Atlanta Season 4 EP 5 | Tyler Perry & The Chocolate Factory of OZ 

I love how Donald Glover is passive aggressively letting y’all know how this evil Hollywood works. And ppl still sleep

I don’t know how valid this is but Dan Schneider (Nickelodeon producer) wasn’t allowed on set during some point in his career because he was too problematic with child actors. He ended up having to give directions over intercom (like Mr. Chocolate). I think there’s validity to this as the writer for the episode said in an interview that Mr. Chocolate is an amalgamation of different Hollywood people, not just Tyler Perry.

Donald must not have had access to Tyler Perry’s studio cause he went in fr! Then he names the episode “work ethic” the shade! 😂

This man has shows called Bruh and Sistas. He knows exactly what he's doing and I am glad this show is calling him out on it.

Someone on the Atlanta subreddit said Mr. Chocolate looks like Luke Cage with a bee sting 😂

The black lady cussing out Abraham Lincoln was the funniest shit I’ve seen in a fat minute honestly. I was cracking up harder than I’ve laughed in a while honestly

This episode shows how Hollywood “takes” the child from my parents and how quick some parents will give their children away to fame.

This episode was low-key the funniest episode of the season man. Also. Zazie in that outfit😩🤌🏾👌🏾

I work in film and in Atlanta. It is WELL known here that the insane quickness of his productions is insane. He directs two things at the same time, segwaying back and forth. Doesn't pay crew well, super long hours. I've been told explicitly by many people to not work on his shows. Obv Atlanta is exaggerating with the speaker system but the mentality is not far off.

The man laughing at the scene and saying "You better tell her!" symbolizes two things to me. 1. These shows expect us to react like this as we watch them & 2. The maker of these shows seem to think we are of lower intelligence & we can mostly only relate to this simple minded brand of comedy with a laugh track in the background.

“Aaaaahhhhhhiiiiii’m fine” lmao 😂 I was laughing so damn hard

Van was looking like my Kryptonite in this one GAHT DAMN😍😍😍

It's crazy to me how Donald has been a triple threat talent for years yet still has that youthful comedic energy from his youtube skit days. Mr. Chocolate had Derricks comedy vibes.

Love the Truman show references as well. That Van’s life IS also part of the production (“everyone acts Ms. Vanessa) which ultimately happens to actors in Hollywood as it becomes harder to determine the difference between fantasy and reality. I also think it’s a meta commentary on Atlanta as well, Van is THE black woman on this show, and fits the “type.”

ok it wasnt just me who's eyes popped out when Van did that walk

“She’ll be Spurned Woman #8 when I’m done with her!” 😂😂😂

The piano scene made me chuckle because its funny how he plays/types it off key. It could represent the crappy scripts(work) being written. Which Mr Chocolate is completly eiether unaware of or he chooses to be ignorant about it . Also have been waiting to see which other character Donald Glover would be playing , since its finale lmao.

When this man said “would you like a grit” ..making grits singular..i don’t think I’ve laughed harder at the tv in a long time 😂😂. You have the best Atlanta breakdowns on RU-vid! Great work!

I just like how "Mr. Chocolate" is Donald Glover lol when ever hes acting he always OPENS his eyes real wide lmao

This episode was deeper than people realize

Yo zazie beetz looking bad as hell in that outfit, had me drooling ain't gonna lie.

I think Mr.C was purposely ending scenes early to send her on a wild goose chase

Nobody can't tell me what to do is the equivalent of "I can do bad All by myself" imo but this was a very good episode. I was absolutely terrified for van when she couldn't find her daughter.

Mr Perry absolutely did NOT like that Boondocks episode about him. I wonder if he’ll try to get this one banned too lol

My wife and I have had several conversations about Tyler Perry and what he represents for the culture, and she will celebrate anything black regardless of how poor quality the production is. I have liked a few Tyler Perry films, but as a whole I think he churns out a lot of crap. She just appreciates that "Work ethic" and watches Sistas so.....yeah. what was most annoying is that she started to question my validity with black cinema and how I criticize it often, when I often criticize Perry's work or that black stalker cinema that tried to imitate his work. This episode and your breakdown is literally everything I find wrong with his work. He puts out work in quantity but not quality. He stretches himself too thin and often has the same voices in different work. Once I share this, then the conversation is diminished to, "Well, he makes a lot of money and a lot of people like his stuff so let's celebrate that." and yes, good for him, but I'm not celebrating mediocrity. Also, as you said, I don't hate Perry and respect his accomplishments, but 90% of his work is $#!+. There, I said it.

