There is a sure magic to the thought of New Yr’s Eve as a vacation devoted to new beginnings and recent begins. Though there are far fewer tv episodes revolving round New Yr’s Eve than Christmas, the few New Yr’s Eve episodes that exist tend to take a more positive route. Two examples are The O.C. and Friends, which used their themed installments to discover romance and comedy, respectively. Hulu’s 2024 comedy sequence, How to Die Alone, nonetheless, goes in a drastically completely different course with its New Yr’s Eve episode, “Kill Your Darlings.”
Methods to Die Alone follows Mel (Natasha Rothwell), a JFK airport worker who usually feels misplaced and discontent together with her life. On her thirty-fifth birthday, Mel briefly dies when a shelving unit collapses on her and leads her to choke on a chunk of crab rangoon. After her brush with loss of life, Mel begins to make modifications to her life, together with becoming a member of a administration program and reserving her first flight. Sadly, the flight takes Mel to the marriage of her ex-boyfriend, Alex (Jocko Simms), for whom she nonetheless has unresolved emotions. “Kill Your Darlings” brings Mel and Alex collectively on New Yr’s Eve for a bittersweet episode with a heartbreaking ending.
“Kill Your Darlings” Reveals How Effectively Mel and Alex Match Collectively
The earlier episode of Methods to Die Alone ends with Mel realizing that she nonetheless has emotions for Alex and deciding to tell him how she feels earlier than he will get married. “Kill Your Darlings” begins with Mel operating to catch Alex earlier than his flight, solely to reach proper as his airplane is taking off. Mel finally ends up spending her New Yr’s Eve dinner alone at a restaurant the place she used to work, and the place she and Alex used to eat collectively on a regular basis. It’s there that Mel runs into Alex, who has simply missed his flight to his wedding ceremony. What begins as the 2 consuming dinner collectively turns into a whole night.
Mel and Alex have a deep dialog at dinner, the place she apologizes to him for a way she ended issues. He encourages her to eat crab rangoon once more for the primary time because it briefly killed her, and he finally tells her that he missed his flight on goal. Main as much as this episode, it’s each mortifying and irritating to see Mel getting ready to interrupt up the marriage of somebody she had dumped two years in the past. It appears to be a deeply misguided determination that may solely finish in heartbreak.
After seeing Mel and Alex collectively in “Kill Your Darlings,” although, all of it instantly is sensible. Their connection is so robust, and Rothwell and Simms’ chemistry is so palpable, that it is simple to get misplaced within the episode and to neglect, alongside Mel, that Alex is flying to his wedding ceremony the next morning. They spend the remainder of the night collectively, the place they store for a tie for mentioned wedding ceremony, sing a karaoke duet collectively, and eat black-eyed peas to ring within the new 12 months. It is a good looking night, however the looming presence of the upcoming wedding ceremony hangs over the whole episode.
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Jocko Sims additionally discusses capturing his ‘Earlier than Dawn’ episode, and KeiLyn Durrel Jones reveals who he initially auditioned for.
‘Methods to Die Alone’ Makes use of New Yr’s Eve to Symbolize the Finish of Mel and Alex’s Relationship
Whereas New Yr’s Eve can definitely be a time of recent beginnings, additionally it is a time of endings. How to Die Alone takes this concept and makes use of it to parallel the tip of Mel and Alex’s relationship, for good. On the finish of the evening, Alex convinces Mel to stroll on a frozen pond with him, and it’s a good second, till she spontaneously kisses him. For the entire episode main as much as that time, there may be this sense of dread as Mel and Alex get nearer, with the information that every thing good between them might be destroyed if she tries to reignite their romantic relationship.
Mel and Alex teeter on the road of romance and friendship for all of “Kill Your Darlings” till she lastly crosses it. Alex is understandably offended as a result of she dumped him two years in the past after which waited till proper earlier than his wedding ceremony to inform him how she feels. The episode appears to be resulting in Alex flat-out rejecting her, however it subverts expectations in a truly gut-wrenching way. After initially being upset, Alex then asks Mel if she loves him.
The which means of this second is obvious: if Mel can say that she loves him, then Alex will quit on his wedding ceremony to be together with her. Whereas Mel’s final determination is just too good to spoil, let’s simply say that it efficiently subverts each expectation we now have whereas watching a seemingly romantic second like this one. After spending the majority of its runtime taking part in into the fantasy of what may very well be, Methods to Die Alone forces its important character to rethink the potential for new beginnings as she is confronted with the cruel actuality that she’s the one one standing in the best way of what may have been.
Methods to Die Alone is obtainable to stream on Hulu.
After a near-death expertise, Mel, a broke JFK airport employee, embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Decided to dwell life on her personal phrases, she navigates by comedic and heartfelt moments whereas confronting her fears and redefining her sense of self-worth on this daring, character-driven comedy.
- Launch Date
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September 13, 2024
- Solid
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Natasha Rothwell
, Conrad Ricamora
, Jocko Sims
, KeiLyn Durrel Jones - Major Style
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Comedy
- Seasons
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1
- Character(s)
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Melissa
, Rory
, Alex
, Terrance - Creator(s)
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Natasha Rothwell
