Ty Watches the Best Episode of "Atlanta"
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Last Thursday was probably the best episode of “Atlanta” that I have ever seen.
The episode was titled “Teddy Perkins”, and from start to finish it was, hands down, perfect. The episode started off with Darius(Lakeith Standfield, who better get a god damn Emmy for this performance), getting some stuff for a U Haul, including a confederate hats that reads, Southern Made. He buys a Sharpie and marks it up to read, U Mad. Immediately, I was intrigued. He then drives to a mansion where he is going to pick up a piano with rainbow keys.
Here is where we meet Teddy Perkins. Teddy sounds like Michael Jackson, and his skin looks bleached just like his was too. He is creepy from the start. It wasn’t just the voice either. He looked over Darius very creepily. He moved oddly. He spoke very differently from anyone I have ever heard. He eats weird shit like hard boiled ostrich eggs. That scene, where he cracks the egg and offers some to a gagging Darius was wonderfully absurd and hilarious. From the start, things just seem off. Teddy is pretty much refusing to give up the piano, almost forcing Darius to stick around. At one point Teddy calls what we think is a butler to get some water, but no one shows up. When Darius presses him about it, he says he doesn’t have a butler, but that he records everything in his home. He then plays the tape back for Darius to hear. Darius retreats outside to call his buddies and tell them about this super awkward situation. They all make fun of him and tell him that Teddy is for sure going to murder him. Darius describes Teddy’s complexion by telling them to google Sammy Sosa, and their responses are priceless. It was a much needed laugh in this very scary/serious episode. After Darius hangs up his phone, we see Teddy banging on a window, as if he has been watching him the whole time, and gestures for him to come in to get the piano. Darius meets Teddy upstairs and they start to make the deal for the piano. Darius says something that upsets Teddy, and he explodes on him. He yells at Darius very loudly, and it was creepy as hell. Darius finally gets the piano on the elevator and pushes the button for the first floor. He is taken down to the basement level where we see someone wrapped in full body bandages, and they are wheel chair bound. He writes on a chalkboard that Darius must kill Teddy. He lets him know if he doesn’t, Teddy will kill them both. Darius is flustered by this news, and this mysterious person. When he finally gets upstairs and out the door, we see Teddy’s car parked right behind the U Haul. Darius goes in to ask Teddy to move the car and ends up in a weird room where we see a young piano player playing a beautifully eerie song, all the while being whipped in the hands by his father. Teddy then says something and Darius is startled. He has also grabbed a fireplace poker because he is certain that this dude is dangerous. Teddy then stands up, revealing a shot gun. He fully intends on killing Darius and making it look like a home invasion. Teddy leads Darius to the front room and handcuffs him to a chair. Then, the elevator opens up revealing the bandaged person, and that person has a gun and shoots Teddy. He then turns the gun on himself and Darius is left there to watch all this unfold. It clearly shakes him. The episode ends with the 2 bodies and the piano being wheeled out the door.
This was a remarkable episode of a phenomenal show. I’m still shook myself from what I saw. What Glover did, he played Teddy, was amazing. He is unfairly talented. To come up with a story like this and a character like that was incredible. I highly recommend this episode to everyone. It is a masterpiece. Honestly I like it more than “Finding Frances”, and I loved that. “Teddy Perkins” is one of the, if not the, best episodes of TB ever made. Oh, there is no commercial break either. It went 34 minutes straight. I’m still blown away by the genius that this episode was. What a great, all time episode of a great, all time TV show. Go watch it right now. Seriously.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He will never, ever, go to a house that has a piano with rainbow keys. That is down right disturbing.
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