‘Atlanta’ Season 4 Episode 7 Spoiler Review – “Snipe Hunt”

October has been such a busy and stressful month full of horror marathons that I haven’t had time to touch the final season of Donald Glover’s hit FX surreal comedy-drama television series, Atlanta. I caught up with the more recent three episodes of the show, and I am sad to see it end.

The seventh episode of the series’ final season is titled, “Snipe Hunt”. It is written by supervising producer Francesca Sloane and directed by executive producer Hiro Murai.

In this review, I will be discussing Atlanta Season 4 Episode 7. There will be spoilers here, as the title of this article suggests. Nonetheless, please read ahead at your own discretion.

Plot Synopsis

According to FX Networks, here is the logline for Atlanta Season 4 Episode 7—“Snipe Hunt”.

Libra men are the WORST. How you a air sign and ain’t got a passport? Ain’t nobody trynna go on vacation in the woods with bugs.

FX Networks Press Room

Discussion

Despite the simplicity that nature has to offer, there is something about this episode of Atlanta that can be mesmerizing. First of all, on the surface, it would appear that there is not much of a plot or plot structure to the narrative. Of course, I would have to prove this wrong. The first act involves a literal set-up, followed by a second act consisting of an adventure through the woods during the day.

What could the conflict be? The issue at hand does not always have to be something as intense as a serial killer is after a character, like in the previous episode. Rather, “Snipe Hunt” features Earnest “Earn” Marks (Donald Glover) trying to initiate a proper conversation with Vanessa “Van” Keefer (Zazie Beetz) about his move from Atlanta, Georgia across the country to Los Angeles, California. He intends to bring his partner and their daughter, Lottie (Austin Elle Fisher), along with him. However, his partner is avoiding this change or even having to discuss it.

I will discuss the climax and resolution, but let’s first talk about the other elements of the narrative.

Just Look

What also makes this episode so magical is Sprenger’s cinematography. There is a neat kind of parallelism in the way that the director of photography frames certain scenes or transitions. On one hand, we see Marks, Keefer, and their daughter pack their belongings out of their car. We know that the goal here is to celebrate the child’s sixth birthday. At the end of the episode, it rains, urging the family to rush back to the car to pack everything back in, with the exception of the tent.

Additionally, after the family’s tent is made, Sprenger and his camera crew show us a view of the woods from the ground looking up. Specifically, we get a shot of foliage flecked with sunlight. This is the opposite of Atlanta Robbin’ Season’s “Woods” episode, where the camera is looking down at the woods from the sky and exhibits an anxiety-inducing landscape of almost no escape. It is almost as if the writers want us to understand that the opposite exists. Serenity is in the atmosphere, and you can choose to leave at any time if you so choose.

To juxtapose, after Lottie blows out her birthday candle, Sprenger displays a shot of still, dark waters flecked with moonlight. It is also here that the writers seem to assure us that there is calmness at all times, so never fret. Marks and Keefer sleeping together in the tent at night, with a straight cut to morning, is a great parallel to the series pilot or one of the early episodes of the show where the former character wakes up in bed alone. From here, I had to surmise that this tone of tranquility can easily be broken with an intrusion in the atmosphere.

Balance

“Snipe Hunt” has fewer characters, featuring — primarily — the family members, as well as the owner of the campgrounds (Stephan Jones). This seems to tell me that the conflicting forces (which can be the intrusion) can co-exist with the atmosphere of calm and tranquility. Marks, Keefer, and Lottie embody such an intrusion into nature, and the constructions in their vicinity seem to corroborate this, more or less.

When the girl’s parents set up the tent, there is one less pole that seems to be missing. This could represent the de-triangulation of the family triad of parent-parent-child. This is a triad that stems from the mid-20th century with the “nuclear family”, the old-fashioned father, mother, and child. Today, that is not always the case, but that does not have to be a bad thing either. The missing pole properly keeping the tent in place is indicative of the potential departure of Marks heading west by himself. This could lead to a struggle in the foundation, a single-parent family in which Lottie could be raised.

We also have a building that is mostly walls and exposed doorways and windows, with not much else to it. This could represent the atmosphere of life, or rather, nature itself. The fact that the building isn’t filled with business desks or papers and it’s just an empty area with grass shows just how open things can be when there isn’t much of a disturbance. In this scene, Lottie finds a toad, but her mother tells her to let it go and not to harm it. I appreciate the sense of enlivenment/ posthumanism that Keefer has in regard to nature, that human beings can easily co-exist with plants and animals and no one person or thing has to be deeply affected. With that said…

What is Loneliness, Really?

The climax and resolution both lie in the final act. The most exciting part would be the capturing of what seems to be the “snipe”, and the end to the conflict has Marks and Keefer talking about a big change in their lives. Atlanta‘s writers do a great deal of coming full circle with something that Glover has been telling us for nearly a decade.

