Review ‘How To with John Wilson’ Season 2 – The Hollywood Reporter

With “How To Cook the Perfect Risotto,” the sixth episode of the first season, HBO’s How to be with John Wilson has transformed from quirky, emotional into one of the best TV shows of 2020. A lot of people have tried, but no part of TV has yet captured in a profound and enjoyable way the mess of confusion. of the social alienation that emerged in the early days of the COVID pandemic.

That episode and its effectiveness are organically derived from Wilson’s particular brand of curving curiosity, but I don’t think anyone, including Wilson himself, will tell you it has renewable. That makes it not a criticism, but an accepted necessity, that the second season of How to be with John Wilson does not present an episode that is intended to be or is likely to become a new version of “Risotto”. And once you accept – yes, this sounds a bit like the John Wilson narrative – that How to be with John Wilson hasn’t magically deconstructed to be the best TV episode of the year every week, it’s easy to still appreciate that the show’s second season is overall smoother and more confident in its storytelling. its compared to the first part; it’s less of an unexpected treasure, but still capable of surprising.

If I praise non-stop How to be with John Wilson didn’t make you watch the first season, here’s the brief introduction: Wilson is a filmmaker who has disrupted the New York media for years, working on unplanned mini-projects, private commissions and seems to have even appeared on some shows on his own. All the while, he travels around New York City with his camera running, capturing the mundane and breathtaking aspects of everyday life. It is purely observable and, one can only assume, baffling in its unedited scope.

In How to be with John Wilson, executive produced by Nathan Fielder and themed by Nathan Fielder, Wilson begins each episode with a seemingly simple, possibly trivial, thing that interests him. In addition to the aforementioned risotto, a conundrum that is as literal and metaphorical as all Wilson’s queries tend to be, the first shows Wilson weighing in on Gotham’s popular scaffolding, good things. the society of checking checks, enhancing your memory and the process and reasoning of wrapping your stuff. Each episode is stitched together from Wilson footage, loving glimpses of people, places, and things that have a direct, ironic, or fundamentally silly connection with topic under discussion.

In each case, however, the mere spelling of the title is merely a gateway to autobiographical exploration, interviews with others who share his passion, and ultimately pictorial reflections. major on urban life or broad psychology. It’s how Wilson’s attempt to make his mistress a plate of risotto gradually turns into a test of little kindness that has left isolated people clinging to sanity in the spring of 2020.

Also cleverly limited to six episodes, the second season looks ostensibly to offer advice on topics ranging from proper battery handling to wine enjoyment – seemingly a companion to the set of memories from the season. first – 30 minutes start by considering the process of recalling your dreams. The pandemic, which made an impact on the first season finale, is only admittedly over.

Although Wilson did not decide to impose an elaborate myth or sequential structure to his adventures in Wilson-Verse, he did celebrate his mistress status as the breakout character. of the first season by giving her a role in two episodes. And while there’s no indication that the first season, no matter how much acclaimed, made Wilson a celebrity – his on-camera appearances are limited enough that even fans The show’s graves can also see him in the street without even realizing him – he occasionally uses the powers of nearby HBO to gain access to certain locations and appears to be a mortgage. That’s not to say no one understands exactly what Wilson is doing.

Even Wilson wasn’t always sure, though his description of “It’s like a memoir/essay and it takes place in New York” is a more effective description than I’ve come up with. . The second part is more assured in following that memoir/essay structure. His own story is more clearly laid out, whether it’s introducing viewers to his embarrassing first film. Jingle Berry – is now mentioned on his Wikipedia page in an edit we watch him make – and his history with cappella, leads to a twist that I dare not spoil.

Perfecting these individual essays from their starting point through various detours and leading to broader thematic observations is also more elegant. I can’t be sure if the added polish is involved in any way with the extensive writing staff that includes, among others, Susan Orlean. But since Wilson totally feels like some sort of unorthodox obsession, someone Orlean could build a book or at least a chapter of the book around, seeing her name at the end of the episodes less surprises than you might initially imagine.

Wilson is, personally, delightfully strange and socially awkward for How to be with John Wilson to really become “regular”. His approach to wine and learning to understand its aroma will always be accompanied by animations of vomit on the sidewalk. He’ll always find the truest and most serious (yet humorous) use for, among other things, a support group for fans of the film. Avatar or more random and unexpected celebrity guests. His open interviewing style and visits to places or businesses tied to his subject give a sense of Mister Rogers ‘Neighborhood’ if Fred Rogers is an introvert, his neighborhood is Queens and his biggest concern is finding a parking space in front of his apartment.

However, the extra layer of art sometimes makes Wilson’s conclusions seem a little less creative and a little less summed up. You can follow his thoughts more clearly and even periodically guess where an episode is going. That’s not a bad thing. These six new episodes may not have moved me as much as “How To Cook the Perfect Risotto” did, but they are all humorous, eye-opening, unifying portraits of curiosity and How to be with John Wilson Still a special program.