Tarrare (Atlanta)

Lore & Background

In the episode, Van's friend Candice and her friends Shanice and Xosha discover Van in Paris speaking exclusively with a French accent. Van takes them to her apartment, where she is a model and has a partner named Marcel. She then brings them to a hotel to see actor Alexander Skarsgård, implying a sexual relationship, and plants drugs on his bed before leaving. The group later goes to a housing project to pick up a package, but find it missing and their mopeds sabotaged. A gang appears, referring to Van as 'Tarrare', but leaves when a fight breaks out. Van confronts Emilio at an art gallery, attacking him with a stale baguette to retrieve the package. At a party, Skarsgård confronts Van about the hotel incident; Van spits on him. The package is revealed to contain human hands, which Marcel cooks for guests. Van breaks down when asked about her daughter Lottie, trashes the kitchen, and later tells Candice she felt lost and passively suicidal, concluding she needs to go home. In a post-credits scene, Earn receives a missing duffel bag containing pill bottles, a Deftones shirt, and a white family portrait, zooming in on the white man who shares his name.

Reader's Guide

The episode was critically acclaimed, with praise for the writing, Zazie Beetz's performance, Alexander Skarsgård's guest appearance, humor, and emotional tone. However, some critics were critical of the decision to not include the rest of the characters and relegating Earn to a post-credits scene, feeling it did not work as a season finale. The episode's title references Tarrare, a French showman and soldier known for his unusual appetite, which the A.V. Club analyzed as symbolism for Van's consumption of different identities to mask pain. The writers planned the episode as a bottle episode to explain Van's presence in Europe, with writer Stefani Robinson stating that ending with Van distilled the chaotic experience of the characters in Europe. The post-credits scene connected anthology episodes to the main narrative, suggesting that the stories are not random but tied to the characters' experiences. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.152 million household viewers and gained a 0.1 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.

Did You Know?

• The episode features a guest appearance by Alexander Skarsgård, who appears as himself.
• Donald Glover personally contacted Skarsgård, who agreed to appear in the episode.
• The episode is titled after Tarrare, a French showman and soldier noted for his unusual appetite and eating habits.
• The post-credits scene brings back a character named 'Earn' (played by Tobias Segal) who previously appeared in 'Three Slaps' and 'The Big Payback'.