‘How To Die Alone’ Review: The Hulu Series Is Worth Your Time

Natasha Rothwell’s “How to Die Alone” streams its fifth episode Friday, and audiences have been eager to see more of the new Hulu show.

In the series, Rothwell, who rose to fame for her quick wit and sharp writing on “Insecure,” stars as Mel (short for Melissa), an overweight Black airport employee who is doing her best to get by until a near-death incident shakes up her life. The series confronts loneliness through the lens of a thirtysomething Black woman in New York and offers a breezy and comedic look at the ups and downs of her journey.

There’s been a ton of chatter about the first four episodes on social media, with users urging audiences to tune in to the series.

There’s a lot to appreciate about the new series, so the HuffPost Culture team gathered to share its thoughts on the show, its characters and storylines, and what we’re hoping for in Season 2.

It took Natasha Rothwell creating her own show to get the leading role she deserves. And she doesn’t disappoint. The show describes her character, Melissa, as a 35-year-old JFK airport worker who’s afraid to fly, literally and figuratively. She has let life pass her by for most of her years until a near-death accident prompts a revelatory awakening. She created, wrote and executive-produced the show. It would’ve been easy to save herself the additional role as star, but given that this is her “most vulnerable work” to date, she told me, I couldn’t have seen it any other way than with her as the lead.

The supporting cast includes Jocko Sims (“New Amsterdam”), Conrad Ricamora (“How to Get Away With Murder”), KeiLyn Durrel Jones (“Fear the Night”) and Elle Lorraine (“Insecure”) as Mel’s co-workers and friends. Bashir Salahuddin (“South Side”) and Ellen Cleghorne (“Saturday Night Live”) also appear in the show. It’s a truly aligned cast full of talented faces in Hollywood who’ve been around but we should be seeing more of. — Taryn

Yeah, I think it really is a testament that in order for Rothwell to be centered on a series, she had to create it for herself. And she actually has the chops to do…