Atlanta Fans Were Incredibly Moved By Season 4 Episode 7

Contains spoilers for "Atlanta" Season 4, Episode 7, "Snipe Hunt"

Over the years, "Atlanta," a dark sitcom created by Donald Glover, has become known for its surrealist humor and willingness to experiment with tone and structure, creating a world in which the paranormal and impossible become mundane. As one Slate piece points out, "Where 'Twin Peaks' used those details to evoke the danger hidden in small-town America, 'Atlanta' uses them to replicate the fear, anguish, and unpredictability constant in the daily lives of lower and middle-class Black Americans." Indeed, from the infamous "Teddy Perkins" episode to various parabolic, "Black Mirror" style episodes scattered across its third season, "Atlanta" has evoked a uniquely American sense of horror and comedy.

But sometimes, the show does away with its more esoteric elements to focus on its characters, as in Season 4's "Snipe Hunt." The episode finds Earn (Donald Glover) on a camping trip with his erstwhile lover, Van (Zazie Beetz), and their daughter, Lottie (Austin Elle Fisher) for Lottie's sixth birthday. The rest of the ensemble cast (Brian Tyree Henry as Alfred and LaKeith Stanfield as Darius) are absent, and aside from a cheerful groundskeeper in the first few minutes of the episode, we're stuck with the two estranged parents and their daughter, alone in the wilderness.

The weight of "Snipe Hunt" rests on a pivotal scene near the end of the episode, in which Earn professes the depth of his love to Van and begs her to move to Los Angeles with him. Ultimately, she requites his love, and they leave the campground as a reunited family. It's among the best acting Glover has done all season, and the moment resonated with fans, who took to social media to describe how moving they found it.

On the "Atlanta" subreddit, viewers swarmed the discussion thread for "Snipe Hunt" to express how moved they were by the climactic reignition of love between Earn and Van. Many emphasized how playing against the show's usual surrealism heightened the moment. Other than a brief encounter with an unknown creature Lottie bags in the woods, it's a down-to-Earth story. As u/Owl-with-Diabetes wrote, "You kept expecting something creepy or crazy to happen and other than whatever that animal was in the bag, it was largely a breezy sweet episode about a family coming together."

Fans felt the episode had an earnest sweetness to it that elevated the proceedings. u/saadhrahman described the vibe superlatively, observing, "[O]ne of the sweetest episodes of [TV] I've watched. This show is a gift to the world, gonna miss it when it's gone." Others noted how much growth Earn's character has undergone since Season 1. When viewers were first introduced to the rap manager, he was fresh out of his brief time in the Ivy League, scarred by traumatic experiences and unable to express his love for Van, who demands to know why he can't simply tell her he's in love. In "Snipe Hunt," he lays it all out on the table, telling Van that, although he could find someone else, it's her alone he truly desires. The sentiment was summed up by u/Highly_Edumacated, who wrote, "Earn expressing his love is the complete opposite of his character in the first episode where Van questions why can't he just say I love you back."

With only a few more episodes left in the fourth and final season of "Atlanta," it seems the characters have finally come full circle, and may even find peace by the series finale.