A NEURODIVERGENT DIVERSION- Thoughts on S2/E5 of THE REHEARSAL

I may be a broken record when it comes to Nathan Fielder, but he does often leave me rather impressed or bemused. I can't help but love how he manages to take us down unsuspecting rabbit holes on a weekly basis, and in this instance, he may have even discovered something about himself that he didn't realize.

The episode begins where the previous one left off: Fielder is sitting in front of a faux congressional committee in hopes that he can fully prepare himself for the moment he may actually get the chance to make his case.

In order to bolster the accuracy and have assistance, John Goglia is back to chime in with instant feedback and it is clear that the actors playing the committee members have done their homework in terms of asking the crucial questions to challenge Fielder. 

As one would likely expect, Fielder is not at ease. The big difference here, unlike what we would see during his Nathan for You days, is that he clearly knows he is fumbling and can see how much Goglia and the committee actors are struggling to connect to his cause.

Fielder decides to follow down the path of fellow comedians who testified in front of actual congressional committees and utilizes one very key bit they would often rely on: opening with a joke. 

Case in point, Seth Rogen began his plea for Alzheimer's awareness and research by acknowledging how it must be shocking that he wasn't there to plea for widespread legalization of marijuana. What does Fielder opt to go for? A masturbation joke which seemingly leaves the room speechless.

Fielder then approaches one of the attendees and asks him if he thought this was funny and why he didn't laugh. The actor genuinely found it funny but wasn't sure if he was supposed to laugh. In response, Fielder speaks to the actors and says to be as genuine as possible with their responses. Once he repeats the joke again, the audience responds as if their lives depend on laughing. One woman in particular sounds like she hasn't laughed in years and she feels so relieved to get it all out...which, of course, is not want Fielder wanted either.

This is when Nathan Fielder realizes that whether it be due to his comedic persona or how awkward he may be perceived, he has to find a way to be able to convince people that there is more to him than this. He begins a Google search on himself and revisits various bits from throughout his career only to make a discovery he was not aware of: The Rehearsal had been warmly embraced by many in the autism/neurodivergent communities, which was discussed in a few articles...namely that of Sam Robertson, an autistic writer for Consequence of Sound, who had absolutely adored the first season of The Rehearsal as he found that Fielder's attempts at trying to mimic and understand human behavior felt so relatable to his "masking" within social settings.

Fielder expresses to the audience via narration that he never thought of or intended for this to be some kind of discreet example of autism awareness, but the more he reads various articles on the topic, the more he finds a potential link between autistic masking and various pilots choosing to compartmentalize their emotions. 

Through further research, Fielder finds a Tennessee congressman named Steve Cohen who not only happens to be part of the Congressional Autism Caucus, but the Aviation Committee. His hope is to get Cohen on his side and see if he can get him a way to speak in front of the committee in Washington, DC.

In order to further prepare himself before meeting Cohen, Fielder pays a visit to Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, who offers her opinion that Fielder did achieve something special with the first season...but further research also shows that she participated in the 2016 propaganda film Vaxxed which links autism to being caused by vaccines. One has to wonder if this is something that Fielder and his team didn't know about or care about or maybe it was a subtle way for people to pick up on the lunacy of having such a person on the show. 

Although, Granpeesheh does give Fielder the "Reading the Mind of the Eyes" test where you have to determine what mood someone is feeling. As he takes the test, we realize that he isn't quite sure of the answers which leads to him realizing perhaps he is on the spectrum...and it is a glorious moment to watch because it is the perfect example of how we don't quite know how much of this is reality meeting fiction. 

One very interesting development following this is Granpeesheh expressing that in order to get Fielder's clout to appear more serious, he should consider offering a service to autistic children who often have difficulty going through airport security. Fielder points out he really didn't want to involve children after what happened during the first season (GO WATCH THAT SEASON IF YOU HAVEN'T!), but he does change his mind and the results do appear to be very fruitful.

Being further emboldened by this, Fielder goes to DC to meet Cohen, an eccentric congressman with tons of Kennedy memorabilia in his office and a shirt collar that seems to want to defy gravity along with Elphaba.

Fielder tries to give him his pitch, but can't do it off the cuff and has to resort to a written text. As one might expect, Cohen seems rather perplexed by the concept of this and connecting it to autism...even if by this point, we just want to see Fielder succeed.

This whole season has had the core throughline of preventing aviation crashes by way of creating a role-playing program...and perhaps Nathan Fielder will find a way somehow to get that back to the forefront. However, as is his way, he always finds new paths that enthrall and surprise you. 

As we approach the season finale, we will have to see how much Fielder will embrace this new identity of sorts...or if he will throw us another curveball that makes everything come together in a chaotic but gloriously looking bow.