The latest episode of Atlanta was one of the most profound and philosophical episodes of television I’ve ever seen. It makes me thankful that we have shows like Atlanta that can continue to push the boundaries of what a television show can be. That being said, the episode isn’t straightforward and it takes some time to process and parse out what the hell Donald Glover was trying to say. Let’s breakdown some of the theories and themes of the episode.

The most obvious theme of the episode is the nature of art and whether or not suffering is required for great expression. Darius comes to Teddy Perkins’ home listening to Stevie Wonder, an artist known for his positive, upbeat songs. However, Teddy Perkins, a clear analog for Michael Jackson, believes that all great art requires sacrifice. When Teddy argues that Rap as an art form never “grew out of its adolescence,” Darius disagrees, saying that sometimes “people just want to have a good time.” As the episode goes on, Teddy takes Darius around his mansion and then eventually to a room dedicated to his father with a blank-faced mannequin in the center of the room. Teddy goes on to explain that he and his brother, Benny (more on that later) were his father’s sacrifices. Teddy’s father made him practice 6 hours of piano a day and met him with physical abuse if he wasn’t playing up to his standards. The mannequin seems to represent the universality of the abusive father. Teddy goes on to explain how so many other successful African-Americans had abusive fathers, such as Tiger Woods and Serena Williams. Darius continues to dispute Teddy and remarks that his father should have apologized. By the end of the episode, we come to understand how much of a tortured soul Teddy is when he’s emotionally inept at admitting that any form of art can come from love and beauty. To me, this debate over art is always going to be relevant and I think it’s something that Donald Glover has grappled with as an artist and continues to grapple with.

Now, onto the more confusing parts of the episode. Teddy tells Darius that he’s taking care of his brother, Benny, who is recovering from a terrible skin disease. Benny is the successful pianist who has become a legend on par with pianists like Ray Charles and the like. Darius parses out that Teddy is really just talking about himself and that there is no Teddy. Later in the episode when Darius says that “he can only imagine” what Benny is going through, Teddy snaps and yells, “No you don’t!” This is further proof that Teddy is Benny. But Atlanta messes with us when we see “Benny” in the basement sitting in a wheel chair with his face covered in cloth. Even then, we assume that Teddy must have gone down to the basement before Darius did and that they are indeed the same person. However, Atlanta surprises us at the end when we see both “Benny” and Teddy in the climactic scene. With a show like Atlanta you have to remember that some scenes embrace surrealism over the real thing to drive home certain concepts. To me, Teddy, the white-faced Donald Glover, and Benny, the man in the wheelchair, are the same person. Benny is the artist that made it big with his piano skills and endured years of abuse from his father. Teddy is Benny’s public persona, his attempt to disassociate himself from that suffering. Furthermore, I haven’t acknowledged why Darius is at this man’s house to begin with. He’s there to pick up Benny’s old piano with colored keys. Benny/Teddy is literally giving away his art. This piano has been with him since he was a child and represents the suffering he endured to become successful. When Darius is about to move the piano, he notices a small droplet of blood on one of the keys. That blood represents that pain and misery Benny/Teddy experienced and connects it with the art itself. With this in mind, the piano is a physical representation of Benny, the tortured soul who created masterful art, but who remains locked away in the basement. When Teddy sees “Benny” exit the elevator at the end, he shouts, “Benny! You’re alive!” Teddy/Benny is surprised that Benny, his real self, is still “alive.” It seems that Benny needed to come back in order to rid himself of Teddy, his public persona. When Teddy/Benny is finally able to understand that they are one in the same, he is able to end it.

We also have to acknowledge the clear parallel between Teddy/Benny and Michael Jackson. Teddy has the same hair style as Jackson and the way Donald Glover plays Teddy with a high-pitched voice makes the intention pretty obvious. But it makes you wonder. What is Glover trying to say here? Atlanta has always been interested in the idea of “making it big” and how it changes your life. We don’t get much of Paper Boi in the episode, but when we do, we see that even when he goes to a fast food restaurant he has to deal with obnoxious fans. Most noteworthy about the scene, however, is when Darius sends them pictures of Teddy’s discoloration. Paper Boi, along with Earn, ridicule Teddy relentlessly and I think this is a clear commentary on how we treated Michael Jackson in his remaining years. Growing up in the early 2000’s, I don’t remember a time where Jackson wasn’t getting made fun of for his appearance. Glover seems to be making the point that Jackson was a human being and most importantly, a deeply tortured soul. Glover wrote this episode so I have to imagine that Teddy Perkins reflects some of Glover’s own anxieties about growing old as a famous black artist. While Teddy Perkins/Benny experienced physical suffering in his past, all famous artists experience a different kind of suffering: fame.

I could go on and on about this episode. There are a ton of other theories out there about the Teddy/Benny debate. Some say that the man in wheelchair was Teddy’s father. Others say that Benny did indeed exist. But I stand by the idea that Teddy/Benny are the same person and the Benny suicide at the end is metaphorical. What really drives this home for me is when the coroners show up at the house and wheel out two separate body bags. While this may suggest that there were two separate people, right after the second body is wheeled through the front of the house, we see the piano follow it in the same exact direction. My theory, being that Benny/the man in the wheelchair and the piano are one in the same appears to be confirmed in this moment. But I still can’t wrap my head around why Darius was handcuffed at the end. Teddy says that he wants it to look like a home invasion, implying that he is about to kill himself and have it be blamed on Darius so that he isn’t remembered for committing suicide. So why handcuff Darius in the chair? I’d love to know people’s thoughts.

But finally, this is the best episode of Atlanta and perhaps, the best episode of half-hour television ever. Yeah. I said it.