Stories with ‘High’ standards move up
“High Maintenance” is hardly the first Web series to find its way to mainstream TV — however that’s defined this week. But it’s a perfect example of how to achieve the transition without losing what made the series appealing in the first place. HBO has ordered up six episodes, which will premiere on Friday, Sept. 16.
Ben Sinclair, who plays the Guy, created “High Maintenance” in 2012 with his nowwife, Katja Blichfeld. The Guy is a pot dealer who tools around on his bike, attending to the needs of preciously neurotic customers in New York City.
The Guy is somewhat of a cipher. We don’t know much about him, in spite of the fact that he’s in every episode. He’s married, and has avoided getting arrested mostly because he’s too small for the cops or DEA to worry about, especially in an era of de facto if not de jure legalization. He doesn’t sell hard stuff — just pot and mushrooms, and we don’t know who his wholesaler is. In short, he looks like the guy ahead of you in line at Whole Foods.
His job is “High Maintenance” and he doesn’t judge his clients, no matter how neurotic or badly behaved they may be. He resists getting high with them but may take a toke or two, just the way a car salesperson will take a test drive with you.
The Guy has minimal presence in each episode. He may linger a bit with one client, but he has nothing really to do with their stories. He just supplies the weed as part of their daily lives.
In Friday’s premiere, two best friends are finding their relationship at a breaking point. Max (Max Jenkins) and Lainey (Heléne Yorke) are almost a single entity, so much so that when Max begins to do things on his own, Lainey becomes resentful.
A young Muslim girl named Eesha (Shazi Raja) is gasping for the kind of freedom other college students enjoy, but she’s living a smothered life with her strict aunt and uncle.
First she tries cigarettes, hiding the pack on the roof to smoke in secret. Then she tries pot, supplied by the Guy, of course. She tempts fate with every move, and we await the denouement.
In the same episode, the Guy also delivers to an insufferable couple named Gigi (Amy Ryan) and Leo (Lee Tergesen), who are having a group of people over for Leo’s birthday. Everyone is dressed in Middle Eastern drag, looking forward to some sophisticated fun. The party devolves in ways that evoke a Harold Pinter play. Maybe “The Birthday Party”?
Perhaps the most memorable of the six episodes is “Grandpa,” airing on Sept. 30. It’s memorable not only because the main character is a canine, but also because the episode is unusually tender.
Chase (Ryan Woodle) is a loutish lump who decides to move to Queens from the Midwest and brings his bigfooted, goofball dog, Gatsby, with him. Chase has no life, really. He just sits in front of the TV and eats junk food. He’s completely dense when it comes to how imprisoned Gatsby feels.
Chase hires a dog walker named Beth (Yael Stone), because, of course, it takes too much effort to get off the couch, and Gatsby falls in love with her. He lives for Beth’s daily visits. She pays attention to him, she tells him he’s a good boy, she takes him for long walks with other dogs. But as far as Gatsby is concerned, he’s the only one she really cares about.
From there, the story becomes much more than the subgenre of a shaggy dog story, although there’s literally a shaggy dog at its heart.
A very brief appearance by the Guy links it to the rest of the “Maintenance” episodes.
The real connection, as it were, among the six episodes is that they are all beautifully written, directed and performed. Taken either individually or together, they reflect aspects of contemporary life with care and attention to detail.
It’s unlikely that Sinclair and Blichfeld would have received a six-episode order if they’d just walked into a cable network four years ago with their concept. But they were lucky enough to prove the merits of their idea with a Web show. Now it’s gone legit. Consider it gateway content for other worthy shows on the Internet.