Tonight, you can watch Atlanta season 4 like we at Tom's Guide are — with massive hopes and expectations. For its first two seasons, Atlanta was a show that kept audiences in awe. Then, earlier this year, it returned from a lengthy time off with a season that felt almost too-surreal.
For those unfamiliar, Atlanta began as a show about Earn (Donald Glover) trying to make things work with Van (Zazie Beetz) the mother of their child, Lottie. Earn was struggling with homelessness, and soon found himself working with his cousin Alfred (Bryan Tyree Henry), an up-and-coming Atlanta-based rapper named Paper Boi. But dealing with the shenanigans of Al and his friend Darius (LaKeith Stanfield) wore Earn down. Season 3 saw the trio make their way to Europe, as Paper Boi was booked to tour.
Fortunately, the early word from critics gives us a ton of confidence. FX sent out the first three episodes of Atlanta season 4, giving them a chance to preview Atlanta's return to Georgia, and the reviews are all-positive.
The critics like season 4 so much, in fact, that it currently has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. Annoyingly, the Rotten Tomatoes page for Atlanta season 4 is seemingly experiencing a bug that prevents its selected reviews from loading. So, we've done the work of finding some of the best reviews of Atlanta season 4, so you can get a taste of what critics find so endearing.
Atlanta season 4 reviews: What critics are saying
One of the best reviews for the new season comes from RogerEbert.com's Peyton Robinson, who writes that the premiere grounds Atlanta back on the streets it came from. Through this, she writes, Atlanta "makes a poignant declaration about the inescapability and interconnectedness of Black relationships." She also notes that "in this concluding season of Atlanta, we can expect the waves of brilliance that have driven the show thus far to conclude with tsunami-like proportions of intellect and imagination."
Daniel Fienberg at The Hollywood Reporter, writing about the second episode of season 4 ("The Homeliest Little Horse") commends it for packing "some of Glover’s best acting work to date." He also "appreciated that the installment seemingly answers some questions that go back to the show’s origins and then makes you question what you think you’ve learned."
Ross Bonaime at Collider writes that this new season "proves that Atlanta is going out as one of the best shows of the 21st century so far." He also writes "Glover and the Atlanta team are at their most introspective this season, and considering how many directions this show has gone in, it’s fascinating to watch Atlanta attempt to tie all of this together with a bow."
Jeremy Mathai of SlashFilm notes that while Atlanta is back home in Georgia, it's not letting its foot off the gas when it comes to weirder moments, writing "Still, the inexplicable oddities, slice-of-life tangents, celebrity cameos, and unsettling blend between reality and the surreal threaded throughout each prior season remained present and accounted for ... thankfully, all of which is back and bolder than ever before in season 4."
Atlanta season 4 outlook
As someone who has the 10 p.m. ET premieres of Atlanta season 4 circled in his calendar, I'm properly excited by these reviews. While Atlanta's previous season didn't exactly disappoint or worry me, it often felt a little off the mark — while still being one of the better shows on television.
Will Atlanta's finale match or even exceed the work that Glover and his team have provided beforehand? I guess I'm going to start telling folks they need to be watching (even if they've never started it).
Atlanta airs on FX (which you can watch with Sling TV if you cut the cord) on Thursdays, and on Hulu on Fridays.
