'Atlanta' Thrives on Surrealism and Unanswered Questions

Atlanta, by a number of accounts, is the best new show on television. The popular FX program has received praise for offering a different and less glamorized depiction of the day-to-day grind of someone trying to make it in the music industry, allowing black people to be regular on screen, and seamlessly transitioning between heavy topics to thoughtful humor. All of these elements make the show popular, but what makes the show great is the ability and willingness of the writers to leave things unexplained.

In this way, Atlanta has taken after its executive producer/director/writer/star Donald Glover. He is a creator who has always valued mystery. The mystique he has built and maintained functions as a way to attract thoughtful people to his work. Whenever he starts to work on something, fans know that more is coming. He never creates a one-dimensional product, but is more likely to be caught carefully placing pieces of his creations around, leaving you to connect the dots.

A prime example of this is his second studio album, Because the Internet. The album, with Roman numerals listed as a part of the track numeration, hinted that it was more than a traditional album—and it was. The work was accompanied by a 73-page screenplay and a tour said to be the third component that completes the whole story. Glover's creations have long required a committed eye and a curiosity, and he isn't going to chase you down in hopes that you understand.

So, as Atlanta continued through its first season, it was no surprise that there were moments that were only for some people to understand. Take the scene from the second episode when Brian and Keith order chicken wings from J.R. Crickets, a real Atlanta food spot. When they receive a secret menu item of "lemon pepper wet" wings, the show offers a layered point of entry. For those who've been to J.R.'s, it's an inside joke. But even if you haven't had the secret delicacy, you can still laugh at the way the chicken's heavenly glow hits Keith when he opens up the box.

It's a testament to Atlanta's quality that it doesn't have to explain itself for us to connect with it. The show hopes you can recognize Bankroll PJ, the "Four Amigos," and Lloyd—but if you don't, that's fine. Atlanta won't explain these characters or why they are in the situations they're in, but it doesn't make their characters any less unique or engaging.

Atlanta is full of surrealistic scenes that stretch reality and are characterized by a lack of explanations, leaving viewers to wonder why or how the show landed on such an odd occurrence. In " Nobody Beats the Biebs," Justin Bieber appeared as a black teenager who peed in hallways. In "The Club," an invisible car plows through a crowd of clubgoers. In "The Big Bang," a stranger randomly offers Earn a Nutella sandwich and then disappears, but the scene lingers in the audience's minds. Viewers were left asking questions, wondering about the story behind these happenings, but Atlanta stayed true to form and didn't provide any answers. But how often do people enjoy it when things are all laid out for them? As a viewer, I want to be able to ask my friends questions or to tweet out wild theories about how Earn buying a sword eventually leads to a pregnant pit bull.

This decision to leave things unexplained is a choice that most traditional half-hour sitcoms don't lean on. But it's a strength for Atlanta, in part because the writers on this show have been loyal to Glover's brand of mystery for some time. He enlisted the help of members of his "Royalty" collective, a group of creative—not television writers—who have bought into Glover's vision. This group of first time/new writers have come together and ignored so many of the conventional modes of operating, resulting in a series that got 1.8 million viewers for its first two episodes and broke a record for a basic cable comedy premiere.

It's clear that Atlanta has shattered the mold and connected with people in a unique way. By asking viewers to create their own answers and read deeper into what happens on screen, the show puts faith in the audience in a way that other shows don't. And considering this unconventional formula has been such a success, let's hope that we see Glover and his team push the show even farther into experimental terrain in season two.

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