Where every major character on 'Atlanta' left off ahead of season 3

The week before FX aired the season finale of "Atlanta" season two, Donald Glover debuted a new Childish Gambino song with an accompanying video. "This is America" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and went on to become one of the most popular songs of the decade.

However, life on-screen was much less prosperous for Glover's Earnest "Earn" Marks.

The "Atlanta" season finale opens with Earn arriving at a parent-teacher conference with Van, the mother of his daughter, Lottie. While there, a teacher informs the pair that Lottie is "very gifted" and excelling in all her classes.

Her teacher recommends that Earn and Van enroll Lottie in a private school, adding that it will come at a significant cost. Lottie's education, the teacher added, is being stunted by the Atlanta public school system, "which is awful."

"If I see a steer smart enough to get out of the pen," the teacher says, "I leave the gate open."

When Earn asks if there's a cheaper alternative that could be found for Lottie, the teacher jokes that Van and Earn could alternatively keep their child "in a happy two-parent household."

At the end of the meeting, Earn concludes that he can pay for school tuition with the money he will make on an upcoming tour with his rapper cousin Alfred whom he currently manages.

The scene ends with Van texting Earn that she is taking Lottie away to live with her mother.

After leaving Lottie's parent-teacher conference, Earn rushes over to a same-day passport vendor with Darius, whose passport has expired. The pair shell out $350 for a passport that will be ready in two hours.

As they wait, Darius asks Earn how he's feeling about his life.

"I know you're always at peace with everything, but my whole world's falling apart," Earn replies.

Earn's anxiety is a result of his strained relationship with Alfred, who, in an earlier episode, says that he has grown tired of Earn's poor music management skills.

Earn adds that he's getting better at managing, and Darius agrees.

"But," Darius says, "learning requires failure."

"Al's just trying to make sure you're not failing in his life," Darius says. "I mean, y'all are Black, so y'all both can't afford to fail."

Darius continues to tell Earn that Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry) won't make any final decisions about his future until the group starts the tour.

As previously mentioned, Alfred is going on tour.

Earn landed him the spot as the opening act for Clark County (RJ Walker) on the European leg of the rapper's international tour.

Just as Earn, Darius, and Alfred enter the airport, they run into Clark County and his manager Lucas (Matthew Barnes).

The group is moments away from passing through security when Earn looks through his bag and finds a gold-plated firearm, which he had forgotten to remove from his bag after he confiscated it from his uncle (played by Kat Williams) in the first episode of the season.

Earn covertly places the gun into Clark County's bag, a cutthroat move that Alfred reveals he noticed when the pair safely make it on the plane.

Alfred tells Earn that the mistake was an example of Earn's continued incompetence, which he publicly noted in an earlier episode.

Alfred had been flirting with the idea of ditching Earn and hiring Clark County's manager. However, he continues to say that Earn's ruthlessness with the gun showed him that his cousin is the only person he can trust.

"You my family, Earn, you the only one who knows what I'm about, and you give a fuck. I need that," Alfred says.

After the chaos of the gun, the airport, and the passport, "Atlanta" season two ends with a series of quiet, moving images.

The camera cuts from a tight image of Earn and Alfred on the plane to a still shot of the large sofa on the lawn outside of Alfred's home — a subversive callback to a similar sofa used by the cast of "Friends" — which has been a recurring meeting spot for Earn, Alfred, and Darius.

The scene is heightened by the sounds of Nina Simone's soulful anthem, "I Shall Be Released."

Then, suddenly, there's a sharp interruption. We hear loud banging, and the camera cuts to reveal Tracy outside of Alfred's house.

Tracy is one of Alfred's pals, and he's been staying with him since he got out of prison. But it seems Alfred has neglected to tell Tracy that he is leaving the country for months to join Clark County's tour.

"Yo, Al, let me in. Open up, man. I've got Chinese food with a side of chocolate," Tracy says as he continues to bang on the door. The camera slowly pulls away and the screen dissolves to black.