Atlanta (TV Series) Value (2016) User Reviews

In a largely Vanessa focused episode, we see the struggles she is going through compared to her friends, and partly thanks to Earn.

[Amari-Sali · 8/10 · 5 October 2016]

Topic 1: The Bougie Best Friend (Vanessa)

Since at least 5th grade, Vanessa has been friends with Jayde and their lives seemingly diverged somewhere. Jayde is now, for a lack of a better term, providing services to athletes and traveling the world off their dime. Meanwhile, Vanessa works at a preparatory school, has an on and off live in boyfriend, a daughter, and the combination limits her movements.

Making Jayde almost question Vanessa's path in life. She says Van has become the girl they used to make fun of. With that, she becomes upset and add in Jayde invited two guys, one cute one for her and one who looks like an ugly Stefan for Van, she is done with her for the night. Yet, old friendship are hard to discard and with some good weed they reconcile.

{Commentary}

I didn't realize till now how much we needed a Vanessa episode. Be it this post-Insecure feeling that we don't have enough everyday Black women on TV, or simply because post that Bieber episode left me feeling like this show was just seeing what they could get away with. Either way, I loved seeing her and Jayde converse. Partly because, it was like Jayde represented all the over the top drama we are used to seeing with Black women being portrayed, in Reality TV anyway, and Van was herself, the Issas, and the few others like them out there. They may not always understand each other, yet at the end of the day, they are friends and share the joys and tribulations of womanhood.

Topic 2: Calendar Alert (Vanessa, Earn, and Alfred)

Surprise! Van has a drug test today! With that, she is scrambling for she is the only breadwinner in her household and she knows Al isn't going to start paying Earn no time soon. So she needs, desperately, some clean pee. How desperate? She calls Al, who knows she doesn't like him, and she decides, when neither he nor Jayde can help, to strain the pee out of her baby's diapers.

All the while, Earn seems like he may be stepping up. He doesn't change his daughter's diaper that morning, but it seems he'll at least handle breakfast and getting her ready. Though while he gets points for being a decent daddy, by being physically there, unfortunately, Jayde revealed he may be talking to other girls and while Van proudly and blatantly out there dating people besides Earn, it doesn't seem she likes the idea of him doing the same. So with her finding a picture of a girl on his phone she is a bit perturbed.

{Commentary}

Van is supposed to be the responsible one right? Granted, she needed a break, freedom of some kind from all her responsibilities, but forgetting a drug test was the next day? A part of me feels like her forgetting was an attempt at not making her seem perfect or to complicate her life to set up future story lines. That includes her learning Earn maybe seeing other girls.

Topic 3: Drug Test (Vanessa)

So check it, Vanessa funnels the pee she extracted from her daughter's diaper into a condom and damn if she doesn't bust the condom, with her teeth trying to undo the knot, when it is time to submit her pee. To make matters worse, her boss tells her they don't send the pee out for it would cost too much. However, before her boss can reveal that, Vanessa snitches on herself. Now, does her boss care about people on weed after the first drug test? Hell no. However, with that reveal comes her having to be fired.

Which, considering she is some sort of teacher, being fired from a school could be an issue. Granted, her boss seems like she would give her a recommendation perhaps, but with Vanessa asking for some weed from Al after being told she has a week to get herself together, it seems a downward spiral may be beginning.

{Commentary}

I will be so mad if Vanessa ends up disappearing again for one or two episodes because a lot has just happened to her. Never mind the whole discovery of a girl in Earn's phone, but she lost her job. She is fired. So what does this mean for her? Will she try to be like Jayde, simply find a new job, or is there a support team we don't know about? Personally, I wouldn't mind us meeting Vanessa's family and hearing their take on her life and relationship with Earn. Though you have to wonder, while Glover seems to have no issue with others being featured more heavily them him one episode or another, would he let one of the characters take over for a little while? Especially considering this is a limited episode series.

Highlights

The focus on Vanessa was a bit refreshing and helped to ween off any taste the show maybe starting to get stale with the week in and week out weirdos Earn and Al encountered on a, seemingly, regular basis.

Low Points

There is a fear that we aren't going to get any real follow up on Vanessa after being fired. Note, we may learn what happens, but we won't get a full on focus on her which really lets actress Zazie Beetz (doesn't that sound like a good rapper name?) work her magic.

Girl-Power Episode!

