a certain age, we never fucked with those

Popeyes ads with the Black lady. That lady don't run Popeyes. That lady ain't got nothing. It's not her family. I'll be like, yo, that's racist. That lady don't run Popeyes. The fucking Copeland family.

You know, the Black Lady that runs. I'm like, that lady don't run Popeyes. The Copeland family. was running Popeyes. They don't run it now because Al had to file for bankruptcy, but they still own the recipe.

It's their recipe. And that shit didn't come from no fucking 1935. That shit started in 1972. Popeye started after Jay-Z was born. Ain't no five generations

of herbs and spices, nigger. It started in the 70s. Okay? And it's just good chicken. Got this black woman up here after like they invented the Popeye's chicken

during slavery. You know what I'm? saying, they didn't. And so all of that really resonated, but that shit's still slamming, though. So, I have to ask you, this is called the Prestige TV podcast. Sure. This is the series finale of

Atlanta. First question, does Atlanta belong in the prestige pantheon now? Absolutely. Then let's do it. This is what we got to do. What would you say the A rank would be a prestige? Where the A rank to me is like that's the Sopranos.

Sopranos. Madman. Wire. Yeah. Madman, I guess so. What? Madman? Is it a tier? It's fine. Yeah.

It's Madman. But I would say Sopranos Wire, Breaking Bad. I'd pick Mad Men over Breaking Bad easily. You're nuts. Madman is a far better show than Breaking Bad. And I like Breaking Bad. How about this? How about this?

Let's break this out. Kerm, I know that we have video. Charles says madman is a better show than Breaking Bad. Is Mad Men better than Breaking Bad? I like Breaking Bad. But if we're talking about, like if we're talking about the way the show, the writing of the show,

the actual writing, the acting, the performances, come on. I don't know, dog. Wait for real? You bugging.

Breaking Bad is much better than Mad Men. Mad Men good show. Breaking Bad much better than Mad Men. Much better. Name me the suitcase. Like, bro. Name me what, nigga? The suitcase.

Name me a better episode of the suitcase. Oh, wait? From Breaking Bad? Yes! Yes! Yes! Ozzymandias? No.

Oh, okay. No. All right. No, what, like, I really want to know. What's your case? What's my case for Breaking Bad being better than Madman? My eyes and ears are Breaking Bad to me. To be, to me, it's soprano's wire Breaking Bad.

And then, I mean, there are other great shows. But that's, that defines. I like Breaking Bad, but Mad Men is one of the best written pieces of art, not just TV. One of the best written pieces of art of all time with all time performances. Like, dog. All right, bro. Hey, that's your shit I'm not fucking with it

I'm not I'm not tripping I would like to Kerm I know that videos I would like to break this out and see what the people think I'm just asking No the people are gonna be on your side We don't even need to break it out

I get it No no no no The popular choice is breaking bad I know like for the real heads For the real fucking heads The real TV heads out there It's Mad Ben The real TV heads

Do you know how many shows I will put above Madman by the way List them list them Six feet under. Keep going. Obviously, Game of Thrones. We're talking prestige all time.

I'm talking about prestige over Mad Men, yeah. With that last season, you putting Game of Thrones over fucking Madman. Mad Men fell off too, Doc. I'm putting Game of Thrones over Madman. I sure am. I'm putting Game of Thrones over Madman. And list them, keep going. Give me another three.

Give me another three shows that are better than me. that then because you're fucking wilding Game of Thrones isn't even on the top tier prestige it's probably on like it's definitely on the B tier no it's on the it's on the B tier not but you can't have last season fall off that bad come on man we're talking about the A tier

you played Game of Thrones on the same tier as Sopranos. I put the Game of Thrones like look there's there even levels of the A tier right let me see what else? There's the A tier there's the B tier don't do that. What else would I put before Madman Altarash. No, I'm just joking.

Succession is A tier. Succession is A tier. Better than Madman. Succession is A tier. Succession is a better than madman. It's tied. It's actually tied. It's tied.

Succession is tied. I'll be honest with you. I'm on my bullshit right now. Succession is better than breaking bad. I'll be like... I can see how you can say that. It's not true. But I can see...

I can see how you can say that. I can see how people can say that is not true. Let me ask you this. Is Andor better than Madman? It's too soon. It's too soon. It's too soon. All right.

