"FUBU" is the tenth episode of the second season of Atlanta. It is the twentieth episode of the series overall. It was released on May 3, 2018 on FX.
Premise[]
Y'all youngins don't know nothing about this. This one takes me back to middle school. Shout out Miller Grove!
Plot[]
In 1998, a high school-aged Earnest Marks unenthusiastically shops at Marshalls with his mother. He asks to go home, tired from being at school, until he wanders off and notices a yellow FUBU-brand shirt on sale that he convinces his mother to buy so long as he does his chores. He lays awake with excitement the next day until his alarm goes off, and he throws on his new shirt. On the bus, he receives a compliment from his friend about the shirt and they talk about math homework until a boy in the front tosses his half-eaten yogurt cup out the window, and it flies back into the bus and hits an older boy in the back. The bus watches as he punches the other boy in the face. At school, Earn receives more positive attention for his shirt, including a compliment from a girl he likes, Erica, until his classmate Devin enters wearing the same shirt. A group of boys conclude that one of their shirts is fake, but their substitute teacher enters before they can figure out which. One of the kids mocks the substitue for his weight, ignoring threats of punishment.
Alfred Miles is reprimanded by the principal for trying to sell a student's stolen calculator back to him, which Al tries to pass off as racial profiling. He points out that the buying and selling of items is illegal in school in the first place, so therefore the student that reported him must also be punished. Al is sent back to class under warning of being sent to in-school suspension if he sells things again. As Al leaves the office, he announces that his classmate is snitching to everyone in earshot. Earn explains the situation with the shirts to his white friend, who does not understand why it matters. Earn insists that if he gets labeled as the kid with the fake shirt, he will stay that way forever, citing a classmate nicknamed "Booger" that his friend does not remember the real name of. In science class, Earn's classmate smirks at him as the teacher tries to get an unresponsive student, Denisha, to do work. Earn is passed a note while he works asking if he likes Erica, and he checks the "yes" box and passes it back. He gets another note asking if his shirt is fake, and he checks the "no" box. He gets passed a third note asking if he is sure, because Erica does not date broke people. Earn notices a thread hanging off the armpit of his shirt and hastily tears it off before anyone can see, but realizes Devin was watching him.
The older boy from the bus and his friend corner Earn outside, accusing his shirt of being fake and laughing at it. Earn notices one of the lunchmen smirking at him as he gets food, and sits with his friends, who warn him that whoever's shirt is fake will be bullied for the rest of their time in school, and that Johnny, the resident shirt expert thought to be absent that day, has arrived late and is up to date on the situation. They watch Devin be harassed by the same older boys, his shirt also accused of being fake as he storms out of the lunchroom. Earn approaches Al, (who is still hoarding items to sell in his locker) who asks if he watched Dragon Ball Z last night, Earn stating his mother forbids him from watching him because of the blackface design of the character Mr. Popo. Earn explains his shirt predicament and Al tells him to act confident until he can take care of it for Earn.
Earn hurries through the hallways with his sweatshirt covering his shirt after class in hopes of avoiding the older boys, but one notices him and drags him over to the other, where Devin, the boy who first pointed out their shirts, and Johnny are waiting. Johnny checks the tag and concludes Earn's shirt is fake because it was made in Bangladesh, but Al interferes and convinces them it should say Bangladesh, Johnny supposedly having a bias towards Devin's "MADE IN CHINA" shirt because he is Chinese, (although Johnny points out that he is Filipino) and the boys begin to bully Devin for his apparently fake shirt. Walking to the bus, Erica gives Earn her number and he watches as a group of older boys harass Devin.
The next day, Earn is no longer wearing the shirt as the principal informs the class that Devin committed suicide the night before, citing his parents' divorce as a possible cause. As he leaves, the teacher reminds the students that they all have personal things happening in their lives, and for others to take heed of those things when they interact with each other. Denisha arrives late but enthusiastic and ready to learn. Earn comes home to find his and Al's mothers sitting and talking, Al sitting in their living room. Earn's mother asks after Devin, having heard that a possible cause of his death could have been bullying, and tells Earn to tell someone if he is being bullied. His aunt warns him that people will push him around his whole life he lets them, and his mother reminds him that he and Al need to look out for each other. Earn bemoans having to wear a suit for his piano lesson tomorrow, but his mother emphasizes the importance of a black man in America looking good. She also notes that she bought him another FUBU shirt, as they were on sale again. Earn drops his backpack on the couch and sits down with Al to watch TV.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- This is the first flashback episode in the series.
- There are several hints the episode takes place in the fall of 1998:
- Earn has a poster of Outkast's album Aquemini in his bedroom. The album was released on September 29, 1998.[1]
- Alfred steals the Rush Hour soundtrack from a locker. The movie premiered on September 18, 1998.[2]
- Alfred is a fan of Dragon Ball Z. Reruns of the anime's English dub began airing on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on August 31, 1998.[3]
References[]
- ↑ Wikipedia "Aquemini". Retrieved May 4, 2018.
- ↑ Wikipedia "Rush Hour (1998 film)". Retrieved May 4, 2018.
- ↑ Wikipedia "Dragon Ball Z". Retrieved May 4, 2018.