Atlanta’s Robbin’ Season is over, and it almost looked like our favorite walking mistake maker Earn was about to pilfered of something very precious… his freedom.
In the season 2 finale titled “Crabs In A Barrel,” Earn is on a mission to prove that he is not just a total screw up. The episode picks with Earn and his daughter Lottie riding in a Lyft. He is late to a meeting with a potential entertainment lawyer for Al but it’s entirely not his fault, his gospel singing driver refuses to follow her GPS but instead let her faith be her guide.
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When Earn finally arrives they get straight to the point with the Christian the lawyer. He breaks down his list of clientele to Al and Earn that includes some singers, rappers, and four Love and Hip Hop Atlanta cast members. Al is not impressed when the lawyer tells him he will charge 5% which happens to be the standard any lawyer will charge.
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On their way out Al makes it clear that he wants his manager to find him the one thing all hip-hop acts seem to have and that is a Jewish lawyer from a prominent firm.
With that out-of-the-way, Earn has some daunting tasks ahead of him. He has to help Al and Darius move out of their apartment and make sure the trio catches their international flight. Thanks to Earn’s competition Lucas, Al is now a part of Clark County’s European tour. Which is why Earn is busting his ass to prove he is still of value when it comes to team Paper Boi.
Earn arrives back at the apartment with the moving truck for the movers. Which is strange because you would think a moving company would have a truck. Upon greeting them, Earn notices that man in charge of the team is drinking a beer.
A bad omen already for things to come.
Earn quickly makes sure everyone is packed and ready to go. Al quickly reminds his cousin about the golden gun his Uncle Willy gave him in the season 2 premiere. Earn takes the gun, puts it in his bag and promises to take care of it. We all know that gun will come into play later on in the episode.
Another issue Earn learns he has to deal with is the fact that Darius’ passport is expired. Earn just can’t seem to catch a break at all. Darius who is always insanely calm reassured Earn they can fix the situation because he knows a spot where he can get a new passport in a day. Oh, he did all of that while enjoying a game of chess by himself.
Poor Earn, the guy just can’t seem to catch a break. He heads to parent-teacher conference with Van. They learn that their daughter is an advanced student and not a hair-eater, whiteout sniffer or a classmate-biter as they initially feared. The teacher recommends that Earn and Van should enroll their daughter in a better private school with a “reasonable tuition.”
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Earn and Van immediately starts counting their funds and their heads and make a pitch for the teacher to allow Lottie to stay in her school. She gives them a very honest answer and tells them her school is awful. Earn asks for some cheaper alternatives that and she suggests having their daughter in a healthy two-parent household.
We all know the possibility of that happening is a long-shot being due to the state of Van and Earn’s relationship at the moment. On their way out the classroom, Van stops and asks the teacher if she would have told them school was bad if Lottie was a regular student? She got another honest and very real answer from the teacher, “no if i see a steer smart enough to get out of the pen, I leave the gate open.”
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Before they part ways we get a moment between Van and Earn that almost gives us hope the two can work things out. We get a touching moment between Earn and his daughter Lottie when she traces his beard when he says goodbye to her. It causes the struggling character to shed a tear and Van sees it. Instead of expressing his feelings, Earn decides to just shrug it off.
We reach the episodes most thought-provoking moment and of course, it features Darius. They arrive at the special place that replaces your passport in a day and it’s run by Jewish people. When the clerk calls them up he makes the incredibly accurate assumption that they are part of a rapper’s entourage. Rappers tend to procrastinate. Earn is impressed and shocked at the same time because he truly thought he “shit out of luck” when it came to replacing Darius’ passport.
The service doesn’t come cheap and Darius pays $350 fee with his Rush Card.
The clerk ironically asks if Earn is in need of an Entertainment Lawyer and that his cousin is “primo”. Earn asks the clerk if there is a black lawyer that is as good as his cousin. He honestly answers and says there are but black lawyers don’t have the connections his cousin has due to systemic reasons.
Real.
Source: Curtis Baker/FX / Curtis Baker/FX
Earn receives a text message from Van telling him she’s considering taking Lottie and moving back with her mom. The news hits Earn like a punch to the stomach but it leads to a very real moment when Darius turns and asks Earn the one question he should have been asked a long time ago and that is he doing alright? Earn reveals he is not doing well and he asks Darius if he is going to fire him?
Darius tells Earn he doesn’t know but it’s a possibility but in his own way breaks down the situation where Earn can understand. Hood Yoda also drops some serious gems in the process on Earn who tells Darius that his world is falling apart.
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Everything is now coming full circle for Earn.
They make it to the airport in the nick of time to catch their flight. While rushing Earn even shuts down an airport worker asking him to apply for a credit card which was his old job at the beginning of season one.
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Here is where things get very scary for Earn. While at the TSA checkpoint, Uncle Willy’s gun comes back into play because of course Earn forgot to get rid of it.
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Earn’s facial expression is that of a person who knows they are seriously screwed. He asks for another bin, it’s in that moment Earn somehow managed to put the gun in someone else’s bag. Earn dodges a serious bullet and makes it on the flight.
While waiting to take off, Earn and Al holds that much-needed conversation about his job. Al lets his cousin/manager know that his job is safe because Earn knows what he needs. He also reveals that he saw what he did with that gun so that also played a part in his decision to keep Earn.
This is where things get really interesting, Clark County boards the plane and tells them that it was his manager Lucas that caught with the gun. Earn tells Al that he put the gun in Clark’s bag initially so that means Clark either pulled a doubler switcheroo or he made Lucas take the fall.
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Talk about a close call, now if anyone was wondering about Tracy? Well, we learn no told him they were moving and we find him outside with some Chinese food and a date. Earn got his revenge on Tracy and it also showed, in the end, Al values blood over friends.
Season 2 was damn near flawless and last night’s season finale was the perfect way to put an end to Robbin’ Season. Hit the flip for more reactions from the episode.
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Photo: Atlanta FX
