The Club (Atlanta)

At a night club named "Primal", Earn (Donald Glover), Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry) and Darius (Lakeith Stanfield) are enjoying time at a private section of the club. Earn wants to meet with a promoter who owes him money while Alfred questions how to get into the VIP section of the club.

An Atlanta Hawks player, Marcus Miles, is in the VIP section and his appearance prompts a round of applause, while Alfred barely gets any. He shares his frustrations to Darius, who remarks that Marcus has an "invisible car", showing him photos of Marcus posing on an empty space but Alfred is unconvinced. Meanwhile, Earn approaches the promoter, Chris (Lucius Baston), who is also the club's manager. Chris promises to get him the money after some errands but he evades Earn at every errand, frustrating him. When he catches up with him, Chris manages to evade him by getting in a rotating wall, angering Earn even further. The bartender, noting Earn's frustration, tells him that if he does not like the place, he should leave as complaining doesn't make him "special".

Darius leaves the section for a moment and after interacting with the security guard with casual conversation, is rejected by the same security guard moments later, as he is carrying the wrong wristband, prompting him to leave the club. Alfred welcomes more people into his section to compete with Marcus, but ejects the males when he realizes some are just trying to get collaborations with him. To complicate matters, Marcus buys the entire liquor service for the night and is leaving, further frustrating Alfred. Earn continues talking with the bartender, who tips him by giving him instructions on how to enter the rotating wall through a fire alarm. He confronts Chris, who will pay him but for a reduced fee, as Alfred's expenses reduced the intended payment and failed to meet his contractual obligations. He pays him $750 (instead of $5,000) and tells Earn to leave.

Alfred tries to flirt with a woman, but she does not plan to give her contact information and even says she has a boyfriend. Earn then informs Alfred about the money, prompting an angry Alfred to confront Chris himself. He manhandles Chris, first punching him and he hands him the rest of the money. Alfred leaves with the money after slapping Chris with it, and he and one of his cohorts take three cases of beer as they leave. Chris calls the police after a moment of awe for Alfred’s presence. Outside the club, Earn and Alfred laugh at the situation when they and the bystanders note an argument, which escalates into a gunfight. Everyone leaves, with Miles seen driving his "invisible car", hitting many pedestrians. They meet with Darius at a diner to laugh about the events, when they see a news coverage of the shooting. The report states that Alfred is wanted for questioning for the robbery. A frustrated Alfred says "fuck the club."

In September 2016, FX announced that the eighth episode of the season would be titled "The Club" and that it would be written by Jamal Olori, and directed by producer Hiro Murai. This was Olori's first writing credit, and Murai's sixth directing credit.^[1]

The episode drew attention for the "invisible car", which starts as a joke made by Darius when describing Marcus Miles. In the episode's climax, as the bystanders flee from the shooting, Miles drives the car through the parking lot. TheWrap interpreted the use of the invisible car as to how "people, mostly stars, flaunt their money in the club. After seeing how much larger and more exciting Miles' VIP section was, Paper Boi was a little bothered by it so he bought some more drinks and invited more people into his section, which was countered by Miles buying the entire club. Miles' invisible car at the end could be a testament to the extent some people will go to in order to show off how rich they are. Like, you know buying an invisible car."^[2]