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| Courtesy: Guy D'Alema/FX |
Like the best moments of the series' freshman season, the first major scene in "Alligator Man" starts out one way--two teens lounging and talking shit before deciding to make that move to the local drive thru--and proceeds to go completely and utterly left; left in this case being a full-on shoot out and a girl wailing like a banshee as the bullet-ridden getaway hooptie she was pushed out of peels out.
This, as Darius so casually tells Earn, is robbin' season, the time of year when Christmas approaches and "everybody gotta eat." Of course, Atlanta is no stranger to violence; the show literally started with one of its main characters shooting someone else. But the subtitle seems to imply that the city, and by extension the show, will be anteing up the danger factor. Then again, since Glover and his collaborators pride themselves on zigging when everyone else expects them to zag, it probably won't be that simple.
Opening shootout aside, "Alligator Man" is in some ways a fairly conventional season opener, at least by Atlanta's standards, filling in some details on what the main players have been up to, and carrying over some story lines from last season. Earn's technically homeless status loses the technical part after he's kicked out of his storage unit, and he's now on probation for the drug charge he snagged in the series premiere. Alfred's made some headway in his rap career, but is on house arrest. And Darius can still be counted on for a good conspiracy theory, which this time takes the form of "Florida Man."
Mythical racist, physically abusive cannibals aside, "Alligator Man" was short on laughs, and seemed more focused on setting the tone for the season. Most of the episode's action revolves around Earn going to check on his Uncle Willy after Alfred says his girlfriend Yvonne called claiming he kidnapped her. I had an inkling of what we could expect when it was announced Katt Williams would be guest starring, but once Darius and Earn pulled up to a house with an old car covered by a tarp, knocked on a metal screen door, inhaled the smell of Menthols and encountered a midday soundtrack that included Rene and Angela's "I'll Be Good" and L.T.D.'s "Love Ballad," I knew exactly what to expect. It's like, I don't know Uncle Willie, but I KNOW Uncle Willie, you know?
The drama revolves around not around Yvonne's "kidnapping"--surprise surprise---but over some missing money Willy believes she stole from him. Things escalate once the police come knocking at the door and Willy, clad in his robe, refuses to come out and threatens to sic his alligator (hence his neighborhood nickname) on them. While the law waits outside, Willy and Earn trade insults; Willy knocks Earn for being homeless and scared of getting kicked off his cousin's payroll, while Earn calls out his uncle for being a burnout who "let shit happen to him." Be it immediate family or those cousins we only see at the reunion, we all have an Uncle Willy--that relative who on paper seemed to have it all but could never get it together enough to realize their full potential.
Willy is sullen, bitter and defeated, and in him, Earn no doubt sees the ghost of broke ass, robbin' season future, a cautionary tale of what could happen if he doesn't pull his own shit together and, as Willy advises, take the chip off his shoulder. After kicking Yvonne out once she confesses to taking the money, Willy gives Earn a golden gun (because what other firearm would Willy have in his home but that?) before setting his gator loose into the front lawn and taking off like Usain Bolt down the street. It's a moment that's both hilarious, off kilter and yet somehow makes sense.
Earn heads back to Darius and Aflred's place, but his plans to sleep over are blocked by another friend who just got out prison. Earn being Earn, he has too much pride to admit his lack of lodging and walks onto the the front porch, seemingly contemplating his next move.
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