I recently discussed Nathan Fielder's previous series Nathan for You, which aired on Comedy Central from 2013-2017. For access to that post, please utilize the link below:
CRINGE AT ITS FINEST: A Look at "Nathan for You"
Does having a knowledge of Nathan for You benefit your enjoyment of The Rehearsal? I would say it isn't essential, however the journey of Nathan of You does add something to the viewing experience here.
Going into discussing this show, I am going to take a quick detour in the world of theatre.
As someone who went to school for theatre, I am very familiar with the work of German playwright Bertolt Brecht.
I truthfully never responded to Brecht back then...and I wasn't as overly enthused when I got to act in one of his plays: The Good Person of Szechuan. Although there are some pieces of his I do really like such as The Caucasian Chalk Circle or The Threepenny Opera.
Brecht has had a significant level of staying power due to his style of writing/Theatre, which is referred to as "Brechtian".
One of the keys to understanding the Brechtian style is that it revolves around the Alienation Effect. Putting it at a very basic level, Brecht didn't want people to get swept up in his shows to the point where it was like you were watching real life. Everything was presented in over-the-top manners with very little done to try to hide that you were watching a live performance.
You could even make a case that The Rehearsal taps into an almost pseudo-Brechtian territory and there are moments that certainly feed into that kind of analysis.
But...after watching the season finale last night, I think the whole experience of the show wouldn't necessarily fall into that category. If anything, The Rehearsal is something unique in of itself.
I think Nathan Fielder created something truly masterful here.
Taking the tools of the kinds of scenarios he would create on Nathan for You; he takes it to a deeper level on The Rehearsal where he is trying to help others, but it ends up becoming a way for him to learn a lot more about himself.
While Nathan for You was presented as a satirical take on reality shows that would help struggling business owners, The Rehearsal wants to help people cope with their own daily lives.
At the head of it all is Nathan Fielder.
Fielder is one of the more fascinating figures to ever appear on TV because on one hand, he is essentially always playing a version of himself, but he very much fits a mold of commitment to the scenario at hand that places him in a similar orbit to Sacha Baron Cohen, even though he relies mostly on his iconic characters like Borat.
Fielder is very unassuming and meek in his demeanor and appearance. He plays up to this though, often leading to interactions with people that seem to lack any kind of social awareness. It was what made the cringe factor of Nathan for You both unbearable and hilarious.
I wouldn't say he always delves into cringe with The Rehearsal. Although, he does manage to stumble upon moments that certainly spark an uncomfortable feeling or, at best, make you just want to lean in and see what happens next.
The Rehearsal is presented as an experiment. In the pilot episode, Fielder places an ad on Craigslist that is asking for people to come to him if they are seeking guidance which leads to him encountering Kor Skeete, a man from Brooklyn who is obsessed with trivia nights at bars. Skeete is ashamed because he lied to many people about his education and that he did not have a master's degree. One person he is especially afraid to tell is his friend Tricia.
Fielder proposes that he will help Kor rehearse this conversation and be able to provide him with the environment to do so...which actually includes going to the bar where they will eventually have the discussion and then Fielder commissioning a replica of the bar be built both interior and exterior inside a warehouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
At this replica, Fielder has hired extras to act out as if they were real patrons in a bar and then hires an actress to play Tricia for Kor to rehearse with...and it becomes so specific that the actress who will portray Tricia is able to meet with the real Tricia over a business related matter (staged by Fielder) without Tricia knowing her mannerisms are being studied.
While the rehearsals go off without a hitch, including testing out multiple scenarios based on how the real Tricia could respond, the actual event drags on as the weight of the moment overcomes Kor, but he does eventually open up to his secret and Tricia accepts the news without much fanfare.
The pilot episode, entitled "Orange Juice, No Pulp" (as all the episodes are titled based on dialogue or themes within the episode), proves to be a truly remarkable debut that puts you deeply into the world of the show...but this wouldn't be a Nathan Fielder creation if it didn't throw you off guard.
In the second episode, Fielder creates an even more complex rehearsal for Angela, a devout woman in her 40s who is considering adopting a child. As part of the routine, Fielder rents out a house in rural Oregon and then arranges for Angela to go on dates with men in hopes to find a guy who may be willing to rehearse with her as a paternal partner that also has an interest in her intimately.
This guy will be Robbin, who is ten years Angela's junior, and he has an obsession with numerology. They do seem to hit it off due to her very devout faith and watching these two interact becomes a perfect mix of comedy and cringe.
However, Robbin being the man that he is, really wants to have sex with Angela and she...being a devout Christian woman...wants to save herself for marriage. That, combined with the weird setup for caring for the child, which includes...
-Swapping out the children every 4 hours due to child labor laws.
-Aging up the children abruptly after a set amount of time.
-Caring for a robot child at night.
...leads to Robbin bailing on the rehearsal.
With this abrupt setback, it now allows Fielder to do what he does best: find a way to keep this snowball rolling. Fielder offers to become a non-romantic parental figure.
And just like that, The Rehearsal manages to become a serialized reality show with small episodic bits to keep you engaged throughout the episodes.
I am not sure I can properly convey the true joy and awe I felt watching The Rehearsal unfold. In many ways, this ties back into what I said at the very beginning that having a prior knowledge of Nathan for You could benefit in your viewing pleasure of The Rehearsal.
