“We can be good together, but only when we really have to be. And I’m slowly figuring out that maybe we don’t have to.”

That’s Van, short for Vanessa, waking up to the reality of her “relationship” with Earn in the television show, "Atlanta."

It’s taken her a full season under the show's belt to get there, but she finally arrives.

The episode kicks off with Van getting her way. Earn has agreed to accompany her to an out-of-town Oktoberfest gathering that she’s been looking forward to.

This episode has a heavy reminisce to the movie, “Get Out,” as the two drive up. They’ve left Atlanta for the village of Helen and, while cruising through the countryside, they nearly run into a wild boar in the road (in the film, it's a deer.)

As a viewer, you’d think the young and black couple would be a bit more concerned about their safety, but they aren’t. Van is more concerned about Earn enjoying himself at the festival. “I don’t think you’re going to like it,” she says.

The moment they arrive at the Bavarian-style hamlet, she shakes off her previous concerns and dives right into all the activities of the fastnacht festivities. She’s ready to show off everything from her braided halo to her German dance moves. She excitedly schools Earn on all the cultural "dos and don’ts" as they approach, including a caveat about the possible presence of attendees in traditional blackface.

“When you were a kid, didn’t you feel weird about that?” he asks, as two elderly white women gawk at them from the window of a shop.

“I used to,” she replies nonchalantly. “But I’m kind of like the Serena Williams of the festival. They hate, but they can’t deny the stats.”

If you’re baffled by the customary games and unsettlingly creepy masks that fill the hall, then you’re right there on Earn’s side. Van, on the other hand, was so at ease and confident, cocky even.

That is until Earn’s discomfort curbed her enthusiasm. He declined to dress up in any type of traditional clothing, wasn’t picking up on any of the social cues and refused to wear a mask like many of the other men. He quickly surrendered on that last one when a handsy white woman mistook his actualface for blackface.

“Sometimes I feel like she wants me to be lame,” Earn confides to Dave, the boyfriend of Christina (Van’s friend) and the only other biracial woman at the event.

“That’s what girls do when they like you. They just want to twist their life up with yours, that way it’s harder to disconnect,” Dave tells Earn.

In a last-ditch effort to find some quality time in such unfamiliar territory, Earn lures Van away from the dance floor for a quiet game of ping-pong. “It’s the only white game I know,” he says.

This is where things veer off track.

She easily defeats him, but does so in front of an audience, bruising his ego.

Though he knows she’s in her element, he dismisses the festival as stupid. She points out that she goes along with his plans all the time, simply to spend time with him. Take last week’s strip club date night as one example and attending one of Alfred’s concerts as another.

“That’s paying your bills,” he snarls.

“You can be real mean,” she says, and then walks away.

Van tries to salvage her night by returning to the festivities but finds no comfort in her friend Christina. As it turns out, they’re more like frenemies. Once again, Van is face-to-face with a woman from her past who has chosen a different life path, a choice that’s driven an unspoken wedge between them.

During an introduction to Christina’s white friends, Van is referred to as “Lotte’s mom” and “Earn’s girl,” but never as an individual in her own right. This rubs her the wrong way and she wants to know why.

“Since we were kids, I chose white, you chose black,” Christina says condescendingly. “It’s like you needed that identity.”

“You literally just told me that I’m going to be a ‘baby mama’ and that’s okay because I ‘chose black!’” Van snaps back at Christina.

By nightfall, she’s lost her friend, her man and now her cell phone, thanks to some traditional German “demon thief” prankster.

A flirty bartender she met earlier slides up during the hunt for her phone. Instead of hitting on her, he helps her gain some perspective. “You should start a relationship with yourself,” he advises in German.

She breaks from the pack of people to relieve herself in a dark alley. A tall, demon-like figure has been lurking behind her. She hits him, finds her phone and finally musters up the courage to tell Earn the truth.

“I want to be in a relationship where I’m valued as a human being and not as an accessory,” she says.

“This arrangement works for me,” Earn replies dryly. She lets a ping-pong rematch decide their fate. Her terms: “If I win, then you don’t have to see me unless it’s about Lottie or money.”

Sadly, Earn doesn’t put up much of a fight. If he’d shown the same fierceness he did in initiating last episode’s race against Michael Vick, Van may have seen some proof that his heart was really in their relationship. As it was, he begrudgingly picked up the paddle, she won the best out of five games and finally accepted the truth she’d been avoiding since the beginning.