"Teddy Perkins" is the sixth episode of the second season of Atlanta. It is the sixteenth episode of the series overall. It was released on April 5, 2018 on FX.
Premise
Darius is trippin in this one. Y'all know I woulda been left.
Plot
On his way to an unknown location in a U-Haul truck, Darius stops at a shop and and notices a hat with the confederate flag and the words "SOUTHERN MADE" on it. He buys the hat and scribbles out some of the letters, making it read "U MAD", earning a disapproving look from a nearby woman.
He arrives at his destination, a decrepit mansion owned by Theodore "Teddy" Perkins, a pale man that exhibits strange behavior: eating an ostrich egg with his bare hands, leaving messages for himself on a tape recorder, and taking a picture of Darius without his permission. Darius is there to pick up a piano with multicolored keys that he found on Craigslist, and Teddy tells him the piano belonged to his brother, Benny Hope, a famed pianist that is now a recluse because of his photosensitive skin condition. As Teddy wanders off, Darius hears piano music coming from upstairs. When he tries to enter the room it is coming from, Teddy answers the door and blocks his way in, claiming Benny is sleeping. Darius notices an empty wheelchair at the piano.
As Teddy goes to get Darius a glass of water, Darius calls Alfred Miles to update him on the piano. Al insists that he leave, and though Darius agrees that Teddy's strange behavior might be him trying to keep Darius in the house, he still wants the piano. He tells Al that he believes Teddy and Benny are the same person. Alfred tells him to be blunt with Teddy, and ends the call while he, Tracy, and Earnest Marks laugh at pictures of Sammy Sosa, inspired by Darius comparing him to Teddy.
Teddy shows Darius the Benny Hope gift shop he created, discussing his plan to turn the house into a museum for his brother, as well as an exhibit that is just a mannequin wearing a suit. Teddy explains the mannequin is his father, who used to beat him and Benny until they practiced piano, wanting to turn them into prodigies. He claims the exhibit is a tribute to all abusive stage fathers that "motivate" their children to become stars. When Darius presses Teddy to give him the piano, he starts signing tax paperwork to legally let go of the piano, during which he raises his voice at Darius when he tries to sympathize with Benny's disease. Before loading the piano into the mansion's elevator, Darius notices blood on one of the keys.
The elevator accidentally takes him to the basement, where meets the mute, wheelchair-bound, masked Benny. He communicates to Darius via a small chalkboard that Teddy plans to kill them both, and that he needs to get a shotgun stashed in the attic. When Darius goes back up to the foyer and tries to leave with the piano, he finds that Teddy has parked his car so that it blocks Darius' truck. He finds Teddy watching a home movie of his father threatening Benny while he plays the piano, and Teddy reveals that he knew of Benny's plan, having watched Darius the entire time on the house's hidden camera system. He points the gun from the attic at Darius and orders him into the foyer.
As he has Darius handcuff himself to a chair, he tells him his plan is to make Darius look like an obsessed fan who murdered Benny and was killed by Teddy in self defense. As Teddy sets down the gun, Darius tries to empathize with him, telling him about his own abusive father and how he would try to justify it by pretending it was normal. He subverts the words of Teddy's father, telling him that "not all great things come from great pain. Sometimes it's love." He tries to appeal to Teddy's love of Stevie Wonder, saying that Wonder "saw through his music." As Teddy ignores him, Benny comes up through the elevator, seizes the gun, and kills his brother. He has Darius pass him the poker he was going to use to attack Teddy and kills himself by using it to pull the gun's trigger. As the police arrive and take the bodies away and the piano as evidence, Darius watches from his truck, troubled, before driving away.
Trivia
- Throughout the episode it's hinted that Teddy Perkins is actually Benny Hope himself. More than likely due to he's upbringing, Benny has created the identity of Teddy as a coping mechanism.
- Some outlets compared the Teddy Perkins/Benny Hope character to Michael Jackson. Atlanta writer Stefani Robinson commented that while it was "undeniable that there are references to Michael Jackson and the idea of someone changing themselves within the industry"
- Donald Glover remained in character during the entire filming process. Many on set found it creepy and others had little to no clue it was in fact Donald Glover; he was even addressed as "Teddy" by the director and crew.
- Collider said that the decision to run the episode commercial-free aided the episode's message of "being trapped" as the viewer is never given a break.
- The episode takes several ques from 1960 novel, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? A psychological thriller about the toxic relationship between two aging sisters, former Hollywood stars Jane and Blanche Hudson. Jane, once a famous child performer known as Baby Jane, lost her popularity as Blanche became a celebrated actress. After a mysterious car accident left Blanche paralyzed, Jane became her caretaker, but years of jealousy and resentment drove her to torment her sister in a spiral of cruelty and madness. As Jane's mental state deteriorates, dark secrets about their past emerge, leading to a shocking climax.
- Hiro Murai was nominated for the 2018 Emmy Award in the Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series category for Atlanta: Teddy Perkins (2018), but lost to Amy Sherman-Palladino for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Pilot (2017).
- The episode won 2 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation & Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour).
- During the 2018 Emmy Awards Teddy Perkins (played by comedian Jay Pharaoh in similar makeup)[1] appeared alongside the cast of Atlanta.