The Rehearsal does build upon many styles and themes that were set on Nathan for You. One of the biggest issues some had with the predecessor was that it came off as too mean spirited in that it often played up people's true concerns about their job and personal lives with humor at their expense.
The Rehearsal takes on a more nurturing approach and yet, there are times where Fielder finds himself second guessing how he is proceeding with dealing with other people's feelings/emotions.
One of my favorite "subplots" of the six episodes involves the fourth episode, which was entitled "The Fielder Method". In it, Fielder decides that a certain amount of detail and truth is required to be believable actors within these staged rehearsals so he rents out a storefront in LA and begins teaching acting classes based in The Fielder Method.
However, as a teacher, Fielder isn't sure if he truly sold his ideas or himself as a person. How does he solve this?
He stages the class again with other actors as extras and him posing as a random student named Thomas (whom he copies by wearing a blonde wig and the same outfit) while another actor plays Nathan, trying to mimic his demeanor as much as possible.
One of the assignments the real Nathan Fielder gave his students was to observe someone random in society and try to start a conversation with them...and he discovers that the one student he was trying to portray as his own exercise is having issues with properly connecting to other people.
This leads Fielder to actually moving into Thomas' apartment as he is trying to truly see how it might feel to be Thomas while also trying to get into the mindset of how it must be to be placed into the world of The Rehearsal.
After devoting so much time to this exercise, Fielder returns to Oregon because he is STILL posing as a father to a child named Adam...who is now a 15 year old.
When Fielder arrives, the kid greets him amicably and warmly while Fielder feels awkward about the whole thing...so much so that he breaks "character" to talk with the teenager as an actor.
Fielder and Joshua (the young guy playing Adam) agree that if this were more of a reality, Adam would be far less receptive to seeing his father return after such a long time...and they proceed to act out over a period of days where Joshua rebels and becomes a drug addict.
It proceeds down to such a dark level that Fielder realizes he wishes he could've done more even in this simulation, so with Angela's blessing, the reset the timeline and have Adam become a six-year old again.
"The Fielder Method" was one of the best episodes of TV I have seen in quite some time in how it tackled such a bizarre mix of life imitating art imitating life to the point where sometimes you buy into the lunacy of the situation...and how much the young actor who played teenaged Adam commits to the rebellion is surprisingly affective. So much so that we watch him have one-on-one sessions with Fielder where he helps guide him through preparations of the role, such as "What might a troubled teen turn to in order to cope?". Joshua tells Nathan he has a friend whose father left home and by the time he was 15, he was deep into drugs and already sexually active.
And with that, we watch all of that work play out.
Fielder's desire to become involved in parenting also deeply affects that of Angela, who often becomes distant and not invested in the rehearsal when Nathan isn't around because she can't seem to commit to the fake reality.
At first, Fielder views this from a lens of concern and even a little resentment.
However, he soon realizes that he himself contributed to some of the downfall and in mutual agreement, Angela parts ways with The Rehearsal and Fielder decides he wants to continue on parenting "Adam" as a single father".
This all leads to a season finale in which the true potential horror of the show comes to light.
A young child actor named Remy becomes so invested in his fake world playing son to Nathan that he doesn't want to leave when the show is done with him. At first you think he is just a kid having a tantrum, but as a child without a father, young Remy took to Nathan and even Fielder himself admits that he bonded with the kid in a way he hadn't to the others.
With the help of a professional child actor who is playing Adam at age 9, Fielder goes through the entire process again and hopes to find a way to see if he did something wrong in his approach...all the while, young Remy is at home crying because he misses "Nathan" or as he wants to keep calling him: Daddy.
It feels almost like a full-circle moment: we are back in area where Nathan Fielder is playing with fire and despite his innocent intentions, someone is hurt by his actions and worse, it is a 6 year old boy.
There is also the fact that his mother is involved and she does express how she was concerned over the dynamics of the situation, but even though it isn't explicitly said, you can tell that this is a mother who realizes maybe she made a mistake but thought it would be a truly wonderful opportunity for her son.
Nathan Fielder is a master at digging himself into a hole but instead of that being a detriment, he revels in it...and it is always a delight to watch him climb his way out.
Near the end of the season finale, Fielder makes a passing comment to Liam, who is currently playing Adam as Remy...and 9 year old Liam also does his homework to properly play Remy...that maybe he made a mistake at involving children in the process of this show.
Fielder always has that tendency of second guessing himself and how he deals with his emotions or lack thereof. Nathan for You famously ended with the 2-hour long episode entitled "Finding Frances", in which he helps his friend and elderly actor Bill Heath try to find a long-lost love he let slip away. The episode played in a far more serious manner than anything else he had dished out prior...but it showed that there was this darker philosophical layer underneath the absurdity of having people climbing the top of a mountain just to get a gas rebate.
It left you wanting more and wondering what he could possibly come up with next.
The Rehearsal latched on to that feeling and ran with it...and sure, it may need to work out who to properly involve in the world of the show, but that is, in a way, perfect for a show that is about a rehearsal.
Season 1 of The Rehearsal was truly a rehearsal for the show as a whole....but I would say that in the end, he is more than ready for opening night.
