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| Photo: Guy D’Alema/FX |
"Sportin' Waves" kicks its half hour off with Alfred getting jacked by his weed dealer--who at the very least was polite in his fuckery, giving Alfred a 'preciate it' before driving off--and continues as he visits an entertainment startup Earn encouraged him to join. There Alfred suffers the indignities of having their initial meeting with company head Peter Savage, a.k.a. 35 Savage (like 21 Savage, get it?) go south when the office's state of art technology fails to play his music, being directed to say the same tag line "laid back" or "like everything's crazy " for radio drops, and having to rap for his supper in front of an indifferent office staff. All while wearing a "this some ol' bullshit" expression on his face.
After spending last season struggling to get recognized and being one upped by invisible car-driving emcees, Alfred finds himself in a limbo of sorts; he's famous enough to have drug dealers sneak Instagram pics and spam his phone with links of their girlfriend's acoustic covers of his songs, but is not as successful as those around him assume he is. Everyone seems to want a piece of him, and will gladly take what they can, whether by 'gram post or by gun. For someone already ambivalent about fame and his choice of career, it'll be interesting to see whether Alfred can adjust to his new status or goes into full "fuck it" mode and self-destructs.
Earn actually earned some money this week, with Darius giving him his cut of the money he got from the canine adventures of last season's "The Streisand Effect." In that episode, Earn stupidly traded his cellphone for a samurai sword, and when the payday finally came around, he makes another fuckboy move by giving his $4,000 to Alfred's friend/roommate Tracy to double via an illegal gift card scheme. Food, water, a mirror to look at himself--nah son, gotta get them gift cards!
Tracy's hyped about a job interview he has coming up, and Earn accompanies him to the mall as his waves "bake" and he looks for some proper attire to impress. While there Tracy pumps Earn for tips on how to talk to white folks, saying Earn looks like the preppy type. Earn advises him to 1) Not call them white folks and 2) To talk confidently. Earn noticeably bristle at the word "preppy," and I'm not sure why. Dude you went to Princeton, one of the faces on the Mount Rushmore of PWIs. You've lived among the trust fund denizens, now share the wealth! The show hasn't given any backstory as to why Earn fled his Ivy League education, but perhaps it had something to do with his own self-perception, and rejecting an image others (his parents, for example) may have been pressing upon him. #Audre Lorde.
But back to the recap at hand. Tracy ends their conversation by blithely pulling a jack move and stealing a few pairs of shoes out of the store. Unfortunately it doesn't help him put his best foot forward at the interview, where he pops off after the boss tells him they're fully staffed at the moment. I had a feeling things wouldn't go well when Tracy was prepping by rehearsing his answer to inevitable question of why there are long gaps in his employment history, or the look on the interviewer's face when Tracy walked through the door. Like the rest of Atlanta's characters, Tracy has his own struggle, which he'll either overcome, succumb to.
Those waves 'tho.
Other Thoughts:
--While he's not completely comfortable at the office, Earn can see the value in Alfred having some promotional machinery behind him. Whether Alfred would ever be comfortable with doing a Yoo hoo ad like Clark County is another story altogether.
--Minimal Darius this week. But I have a feeling he waited for Tracy to go to sleep and then loomed over his head, poring over the majestic beauty of his waves. Then ate some cereal.
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