Most shows and films nowadays can survive with just one appreciable aspect, whether it be the soundtrack in Zach Braff’s directorial debut in “Garden State”, the setting in Aziz Ansari’s “Master of None”, or the dialogue in David Fincher’s “The Social Network”. By the same token, Donald Glover’s show “Atlanta” on FX was able to make it through its first season purely by Glover’s spotless reputation in the film industry, comedy scene, and music business. Initially, many went into season one with the notion that the show would be somewhat of a witty-comedy with occasional political commentary, but what Glover actually released was entirely unexpected. The first season tackled various philosophical concepts (Fate vs. Free Will, what makes up one’s identity) with traces of dark humor in addition to addressing the issues of race in America. 

The series’ surreal and sci-fi like depiction of events is seen again and again throughout the first season and creates an unsettling feeling that manages to linger in scenes both dark or comedic. While Donald Glover, known for his performance in the hit sitcom “Community” and his music artist alter-ego “Childish Gambino”, can carry a show for ten episodes, I had my doubts for the second season. Fortunately, the second season completely defied my expectations and almost entirely revised the cinematography in addition to altering the weakest parts of the plot. 

In the opening shots of the second season the viewer can see clearly that Earn is in the same storage facility where he went to sleep at the end of the first season, and almost immediately is woken up, greeted back to reality. This focus on the concept of Reality drives most of the film composition and motifs in the first few episodes; Earn has to face the reality of his relationship with his long-time girlfriend Van, Alfred (goes by the name of “Paper Boi”) comes to learn that people’s public personas in the rap industry are merely fronts masking often insidious traits, and even Darius, who serves as a prophet-like character in the first season, begins to question how much you can trust one person. Although these themes and self-discovery by the characters are often covered by the comedic situations and overwhelming soundtrack it is still clear that “Atlanta” and it’s producers have come to face reality; a successful show can’t be built solely off of it’s cast. 

Despite it being potentially too early to truly say, it feels as if Atlanta has found its footing in its second season as a bizarre comedy with a set of seemingly shallow characters. However negative this description may seem, in actuality by not over-focusing on the characters “Atlanta” is changing audiences’ perceptions of the typical comedy. The master shots at the beginning of each episode and constant pauses in dialogue typically are viewed as dreadfully boring in other sitcoms, but Glover’s more cinematography-focused approach has allowed for audiences to value the symbolism and weight of each shot and word. With the aid of director Hiro Murai, “Atlanta” is taking the standard conventions of a comedy and is completely going the other direction. Instead of concentrating on the characters “Atlanta” focuses on the setting and rather than having humorous dialogue drive the comedy the show uses the situations to evoke laughter. The first season enabled “Atlanta” to experiment with this absence of conventions and in season two, it is clear the show has perfected the successful surrealism presented in the previous season while continuing to innovate with its screenplay and cinematography.