The Big Payback
- Episode aired Apr 7, 2022
- TV-MA
- 36m
An office worker's world is turned upside down when he learns his past ancestors were slave owners.An office worker's world is turned upside down when he learns his past ancestors were slave owners.An office worker's world is turned upside down when he learns his past ancestors were slave owners.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Earnest 'Earn' Marks
- (credit only)
- Alfred 'Paper Boi' Miles
- (credit only)
- Darius
- (credit only)
- Van
- (credit only)
- Willy
- (as D. James Jones)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
My issue is also with people that assume because you might not like this episode that you "Don't get it" or are "Triggered". Neither of those things occurred as I watched this. I was more annoyed at once again an episode that literally had nothing to do with the season in question So, in essence we are getting less than 8 episodes of full character presentation. No Thanks.
Either way, the way it triggered people was funny. If you're whining about wokeness, you're an idiot haha.
I understand the critiques of plots that disassociate from the main story, but from the perspective of a higher-level theme, this episode fits right in. The "white ghost", as mentioned in the monologue of the first episode, continues to expose itself in varying ways throughout the season thus far.
While the method was outrageous-and I do question the justice that those in other reviews have referred to-the topic of reparations has previously been too sensitive to meaningfully address. DG does a phenomenal job of breaking down the perspectives of the parties involved. The derivatives of outcomes are only lightly touched upon and allow for viewers to really ponder the causal effects reparations could lead to in the future. The dynamics of societal structures, how wealth influences those structures, the differences in accountability versus culpability, and how ingrained lifestyles and POVs react to this added complexity leads to so many potential scenarios.
If you haven't yet, read Justin Bartha's (Marshall) GQ interview about the role. It adds an additional layer to the episode.
Really appreciate everything the Atlanta crew has done. Unique, uncomfortable, and gratifying.
Make a new show with spin offs and keep main characters in the OG Atalanta plot. It's really annoying to wait a week, and another week, just to see main character arks disappear throughout both.... May as wall call the show "something else" with how s3 is going...
It'd be great if the fantastic and weird arks existed as a spin-off. Like a 'WHAT? Atlanta?' Kinda thing. Or just a "what?"
Did you know
- TriviaIn the United States, the idea of "Slave Reparations" goes all the way back to the post-Civil War era, namely to give each freed man "40 acres and a mule" to tend to farmland.
- Quotes
E: I have a feeling we're in the same boat Marshall. You owe a lot?
Marshall Johnson: This woman-- she... follows me everywhere, won't leave me alone.
[waitress brings his drink]
Marshall Johnson: Thanks.
Hotel Employee: You're welcome.
Marshall Johnson: Just... can't believe this is actually happening. Two days ago, I had a good life, and now I'm being fucked by some shit that I didn't even do. I'm losing my wife, my house, my daughter.
E: I don't know.
Marshall Johnson: Didn't fucking do anything.
E: [moves closer to Marshall, speaks quietly] As I was sayin', I don't know.
Marshall Johnson: What?
E: I don't know. My grandfather used to tell me how his father built everything we had from the ground up; pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, you know? Turns out, he didn't. Turns out he had a lot of help. And a lot of kids.
[laughs softly]
E: Maybe it's only right.
Marshall Johnson: E, we don't deserve this.
E: Well, what do they deserve? We were treating slavery as if it were a mystery, buried in the past, something to investigate if we chose to. And now that history has a monetary value. Confession is not absolution. And in the case of this person... What's her name?
Marshall Johnson: Sheniqua.
E: To Sheniqua, to them... slavery is not past. I mean, it's not a mystery. It is not an historical curiosity. It is a cruel, unavoidable ghost that haunts in a way we can't see. None of us are perfect. So now you're what? You're separated from your wife? She's taking your kid? Now she has to be raised without a father? She has to build wealth and success from the ground up, right? It's similar to the position we put them in. But we're gonna be okay. You daughter's gonna be okay. The curse has been lifted from her. All of us-- we were running from it, but now we're free.
[taps Marshall's leg]
E: Excuse me.
[stands and leaves]
- SoundtracksSay
Performed by Plastic Birds
Details
- Runtime
- 36m
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1