Though she never goes anywhere herself, Mel (Natasha Rothwell) spends her days working at New York’s JFK Airport, helping people travel to exciting new destinations.
At 35, she’s trying to figure out what in the world she’s going to do. She’s single, she’s broke, her family is disappointed in her. She’s aware of the irony that, although she works at an airport, she’s afraid of flying. She also works with her ex, Alex (Jocko Sims); she ended the relationship as a precaution more than anything else—disappointment has become her norm. To pass the time, Mel imagines herself as other people, be it successful-looking travelers at the airport or performers at a bar—anything to distract from the misery of her life.
When Mel has a near-death experience involving crab rangoon and a falling cabinet (on her birthday, no less), it throws her whole life upside down, and pushes her to make a decision: After nearly four decades of misery, it is time to turn her life around.
Refreshingly, How to Die Alone—the new series from Hulu and the Onyx Collective now available for streaming—doesn’t take Mel on some grand Eat, Pray, Love-style adventure to find herself. She doesn’t quit her job and run off on a globe-trotting adventure. (Even if she wanted to, it’s not exactly in her budget.) Rothwell’s series is much more grounded than that.
She doesn’t do anything dramatic, like quitting her job and setting off on a road trip, or anything outlandish, like trying to accomplish a remarkable mental or physical feat. But Mel isn’t going to settle anymore. She joins a management program at work, tries to find romance, and works to sort out her family relationships, particularly her complicated rivalry with her brother Brian (Bashir Salahuddin).
Rothwell has been funny for a long time, particularly as the fiery, unfiltered, and joyous Kelli in HBO’s Insecure, where she stole every imaginable scene from her co-stars. (Rothwell also wrote for the show.) In Season 1 of The White Lotus, she showed a different side as Belinda, the quiet, longing hotel employee whose dreams were built up and promptly shattered by a wealthy guest (Jennifer Coolidge). Rothwell’s performance felt the most genuine and heartfelt in a star-studded ensemble.
In How to Die Alone, Rothwell gets a richly deserved lead role—one she uses to full advantage, exploring all sides of her comedic persona. She’s also the show’s creator and showrunner (alongside Vera Santamaria, who wrote for PEN15 and Orange Is the New Black). It’s a fantastic showcase for Rothwell. Mel is a well-rounded character brought to wonderfully vivid life. It’s a joy to follow her in these eight well-paced episodes. She’s tremendously charming and vulnerable, unafraid to explore the darkest and most desperate aspects of Mel’s life.
The show’s most accurate reflection of the world is its exploration of the workplace. It’s often a miserable, too-low-paying experience, but the camaraderie among colleagues—if you like them enough—makes the experience bearable. The supporting cast is terrific, from baggage handler Terrance (KeiLyn Durrel Jones) to the airport’s bird handler (a very funny H. Jon Benjamin), and makes How to Die Alone feel fleshed out and vibrant.
Most episodes open with street interviews that set up the themes, whether moving on from toxic friendships or hooking up. These brief moments allow reality to enter the series while helping Mel feel like a genuine person—she does similar things to the people being interviewed, and of course she’s just like us.
The move can be a touch clunky—Rothwell is so great that How to Die Alone doesn’t need to do any further convincing that Mel feels and acts like a real person. She’s funny and lovable and clumsy and makes some stupid mistakes, some perfectly reasonable, others more controversial (fraud is never the best decision). There are some fun creative flourishes too, breaking out into the odd musical number, or a particularly funny scene that explores the effects of taking Percocet.
Conrad Ricamora and Natasha Rothwell
Ian Watson/Disney
But underneath all the laughs—and there are an awful lot of them—How to Die Alone taps into a remarkable sincerity that makes watching the series such a treat. This is a show about discovering yourself and what you want from life long after it’s deemed acceptable to do so. There are long, difficult conversations between Mel and her best friend Rory (Conrad Ricamora), her brother, and her work rival Patty (Michelle McLeod). It tackles big concepts like infidelity, love, and death with respect, but it’s not afraid to laugh at the darker elements of life either.
How to Die Alone is far more fun than its bleak title suggests. It’s a hilariously, terrifically performed show that doesn’t deserve to die. Let’s hope How to Die Alone has many more seasons to come.