The episode focuses on a dream being had by Earn of an African American boy, Loquareeous, who lives with his mother and grandfather and is boisterous at school.
The white teachers and administrators at his school are troubled by his mother and grandfather's perceived abusive behavior and call social services when Loquareeous's family physically assaults him in front of the guidance counselor.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.310 million household viewers and gained a 0.1 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
The episode was also praised for it not acting as a de facto premiere, as none of the main characters apart from Earn appear, nor are the events of the past seasons mentioned.
When the teacher announces that they will be taking a field trip to see the new Black Panther movie, Loquareeous dances with joy, cheered on by his classmates.
While his mother insists that her child be put in detention, the counselor suggests that Loquareeous is acting out because the schoolwork is too challenging for him, and that he belongs in special ed, with the mentally disabled children.
The counselor then runs into his mother in the hall, as she forces Loquareeous to dance before giving an intense warning about how white people can harm and kill him if he doesn't take their rules seriously.
Loquareeous is put into a foster home, where a married, white lesbian couple consisting of Amber (Laura Dreyfuss) and Gayle (Jamie Neumann) are his new parents.
They have three adopted black children: Lanre, Yves and Fatima, who are totally silent, sickly and thin, and only communicate with him with their eyes and facial expressions.
Loquareeous begins noticing a strange behavior with Amber and Gayle, who seem to force the kids into adopting their alternative lifestyle and is further frustrated when they nickname him "Larry" because of his long, "difficult" name.
In a series of images based on the viral photos of Devonte Hart, Loquareeous is forced to wear a "Free Hugs" sign and stand in front of their booth.
Starving and frightened, and sick from eating the raw chicken they feed the kids, Loquareeous flees his captors and grabs onto a cop, begging him for help.
After neighbors report that the children are sickly and starving, a new child services worker arrives to inspect the house, where she notes the poor treatment that the kids are receiving.
The scene cuts back to regular Atlanta characters on tour in Europe, with Earn (Donald Glover) waking up in a hotel room next to a woman, suggesting that he had dreamed all the events of the episode.
The site's consensus states: "Atlanta reintroduces itself with a self-contained premiere that may initially come across as a digression, but winds up reaffirming the series' core thesis with horrifying power.
"[13] Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone wrote, "Together, 'Three Slaps' and 'Sinterklaas is Coming to Town' are a reminder of everything Atlanta can be and do, whether it's the stark nightmare of the former or the back-to-basics ensemble shenanigans of the latter.
It tapped a deep vein of racial disparity and capitalist brutality, all while nailing the complete existential ruin of social media right before hating Silicon Valley went mainstream.
"[17] Kelly Lawler of USA Today gave the premiere a 3.5 star rating out of 4 and wrote, "there was never a question of whether there's a place for "Atlanta" all these years later.