When attempting to introduce someone to the show How to With John Wilson, I find it challenging to know where to start. HBO promotes it as a docuseries by filmmaker John Wilson, delving into the eccentric behavior of New York City’s most offbeat residents. However, labeling it as a “docuseries” doesn’t quite capture its essence. While the show relies on footage and interviews collected from Wilson’s city wanderings, it presents the material through a comedic lens. Furthermore, it’s difficult to pinpoint a specific theme as episodes often transition between topics, leaving viewers somewhat disoriented.
Describing Wilson himself poses its own difficulties. Despite being the supposed star of the show, he rarely appears on camera. Instead, he narrates what the audience sees, using a second-person perspective to recount his own experiences. For instance, when his apartment underwent a renovation, he observed that the construction quickly transformed it into the noisiest place he had ever lived. His voice, reminiscent of a Muppet, coupled with frequent throat-clearing, conveys a sense of nervousness in his public outings. The camera acts as his shield, allowing him to make eye contact with subjects without direct confrontation. In a previous season, an interior designer gently confronted him about this habit, urging him to set the camera aside at times and simply be himself.
In the final season, Wilson appears to have taken her advice to heart. He has offered glimpses into his personal life before, mentioning relationships and friends, and incorporating archival footage from his youth. However, Season 3 marks a significant shift as Wilson begins turning the camera on himself and venturing beyond the familiar New York City boroughs he extensively explored. The outcome is his most vulnerable and ambitious work to date. While previous seasons aimed to make sense of the world, Wilson now intentionally seeks to unravel his own identity, highlighting the limitations inherent in his approach. The show suggests that chronicling reality always involves an element of fabrication.
Known for his generous approach, Wilson immerses himself in his subjects’ passions without judgment, similar to Nathan Fielder’s unconventional series, The Rehearsal. Both shows find humor in how openly their subjects embrace their peculiar obsessions. Wilson deliberately follows individuals eager to be heard, capturing moments like his encounter with a grocery store patron fascinated by the Mandela Effect—an occurrence where people collectively misremember significant events. Although Wilson refrains from commenting on the peculiarity of his footage in his narration, his perspective permeates the episodes. In a recent episode, he spends time with a man attempting to relocate his family to a windowless missile silo. Through an eerie score reminiscent of a conspiracy thriller, Wilson underscores the absurdity of the man’s compulsion.
However, in the latest episode, Wilson grapples with the urge to exploit people’s eccentricities for entertainment. While attending a bodybuilding competition with a September 11 theme—a concept ripe with comic potential—Wilson interviews multiple contestants, expecting stories related to the attacks. Surprisingly, they instead share their experiences highlighting the mental challenges of bodybuilding. Faced with this unexpected turn, Wilson falls silent. Later, when a trainer claims to have worked with one of the hijackers, Wilson purposely cuts away from the conversation, opting to showcase a homemade superhero film he made on 9/11 as a child. It appears that Wilson himself is too distressed to continue enabling others to overshare, choosing to explore his own psyche instead, venturing down one of those rabbit holes.
This unexpected technique employed by Wilson unveils his reasons for creating a movie on that specific afternoon; it serves as an exploration of his role as a filmmaker. He reflects on how his platform has transformed him and, consequently, his creative endeavors. Incorporating clips of his own awkward experiences at events like the Emmys, as well as encounters with notable figures like Elon Musk, Martha Stewart, and Michael Bloomberg, Wilson highlights how his camera has become a weapon rather than a shield. A billboard showcasing his image looming over Times Square further emphasizes this shift. His solemn narration prompts viewers to question whether they are simply observing these events from a distance, or if this confluence of circumstances has truly shaped who Wilson has become.
This confession reminiscent of Wilson’s words in the show’s initial episode, where he mused about the difficulty of hiding one’s true self in prolonged conversations. As it turns out, How to With John Wilson is not merely a docuseries or comedy, but an exploration of the fine line between storyteller and subject. Wilson’s curiosity initially guided the show’s direction, but his idiosyncrasies influenced every second of what unfolded on screen. Disdainfully, he once stated that everything today is performative, which explains his fascination with capturing the mundane lives of everyday people. In the final season, Wilson confronts the reality that he has transcended the role of a detached documentarian stumbling upon quirky personalities. Instead, he has become a character playing a part in his own narrative.
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