NATHAN TAKES A CRASH COURSE: Thoughts on Season 2 of THE REHEARSAL - Ep. 1

 I am a member of the Church of Nathan Fielder.

I cannot help but be truly enamored with his dry sense of humor that is the epitome of cringe. I still revisit his Comedy Central series Nathan for You, which I wrote about here. I also found myself baffled and intrigued by his Showtime series The Curse that he co-ran with Benny Safdie and starred opposite Emma Stone. I admittedly did not write about that one because, frankly, I am not even sure I know where to begin. My head was in the clouds just as much as Fielder's was...some of you may get that reference...

When The Rehearsal first premiered on HBO back in 2022, I was positively thrilled as I wanted to see what Fielder could do on the grand scale that HBO could provide. All of you have to do is see how much they have unleashed John Oliver to do whatever the hell he wants over the last decade to know that the kind of content Fielder could provide had the potential to blossom to insane proportions.

The Rehearsal taps into a very basic idea that also was the core theme of Nathan for You: helping others.

However, Nathan for You was a satirical take on the kind of reality shows that help struggling businesses by offering comical solutions/scenarios to generate interest.

The Rehearsal began as a concept to help people who are struggling with a goal and Fielder giving them an intricate and detailed outlet to rehearse through their fears. Much like many of his schemes on Nathan for You, a lot of Fielder's goals start fairly small and then snowball out of control.

For my thoughts on the first season, please check out the link here.

The remarkable thing about Nathan Fielder is that he has a general area that he loves to roam when it comes to conceptual comedy, but he always finds ways to make it not only seem fresh but truly unexpected.

The first season mostly revolved around a serialized and chaotic rehearsal involving a woman looking to raise an adopted child, but by the end, Fielder questioned if his tactics were harmful as one of the young boys playing who would eventually become his "son" (it's a long story) took strongly to Fielder as he didn't have a father in real life.

The final result is that Fielder felt like season 1 of The Rehearsal was truly its own rehearsal.

Season 2 of The Rehearsal may have just aired its first episode as I write this, but it is evident right out of the gate that Fielder has done it again. What he is doing can be traced back to theories made by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard on hyperreality and simulacrum...which to put that into layman's terms: representations become more real than actual reality. Fielder isn't necessarily trying to mimic reality, but he is trying to mimic it in order to actually change reality.

The concept of the show is still there, but now is he is walking a very specific tightrope between trying to help figure out solutions for a serious issue while having the stigma of needing The Rehearsal to be a comedy show. 

Considering the show filmed during 2024, prior to all of the aviation chaos that occurred pre-Trump's 2nd term, it is eerily prescient what the serious issue is that Fielder wants to tackle: aviation crashes. 

The first moments we see are of the captain and a co-pilot in the cockpit of a plane. The tension amongst them and the lack of real communication leads to a crash...but after the crash, we see Fielder ominously (and hilariously) standing outside of the window observing the moment. It turns out what we were watching was occurring inside a flight simulator.

 

Fielder's focus is on that of plane crashes caused by communication failures and captains who were, for lack of a better word, too smug to take the guidance of their first officers. He manages to score an interview with John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member who nearly 20 years ago actually proposed the concept of "roleplay simulation" to help pilot communication but got rejected.

Fielder expresses he knows a thing or two about simulations and with that, you can't help but feel intrigued by where he will go next.

Perhaps a true testament to how Fielder can take the slightest idea and have it snowball, he gets connected with a real-life airline first officer named Moody who would be willing to try out these simulations...but Fielder becomes very fascinated with the distance that these pilots maintain from each other outside of the cockpit.

Once he gets to know Moody more, he learns that he has something of a long-distance girlfriend named Cindy, who is a barista at Starbucks. Moody is a bit concerned that she is being hit on by customers while he is away flying planes and yet doesn't feel comfortable asking her about it. 

Fielder gets Cindy to come to the simulation and has her dress up as the pilot, leading to a strange blending of the task at hand. Namely: improving communication between copilots while also tackling the kind of weird relationship dynamics he really delved into during season 1 and even during certain segments of Nathan for You.

Cindy's attitude is...at least to me...rather oblivious that the men who hit on her and bring her gifts are willing to except that she has a boyfriend...and it leaves both her and Moody feeling awkward once the simulation is complete. 

Meanwhile, Fielder is there responding with equal awkward fervor but seemingly believing that he may have had a spark of success. By the end of the simulation, Moody and Cindy are not smiling; they force civility for the camera with the most lukewarm hug you can imagine.

While The Rehearsal has never had the cringe factor of Nathan for You, this final scene taps into the cringe in a way that I think felt right at home for the world of Nathan Fielder. 

While not as LOL-funny as some of his other content, I do think The Rehearsal is still on track to be his finest work. It is very rare to find a writer/content creator who makes me truly wonder what makes them tick. 

With all of this in mind, I am going to be sitting down each week to write a small review for each of the remaining episodes: 5 more total. I hope to be able to delve more deep into the episodes as we go along and I have a sense for where exactly he is heading. 

Judging by the end of this episode, there may be quite a bit of turbulence ahead...but the kind that'll make intriguing television.