Andrew Wyeth. Alfred's World.

In October 2022, FX announced that the ninth episode of the season would be titled "Andrew Wyeth. Alfred's World." and that it would be written by supervising producer Taofik Kolade, and directed by executive producer Hiro Murai. This was Kolade's third writing credit, and Murai's 25th directing credit.[1]

The title of the episode is a reference to Andrew Wyeth's painting Christina's World, in which a woman poised on the ground looks up towards a grey Colonial Farmhouse on the horizon, the Olson House. Her back toward the viewer she leans forward using her arms for legs as she drags herself across a treeless tawny field. The painting is partly re-imagined in the episode for a scene in the climax, where a wounded Alfred crawls towards a house, only to be stopped by a river across him.[2]

The episode was watched by 0.126 million viewers, earning a 0.05 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale. This means that 0.05 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode.[3] This was a slight decrease from the previous episode, which was watched by 0.190 million viewers with a 0.06 in the 18-49 demographics.[4]

"Andrew Wyeth. Alfred's World." received extremely positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating, based on six reviews.[5]

Quinci LeGardye of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B+" and writing, "Though this chill bottle episode is underwhelming as a penultimate outing, it does follow the overall Atlanta style. Strip away the unpredictability — shifting genres, impeccable needle drops, surrealist flair, and gorgeous filmmaking — and Atlanta's about a group of people making their way from a life of hustling to a future of some sort of peace and calm."[6]

Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone wrote, "That final exchange includes a much weightier line than Earn intends, when he tells Al, 'Atlanta's not going anywhere, y'know?' The city is not, but the TV show named for it goes away one week from tonight. That's it. No more. Finis. And just as 'Snipe Hunt' felt like it was putting a button on Earn and Van's story, this one plays as if it could easily be the conclusion to Al's."[2]

Ile-Ife Okantah of Vulture gave the episode a 3 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "I wish the episodes were longer; I bet if this was an hour long and had a more detailed plot, I would have rated it 4 stars, but sometimes it feels like a lot to smash into a half-hour episode. Call me greedy, but a talent like Brian Tyree Henry needs more time."[7] Christian Hubbard of Full Circle Cinema gave the episode a perfect 10 out of 10 rating and wrote, "Episode 9 gives the fans one final chance to really spend some time with one of the actors who has benefitted the most from the success of Atlanta. Since the show's debut, Brian Tyree Henry, who found early success on Broadway before the show, is now a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Eternal Phastos and in hit action films like Godzilla vs. Kong and Bullet Train. The man is a bona fide movie star, and it will be bittersweet to see him walkway from the role of Paper Boi. However, this episode serves as a perfect example of his talent. It's going to be exciting to follow Henry on his path toward even more greatness. The episode ends with a reminder of the wholesome brotherhood Earn and Alfred have as they argue over if Black people can get sunburned over Facetime featuring the soulful tunes of Ray Charles' 'Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying.'"[8]