As expected, "Atlanta"'s season three finale throws plenty of curveballs our way. The main question on our minds: what the hell is going on with Van? For the past three seasons, the single mom and former teacher has been struggling to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Her weeks-long escape to Europe was meant to help her avoid her problems back home in Atlanta, but season three's final episode finally forces Van to face those issues head-on — with a little help from her old friend Candice (played by Adriyan Rae).
"Tarrare" quite literally takes us on a wild goose chase as Van drags Candice, with her two friends in tow, around Paris sporting a fake French accent while she gets into all sorts of trouble — including violently beating a man with a stale french baguette and crashing a dinner party where fried hands are served. Wild, we know. But the episode's conclusion eventually makes sense of Van's confusing situation.
"I don't even know who I am," Van says. "Earn knows who he is. Lottie knows who she is. But who the f*ck am I?" Season three's finale doesn't give Van a straight answer, but it sure does help her realise she needs to go home to figure out what's next for her — which is pretty much one of this season's themes in a nutshell.
Everyone is trying to figure out their purpose and where they're going, all while navigating a world where they often feel "other." Though season three ends with its focus on Van, Robinson notes that her predicament can apply to any of the main characters' circumstances.
"I feel like her experience is just so singular in a way that sums up how everyone's feeling, at least, emotionally," she explains. "I think it's such a strong ending that it feels like a good way to wrap up that experience of Europe, the chaos of it, and what it means to go away from home . . . ending with Van and having her give more voice to the experience that they're all having feels like a good way to sum it all up."
Season three's finale brings Van a sense of closure, but not before leaving one last breadcrumb to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. In that final close-up shot of the framed family photo from Earn's mysterious delivered bag, Robinson confirms that's the same man who recalls the haunting story of Lake Lanier in season three's first episode, "Three Slaps."
"I think it's just one of those things that reintroduces that dreamlike quality, that all of these things have been connected," she explains. "It's almost like the final episodes that you're seeing that don't involve our main cast are part of the same universe, and it's that confirmation of the beginning that it's like a dream. When you do see that guy, it's something that Earn has dreamt before. And it's connected abstractly, but I think this brings it all together. It's our way of saying, 'Hey, this thing is real a little bit. This isn't just something that exists theoretically out there. This is something that is very much a part of the fabric of real life' — specifically, their real world as well."