Atlanta Season 4 Episode 9 Review: Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World.
Atlanta Season 4 Episode 9, “Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World.” finds Alfred fighting for survival on his safe farm in a tense, edge-of-your-seat half-hour of television. It’s an unexpected thrill ride, especially for the show’s penultimate outing, but this is Atlanta we’re talking about. Expect the unexpected!
Some of the series’ strongest episodes are the Alfred-centric ones, which is partly thanks to Brian Tyree Henry’s powerhouse performances. His emotional arcs are always so poignant and visceral. The writers and Henry craft incredibly immersive scenes for Alfred — it feels like you’re with him, experiencing these traumatizing events in tandem.
“Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World.” might not seem like a typical next-to-last outing of a show. However, this series was never one for adhering to formulas and veering toward the conventional. While this episode doesn’t provide closure or wrap Alfred’s narrative in a neat little bow, we view glimpses of him at his happiest, enjoying life on gorgeous farmland in the middle of nowhere. He seems to relish the simplicity of it all.
That was always part of Alfred’s arc: he achieves success and acclaim as a rapper, yet he’s seemingly in a perpetually melancholic state. You can see it in his eyes. He follows Soulja Boy’s advice to invest in a “safe farm,” and Alfred ostensibly believes he’ll find peace here.
Of course, his “safe farm” morphs into the opposite. The first half of “Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World.” is a slower-paced affair, almost like the beginning of a horror movie. We see hints of danger lurking in the periphery. Alfred’s convinced it might be all in his head. Then, the real threat materializes.
Everything from the tractor scene to Alfred fighting off the feral hog keeps us on the edge of our seats. It’s tense and utterly terrifying. Taofik Kolade, the writer for this outing, persuades us in the first half that this could be Alfred’s happy ending. However, the last 15ish minutes tell us otherwise. You wonder if Atlanta might actually kill off its lead character in the penultimate episode.
The mind tricks courtesy of Kolade gives “Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World.” a psychological thriller bent. Very few actors have the charisma, stamina, and talent to carry an entire episode on their backs, and Brian Tyree Henry is one of them. He’s mesmerizing.
The fact that Alfred’s safe space isn’t genuinely safe feels like a commentary on the dangers of this world for people of color. Alfred encounters peril at every turn at his home base in Atlanta, and he doesn’t shake that off on the farm. The pervasive, deeply entrenched racism in our society ensures marginalized folks don’t feel safe. (Or I could be reaching. Atlanta has a penchant for metaphors, though.)
“Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World.” ends on a high note, with Alfred emerging triumphantly after killing that hog with his skillet from Amazon. And to think, what would’ve happened had he not ordered one? I wonder why Alfred lied to Earn about the life-threatening incidents in which he found himself. Perhaps he didn’t want to relive those experiences by recounting them.
Hiro Murai returns to helm his final episode for the series, and, as usual, his direction is nothing short of stunning. The color palette combined with the use of closeups to convey Alfred’s terror and pain, and the wide shots that aptly capture the gorgeous scenery, make this episode a standout on the directing and cinematography front. What a way to go out for Murai as he ends his tenure on this brilliant show.
“Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World.” is a nail-biting tale of survival bolstered by a strong performance from Brian Tyree Henry. It cranks everything up to 100 in a way only Atlanta can. I hope this isn’t the last we see of Alfred, but if this is his swan song, it’s a damn good one.
Stray Observations:
- The episode’s title is inspired by an artist and one of his works. Andrew Wyeth was a painter who mainly produced regionalist-styled works. He painted a piece called “Christina’s World” in 1948, depicting a young woman in a grassy field with her back turned. We see a loose recreation of this piece in the episode when Alfred sits in the field near his farmhouse. God, this show is so layered.
- There are a few instances in the episode wherein they seem to recreate more of Wyeth’s work. The closeup of Alfred’s legs ostensibly imitates “Trodden Weed,” a piece created by the painter in 1951. The final shot reminds me of “Wind from the Sea,” another work released in 1947.
- The montage featuring Alfred riding around on his tractor is an instant serotonin boost.
- Fun fact: a tractor rolled over on top of my uncle 12 years ago. Thankfully, he survived, although the recovery process was long and arduous and required surgery. Needless to say, Alfred getting pinned by the tractor made me anxious.
- Every Alfred-centric episode has me on pins and needles. The writers put him through the wringer, don’t they?
- If only it were possible for the hogs to get high simply from ingesting those weed plants. This episode would’ve had a drastically different outcome.
What did you think of this episode of Atlanta? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Atlanta airs Thursdays at 10/9c on FX, with next-day streaming on Hulu.
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Melody McCune
Melody loves TV. Maybe too much. Besides being a Senior Writer for Tell-Tale TV, she's the Managing Editor for Geek Girl Authority, an Independent Contractor for Sideshow Collectibles, and a Senior Writer for Eulalie Magazine. Additionally, she has bylines in Culturess, Widget, and inkMend on Medium. To top it all off, she's a critic for Rotten Tomatoes and CherryPicks.