If I can be frank here, there is very little else I care about this week than Atlanta returning for its fourth and final season. Season 4 of the hit FX series, which also aired Season 3 earlier this year, will bring to a close one of the best, most unique shows the television world has ever seen. We also ranked the show’s characters earlier this week, and it’s must-read. And if that’s not enough on the TV side, Hulu’s highly-celebrated show The Handmaid’s Tale also arrived this week with Season 5, while Prime Video’s Rings of Power has hit its halfway point so you know we just had to share our thoughts on that.
The Woman King and Pearl are arriving in a movie theater near you this weekend to close off the summer. They are both women-centered stories that promise to show the full scope of what it means to be a woman but in two incredibly different worlds. See How They Run starring Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan is also hitting theaters so there’s plenty in store for movie and TV fans alike. Read our choices for this week’s What to Watch below, and check out what’s in store for the box office in the coming months in our fall movie preview.
'Atlanta' Season 4
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Date: Thursday, Sept. 15
Where: FX and Hulu
Atlanta is back in Atlanta. After a season of Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles (Brian Tyree Henry) touring around Europe, the team is back home, and are kicking off the show’s final season with the first two episodes, titled “The Most Atlanta” and “The Homeliest Little Horse.” In the first episode, we get to watch all of them having their own separate adventures as they make their way through their city.
Earn (Donald Glover) and Van (Zazie Beetz) can’t seem to find their way out of the Atlantic Station shopping mall that’s filled with ghosts from their past, the death of a fellow rapper sets Paper Boi on an introspective scavenger hunt of his own, while Darius is being chased around by a woman in a wheelchair. As always, the show is packed with cultural references, and that was seemingly inspired by the real-life events of a woman in a similar condition who was wielding a knife while attempting to stop people from entering a Target amid the George Floyd protests in May 2020. That’s what Atlanta does best, though. The creators are deeply tapped into what is going on culturally but don’t heavily rely on social media conversations to tell their stories—and they always find a way to make it all funny as hell. All of this doesn’t make sense if you have yet to watch this incredibly peculiar episode, so I won’t spoil it any more.
Episode 2 is by far one of the most revealing and eyeopening of the entire series. For the first time, fans will be able to go inside Earn’s mind and learn the real reason why he left Princeton, which has been a lingering question since Season 1 and it thoroughly explains why Earn is who he is. Seeing him exploring his feelings of frustration, inadequacy and feeling like he has so much to prove in therapy gives viewers more insight into the motivations that have taken him this far. Earn, like a lot of people, have let the traumatic experiences of their past fill him with vengeance and bitterness. And instead of healing from their hurts, they used those situations as fuel to succeed. The episode provided a fascinating explanation into one of the show’s most complicated characters, and it made him appear more human yet showed the depths of how thoroughly affected he was by having been expelled from the school. Earn’s hardships represent the experience of many Black men who have been in similar situations, and this is by far, one of the most important episodes of the series. If you haven’t tuned in yet, what are you waiting for? These episode are now available to stream on Hulu as we speak. —Karla Rodriguez
'See How They Run'
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When: Friday, Sept. 16
Where: In theaters
Murder mysteries are unquestionably having a moment, but outside of fare like Knives Out, the majority of these films are often self-serious drags. Understandably so—murder isn’t a laughing game after all—but there can only be so much dourness to coat the proceedings. Luckily for audiences needing a refresh, Searchlight’s new theatrical murder mystery See How They Run skews much closer to Only Murders In the Building than Death on the Nile as it becomes just as much a movie about murder mysteries as it is one itself.
Anchored by a set of entertaining performances by Sam Rockwell and Saorise Ronan, Run sees the duo investigating a whodunit at a 1952 West End performance of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap that’s strikingly similar to the plot of the play itself. As such, Run takes a decidedly meta tone in its exploration of beloved genre tropes, with director Tom George and writer Mark Chappell reveling in constructing and deconstructing the hallmarks of these kinds of films. The inherently stage-y of the film’s framing often evokes or outright mimics the visual style of Wes Anderson without ever feeling like a karaoke version of the acclaimed director.
George and Chappell also manage to coax out surprisingly game performances from both Rockwell and Ronan, as the two are just as willing to poke and prod at the hallmarks of these archetypal investigators as the script is to examine the trademarks of the genre writ large. Rockwell, in particular, plays his weary Sherlock Holmes-like inspector with an appropriate level of post-WWII wariness that feels refreshing for an actor who has been in danger of being type cast in recent years. While it doesn’t do enough to upend the genre it very much loves, See How They Run is clever enough to play court jester for an evening. That’s more than enough to make it a pretty killer trip to the movies. —William Goodman
'Pearl'
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When: Friday, Sept. 16
Where: In theaters
We already covered Pearl in our fall movie preview, but if you’re a fan of horror and slasher films, this is one you have to see. Director Ti West seems to be creating a whole universe around his film X, which premiered earlier this year, and now he is returning with a prequel chapter to that story. This film focuses on a woman named Pearl (Mia Goth) who is trapped on her family’s isolated farm and is taking care of her sick father while being mistreated by her mother. She lets her desire for a life of fame and glamour get the best of her, and viewers get to watch as she transforms into the villain that made X so gruesome and extremely horrifying. Goth was remarkable in X, so having her return for a second go-around was a brilliant choice by the director. West is also a master at making even the most spine-chilling slashers absolutely stunning visually, so this one is one I highly recommend if this genre is your thing. —Karla Rodriguez
'The Woman King'
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Date: Friday, Sept. 16
Where: In theaters
The Woman King follows the all-female group of warriors, the Agojie, who were created to fight for and to protect their West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 1820s. In the film, the group’s General Nanisca (Viola Davis) takes on the responsibility of training a new generation of warriors and preparing them to fight against an enemy who has reached their shores and who is threatening to destroy their way of life and their people.
After the general convinces King Ghezo (John Boyega) to go to war against them, the people of Dahomey have to rely on their highly-skilled and fearless soldiers to defend what’s theirs. The film is based on real events, and it’s just another example that women, in fact, do run the world. And they always have. —Karla Rodriguez
'Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,' Episode 4, “The Great Wave”
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Date: Friday, Sept. 26
Where: Prime Video
Of all the episodes of Rings of Power I’ve seen thus far, this fourth episode is perhaps slightly more challenging to write about than ones past—especially for those who are reading this without having watched the episode yet. It’s a lucky bit of kismet then that “The Great Wave” is so much about secrets kept or revealed, as the show officially reaches the halfway mark of its first season and some of its various plot-related chickens come home to roost.
As such, the episode continues the narrative propulsiveness from last week’s equally compelling installment while still managing to find the time to add some nice visual flourishes (a standout in this episode includes a tension-filled oner that’s easily one of my favorite shots of the series thus far) and nice character moments for Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Durin (Owain Arthur), Disa (Sophia Nomvete) and Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin).
With so much established, it’ll be curious to see how much of a balancing act Rings can continue to manage between these dynamic plots and deep character development with only four episodes left. But by the end of “The Great Wave,” the series feels like it’s starting to crest. Let’s see what’s left when the wave hits. — William Goodman
