Atlanta: Season 1/ Episode 10 "The Jacket" [Season Finale] – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Overview

The first season ends without much in the way of grand gestures or storyline and in many ways that is what seems appropriate.

Review (with Spoilers)

It is kind of weird for a season finale to not end on a cliffhanger, wrap up major stories, or be anything but just another episode. Admittedly, in the past that would kind of upset me but what show really makes good cliffhangers anymore? Ones which excite you more than make you rage on an unanswered question that comes within the last 2 minutes? So, with that, I’m glad Atlanta didn’t pull something out of the bag and kept things rather chill in the last episode. With that said, let’s talk about “The Jacket.”

Main Plot (with Commentary)

Earn

Another day, another party, and it is all thanks to being Paper Boi’s manager. But, along the way to getting black out wasted, Earn loses his jacket. Now, while we have seen Earn with other girls, it is hard to not imagine what was possibly in the jacket was a ring. I mean, maybe I’m a romantic but that is what it seemed like to me.

Though with Alfred finally giving Earn money this episode, and we not having seen him at his airport job since, maybe episode 1, in the long run, I must admit that idea was kind of stupid. Yet, who knows, Earn could have found a ring and wanted to maybe settle down with Van. Though, as we know, while the two are off and on again, as well as seeing other people, at the end of the day what keeps them close is their daughter. Someone who loves her daddy dearly and honestly through how good of a dad he is I think that is what keeps Van around.

For let’s face it, we hardly know a damn thing. When it comes to why Earn dropped out of college, how he met Van, and a slew of other details, they simply don’t exist. Which perhaps is the only frustrating thing about this season finale. It continues to ignore so many questions which have been left to the wayside and is so nonchalant about it.

Yet, at the very least, we learn what’s in the jacket: A key. A key not to his own apartment, but a storage locker. A storage locker filled with stuff which you want to assume is his, but then comes the question of when did he buy all this and has it always been there? But most of all, you have to wonder why did he turn down spending the night with Van to be in the locker? Well, one can only assume after hitting rock bottom and living up under Van and going from couch to random girl’s bed, even a storage locker you pay for can feel like some semblance of home.

Criticism

No Answers or Moving Forward

Is it wrong to have a season finale which ends things on a whisper? No. But there seems to be so much not really dove into which was worth at least dropping a mention of. I won’t rehash but it is frustrating that a lot of things which were worth developing or exploring kind of got pushed to aside to have eccentric characters get their shine on while we barely got to know the lead characters. Yeah, we got to see them in comedic situations, learn what they may be insecure about or what they are like in front of adversity, but it does feel like more could have been delivered.

Though perhaps I’m holding Atlanta to a standard which doesn’t fit what Glover and his team were really aiming for.