This week you tip, after the rather insane The Rehearsal, another series involving comedian Nathan Fielder (as producer). What do we see in How to With John Wilson?
‘The structure of How to With John Wilson, created by HBO Max, is a nod to the classic YouTube tutorial, which explains in a very basic way how to screw something together or prepare a particular dish. John Wilson uses this form in his daily life in New York. Each episode also starts with a practical question: how do you make risotto, how do you invest in real estate? Then Wilson walks around his town, using his camera as a sketchbook.
‘What you quickly discover as a viewer is that this originally practical question quickly leads Wilson astray. He really takes every side road, a way to get in touch with people he meets along the way. Wilson speaks with striking figures, inconspicuous figures, and sometimes seeks absurd answers to the questions he asks himself. In the supermarket of a ski resort, for example, he sees that the bags of chips have been blown up. The shop assistant says: That’s because we’re so high up here. Wilson then asks himself the almost childish question: how high do you have to go before a bag of chips explodes? He will then find out – camera in hand. He shows the absurd comedy of life.
At the same time, this series also shows how Wilson moves through life. The overarching lesson is: this is what life looks like, this is what we have to deal with. And there are touching moments too. In the episode about risotto, Wilson wants to cook for his landlady, who always cooks for him. But during filming, New York goes into lockdown, which changes the question to: what can you do for your fellow man in a big city? How to With John Wilson each lasts half an hour and is one of those series with which you like to end the day.’
And what else did you see?
‘The drama series Under the Banner of Heaven, shown on Disney Plus and based on a true crime story by Jon Krakauer. He really is a non-fiction star. His previous books have also been made into films. Under the Banner of Heaven is about a high profile murder case from 1984 that took place in Mormon circles. A mother and a young child were brutally murdered. They belonged to the Lafferty’s, a large and very traditional family.
“The perspective is on the two detectives, one of whom, played by Andrew Garfield, is a Mormon himself. During the investigation into what exactly happened within that family, he ends up in a crisis of faith. The Laffertys are clearly radicalized and long for the traditional primordial tenets of the Mormon faith. They do not recognize the US government and only live by their own laws. As a result, the detective, played by Garfield, finds himself more and more in a bind: what does this case say about his own faith? We’re dealing here with a well-crafted thriller series, given depth through the role of the Mormon faith.”