The following article contains spoilers forAtlanta.
In its latest installment,Atlantacontinues chronicling Paper Boi’s European tour in the show’s unique fashion, showing how life on the road is changing its main cast but also keeping up with the tradition of bringing some of the most colorful characters one can come across in television.
Unlike last week’s bolddepiction of the United States in a post-reparations era, this time around thecomedysets the stage in Budapest, Hungary, where the gang navigates Al’s newfound pre-show rituals and obligations, as well as a very familiar problem with extraordinary characters spicing up its development to make Paper Boi’s missing phone story all the more introspective. Of course,Atlantabringing back Socks from the “Old Man and the Tree” episode is a welcome addition, especially considering Zazie Beetz remains MIA.
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The premise is simple, Al is about to go on stage for a Budapest show where he appears to be the main event, instead of opening up for Clark County, and it sure shows because Paper Boi is getting all the attention and pampering he could want. Naturally, Earn is partly responsible for this, as moments leading up to the concert have him constantly busy attending to his cousin’s needs, thus cementing the idea that he really wants to get better at the job he was so fearful of losing before they left Atlanta.
With so many responsibilities on his hands, it becomes obvious that Al and Earn haven’t really had time to do a lot of catching up, an element further highlighted by the rap star telling his manager he’s been swamped as of lately. While Earn has indeed been quite work-focused, there’s also a clear correlation between this and the growing distance between him and Van, who the audience later finds out has been mostly ignoring his texts, so take note of an upcoming crucial chat between the two.
Right around this time comes the scene to which the episode owes its title, “Cancer Attack”, as Paper Boi’s last appointment before jumping on stage is a meet and greet with a young kid suffering from cancer. Up until that moment, one might be forgiven for thinking the episode will be all about Darius’ plans to explore the building, blueprint in hand, and maybe find aTeddy Perkins-type of character in anotherAtlantamasterpiece, but that’s definitely not the case.
See, once the show’s over, Al can’t seem to find his iPhone and it’s not like they can use a finder app or simply restore his info on a new one because of Darius’ reservations against cloud storage of any kind. What ensues is aSeinfeld-like hunt for Al’s phone that’s adorned by the extra antics of the eccentric Socks, now officially part of Paper Boi’s entourage.
The initial suspect is the kid with cancer, however, Make-A-Wish children are just as innocent inAtlantaas they are in real life and the result is simply Earn an embarrassingly hilarious pat down on a boy that’s being rushed out of the premises on an ambulance. Next in line is the suspicious hype man viewers got a glimpse of before Al went on stage, who was revealed to be the nephew of one of the building’s attendants.
The young (or not so young) Wiley is played by Samuel Blenkin, who does an impressive job portraying a sort of antagonist to the crew’s growing desperation. Wiley appears shy at first but his speech and thoughts seem well beyond someone his age, as he masterfully carries the conversation/interrogation wherever he wants.
Wiley issimilar toThe Batman’sRiddlerat times, as his elusive answers fend off any questions Earn throws his way, but above all things, he’s a huge Paper Boi fan who really did his homework on hisfavorite American rapper. Like any good thriller villain, Wiley likes to draw parallels between himself and his supposed victim. He and Al share a birth date, and things get a little bit eerie when he refers to stories nobody but Al knew of.
Fans have theorized these kinds ofAtlantaepisodes arenothing but a dream, in this case, Al’s, and reality or not, Paper Boi’s conversation with this young man contains some of the show’s most sincere and impactful dialogue, including the rapper’s own fears of writer’s block, career uncertainty and many of his insecurities. Wiley is so much more than he appears to be, and that includes his songwriting skills, with the pair sharing a beautiful moment that basically calls off the hunt for the phone.
Anyone looking for villains won’t find one in Wiley, but rather in the manipulative Socks, whosedesire to wreak racial havoc was already knownyet his penchant for chaos has now escalated up to stealing Al’s phone. Unlike his hairline, his conversion to villainy is subtle, represented by his nearuttering of the N-wordand his evident anger issues.
For any other show, Wiley’s inclusion alone would make this episode legendary, but forAtlanta, it merely delivers on the series’ accustomed level of quality and humor, as well as the promise of seeing Socks get what’s coming his way for inciting so much chaos.
