Helen (Atlanta)

In February 2018, FX announced that the fourth episode of the season would be titled "Helen" and that it would be written by Taofik Kolade, and directed by Amy Seimetz. This was Kolade's first writing credit, and Seimetz' first directing credit.[1]

In November 2017, it was announced that Amy Seimetz would direct two episodes for the season.[2] For the episode, she used 100mm and 200mm lenses, explaining "it makes it feel like they're being spied on the whole time. Very creepy like somebody's watching them the whole time and we get that vibe of alienation like, 'Oh wow, there are these two black people here', people just staring at them the whole time, so Earn can never quite feel it in his skin."[3]

The episode was watched by 0.499 million viewers, earning a 0.3 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale. This means that 0.3 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode.[4] This was a 12% decrease from the previous episode, which was watched by 0.561 million viewers with a 0.3 in the 18-49 demographics.[5]

With DVR factored, the episode was watched by 1.25 million viewers with a 0.7 in the 18-49 demographics.[6]

Amy Seimetz's direction received universal praise from critics.

"Helen" received critical acclaim. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 91% approval rating for the episode, based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10.[7]

Joshua Alston of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B+" and wrote, "Honestly, this show is far better at exploring its characters as individuals than it is at shading the relationships between them. So it's probably for the best that Earn and Van start to focus on themselves."[8]

Alan Sepinwall of Uproxx wrote, "The series is plenty fantastic when Van's not around, but 'Helen' is a reminder of how much value she brings to things, even if Earn can't quite see it."[9] Matt Miller of Esquire wrote, "The episode doesn't give an answer, and it doesn't need to, because regardless of whether they're together or not, the situation itself is heartbreaking enough. Would they have had a 'happily ever after' if the financial and societal factors have been different? On any other given sitcom there would have been a resolve, there would have been a happy ending. But sometimes an ending isn't an ending — and that's a whole different kind of heartbreaking."[10] Bryan Washington of Vulture gave the episode a perfect 5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "It means something, I think, that as Van watches Earn pull away from the window, there's loss but not sadness. She doesn't linger. She's on to her next move. And I deeply, deeply hope we get to see what that next move is. Because if Robbin’ Season has shown us a collection of people who lose things, or have things taken from them, Van is the first character this season to come out clean on the other side."[11]

Leigh-Anne Jackson of The New York Times wrote, "The game seemed so simple, yet they seemed unbelievably impressed by his performance. Had he actually won? Or were they just making a fool of him? This was yet another scene paying homage to Get Out."[12] Jacob Oller of Paste gave the episode a 8.8 out of 10 rating and wrote, "Equally scary is the finality of it all. The arbitrary, exhausted finality of the penultimate scene is the unavoidable depression of a breakup that's been seen coming, plastered over, and rotted hollow. They've been tangled in this game too long for its participants to ignore. Now that the game is ended, it's clear both players were experts, but the only way either could win was to stop playing."[13] Miles Surrey of The Ringer wrote, "'Helen' culminates with Earn staidly escorting Van to her apartment door, the dynamic moving forward a series of business transactions about shared bills and their daughter. At least for now. Nothing in Atlanta is ever really set in stone — even before 'Robbin’ Season' started — and for every step a character seemingly takes, there's something that takes them two steps back. There's nothing surreal about that; it's just human."[14]

TVLine named Zazie Beetz as an honorable mention as the "Performer of the Week" for the week of March 24, 2018, for her performance in the episode. The site wrote, "In their breakup scene, Beetz didn't have to scream and cry to get her point across; instead, she was quietly resolute as Van firmly told Earn, 'I want to be in a relationship where I'm valued as a human being, and not as an accessory you can f—k.' Let's just hope Van and Earn's split doesn't mean this is the last we'll see of Beetz's deep, delicate performance."[15]