[lassegalsgaard-45284 · 8/10 · 19 February 2018]

So, it's very good in our days to remember that there shouldn't be a gap between genders. Women should have equally as many opportunities as men. We have seen a big flow of television series' that has had strong female protagonists and other shows dominated by the male gender, but with a powerful female character that stands out in the crowd. "Atlanta" is one of those shows, because throughout all the episode, I have constantly found Vanessa's appearances among the best acted and most consistent. I love her character and I love Zazie Beetz as an actress, because she brings so much life to a character that isn't interested in being in the middle of a male dominated show. Van is one of the greatest characters on this show. So, when I found out that I was about to watch an episode that centered around her, I was very excited, and the episode did not disappoint, because Donald Glover proves once and for all why Vanessa is a beast in this show.

The Van-centric storyline was such a breathe of fresh air. Her character had been absent from the last few episodes, and I had missed her presence on the show, so to get an episode that largely focuses on her, and only has Earnest in one single scene, was such a pleasant surprise. The episode made a switch in the leadership, and without completely changing the roles of the characters, they definitely placed them in the situation that the other character would have normally been in. This episode could have easily been with Earn as the main protagonist, but it wouldn't have been as powerful as it was with Van as the captain of the ship.

Beetz proves herself to be one of the strongest cast members in this episode, because her performance was both strong and powerful. Not only does she has this kind of sazz to her character that none of the guys have, but she has such a quick delivery that gives every single line a little more punch. She has a powerful presence to her, and she clearly owns her scenes. But there is still a sweet side to Van, and Beetz does a great job of clearly switching between her tough side and her sweet side, especially in a scene where she decides to do something with her friend that she probably should never have done. She is great, and this episode truly proved it.

I loved Earn's part in this episode. Most of the main cast took a backseat, and it was only Earn and Alfred who appeared in small cameo appearances. Earn had the parent role in this episode, something that we have mostly seen Van do in the previous episodes. There again, we see the switch in the character roles, and I loved the subtle way they did it. It never felt like they were forced to switch roles; it felt natural that Earn would take this backseat role, now that Van was the one in the spotlight.

But, in the midst of all this awesomeness, there is one big glaring weakness. The ending of the episode came across as very forced, and insanely cringeworthy. That entire scene was definitely the worst written scene that the show has ever had, mostly because it builds up to a completely different conclusion than what was ultimately handed to us. While Beetz still performed the hell out of that scene, and while it definitely didn't take away from the quality of the rest of the episode, it took a big chunk out of the enjoyment for me, because of the weird quality around that scene.

Illegal Substance

[dannylee-78082 · 8/10 · 14 January 2023]

1. Vanessa smokes weed 2. Vanessa goes through diapers 3. Vanessa gets fired

These episodes are consistently funny and entertaining. Episode 6 focuses on Vanessa, which I appreciate. Zazie Beetz is so good and I'd love to see her more. I thought the interaction between Jayde and Vanessa were written so well. It was real in that you may not know what to say to each other because you are in vastly different circumstances. This kind of nuance is hard to capture well but Atlanta doesn't miss. Jayde's little blurb about value is interesting. It almost sounds like she's gaslighted herself into believing she is of value when she sleeps around with men for money. I am no one to judge other people's lives' values but her value mainly comes from other people, not herself. It's an interesting take and showcases the stereotypical "easy way out" for women.

The whole absurdity of the urine test was hilarious. We can glimpse into the character of Vanessa. She still cared to tell the truth when she didn't need to. I would love to see her more developed down the road.

Great Episode!

[boomslice · 30 November 2018]

Finally seeing the female side of the struggle, not all the macho posturing. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and love the show.

Value

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 3 June 2018]

Van meets up with an old friend for dinner and they have a frosty chat. The friend is doing well for herself, putting her assets into good use. Her boyfriend is a wealthy sportsman.

Van works as a teacher that has regular drugs testing. Problem is she smoked weed with her friend and the morning after she needs to come up with some alternative urine to have it tested.

Zazie Beetz does well playing Van whose life is not going how she envisaged but making the best out of the situation. However it is a weak episode. It has an offbeat ending but it looks forced.

A vomit-inducing episode

[yavermbizi · 1/10 · 16 June 2020]

My overall rating of "Atlanta"'s Season 1: 3/10

An episode about a teacher trying to avoid responsibility for doing drugs that prominently depicts human (toddler) excrement, piss (that ends up all over said teacher) and other things of that overall nature.

A hard pass if you prefer not to see that kind of stuff.