Warning: Contains Spoilers for Atlanta season 4, episode 7.
Atlanta season 4, episode 7, may have just offered a hidden clue to the show’s finale. After several outings that leaned into Atlanta‘s knack for absurd hilarity, the show offered its viewers a quiet and revealing look into the relationship between Earn (Donald Glover) and Vanessa (Zazie Beetz). To celebrate the birthday of their daughter, Lottie (Austin Elle Fisher), Earn rents out a campsite so that the trio can spend some quality time together. But Earn’s also focused on getting Vanessa to move to Los Angeles with him, a task that’s easier said than done, given the pair’s complicated history.
The title of Atlanta episode 7, “Snipe Hunt,” factors into the story when Vanessa suggests that Lottie go hunting for a snipe. Vanessa describes the animal as a sort of mythical creature — with its red eyes and the fact that it only comes out at night when the moon is full. The truth is, Vanessa just wants to give her daughter a task and keep her focused. Lottie’s is sullen over the fact that she wants her parents to be together but is resigned to the possibility that it won’t happen. She might not be the only one who is focused on an ultimately futile exercise, as the “Snipe Hunt” title also points to the fact that in the final season of Atlanta, Earn and Van might not get the happy ending that the episode’s conclusion suggests.
What Atlanta’s Snipe Hunt Really Means
There’s a second meaning of “Snipe Hunt” that provides a clearer window into what the show is really trying to say. That second meaning is: “a practical joke in which an unwitting victim is sent in pursuit of something that does not exist.” In one sense, Atlanta suggests that the practical joke is being played on Lottie: she’s being sent in pursuit of a thing that does not exist. However, in the episode’s biggest moment, during the emotional core conversation between Vanessa and Earn, there’s a hint that with Atlanta nearing its end, Glover’s character is pursuing a life with Vanessa that will never exist in the way that he wants.
Why Snipe Hunt Might Mean No Happy Ending For Atlanta
Once their daughter is asleep in the tent, Earn opens up for a brutally vulnerable moment. He disagrees with Vanessa that he only wants her to join him in LA, for his new job, so that he won’t be lonely. He tells her that he’s in love with her. He says, plainly, at one point: “I’m fighting for you, Van. You know me, I don’t fight for anything.” Viewers know, too. Or at least they have a better understanding, as earlier in the season, Earn’s trust issues are revealed to have stemmed from childhood abuse and gutting betrayals.
Vanessa has her reasons for being reluctant. Over the course of four seasons, fans have seen the two barely tolerate each other, they’ve seen them fiercely argue, and casually hook up. As the series comes to a close, after a time-jump and Atlanta‘s European tour, they’ve finally arrived at a good place as amicable co-parents. There’s a subversion that happens in “Snipe Hunt.” Lottie does actually capture a wild animal, to the temporary horror of her parents, until they de-escalate the situation. But it’s never clear whether it’s actually a snipe that she’s found. There may be a subversion that happens in the other direction, as well. Once Earn pours his heart out, Vanessa merely responds with a muted ‘okay‘. She could be won over or just worn down. In the long run, it might not be the victory he thinks it is.
Atlanta is too subtle to underline Vanessa’s muted response or the fact that her daughter seems to be awake in the tent, listening to the whole thing. Lottie ends the camping trip with a smile on her face, believing that her parents have fixed their issues. With the series finale just weeks away though, there may be a few indications that Earn’s grand gesture didn’t resolve everything.
New episodes of Atlanta season 4 air every Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX and release on Hulu the following day.
