How to Die Alone definitely finds its groove mid-season as the show moves forward in a way that’s comfortably predictable yet never cliched. In a world where new shows aren’t given enough time to bake with shorter seasons and smaller budgets, How to Die Alone uses familiar TV tropes to move along the storytelling while delivering refreshing writing and allowing the actors room to make the characters their own (Natasha Rothwell and Bashir Salahuddin did their thing!) in a mere eight episodes. For example, Thanksgiving episodes are a staple across genres; the opportunity for ensemble acting and getting a peak into our main character’s psyche through the lens of their family dynamic makes for great television. The Bear’s critically acclaimed episode “Fishes†comes to mind as a recent demonstration of how well holidays work as a backdrop for drama, and How to Die Alone’s take on the holiday stands out for similar reasons — but with much less yelling and a lot more laughs.
Melissa’s holiday has all the classic Thanksgiving episode elements — from the snarky, backhanded compliments from family (“I didn’t know that Rainbow sold blazers.â€) to a frazzled mom of young children trying to impress her mother-in-law, plus a hilarious holiday at the airport opening scene. But it’s the small moments within this formula and the conversations they spark that highlight the rawness of the series. With her freshly pressed hair, new blazer, and career updates, Melissa is all of us going home as a strange superimposition of our past, present, and want-to-be future selves. How to Die Alone wonderfully depicts how family events bring out a certain existentialism in us as we slip back into the old childhood habits that directly contribute to our fears, traumas, accomplishments, and dreams as grownups. For Melissa and her brother Brian, sibling rivalry, grieving their father while grappling with feelings of abandonment, and the pressures of making their mother proud continue to cloud their adult worldview.
We’ve gotten glimpses of Melissa’s dynamic with Brian, with episode four ending with Melissa’s revelation that he is active on dating apps despite having a wife and children. The two aren’t close, as illustrated by their constant bickering, and tensions completely boil over when he hosts Thanksgiving at his home after their mother, Beverly, suffers an accident and can’t cook at her place. As Brian’s wife, Sara, prepares the take-out Boston Market to taste homecooked (not that those sweet potatoes would ever fool Beverly), Brian hides in the bathroom, messaging a woman named Tia on a dating app, vaguely mentioning his apprehension about facing his sister on Thanksgiving. What he doesn’t divulge is that he knows Melissa stole his social security number, but he refuses to confront her to keep their mother happy. Unbeknownst to him, Tia is actually Melissa catfishing her brother in an attempt to catch him cheating red-handed. They chat throughout the day, with Brian unknowingly venting his feelings about his sister to his sister, adding even more friction in real life.
Beverly arrives first with a witty sidekick friend, prepared to judge Sara’s white woman cooking to the best of her ability, complete with a bag of seasonings brought “just in case.†Then, Melissa joins, anxious to introduce her family to the new her, gushing about management training and her forthcoming Maui trip, but immediately catches digs from her mother, placing her firmly on the defense. Overhearing Melissa talk about Maui, Brian also finds himself on the defense, questioning how she found the money to fund such a trip. As dinner proceeds, Melissa and Brian continue to throw shots — though there is a brief armistice as they wait for Beverly to wrap up her amazingly theatrical prayer — until telling childhood stories turns into a blowout fight about Brian’s daddy issues (I do have to agree, though, The Lion King is the crown jewel of American animation). Sara urges Melissa to cut Brian some slack, casually dropping the bomb that they’re planning to have another kid. Shocked, Melissa messages Brian as Tia, asking to meet in person later that night.
Brian ditches his family to meet with Tia after dinner, saying he’s getting drinks with his friend. Melissa arrives, ready to eviscerate her brother for his duplicitous behavior. They quickly return to bickering, unleashing their insecurities and resentments under the guise of an argument. Brian rants on about the pressures of manhood, and Melissa ruminates about feeling put down by their mother as Brian looks down from his pedestal. They push each other’s buttons and stomp on nerves like no one but your sibling can, but the anger drives them to openly express the hard feelings chipping away at their relationship. Brian takes it to the finish line with a final blow — he says Melissa is a “35-year-old with a dead-end job and no friends to pick her up from the hospital. She is so broke and so dishonest that she stole my identity.†With the truth on the table, Melissa admits to both counts of identity theft, telling Brian about Elise’s credit cards but asking for empathy for what she’s been through, promising she’s grown as a person. Brian denounces the scamming, but the siblings let their guards down after a childhood memory acts as a balm for their injured relationship.
