Papa Parsons Has Thoughts on Atlanta

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This here post is a little tardy but Pops couldn’t hold in his opinion about one of our often discussed and favorite shows: Atlanta.

Episode 4 of season 2 “Helen” had me in chills. I was super triggered from a mix of personal connection to Van's feelings towards her relationship with Earn and because the writing on this show is simply amazing.

Earn and Van

Per usual, after the episode aired, I got a fun text message from my Dad basically asking me what (in the hell) is Donald Glover and Team trying to get across? What message? lol 

If you know my Pops, you know that my Mom, sisters and me call him "Q&A" because Mr. Parsons will always have the questions and you better have the answers! 

One of my favorite things in the world is discussing art of all kinds with my Pops, so after an hour long conversation dissecting the episode, I asked him to write down his thoughts so I can share them on my blog. He agreed. So ladies and gentleman, here are my Dad's thoughts on Season 2, Episode 4 of Atlanta...with some of my thoughts peppered in of course~SPOILERS...

 Papa Parsons

When I watched the first episode of Atlanta I thought, wow, what in the hell is this? Another BS show! I was totally thinking why they allow this crap on TV? 

I though it was slow moving and irrelevant. I wanted more substance and entertainment for my valuable TV time.
So I called my daughter (dat's me 💁) to get her opinion of the show. Why did I do that? She totally disagreed with me on every point I made about the show! Of course I did! I had to put Pops on game so he could recognize that genius that is Donald Glover. He wasn't hearing me at first though! lol...I told him he was gettin' old!

I can understand that being the Baby Boomer I am. Maybe I’m a bit out of touch with the culture of the 20-40 year old Black crowd of today. (Though I’ll never admit that)

After much debate with my daughter (dat's me again) she finally reached her level of frustration with me and said “Dad, just give it a chance.” So I did!

Second episode, I feel the same.
Third episode, getting better.
Fourth episode, intrigued.
Fifth episode, Hooked!

Instead of looking for something to smack me in the face as far as entertainment I began to see how Donald Glover was bringing us into his realm of storytelling. Gotta pause here & just give Dad props for adjusting his perspective a bit & allowing himself to understand that there is more than one way to tell a story and be entertained. 

I saw how he was dealing with the issues of his generation and to provoke thought, good or bad, about the characters, who are even more complex than he can portray in a 25 min episode. One things for sure! He’s not candy coating anything!
I also think his mixing in humor with serious subject matter is genius! Very smart writing!! I knew Pops would come around! 

I could go on and on about the characters but I’ll just talk about Earn. Strap in, he's about to go in! lol

First of all, why would a very intelligent guy like Earn turn down an Ivy League education? That’s like turning down a pot of gold for my generation. He was in! Those opportunities were far and few when I grew up. Now I know college is not for everyone and there are many more choices for this generation to excel in this society. So I get that! What I don’t get is Earn had no idea what he wanted to do with his life when he made that decision! He felt it was ok to come back home and relish in the environment he knows he needs to get away from. 

Not to mention he’s has a baby daughter to take care of. That level of irresponsibility is what I was hoping this generation would not indulge in. But, it shows just how selfish some of our brothers are! Bad decisions seem to plague him and he’s not really seeing the downfall because he can’t face the reality that something worth having is something worth working for! I’m sure if getting a Princeton education was easy he would have stayed! He wants the easy way out on everything he does! He doesn’t want to face the challenge of rubbing against the dichotomy of failure and exceptionalism! 

Like becoming Paper Boys manager because he thinks it will turn a quick buck! Even though it’s becoming apparent that Paper Boy is beginning to see where he could be if managed properly! I think he’s going to drop Earn soon if things don’t get rocking. But Paper Boy is like Earn! He wants the process to stardom to be easy.

Like Earns relationship with Van! The Word is about to come right about....NOW!

Non committal, convenient and satisfying until he’s forced into a conversation to make a decision to express his feelings and intentions! 
You could see the struggle he was having responding to Van’s inquiries about what he wants! 
All these things I see Earn going through, in my opinion, are that of a stubborn adolescent! *bloop 

Earn is stuck in a state of his maleness! *bloop 

He has yet to reach manhood! *TRIPLE bloop! 

That’s unfortunate because it’s hard to have sympathy for him when he goes about making decisions the way he does!

His maleness allowed him to:
Drop out of an Ivy League college with no plan for his future!
Live out of a storage locker instead of getting a job and a place to live!
Creating a plan for Paper Boy’s success instead of winging it!
Destroying his relationship with Van and properly taking care of his daughter!
But most importantly, Earn is just ok to settle for the way things are!
Earn is very intelligent! But he isn’t using his intelligence to better himself! It’s like he thinks he has all the time in the world to get his act together! All the while, time is passing him by! I think many of our young brothers today are operating in this mode. It may not be apparent as to how this will affect the Black community as a whole but I believe it will become apparent in the near future! Negatively, I’m afraid! 
The push for excellence in our Black male population was a high priority in generations past! The foundation was set to make achievement a realistic and imperative goal! 
Now it seems that the goal is get rich quick or die! Not even die trying. Just die!

Well alrighty then! Pops said a mouthful and to be clear, he only grazed the surface of the conversation he had with me! The cool thing about my Pops is that I have always been able to talk to him freely and openly about things going on in my life, and yes, that includes my dating life as well. This particular episode of Atlanta had me HELLA triggered! Particularly the conversation where Van and Earn break up. It was damn near IDENTICAL to one I've had. I completely agree with my Father in regards to this disconnect with men in my generation and how they approach life as a whole...but especially their relationships with women. I know that the men in my generation want and strive for excellence, but I think the character of Earn really does represent this sector of them that have the potential to do anything but reject the traditional plan...which I'm totally all for.

However, the struggle is in finding the path they're going to forge. So while they're wading in this pool of ambiguity, things become collateral damage. Those things often are the women that have been hoodwinked into loving them. 

Update: Pops' thoughts on Episode 5 of Season 2: Barbershop were simple:

"That shit was hilarious!"

Me and the Notorious Papa P