I realised that you missed this detail in the reaction video and I was hoping that you would’ve seen it while writing your script. Remember that Kirkwood writes EVERYTHING. So the crack sandwich scene would’ve been written by him too. He 100% wrote those lines as Lottie saying them to Van which takes his manipulation of Van’s experience to a whole new level. Other than that, amazing breakdowns as usual bro! Looking forward to Snipe Hunt and Crank Dat Killer 😂

"Grits Don't work on me" is my new favorite line

This episode is part two of Van's personal exploration of season 3, episode 10. During that time, she wasn't thinking about what was happening to her daughter. Van was going with the flow, doing whatever that's fun while finding herself, controlling the society around her, and didn't care who got hurt in the process, all while being a grown woman. However, now the cards have flipped- Lotti is the one going with the flow, having fun in the process, but she is too young to understand the consequences of her actions or how the society around her is controlling her and doesn't care if it hurts her in the process. I noticed all this while watching the crack sandwich scene when Lotti asked the actress and Van, "Why am I here, Mama? ... But, why am I here with you? Isn't that what mothers are supposed to do?" I could easily see Lotti asking Van that question if Van actually took Lotti back to Paris. If you pay attention, you can see that Van has a moment of reflection while watching that scene, and I think that is what lights a fire under her butt to make sure that Lotti doesn't have the toxic identity issues the same way Van did back in Europe, and probably her whole life. Season 4, episode 4 showed us that our parents are so used to accepting toxicity that they couldn't teach their children how to avoid and/or heal from it. However, this season & season 3 shows us what happens to the child if the cycle continues to the next generation. I'm happy that Van could start healing back in season 3, or this entire episode would have been a lot different.

BRO THIS SHOW NEED MORE SEASONS I CANT GET OVER ITS OVER

Tyler Perry's work can best be described as _schlock,_ and schlock has its place--there's nothing inherently wrong with schlock. However, for many black actors, Tyler Perry is the only game in town, and that's where the problems arise. When you have this person with *all of this money,* and *all of this power,* and *an entire studio to himself* for which he can produce _any content he wants,_ but all he produces is schlock, this further reduces the horizons of those individuals acting in his films. Tyler Perry could continue producing his schlocky work, while also producing and highlighting the work of new and innovative black talent. This doesn't have to be an either-or situation. We don't need the false dichotomy.

There's a video on RU-vid I watched a while back about "Why Christian movies aren't good" and the summation was that they don't have to be. They just need to be vaguely Christian to get buy in and people will flock. Tyler Perry has mastered this trick + adding in a heap of all black representation is a good thing because we should make our own rules and judge our content by our own standards. Hence Van's BET and NAACP award conversation. Tyler Perry's work is objectively bad by any standard lol, but he's not playing the Hollywood game. He's playing the black Christian game and that market will always keep him employed. #WorkEthic

Hi, I'm a Malaysian Chinese whom enjoyed ATLANTA's slice of life storytelling approach, but there are some reference and inside joke mostly flew over my head. Thus, I enjoy all your ATLANTA breakdown video, it gave me a deeper understanding on what every episode try to convey its message from the story❤

This episode gave me Winston Jerome vibes 😂😂😂

My very stoic, level headed 11 year old child sat down to watch a Tyler Perry movie on Netflix. About 20 minutes in he started crying hysterically. It scared me because this is VERY out of character for him. Once I calmed him down he told me that the stereotypes are very upsetting to him and that Tyler Perry should be ashamed of himself.

I thought DREAM GIRLS as well..then my mind IMMEDIATELY went to 'LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS'🤔🤔🤔🤔

"I shall have her." "She'll be spurned woman #8 when I'm done with her!!!" I've been cackling all day over that line. The crack sandwhich The Abraham Lincoln The demonoc piano typewriter. Def one of my fav episodes 😂😂😂

Hot grit were originally thrown on AL Green and people wven called him Al grits for a while. Tyler Perry did put throwing of hot grits in one of his movies. I couldn't control myself when he told her 'grits don't work on me'😂

How Lottie became an instant star was cute, and how she kept getting whisked away to set after set- sometimes blocks apart- almost like teleportation, was super funny to me 🙃 The surrealist mystique within that studio is 100% my jam. Plus, I've always been a fan of director/god metaphors, or stories where they're largely unseen. (See also: The Truman Show). It didn't even occur to me to read the episode as dark or disturbing, although with the idea of losing your child, the context is certainly there. But I was just too amused by the petulance of the man in charge. "Give me back my daughter." *long pause "No..." Lol! Mr. Chocolate's immediate obsession with her had me howling. "She can't be not 18 forever! I shall have her!" The humor undercut whatever unease might have been present otherwise, imo.