After calling a truce, Brian digs below the surface of his marriage, answering the question I’ve been wondering for a while: why is he exclusively cheating on his white wife with Black women? As a TV fan who writes extensively about race, I found this conversation intriguing and ahead of the curve — in a post-Obama world, there are rarely candid conversations of this nature about interracial relationships, with media too often using rose-colored glasses to depict a strange two-dimensional, utopian future where everyone’s children look like that infamous National Geographic issue. How to Die Alone flips this on its head with Brian opening up about feeling that he’s missing out on “Black love†and that he finds it challenging to connect with Sara on certain levels because she’s white, saying sometimes he wants to talk to someone who looks like him. Melissa suggests leaning on herself or their mom, but Brian emphasizes how it’s not the same when he’s the family’s caretaker, bringing it full circle to the pressure on his shoulders.
There wasn’t any more in-depth analysis of Brian craving an intimate connection with Black women in the episode, but if you ask me, there didn’t need to be. Just allowing him to say that it’s something he misses while his sister holds space for his thoughts (and reminds him that cheating and having a second child is not the answer) was enough. When it’s Melissa’s turn to be open, she discusses her own daddy issues, stating that for her, their father was the first of many men to reject her. In this vulnerable space, Brian doesn’t let Melissa succumb to her fears of ending up alone. Instead, he lifts his sister up, reminding her that she may not have the house, job, and family yet, but it’s coming. And if she takes time to look around, she will see how many people absolutely love her. Episode six reiterates his point by demonstrating just how deep this love goes when Melissa gets stuck in an elevator, derailing her determination to face her fear of flying.
On the day of her management training graduation, Melissa’s coworker Kaia sends her downstairs to the lost and found for a special gift: her pick of the unclaimed luggage so she can pull up to Maui in style. Melissa finds a perfect Louis Vuitton piece, but as she makes her way back upstairs for graduation, she gets stuck in the elevator with her least favorite coworker, Patti. Here, the show leans back into the workplace comedy aspect with the universal humor of being stuck with the one coworker you hate and the silliness of the rest of Melissa’s colleagues scrambling to save her once they realize she’s missing. Patti maintains her obnoxious behavior as Melissa’s claustrophobia spirals out of control, triggering her fear of dying trapped in a metal coffin. Firemen eventually pry the elevator door open, but the damage is done, and Melissa decides not to board her flight to Maui, which is scheduled for the next day.
Terrance, Melissa’s budding love interest, can’t sit by and watch Melissa backslide on her progress and organizes a simulation flight for her to practice. However, knowing she won’t board even a fake flight on her own after her experience in the elevator, Terrance enlists his coworker’s help to trick her into doing it. Terrance, Kaia, Sean, and DeShawn from the tarmac (they might be my favorite characters), and even Patti successfully work together to get Melissa onto the plane. Despite a few anxiety hiccups, Melissa makes it through the simulation flight, holding tightly onto Terrance’s hand, and we so obviously see the love in his eyes as he talks her through take off. But, the show pivots to its rom-com elements, and of course, here comes Alex, turning Melissa’s attention away from Terrance, claiming he just had to be there for her.
Later that night, Melissa spends New Year’s Eve with her friends Tamika and Allie, spilling the tea that she plans to tell Alex her true feelings while in Hawaii. Tamika and Allie walk her through this chaotic choice, envisioning what may happen, with Tamika encouraging the declaration of love. Tamika hilariously suggests Melissa pop up at the wedding like the bad bitch she is to aggressively interrupt the ceremony, offering herself to Alex. Allie disagrees, painting a different, more realistic (but equally funny) picture of Melissa making a scene and ruining the bride and groom’s big day. Melissa takes in the advice from her friends but decides that regardless of the outcome, which will be terrifying no matter what, she is fully behind her decision to share her true feelings. However, with the image of her temporarily dead body lodged underneath the fallen cabinet, she does heed Allie’s warning not to ruin the actual wedding …instead, she chooses Allie’s advice to simply ruin the day before by telling Alex that night, leaving us on a great cliffhanger. Talk about ripping off the band-aid!