The Most Atlanta

In August 2022, FX announced that the first episode of the season would be titled "The Most Atlanta" and that it would be written by executive producer Stephen Glover and directed by executive producer Hiro Murai. This was Glover's tenth writing credit, and Murai's 21st directing credit.[1]

Darius' storyline was inspired by a real-life event. During the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis, a video spread showing a woman in a wheelchair confronting looters with a knife.[2]

Alfred's storyline drew parallelisms to rapper MF Doom, who served as an inspiration for the fictional artist Blueblood. Consequence noted that MF Doom, "similar to Atlanta's fictional rapper, had a reputation in hip hop for being larger than life never being seen without a mask, sometimes sending impersonators to perform as him at shows, and only having his death publicly reported by his family months after the fact."[3]

During the episode, music by the fictional artist Blueblood is heard as part of the scavenger hunt. Earl Sweatshirt provided the vocals for Blueblood.[4]

The episode was watched by 0.216 million viewers, earning a 0.1 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale. This means that 0.1 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode.[5] This was a 42% increase from the previous episode, which was watched by 0.152 million viewers with a 0.1 in the 18-49 demographics.[6]

"The Most Atlanta" received critical acclaim. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 95% approval rating with an average rating of 8.4/10 for the episode, based on 22 reviews. The site's consensus states: "'The Most Atlanta' lives up to its name by showcasing all of Atlanta's satirical savvy and surrealistic flourishes, promising a final season that feels like coming home."[7]

Quinci LeGardye of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A" and writing, "'The Most Atlanta' turns that concept into a full-fledged horror in a way that's so visceral and so Atlanta that I plan to show clips of it to anyone who asks, 'So what's that series about?'"[8]

Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone wrote, "'The Most Atlanta' brings us back to the titular city. It offers stories featuring all four leads. And, like Atlanta does so often at its best, it dances along a very blurry line between genres, so that we are watching a trio of horror stories of varying kinds that at different points leak into mystery, comedy, relationship drama, social commentary, and more. It's an utter delight."[9] Ile-Ife Okantah of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Coming back to Atlanta is the perfect and most obvious way to begin such a bittersweet ending, bringing the characters and actors back to where it all started. Atlanta is at its best when exploring themes of race, power, and culture through the core characters, and it's hard to capture that outside of, well, Atlanta."[10]

Alison Herman of The Ringer wrote, "By returning to its home turf, Atlanta sets up an easy, simple narrative: by going back to the place and people it knows, the show goes back to the humor and storytelling that made it a phenomenon. But if there's any show that resists simple narratives, it's Atlanta, which avoids linear plotting like the plague. So it's fitting that the reality is a bit more nuanced."[11] Jeremy Mathai of /Film wrote, "The inexplicable oddities, slice-of-life tangents, celebrity cameos, and unsettling blend between reality and the surreal threaded throughout each prior season remained present and accounted for... thankfully, all of which is back and bolder than ever before in season 4."[12] Kyndall Cunningham of The Daily Beast wrote, "The first episode though, appropriately titled 'The Most Atlanta', is some pretty light, plot-less fare, combining the show's surrealist method of storytelling with some local, in-house humor."[13]