The "fix it in post" was so funny to me. It just shows how rushed TPs work comes off.

The grit ball reference is just so fucking funny. I loved this episode because somebody needed to say it to Tyler. It’s a bit selfish for him to write about “the culture” only from his perspective. He could give more opportunities to other black writers who have fresh/NEW ideas. His new stuff is TERRIBLE. Just as I typed this you began saying the same thing lol. Love your vids

"Would you like a grit?" WTF u meeean, Boi!!!

The three women in the yellow dresses definitely gave me "Little Shop of Horror" vibes. Not sure if that was the implied reference tho.

Man this dude catches EVERYTHING

Bro I swear that tv set was every episode of House of Payne and Meet the Browns.

3:37 the maintenance man is another nod to Tyler Perry but his plays in almost all of his plays the main love interest is a blue collar working man somehow went to jail and found god and they have tattoos

a cross over between aaron mcgruder and donald clover would be absolutely amazing

This episode reminds my of the Tyler Perry episode on boondocks. I like how Mr Chocolate sounds like the Tyler from boondocks

The running ballerinas reminded me of Ye’s Runaway video from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. This whole season of Atlanta was said to be inspired by that album.

8:28 The 3 women could be a reference to the movie "3 Women" with Shelley Duvall, 1977. The color yellow and yellow dresses were mentioned and worn a lot in the movie. Director Robert Altman said the movie came to him in a dream. It's one of my favorite movies.

i think the 3 women in yellow may be a reference to lee daniels star

An amazing video and not saying this is the most important part of it but Tyler Perry mentioning he uses the madea voice during sex is WILD😭💀

I'm sorry and I know it was the point but the Mr Chocolate character is Goofy as fuck and reminded me so much of something Donald would've done back in the days of Derrick comedy. It really was a great laugh 🤣🤣🤣

that grit moment is from a madea movie i think the family reunion one? where this girl's husband is abusive and to stop him from beating her she throws grits on him

I died when I saw Mr. Chocolate

I thought you would mention this, but since you didn't, I will say it. My wife told me that the TPS is known for not shooting multiple takes of scenes to reduce the time it takes to turn the movies/shows out. That's where the reference fix it in post comes from. I feel sorry for the editors

I thought War of God was a mix of City of God's, about Brazilian black gangsters and Beasts of No Nation with Idris

That crack sandwich tho…😂😂😂

Melvin Van Peebles, Mario’s father and legendary filmaker and actor passed away last year.

Glover in the fat suit had me dying that whole scene. And the “I SHALL HAVE HER!” had me dead asf 💀 (Zazie in that fit had me feelin DIFFERENT😏)

That Crack sandwich from Tyrone on the Chappelle show

My guy is grit tolerant!!!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

The peanut butter sandwitch and the Crack sandwich reminds me of Dave Chapelles Tyrone Biggims peanut butter and crack sandwich bit 🤣

I going to cry when thus series ends because u need you to review EVERYTHING I WATCH 😭😭😭😭

Yes, they definitely went in on his faults, but actually produced a balanced episode that subtly highlights the positives of T.P. including giving opportunities. I like that you caught the Chocolate factory/Oz references; Van's speech calling him a fraud was very close to uncle Joe's dressing down of Wonka.

I think I’ll layer deeper this episode is just as much about Van and Earn's relationship as co-parents. Mr. Chocolate is in a way Earn's projections of his insecurities that he might not be a good father. This episode plays like a fever dream to betray his subconscious paranoias that might lay underneath his conversations with Van. Earn has now become "successful" as a manager but he fears he's not uplifting his daughter's life/showing up enough. I think he's wrestling with not only surplanting of generational wealth and having a close, intimate relationship with Lottie but also bringing her along with him (this feels emphasized in "Snipe Hunt"). Mr. Chocolate even calls her HIS daughter at one point. Such a smartly written episode.

The Key-Ano was SUCH an under appreciated line!!! And yes, I need one as well.

