How To with John Wilson Season 1

2020, HBO - 6 episodes

The Pause, as Toasty calls it, has been a rough, rough time for everyone.  Some have had it very gently rough, while others have gotten very sick or lost loved ones.  There's been a definite mental tax we're all being charged (which some have refused to pay), and it seem the best we can truly do is just sit back, consume various forms of entertainment and try not to worry too much.  Despite production shutdowns, there's been no dearth of content to consume (and even if there was the massive backlog would certainly satiate the need for unseen content), and I've found a lot to enjoy along the way, but I don't know if there's been a whole lot I've been willing to love.  But I love How To with John Wilson.

I don't know a lot about the titular Wilson, except what is revealed in the show.  He is, or was, a cameraman working for one of the shopping networks in the states, which doesn't seem like a very fulfilling occupation.  He seems a little obsessive compulsive, the way he documents his entire life on these tightly gridded pocketbook pages.  He also seems to live behind his camera, recording life as it happens, and, presumably, cataloging it. Each episode of his show, How To... purports to be a tutorial on a specific subject, and while each episode starts with that intent, it rarely ends up that way. 

The structure of the show is mainly a densely edited collage of Wilson's compiled footage on the subject juxtaposed against captivating randomness, with Wilson narrating, musing over the subject (and often the visuals) as he goes.  The narration and the visuals are in their own sort of ballet, one always threatening to get away from the other, but neither does.  It's quite beautiful and meditative, often funny, frequently insightful and occasionally emotional. Invariably the subject of the episode gets away from Wilson as he stumbles upon a unique personality, or opportunity to explore a world he never knew about.  He finds himself with some truly bizarre people (like the episode about plastic furniture coverings which puddlejumps into someone's foreskin restoration basement business) but Wilson's own social anxiety and gentle demeanor never raise the stakes with these odder sort, and even if Wilson can't exactly relate to them, he still seems genuinely interested in what they're about.  

The final episode of the season, "How to cook the perfect risotto" is built around the beautiful relationship Wilson has with his elderly landlady, and his wanting to cook her her favourite food --risotto-- to repay her for her many kindnessess, but the story becomes something even more bittersweet as the early stages of the Pandemic hit and Wilson can't sit down to a meal with her, or watch Jeopardy with her every night.  When he calls from the second floor window - "Hey Mama" (she insists he call her "Mama") - their first potential contact in weeks, but she can't hear him because she elderly and hard of hearing, is one of the most affecting things I've watched in years, and really reinforces the loneliness that the pandemic has caused. (I now just randomly say "Hey Mama", but more "Hey Mowmow" to my kitty in the same cadence).  There's a beautiful ending to that story though, and it's so worth watching.  It's all worth watching.

Wilson's eye for capturing the unique and beautiful and strange is impressive, as is his ability to trim a clip to its perfect length.  He roams the streets of New York City and the show, even though it leaves the city more than once, is through and through a tribute to it and its radically diverse group of oddball denizens.  It really hits home how unique New York (tongue twister) is, how much I would never want to live there, and yet how kind of baffling and marvelous it is that it exists.