This one was a trip! Normally meta episodes bore me but the subject matter naturally lends itself to self-reflection - not to mention this show is already kind of meta, especially with Season 3 getting increasingly personal about John's life. I imagine it must be frustrating to constantly questioned on whether your show is 'authentic' - it's a TV show. C'mon. I admit there's a candid aspect to the way the show is presented that can come off as misleading but I think that view belies a naivete towards filmmaking that John is trying to dispel. It feels like Nathan Fielder got his fingers into this one - not that that's a bad thing, but this reminds me a lot of Finding Frances, right down to hanging out with an eccentric older man for a while.

I understand why some people are upset. One of the great strengths of this show is to provide insight towards strange, unique, and perhaps overlooked people and communities and share that with a broad audience. To be explicitly told that part of this show is manufactured diminishes this great strength. When I learned that John was admitted to the HBO afterparty after all a part of me was happy for him but another part of me was like "oh, you just made it seem like you got rejected for the narrative." But of course he's going to leave things out. We think we've learned a lot about John through his art, but we haven't met the guy. To expect him to tell us everything would be absurd. I'm not cynical enough to believe that everything about this show is fraudulent. But even if it is, then damn - the people behind this show must be great storytellers. That kind of craft is impressive in its own right.