Back in October 22nd, 2013, the singer/writer/actor released a song titled, “3005” as part of his sophomore studio album, “Because the Internet”. The track contained the lines: “No matter what you say or what you do/ When I’m alone, I’d rather be with you/ … I’ll be right by your side”. Later that month, he spoke with FuseTV and discussed the larger meaning of the song:

All the good songs where I’m like, ‘How did I even come up with that?’ were probably remnants from dreams. … I feel like when you first wake up, you’re still close to who you really are. … Everybody’s like, ‘It’s a love song’. It’s kind of an existential thing. I’m just really scared of being alone. When I was little, there was a big dog down the street. I was really scared of it. But when I was with my sister, when I knew I had to protect her, I wasn’t afraid of the dog as much because somebody was there. I had a purpose…

Donald Glover via FuseTV, late-October 2013

“Snipe Hunt” premiered on October 20th, 2022, just close to the ninth anniversary of the song’s release date. When Lottie lets go of the snipe, we see Marks trying to protect his family from the creature. He is scared, but I don’t think his fear reached the roof, so to speak, as he had a purpose, leading that fear to be reduced. Obviously, “3005” also plays into the resolution of the episode, where Glover’s character says he only wants to be with Keefer and no one else.

The Crew of Atlanta 

Donald Glover, Paul Simms, Dianne McGunigle, Stephen Glover, Hiro Murai, and Stefani Robinson serve as the executive producers of the series. Janine Nabers serves as the co-executive producer, while Kathryn Dean and Kaitlin Waldron serve as the producers. Ibra Ake, Taofik Kolade, Jamal Olori, and Francesca Sloane serve as the supervising producers. Jordan Temple, David Swinburne, and Christian Sprenger serve as co-producers.

Alexa L. Fogel serves as the casting director. Tara Feldstein Bennett and Chase Paris serve as the Atlanta casting directors. Kathryn Zamora-Benson is the casting associate.

Christian Sprenger serves as the director of photography. Isaac Hagy serves as the editor for this episode of Atlanta. Jen Bryson, Cameron Ross, and Gracie Hartmann serve as the assistant editors. Eric Binmoeller works on visual effects, while Ashley Sengstaken serves as the visual effects coordinator.

Jen Malone and Fam Udeorji return as the music supervisors, with Whitney A. Pilzer as the associate music supervisor.

Timothy O’Brien serves as the production designer, while Taylor Mosbey serves as the art director. Tiffany Hasbourne serves as the costume designer. Liz Ayala is the set decorator. Denise Tunnell is the head of the make-up department, while Shunika Terry is the head of the hair department.

The Cast of Atlanta

Donald Glover and Zazie Beetz portray their respective main characters, Earnest “Earn” Marks and Vanessa “Van” Keefer. Brian Tyree Henry and LaKeith Stanfield are credited as Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles and Darius Epps, respectively.

Austin Elle Fisher portrays Lottie. Stephan Jones co-stars as the owner of the camp grounds.

Performances and Character Developments

The development of Marks and Keefer’s dynamic comes to an endpoint in this episode, and I found it to be touching. In most of the episodes that feature Beetz’s character (“Value”, “Helen”, and “Tarrare” amongst the others), she deals with an internal existential conflict about her purpose in life. Sure, she is Marks’s partner and Lottie’s mother. However, she is way more than that, and she is someone to be loved even more because of it.

While Marks seems to be written well in this episode, in my opinion, I believe Glover’s more morose performance lies in the final season premiere. Namely, the second episode, “The Homeliest Little Horse”, in which he reveals an issue at his former university in a room with his therapist. The actor gave a poignant performance there, whereas, in this episode, he comes off as sad in a way that he wants to avoid another loss in his life. The character desires love and company in his family, highlighting Keefer’s value as a human being.

I believe this brings about a stronger closure than with Tony and Carmela Sopranos in David Chase’s series… Now, it is Glover’s show that comes to an end this week.

Final Thoughts on Atlanta Season 4 Episode 7

“Snipe Hunt” reminds us that there is more to nature than one would think. Like the poles of a tent or the lasting concrete walls of a constructed building, this episode seems to hold up pretty well. The writers have a lot to say about parallelism, family, and balancing loneliness/tranquility with an entity that is anything but. Marks’s rhetoric in persuading Keefer to continue their life journey is poetic. It’s that very use of “3005”-ness that cannot beat Kanye’s “Blame Game”. Although, I think it’s safe to say that Malone, Udeorji, and Pilzer’s use of Sade was a beautiful addition to that theme of love.

Sprenger’s shots of the woods bring me back to Glover’s freshman studio album, “Camp”. Meanwhile, the nighttime scenes were reminiscent of “Awaken, My Love”. I had to think about the series creator’s music, and how it ties in with the show itself, so in writing this review, I revisited some of the hit songs.

Donald Glover’s Atlanta Season 4 is now airing on FX and is streaming via Hulu!

Have you seen Glover’s series? If so, then what are your thoughts on it so far? Let us know! For more comedy and drama-related news and reviews visit and follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!