'How to Die Alone' review: Airport worker tries to make connections on one of the year's funniest new shows

This is how the Hulu press notice describes Melissa Jackson, the main character in Natasha Rothwell’s upcoming comedy series:

" ‘How to Die Alone’ follows Mel [Rothwell], a broke, fat, Black JFK airport employee who’s never been in love and forgotten how to dream, until an accidental brush with death catapults her on a journey to finally take flight and start living by any means necessary.”

Damn. Talk about a blunt description — but that’s not to say it’s inaccurate. Mel is financially strapped and overweight and Black, and oh yeah, she’s about to turn 35 and there’s a real chance she might be spending her birthday with the mouse who co-exists with her in her apartment and doesn’t seem interested in going anywhere anytime soon.

Even we see Mel, do we SEE her? Do we even pause to acknowledge her existence when she’s driving one of those glorified golf carts through the airport, or she takes a corner seat by herself at the local bar while a group of women about her age are partying it up across the room?

All of this might sound depressing, but “How to Die Alone” is actually one of the funniest new shows of the year, putting on a fresh and original twist on the traditional single-camera sitcom. The richly talented Natasha Rothwell (a former writer for “Saturday Night Live” perhaps best known for her role as Belinda the spa manager in Season 1 of “The White Lotus”) is the creator, executive producer and headliner of the series, which should catapult her to genuine star status.

In playing a likable but deeply flawed character who has a big heart and instantly earns our empathy but can behave in a stunningly selfish manner, Rothwell delivers Emmy-level work. Even when the comedy in “How to Die Alone” veers into slapstick territory, there’s not a moment when Mel isn’t a three-dimensional, complex fellow traveler in our world. She’s real.

Remember Steven Spielberg’s Capra-esque 2006 film “The Terminal,” in which Tom Hanks’ Viktor Navoriski was stranded in New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, and became friends with a number of people who were part of the working-class subculture? In “How to Die Alone,” the focus is on a similarly diverse and colorful (and quite funny) group of employees at JFK. In the premiere episode, we hear the sounds of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People” (one of many pitch-perfect needle drops in the series) as Mel transports passengers in her electric cart, offering up tidbits such as, “You’re more likely to be bitten by a New Yorker than a shark,” which I’m pretty sure is actually true.

“How to Die Alone” takes the format of the classic workplace comedy, with a myriad of key characters employed in various department sin the airport. Mel’s best friend Rory (Conrad Ricamora) works at Hudson News, while her sardonic rival Patty (Michelle McLeod) is also a cart driver. Oh, and Mel’s boss, Alex (Jocko Sims)? Yeah, that’s her ex. Mel pushed Terrance away, and now he’s getting married. (She learns this via one of those annoyingly cheerful “Save the Date” emails set to a musical montage.)

Each episode begins with “people on the street” interviews, with regular folks addressing that episode’s theme, e.g., “How do I feel about Thanksgiving?” and “How do you confront your fear?” The Thanksgiving episode is particularly poignant and insightful, as Mel spars in brutal fashion with her older brother Brian (Chicago native Bashir Salahuddin, a great verbal sparring partner for Rothwell) and endures the judgmental clucking of her mother (Ellen Cleghorne, fantastic), who upon learning that Mel is taking a trip to Hawaii says, “Good thing you’re going in December ... 'cause then this way you ain’t gotta have your arms out.”

We also get a steady stream of quick and hilarious exchanges and visual gags throughout the series, as when a character says to a lackadaisical TSA agent, “Isn’t it your job to stop terrorist attacks?” and the reply is, “Yeah that’s not real. My job is to humiliate people and tell them to get new socks.” And though the series is set in New York, there’s an episode that is a love letter to Chicago, and I’ll say no more about that.

The supporting ensemble in “How to Die Alone” is terrific, including KeiLyn Durrel Jones as an Air Force veteran who works as a supervisor on the tarmac and is one of Mel’s closest friends, but this is Natasha Rothwell’s showcase, and she is nothing short of magnificent.