The Rehearsal, S2 (Now TV)
Nathan Fielder has always pushed the boundaries of comedy with his previous work like Nathan For You and season one of The Rehearsal. However, and I say this without hyperbole, Fielder may have pushed comedy into the furthest places it has travelled on television with season two of The Rehearsal. At times, this season operates as a melancholic self-portrait of Fielder, during other times it is a weirdly informative documentary on aviation, interpersonal relationships and communication and sometimes it is simply one of the most outrageous comedies on television which made me question how Fielder got certain sequences approved by HBO. Fielder tied all these aspects together with his usual dry wit and madman problem solving which resulted in a season of television where there was hardly a moment without me being astonished or hysterically laughing.
With the previous season, Fielder felt like he was laying the groundwork for the show’s format, which follows Fielder hiring actors and building elaborate sets to allow him and others to rehearse real world situations before they properly experience them. This season follows Fielder as he attempts to improve airline safety through resolving communication issues between pilots and he has found his footing with the format here, pushing its boundaries to their absolute limits as Fielder enacts his most intricate rehearsals yet. What he attempts is the dictionary definition of insane, both in terms of the scale of what is physically does, such as his monumental recreation of the Houston airport, as well as the conceits of what was being rehearsed, like the recreation of Chelsey Sullenberger’s life in episode three.
Episode three to me is the perfect encapsulation of the show, which follows Fielder studying Sullenberger’s life to understand what makes a successful pilot. The episode plays like an absurdist comedy with the specific parts that Fielder attempts to recreate from Sullenberger’s life, as well as fictionalise, being absolute madness. My jaw was agape in disbelief of what Fielder was emulating and twisting from Sullenberger’s life, feeling like the ultimate crescendo of comedy due to Fielder reaching unhinged levels of insanity and the mind-boggling conclusions he draws from this experiment, which left me unsure if I should first cheer or belly-laugh. At the same time, Fielder carries this out with a calculated precision, with the comedy coming from a place of earnestness and aspiring heroism in regards to aviation safety, bringing in a more straight-faced sensibility which makes the show feel like a serious study of how the human mind attempts to understand its surrounding reality. This to me captures the interesting dichotomy within Fielder work. The ultra-serious blended with the ultra-comedic. Prolific insanity that mixes with sincere introspection and a desire to do good and I have not seen Fielder execute this dichotomy better than in this specific episode, and season, of The Rehearsal.
Season two of The Rehearsal is something special. Not just because Fielder literally bent laws to make it but because it shows that there is still room to evolve in television. There are places where comedy can be pushed in terms of what is physically, and legally, capable. Do not walk to watch this. Run to watch this, with the proper safety and communication precautions.
