Nobody Beats the Biebs
Meanwhile, Earn crashes an agents meeting for possible connections while Darius gets into trouble at a shooting range for his choice of target.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.860 million household viewers and gained a 0.4 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
Alfred approaches reporter Valencia Joyner (Paloma Guzman) for an interview, but she is not interested in him, deeming him part of "gangster things", which seems to upset him.
At a press conference, Bieber apologizes for his "cool" behavior and proceeds to sing a song from his upcoming album.
Joyner states that Alfred should "play his part" as the public wants him to be "the asshole" instead of Bieber due to his rapper status.
In August 2016, FX announced that the fifth episode of the season would be titled "Nobody Beats the Biebs" and that it would be written by story editor Stephen Glover and directed by producer Hiro Murai.
Thrillist drew comparisons to the series Ray Donovan, which had an episode that raised the question of a "Black Justin Bieber".
[2] The Huffington Post viewed the episode as a form of exploring "real Bieber's famous appropriation of black culture as well as Hollywood's habit of whitewashing minority roles" as well as how "America can be so accepting of real-life Bieber's public fallouts and how that is likely a result of his white privilege.
"[6] Alan Sepinwall commented, "Imagine if the real Bieber behaved the way he always does, and got into the trouble he usually does, only he looked like the actor playing him here, rather than a slightly more androgynous Kate McKinnon?
"[7] Ashley Ray-Harris from Inverse said, "Since 2014, pop culture has attempted to make the point that Bieber is an 'honorary black person.'
This ignores the fact that his whiteness helped him achieve the level of success he's attained, and it allows him to freely appropriate from black culture without being viewed as a gangster or jerk like Alfred.
'Biebs' is the type of episode I might resent in a theoretical third or fourth season of this show, but for now, it's all a part of Atlanta's subtle, smart appeal.
'"[7] Michael Arceneaux of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Alfred wants people to know 'the real him', but it doesn’t matter to the outside world.
"[12] Michael Snydel of Paste wrote, "This isn't an episode that offers up open-ended questions about the show's views on the media.
"[13] Grant Ridner of PopMatters gave the episode an 8 out of 10 rating and wrote, "'Biebs' smartly subverts its bottle episode trappings by establishing two distinct settings: the court where Alfred dukes it out with Bieber, and the posh VIP area where Earn finds himself after Janice mistakes him for 'Alonzo', a former coworker.
