Atlanta Season Two: Robbin' Season benefits, as many second seasons do, from being able to expand the show outward in weirder directions after the first season established the basic dynamics of the show. Atlanta focuses on Earn, played by series creator Donald Glover, a college dropout who becomes the manager for his rapper cousin Alfred, known as Paper Boi. Although Glover was already a star coming off of Community and his rap career as Childish Gambino, Atlanta quickly made big stars of Brian Tyree Henry, who plays Paper Boi, as well as LaKeith Stanfield, who plays his sidekick Darius, and Zazie Beetz, who plays Earn's girlfriend, Vanessa.
But the series has always been about more than just Earn and Paper Boi. It's about race, and class, and policing, and identity; all sorts of big stuff like that, and it handles its topics intelligently and often hilariously. It's about the city of Atlanta, sure, but really it's about America.
In the second season's most talked-about episode, "Teddy Perkins," Donald Glover plays the titular Teddy under truly creepy whiteface makeup, resembling late-period Michael Jackson. As Darius ventures into Teddy's mansion in an attempt to pick up a piano with rainbow-colored keys, the show departs almost entirely from comedy and basically becomes an episode-length horror movie.
Atlanta is the only show on this list that's still ongoing, although it's taken a very long gap between seasons. While there will never be a better season than the ones we've seen of wrapped shows like The Sopranos or The Wire, Atlanta may yet have new heights to reach in the future. It might even beat season two's 97% Metacritic rating.
