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‘Atlanta’ recap, episode 4: Haters and traders

Darius and Earn’s bromance — plus Zan is a terrible person with no soul

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    Atlanta E01S04
    “The Streisand Effect” – Donald Glover as Earnest Marks, Keith Standfield as Darius. Guy D'Alema/FX
    By @KofieYeboah

    Everyone knows a Zan in some way, shape or form. There’s always that person who acts like you’re supercool with them — in person. But when you’re not there, they’re talking that junk.

    Let’s stop and think about that person in each of our lives right now. I didn’t tell you to say their name — it’s not my business.

    We now see that even though Paper Boi still ain’t got his paper yet, he is poppin’ and you know how the song goes. “If you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t poppin’.”

     

     

    The weird part is that Zan and Paper Boi have way more in common than Paper Boi would like to admit:

    1. Both are not rich.
    2. Both are not where they want to be in their respective fields.
    3. Both have side hustles.

    What separates the two is that Zan is a terrible person with no soul. Letting a kid get robbed and filming it? You could see on Paper Boi’s face that he has some compassion in that soul of his. As Paper Boi needs to realize, some people are just going to get their shtick off of other people’s shticks. It’s like those YouTube reaction videos that are all over the “Suggested Videos to Watch” section. Paper Boi has to realize the more famous he gets, the more people are going to try to bring him down.

    This episode also gives us a look into the developing friendship between Earn and Darius.

    Unlike the relationship between Paper Boi and Earn, the relationship between Earn and Darius isn’t as strong because they aren’t family and haven’t known each other for a long time.

    This period of broke bonding showcases a couple of things:

    Darius has a knack for the random

    Darius knew how to make the most money in that shop. The sword was the key. How did he know the sword was going to make Earn more money?

    He knows the people who would be interested in these kinds of things. We don’t know much about Darius’ background, but what we do know is that he’s well-connected in these trading streets.

    Darius doesn’t think things through

    While his master plan had good intentions, Darius did not know that Earn needed the money right away.

    After all, buddy did go broke on his date last episode. Darius isn’t the brightest bulb in the crew, but he does have flashes of brilliance in the show and always acts with good intentions. No wonder Paper Boi keeps him around.

    Darius puts others first

    Here’s what makes us love Darius. Instead of him going “not my problem” when he figured out the plan failed, he gave Earn his own phone. His phone. How many people do you know who would give you their phone to sell?

    That’s a real friend. It’s really good to see those two bonding and strengthening their friendship because it seems like those three guys are going to be around each other a lot.

    It’s going to be interesting to see how Earn’s financial situation progresses and how Paper Boi deals with his haters. Because if Paper Boi is this angry about one small dude, he ain’t seen nothing yet.

    Speaking of which, we’re going to get a lot more Atlanta adventures in the long run as a second season has already been approved.

    It’s lit.

    Kofie Yeboah asks for Sweet Tea at every restaurant and recites approximately 2.5 Spongebob lines per hour.

    This Story Tagged: Atlanta Television Recap Donald Glover