In episode 8, Atlanta follows Alfred, AKA Paper Boi, into an overwhelming hallucinogenic induced Dantean trip that pushes the rapper to ponder on vital questions concerning the future of his career. Spoilers ahead!

The eighth episode of Atlanta’s third season, “New Jazz”, kicks off with Darius (LaKeith Stanfield) taking Alfred ( Brian Tyree Henry) on a stimulating trip in Amsterdam. Their first stop is set to be at a coffee shop where they plan on taking a mysterious hallucinogenic drug known as a “Nepalese space cake”, whose components remain a mystery as Darius puts it, followed by a relaxing spa session – everything at Alfred’s expense.

On their way to doing what Darius calls “spiritual expanding apparatuses”, so not drugs, they come across a person who seems to have collapsed in the entrance of a building and is now twitching and moaning. Their face is obscured by a Goofy hat and most of their body is hidden under a blanket, perhaps carefully placed there by a concerned passerby.

“That’s a tourist,” Darius confidently points out to Alfred who has stopped to study the stranger, “don’t be like him!”. This warning is doubled by the barista who serves them the space cakes. The barista asks Alfred if he’s sure about this, since he doesn’t seem to have much experience, unlike Darius, who looks like he “has seen the other side”. Alfred mockingly responds by saying he had to watch the movie Cats sober with someone who lied to him about having some “dank” (potent weed). However, the Nepalese space cakes they are having are dank and beyond and Alfred never makes it to the spa.

As they walk down a busy street in Amsterdam, with Darius trying to figure out which way to the spa, the episode turns on Alfred as a group of erratic young men recognize him and start chasing after him down the street. He quickly manages to hide from them inside a building from where he watches the group steal a baby from a stroller and start playing toss with it, the mother’s horrified screams painting the background. At this point, it becomes obvious to us that Alfred is textbook tripping, but not so much for Alfred, who cluelessly strolls down the rabbit hole.

So far, the episode faithfully mirrors the eighth episode of the second season, “The Woods”. There too Alfred goes through the gauntlet to learn an important lesson after he starts off with a day planned by a friend. In “Woods”, Ciara (Angela Wildflower) is Alfred’s old friend and a stripper whose massive social media following propelled her to a profitable web stardom. Alfred ends up having a sparring with her over what he sees as her intrusive social media related behavior. “I’m real”, he barks at her as he storms out of the salon where she took him to get a pedicure. He starts walking home and soon sees his day degenerating when he runs into a group of boys who first state their admiration towards him and then proceed to mug him. Alfred gets chased into the woods, all beaten up, where he spends most of the night with an eerie apparition of a rambling homeless man on his tail who, we are led to understand, is Alfred’s projection of his father. At the end of the episode, Alfred has breakthrough as he comes to the realization that even though he may not enjoy fame as much as Ciara does, he must work with it and harvest it to his continuous advantage i.e. be more professional.

At the end of “Woods” Alfred stops resisting his rise to stardom and poses for a selfie with a fan, even though he looks and feels like he’s been through the meat grinder.
Image: IMDb /

While “Woods” felt more connected to old Delta blues mythos, “New Jazz” is far more ambitious in its references and connotations and has Alfred playing Dante Alighieri as he descends into a version of hell where his Virgil is a projection of his mother, Lorraine (Ava Grey).

From the get-go Lorraine banters Alfred and speaks uncomfortable truths. She is evidently a manifestation of his own concerns as she brings up the fact that his closest friends are paying him fake compliments for their own financial gain. This is pointed particularly at Darius, who in the beginning of the episode complements Alfred’s fedora. The hat makes the rapper feel goofy and obviously becomes an obsession as the Nepalese space cake begins to work on him. Atlanta effectively expresses this visually by having Alfred trade his fedora for an actual Goofy (the Disney character) hat.

Lorraine’ also gives voice to Alfred’s paranoia towards Earn who manages the most important financial aspects of his career. Alfred reacts strongly to this only to be silenced by the question “who owns your masters?”. As Lorraine illuminates him, the recordings all future copies of his music will be made from are potentially the most profitable aspect of the music business. Alfred does not know who owns them. But he takes note of it. Then they ends up in celebrity hell.

Alfred’s own opion about how he looks in his new hat brings forth all the other insecurities and doubts he’s been having, like about his cousin running the financial side of business.
Image: IMDb

The duo ends up in a chic underground Amsterdam club where Alfred is questioned by eccentric people about his relationship to Lorraine and, most important, he runs into no one other than Liam Neeson. Just like Dante touring the nine circles of Hell in the Devine Comedy, Alfred becomes acquainted with one of the most significant sinners of the circle. In this case the sin of the circle is revealed by the name of the club, Cancel Club. As Neeson explains himself, he founds himself there for the remarks he made back in 2019, when he told of how, over 40 years ago, in the wake of the rape suffered by a friend of his, he actively started going to black areas in London hoping he would be set upon by black men so that he could take revenge.

The encounter flips the narrative on Alfred, as he is obviously star struck and states that he still “fucks with Taken”. His admiration for the actor also seems to have him believe that Neeson has moved past that episode. But as the actors puts it, they (the black community) have tried to ruin his career and until he will get over it they will be mortal enemies. Aghast, Alfred questions Neeson’s capability to learn from his mistakes. “That’s the saddest and best part about being white. You don’t have to learn anything if you don’t have to” Neeson responds as he leaves and Alfred is left to understand that he does not have that choice.

Lorraine gets Alfred out of Cancel Club just as they were about to make him perform and their journey ends outside where she puts a stop to it as he stops feeling his legs and is unable to speak. We see Alfred collapsing in the entryway of a building, with his Goofy hat on and Lorraine carefully placing a blanket over him. After she leaves, we hear Darius and Alfred stopping in the background and talking. We overhear “That’s a tourist” and “Al, don’t be like him!”.

When Alfred wakes up he’s in his hotel bed. He finds out that Earn, the person whose loyalty he questioned through Lorraine, not only went out looking for him and found him passed out on the street, but changed him into his pajamas. Alfred asks who owns his masters and he gets his answer. He does.

Just like in “Woods”, in “New Jazz” Alfred evolves professionally and realizes that he will either play the game he is in properly, or he will not be satisfied, otherwise he will be just a tourist.

Don’t Be A Tourist: Breaking Down Episode 8 of ‘Atlanta’