A peek into Earns childhood explains why he is the most flawed character of Atlanta .

Warning: This recap includes discussion of suicide.

The latest episode in the series second season, FUBU, follows a pivotal day in young Earns life, opening on a scene at Marshalls with his mom. He convinces her to buy a questionably discounted yellow FUBU jersey, because name brand is everything. Eager to stunt on his classmates at his middle school, young Earn shows up the next day ready to gain the validation and status that hes presumably never experienced prior.

His fly aspirations come to a screeching halt, however, when another boy in his class, Devin, arrives in a FUBU shirt that looks very similar to his, but isnt quite the same. Their peers note the differences Earns has two stripes with no patch, Devins has one stripe with a patch and determine that one is fake. The quest to find out which commences, spanning the entire school day, as Earn tries to dodge FEBE jokes from other kids and heed his cousins advice: to just be confident in himself. Eventually, Al swoops in as he still does in the present to save the day, convincing the other kids that Earns shirt is real and Devins is fake.

What Earn didnt know is that Devin needed this win much more than he did. After being bullied by some older teens and experiencing issues at home, Devin killed himself. Earn and Als moms learn of the news and tell the boys to look after each other, right after reminding them that what a black man in America wears matters.

Robbin Season has repeatedly highlighted how much we value materialistic things. Yet, in the pursuit of money or status, every one of the shows major characters has lost something greater something that actually matters. On this weeks Run That Back, Julia Craven and Taryn Finley examine true highway robbery, the relationship between black people and our clothes, black kids mental health and how Earn has yet to learn from the lessons life tried to teach him as a child.