So, like, let's get back to, we talked about it now. Atlanta, what tier is it on? B tier. The first tier. First tier. The first tier. I agree. It's on a tier.

Now, if we had to rank it, like, we're going to have different rankings, but I think we are in agreement that, like, Sopranos wire easily one and A. I'm not going to have an argument which is better. Like, it's just like it's your flavor. It changes for me all the time. And Breaking Bad is right there with those two shows. No, we stop, bro. Okay.

No, it's not. It's breaking bad is in the eight there, but it's not. It's not number three. Okay. Where are you putting Atlanta? I put Atlanta ahead of Madman. I put Atlanta, I put Atlanta on the same level of succession.

All right. I put Atlanta on the same. same level as succession above breaking bad. It's right. If mine is like the Sopranos, wire, madmen, Atlanta is like a smidge under. Smitz. Like Atlanta's succession are like the next. If we're going tiers of A, they're on the next tier. It's in that. It's in that conversation. I will also say a lot of this will have to do with like what time holds for Atlanta because I'm like so much of Atlanta, I think it will age like fine wine, but do you think it's going to, is there going to be some part of it is like you just had to be there in terms of like,

not to me. Not to you. No, I think it, I think it'll be able to stand the test of time. I think with all shows, there's a degree of that. But I think with Atlanta, it'll be able to stand the test of time. I look at the show and what the show was able to do in the cross-section and the community the show was able to build. I think it'll stand the test of time.

You know what I mean? By the way, for all you better call saw people out there, I never saw it. So I've never seen better call Saul either. I've never saw it. And for everybody out there, I like Breaking Bad. Like, I'm not a hater. Like, Breaking Bad is one of my favorites about time. Oh, motherfucker.

Don't come back to the, don't, don't call fish now. No, you disrespecting Madman. Don't do that. Bro. Don't do that shit. I'm not going to lie, bro. Mad Men, by the time I got to Mad Men, I needed some different shit because the Sopranos, was racist enough.

I'll just be real with you. Like, you madman. Madman, we was the elevator niggers, bro. And I had come off to Sopranos. I gave, we give mafia shit a pass for being racist. Because in every mafia

movie, it's some racist shit happening. And what's the episode with the racist after? I was like, oh, God. With the racist? Who? Supranos is mad racist. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

Like that, the fucking, I mean, I'm not going to lie. I do chuckle at the one, uh, Beto's boyfriend. The Meadows, hold on. Forward, Lee. And this is the problem with us sometimes, bro. It's because we laugh at shit like that. Like, like, the Meadows boyfriend situation where Tony came down to he was being racist to him, it's funny.

And we shouldn't be laughing. But that guy looked, that guy was so weak. So they literally, he, they literally, literally that they literally got a dude to play that part that look like the inside of a milk dad, right? And he was, he was, like, a dude was so weak. And Tony, Tony was kidding. You understand what I'm talking of? And it was, like, so funny.

And Meadow was so mad. And then that dude turned out to be kind of an asshole. But then it was almost weird because I was happy at the time that he was having sex with Meadow because I was like, yeah, yeah. Stick it to Yeah, Tony. How about that? The black man. And then he turned out to be a dick,

but it was funny. I will, Tony opening the cover as he is, the Uncle Benz Rice, bro. Come on, man. I laugh every single time. That she's hilarious. That's right.

That's what I'm what we're. Niggas can never come up because we be laughing at shit. I don't think they should have been. That's what's wrong with us, bro. Charles, take us out. All right. Yo, before I take us out, I want to say, like,

a special thank you to you there. This is honestly, like, we do Midnight Boys. We have fucking fun over there. I love doing it. It's the highlight of my week, but, you know, potting with you about Atlanta.

You know, it's been something special. You feel me? Like, we got to get into our bag. We got to talk about one of the greatest shows of all time. So, you know,

I'm going to miss Atlanta. I'm going to miss talking about Atlanta with you. I want to send a special shout out to Kerm for always wrangling us. Because we don't be answer text. He's like, yo, we got to record. Yeah.

So thank you to Kerr. Thank y'all. Thank you guys for listening for supporting this shit. Van and I do Midnight Boys every single week. Piboo! So you can catch us there. We're going to be back. There's going to be another fucking hot show soon.

But thank you for listening. Thank you to Kerm for producing. Thank you for Van for, you know, doing old man Van shit. And we're going to see y'all very, very soon. We out.