Winston jarome boondocks lmaooo this is like the live action version

nice you nailed it! when I saw this I didn't catch the Chocolate factory ref. But I def saw the OZ

16:54 keeping with the "everything Black" theme, this is a callback to Al Green, famously getting hot grits being tossed on his face, finding GOD, as one does..then becoming REVEREND AL Greene

Bru pressing the button to convey silence was peak petty😂

That grit scene is definitely top 3 moments for me😂😂😂

War of God is probably a reference to the Nic Cage film Lord of War. Where the dude goes, "I am a lord of war." Or something like that, and Nic Cage replies, "It's warlord."

Along with the passageway motif, Van walking through that dark green hallway reminded me of that same color hallway Dorothy and the gang went through to find the Wizard.

When he asked if she wanted a grit, I almost fell out. 😂😂😂

This isn't only my favorite Van episode or episode of Atlanta. This might be my favorite episode of television ever created

Really appreciate that you took your time with making these videos so that they cover all the small details and are in-depth

I swear that it wouldn’t surprise me if I learn later that Aaron McGruder and Donald Glover were friends or family !

Best, bravest, most ON POINT show on TV. And your Commentary 9NY - it's MUST WATCH content. Thank you.

LAWD HAVE MERCY VAN!!!!! I WOULD RISK MY SOUL!!!!!

I think Mr.C takes play ideas from the people he watches through his cameras (auditions etc), like he no longer looks at people as people but character ideas. When he used the moment Van was getting her hair done and said the stylist was her best friend, it’s like he’s watching them from a birds eye view and seeing how he can turn them into plays but he doesn’t keep in mind that anyone (talented or not) comes to auditions, like the guy cursing on the phone and talking about putting someone in a boot - like how is that guy there? Lol. All this then spews out a story that’s unrealistic because he tries to fit them all in one play.

Donald is sooooo deep under the surface. I’m so excited I found a channel that is intellectually alert enough to scratch under (said) surface! IM BOUT TO WATCH ALL YA SHIT!!😩🙏🏽

You have the best Atlanta recaps.great job.

Thanks for referencing my posters. :D

This was such an incredible episode . So many layers in the writing .

Your one of my favorite creators on the tube! ❤ thank you

I stumbled across your channel when someone posted a link to this video in a comment to a Reddit post. I wanted to watch a few minutes of this to see why the commenter felt it was relevant. Holy jeez, before I knew it you were on the epilogue and outro! I got completely immersed in it. Your analysis was so insightful and informative. I was tangentially aware of some of the issues with TP that you mentioned, but not all. More importantly, I really appreciated your detailed analysis of the episode. You were clear in your explanations and exposition; I didn’t need to be familiar with where the series was at the time or the plot of “Atlanta.” You took everything step-by-step combining facts with your own analysis. You conclusions were very well-supported. I’m getting ready to watch the episode again, and take notes this time. I’m always interested in improving my skills in this area, and you’ve provided a masterful lesson. However, I’m hitting those Like and Subscribe buttons in appreciation for the work you did putting this breakdown together. I’m looking forward to watching more of your work in the future. P.S- I’m not an “Atlanta” fan; I’m a casual watcher so I’m familiar with the show. (It’s interesting b/c my Significant Other lives in Atlanta so I’m familiar with some of the locations and the city’s culture.)

13:35 i thought the reference of the guards was to the guards in tyler perry’s ruthless

God complex

thank you nerd as always, really eager to watch your take on crank dat killer

A singular grit 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Great review! The man laughing hysterically in the scene is a friend of mine. I will have to share this video with him. I look forward to seeing your next review.

I really really hope Donald Glover was in full Kirkland Chocolate character for the whole shooting day like how he did for Teddy Perkins

why does mr. chocolate look like current day ye? lmao

love your breakdown. agree with some but not all your points but i love the way you analyze. liked and subscribed, keep it up

Atlanta is literally a respectfully the boondocks sequel.

I love that Josh Brolin is down bad for Zazie under her instagram post.

War of God was one of the in universe movies from the studio. At about 2:35, 2:40, & 2:47 you can see a sign for it on one of the doors for it as Van is walking down the hall. I think they were just referencing how they were using fake guns from one the studios productions.

3 chicks might be "Little Shop of Horrors"

I had to go head and subscribe so I didn’t leave it up to luck to run into your videos. Great content

cant wait 4 the snipe hunt video