At long last, Flirty Friday has returned to the land of hipsters. This time, it’s for a stoner comedy slice of life piece of work, the webseries “High Maintenance” (get it?). Created by Katja Blichfeld & Ben Sinclair, the webseries follows an unnamed bicycle man who delivers weed to the wide variety of potheads in NYC. And If that isn’t a good sounding premise for a webseries, then I don’t know what is.
High Maintenance is a really fun webseries. Each episode introduces us to a new character set (usually one or two characters), who phone and then interact with our nameless hero. Then we peer into their lives, through the eyes of our mysterious hero, as they do hipster stuff and cause small dramas. It’s interesting to see the people who call and order weed to be delivered to their door, just like ordering pizza, and then hang out with our anonymous hero while getting baked. The hipsters do battle with each other, and our stoic hero does good to not get involved. Interestingly enough, marijuana is almost never any subject of concern or debate. It’s just there, like a hazy vapor hanging in the air. Each new episode is a new adventure in a new world with new characters, as seen by, well you know who.
There are a few notable episodes in the series. My personal favorite was “Dinah,” about a guy who crashes with his friends, a couple, and causes havoc over the span of a few days. There’s also an episode (“Olivia”) with two hipsters (male and female) who are just the worst people ever. The kind of people you hope get what’s coming to them (kind of like Game of Thrones). They are even listed in our nameless friend’s phone as “assholes,” though he decides to deliver them weed anyway. Then there’s the outlier episode “Jonathan,” centered on a stand up comedian, that is brilliantly shot but somewhat disturbing. You’ll know when you see it.
The writing is good. It meanders here and there and lacks any kind of point most of the time, but the dialogue is fun. Kind of like being high. The story goes in directions you wouldn’t really expect, in a good way. Kind of like being high. There’s very fluid dialogue. And the characters are all fun. Tone is clear and consistent. Unlike being high. There isn’t much to the main character, but I think that’s kind of the point. Visually, the webseries is surprisingly strong. The direction and technical aspects are all great, with rich, full frames. Best of all, the humor doesn’t require the viewer to be stoned. It’s distinct and strangely purposeful, which best can be compared to Louie.
Watch it!
Written by: Ted Barnes
You can watch this webseries on Vimeo, the Web Series Channel, or their official website…
- Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/channels/highmaintenance/videos
- Web Series Channel: http://www.webserieschannel.com/high-maintenance/
- Official Website: http://www.helpingyoumaintain.com/episodes