Atlanta Fans Are Stuck On The Murderous Pig Moment From Season 4, Episode 9

Donald Glover's "Atlanta" premiered to FX in 2016 and continued at an irregular pace, returning for a second season in 2018 and a third season in 2022. Then, Season 4 kicked off in September of 2022, just months after the conclusion of Season 3 in May. Season 4 will be the final season of "Atlanta," which Glover explained he decided simply out of a desire to end the show on its own terms.

Reviewers praised "Atlanta" Season 4 right off the bat, describing the three episodes circulated among critics prior to the season's premiere in largely positive terms. Since then, viewers shared plenty of positive feedback themselves about this season as it aired each week. For example, fans were impressed by "Atlanta" Season 4, Episode 8, which essentially forgoes its entire core cast and becomes a mockumentary about how Disney compromised the artistic vision of the man behind "The Goofy Movie."

Episode 9, which serves as the penultimate episode of "Atlanta," first aired on November 3. The episode revolves almost entirely around Alfred Miles, aka rapper Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry) taking a stab at life on a rural farm. In one scene, Alfred kills a wild hog with a cast iron pan, which prompted some lively discussion among fans in the wake of the episode's premiere.

Partway through "Atlanta" Season 4, Episode 9, Paper Boi finds a pack of feral hogs threatening some weed plants he's growing in a shed on his farm. While at first he struggles to fend off the invasive pigs, near the episode's end — and after a tractor accident injures his foot — he clobbers and kills one with a cast iron pan, in what essentially amounts to the first big win of his new rural lifestyle.

In a Reddit discussion thread about the episode, both users icarekindof and FrommundaCheese shared how much they enjoyed this moment, and wrote that they'll miss "Atlanta" after it ends one episode later. Meanwhile, user Ok_Profession_5060 felt that this scene implies Al is exceptionally strong, given the force required to kill a pig with a blunt instrument. User iamthewalrus23 likewise emphasized this point, writing, "How many rappers can say that they literally killed a wild pig?"

In an interview with Hypebeast, Brian Tyree Henry discussed his personal connection to Paper Boi. "I truly do love him. I love every single thing about him. He represents the parts of me that I'm a little afraid to show," he said. For both Henry and the numerous viewers that count themselves as fans of the character, then, Alfred murdering a pig may rest as one of the character's final series triumphs, simultaneously cathartic and absurd in typical "Atlatna" fashion.