Natasha Rothwell gives energy to the main character “How to Die Alone”

When we meet Mel, the heroine of the new comedy from Hulu/Onyx Collective How to die aloneshe leads a life only a masochist could choose. She works at JFK airport, pushing a cart through the terminal to ferry passengers on trips she'd like to take but can't because she's broke and terrified of flying. She has to come to work every day next to her ex, Alex, the seemingly perfect guy she pines for even though she's the one who ended the relationship for reasons she can barely understand, much less put into words. During the day, she's surrounded by people, but always feels alone. At night, she's simply alone – and so on her birthday, she clinically dies for three minutes due to a mishap with a cabinet she's assembling alone after her best friend Rory skips the planned celebration.

How to die alone is the story of how Mel uses this near-death experience as a catalyst to transform her lonely life into one she can actually enjoy, and the many mistakes she makes along the way. And it's an impressive performance from creator and lead actress Natasha Rothwell, who plays Mel.

Rothwell is versatile. She has been a writer for Unsureand often the funniest presence on camera of this show as Issa and Molly's unfiltered friend Kelli. She was the emotional heart of the first season of White Lotus as Belinda the Masseuse, a character who made such an impression that Mike White is bringing her back for the third season of the anthology satire. She has written for SNLmakes people laugh every time she is in Sonic the Hedgehog films and is a welcome sight practically everywhere she appears.

How to die aloneis by far the greatest showcase of her own vision, rather than her helping others realize their ideas. It showcases her strengths as a writer and performer, as a comedian and as a stage actress, and that is extremely satisfying.

Mel's accident with the cupboard is initially portrayed as a black comedy: Even after she comes to, doctors at the hospital stick to the fact that she nearly choked to death on Crab Rangoon, and have to ask Mel to break up a dispute over what exactly the dish is. But it's also treated as the traumatic experience it obviously was for her, and the eight-episode debut season deftly dances between the sillier and the more poignant aftermath of the event. It changes her friendship with Rory (Conrad Ricamora), forces her to rethink her breakup with Alex (Jocko Sims), creates new friction with her estranged brother Brian (Bashir Salahuddin), and leads to both healthy decisions (making friends outside of work) and very bad ones (committing petty fraud).

The comedy comes mostly from the complex world Rothwell depicts in the bowels of JFK. Almost any item Mel needs – luggage, drugs, even a $4,000 “investment ham” – can be found in one of the impound rooms, and friendly baggage handler Terrance (KeiLyn Durrel Jones) can apparently get her the rest. There's also an amusing, petty rivalry between Mel and Patti (Michelle McLeod), who sits at the desk next to Alex, and H. Jon Benjamin has a fun recurring role as the resident “bird man” who uses a tame hawk to try to prevent other birds from hitting planes as they take off and land.

Into this quirky but largely down-to-earth world, Rothwell adds some fanciful elements. Mel has an over-the-top imagination. Sometimes it manifests itself in imagining herself as other people in the airport—always people who seem more fulfilled and confident—while at other times we get full-blown musical numbers. As it turns out, Rothwell can sing just as well as she can tell a joke or portray the raw emotion of a scene. And there are some truly raw moments throughout the season, though never to the point where the show becomes oppressively sad. Mel's life isn't what she wants it to be, and Rothwell wants to be honest about how that would feel, and how hard it would be emotionally to find a way out of it, but the tonal balance feels just right.

Television shows are collaborative projects by nature. Rothwell takes on multiple roles on this series, but works in tandem with directors, crew members, and other writers and actors. She's not the only one who feels the way the character she plays here feels. Still, after seeing how well she's worked for others on other shows, it's nice to see how well she does when she strikes out relatively alone in this way.

The first four episodes of How to die alone Streaming begins September 13th on Hulu, with additional episodes released weekly. I've seen all eight episodes.