The sixth episode of the Atlanta season 2 is something difficult to shake off of your head. It will take a while for us to get the show out of our minds after watching it.

Now, now, we are not talking about it being something like Hill House but after watching the Teddy Perkins episode it will leave a bitter taste and a feeling of confusion. And we know many are still not able to get the proper hold of the episode whether it be the characters like Teddy Perkins or his brother Benny Hope. That’s why we will be helping you get a clear picture of what Teddy Perkins is really about.

The “Teddy Perkins” Episode

 

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As usual, the Atlanta series opens with a new tale, with the character Darius who found out about a wealthy family who owned a valuable piano and will be getting it for free. Then he goes to get the free treasure in his rented U- truck. Then he finds himself in front of the mansion, Darius parks his truck and gets into the mansion. After he entered the mansion, he found a mysterious pale-faced man, Teddy Perkins who has a mysterious and strange aura surrounding him.

Now to be noted this is where most of the viewers get creeped out by the look of this mysterious man, who not only has an unnatural look but also gives off a blending emotion of creepiness, mystery, and fear and not to mention him being all alone in that huge mansion.

Teddy then tells Darius that his brother is now bound to a wheelchair and suffering from a skin condition so he looks after him. But Darius doubts what Teddy said and assumes Benny is actually Teddy who just wants to be hideous about his identity.

Teddy tells him about the abuse he and his brother Benny Hope went through at the hand of their father who trained them to become successful musicians. Then Teddy shows him the gift rooms and Darius is granted the piano and he tries to leave the mansion with it through the elevator. But he landed in the basement and found another person, in a wheelchair who was covered in a bandage assumed to be Benny.

Then Benny wrote on a chalkboard to get a gun from the attic and told Darius that Teddy will kill them both but Darius ignored him and tried to leave immediately. Then when Darius’s truck was blocked by Teddy’s car, he goes back to find Teddy and finds him watching a movie all alone.

Then Darius tries to distract and escape him but Teddy threatens him with his gun, takes him down the foyer, and handcuffs him. Teddy tells Darius that he planned to sacrifice him as an intruder who killed the wheelchaired man. Meanwhile, the elevator doors opened and Benny, the wheelchaired man appeared in front of them.

This surprised both of them and Darius came to the realization that Teddy was telling the truth about Benny. Then Benny takes the gun, who is already injured with a bloody wound on his stomach, shoots Teddy, and then shoots himself afterward. Police arrive and take the piano as evidence along with the dead bodies. Darius was left without a piano but with lots of confusion and was shocked about everything he has gone through.

Okay, now we are gone through the creepy man Teddy but what left us confusing and disturbing is Teddy Perkins’ ending. It made us question Perkins’s identity, Who Teddy Perkins really is? And what’s up with the confusing ending?  Let’s figure this out.

“Teddy Perkins” Theory: Who is Teddy Perkins?

Teddy Perkins from the Atlanta episode of season 2 is a mysterious character throughout the series, giving us a chill down the spine. But who is he? First let’s know Teddy Perkins’s actor, Donald Glover, who is one of the main cast of the Atlanta series. Glover portrayed Teddy’s character where he stayed with the whiteface makeup throughout the whole shooting of the show. For him, it was a new experience that is totally different from all other episodes of Atlanta.

Now coming to the confusion of who Teddy might be, we have come across many Teddy Perkins theories. Let us look into it.

Teddy Perkins being the Neglected Child

This is the first theory we will be going with and it sits with what is shown in the episode too. Teddy was not as successful as his brother Benny and hence he might have been neglected by his father. But it also says how their father trained them and abused them to be successful. Benny took the abuse and became successful but Teddy couldn’t meet his father’s expectations which made him feel disappointed in himself. And this shows that he really respected his father and hence was taking care of his successful brother until now.

But then, he lost it and now he wants to be free of all the inferiority he has been ignoring and wants to stop following his father and living under the shadow of his brother. He wants to be free from everything and he thinks he can be free only if he kills his brother.

Teddy is the Daddy

Another one of the theories of Teddy Perkins is that there is actually no Teddy or any brother. Teddy is the father who is abusive to Benny and who trained him roughly to make him a top pianist. This concept also fits the ending of the show as it ended without any clue. Teddy is still being the abusive father and keeping Benny under his thumb just like he used to do. As we have seen in the whole episode when it comes to father and son it’s mostly about Benny and his father but not much about Teddy.

Even at the end of the show, the home movie shows only Benny and his father. Might be before the start of the episode Benny lost his patience with being controlled by his father and went through a lot, which affected him both physically and mentally and led him to the wheelchair. And Teddy, the father, is kind of a psychopath who thinks it’s better to get rid of Benny who can’t be used for success anymore.

Benny is the Daddy

Now it’s the reverse of Teddy being the daddy. What if it’s Benny who is the daddy? That makes sense, right? Let’s know how this concept fits the episode.

If Benny is the father then it means Teddy is actually Benny the top pianist but now he has left the life of success that for him, actually is the life of manipulation and abuse. Now Benny wants to live the life of Teddy Perkins hiding from the people and also free himself from the trauma he has been through under his father’s control.

This concept seems to be going well with the episode plot, don’t you think? Now as Benny wants to live a new life he still can’t escape because of his father who is alive not just physically but who still is alive inside Benny as a haunting ghost. So now Benny is torturing his father who is wheelchaired and trying to find a way to kill him, that’s when he plays the piano bait but to no avail.

Teddy Could be the King of Pop

Teddy is shown with his pale white skin which he called a rare skin condition and his sharp look that totally resembles Michael Jackson. And Teddy telling about his father being abusive who trained him and his brother to be successful also fits right with Michael Jackson’s father Joe Jackson who was said to be abusive toward his children. So the character of Teddy is inspired by the famous pop king and we can see why most of us agree with this concept.

The Story also Relates to Marvin Gaye

Another theory that we can’t let pass is the plot relates too much to the real story of another popular singer Marvin Gaye. Gaye, who died after he was shot by his father, takes us to the ending of Teddy Perkins and to our concept of Berry being the daddy as mentioned above. Apart from the ending, Gaye’s father Marvin Gay Sr. was said to be very dominating, controlling, and abusive, which also fits Teddy’s father.

So now which do you think is the best theory-fitting Teddy Perkins? Or it could be the blending of all the concepts as it shows that each of the concepts fits the story somehow. The episode still has its confusion but these are the few theories we can put to the story to make it less confusing, as we have been left in doubts about the mysterious brother or not, from Teddy Perkins.