Atlanta Season 2, Episode 3 Recap: “It’s Michael Vick”

Atlanta FX

More money, same problems. In this week’s episode of Atlanta, Earn and Van are at the forefront. We’re given the true extent of just how incompetent Earn is with money, while watching Van continue to be one of the most enigmatic characters on-screen. Furthermore, we begin to see a shift in Paper Boi’s career – one that possibly no longer includes Earn.

“Money Bag Shawty” begins with white tears that feel exceptionally authentic. Instead of a robbery, we’re shown a white conservative mother emotionally reciting Paper Boi’s lyrics via Instagram stories (her flow could definitely use some work), while becoming particularly hysterical at the mention of Colin Kaepernick. With satisfying irony, these viral white tears allowed Paper Boi to reach new heights as an artist.

Paying homage to the date night in episode three of last season, Earn wishes to treat Van to a lavish night out after receiving a check. We follow Earn’s misadventures as he repeatedly experiences major L’s throughout the not-so-fancy date night between him and Van. From being unable to use his seemingly cursed $100 bill at a movie theater due to overt discrimination, the hookah bar deeming it as fake, and the strip club robbing him with outrageous fees and manipulation, these all served as signs that Earn and Van should have just Netflix and chilled. And, you know, saved that money for the home he doesn’t have. Yet, Van admirably sticks by Earn’s side, despite the constant setbacks. Well, that is until a drunken Earn thinks it’s a wise idea to race Michael Vick for money (newsflash: he doesn’t win). In Van’s own words, spoken with true irritation and arms crossed deliberately, “It’s Michael Vick.” As a woman who has been there, I identified with all of the multifaceted emotions that Van felt concerning her on-and-off relationship with Earn.

Meanwhile, Paper Boi is testing the waters by attempting to collaborate with commercial rapper Clark County. As Paper Boi offers the young artist a blunt and Hennessy, he refuses, stating that he neither drinks or smokes. That’s all fine and dandy, until he proceeds to spit a contradictory freestyle about the very activities that he doesn’t personally partake in. We realize that Clark County is wearing a false persona, which is deeply realistic within the industry, specifically concerning mainstream artists.

In hilariously uncomfortable moments, we also get a sense of Clark County’s passive aggressive nature as he threatens his unfortunate engineer every time the system crashes (which, to most, isn’t a huge deal), uncovering a sinister side of the rapper. As Clark County references Paper Boi to his manager Luke, there’s a strong sense of foreshadowing here, as seen through Paper Boi’s curious expression. Let’s be brutally honest: family or not, Earn is a poor manager (pun fully intended). Earn handling Paper Boi’s affairs, when he can hardly care for himself, no longer seems viable. In order for Paper Boi to level up, tough conversations will have to occur. Let’s just hope that Paper Boi doesn’t sell out once he potentially takes this new direction that will bring in far more opportunities.

This week, there were no robberies (unless we count Onyx strip club charging a 20% fee to convert cash), and there were no lessons learned. But contemplation is brewing, both with Paper Boi and possibly Van, concerning their relationships with Earn. With Van being such a strong-willed character, she deserves more screen time that shows her more as a woman, independent of Earn. Her mysteriousness reels you in, so much so that I personally wouldn’t mind a spinoff dedicated to Van. Overall, the future isn’t looking too bright for our protagonist, all due to his own clumsy mistakes that he doesn’t learn from. With more than half of Robbin’ Season left, however, we’re still rooting for Earn to finally get his shit together.