The first time I saw ‘The Rehearsal‘ I had no clue what I was in for, at the time I had never seen anything like it. The show navigates themes of parenthood and anxiety in a way I had not seen before. For those uninitiated, the show’s premise goes like this: Nathan Fielder has a subject that has a dilemma such as tackling a difficult conversation, he then builds an elaborate 1:1 set in order for said person to rehearse for their individual problem.

This specific method (the Fielder method) struck my being in such a way, almost like the show was waiting to be found by me. It spoke to that specific anxiety of always feeling like you need to be one step ahead in order to be caught up. By the end of the season, I remember quite clearly laughing maniacally, knowing I had watched something important. A feeling of hunger also sat over me, I needed season 2.

It is not often, nowadays, that a show as fresh as ‘The Rehearsal’ graces our screens. In the age of formulaic, ‘by the numbers’ dramas, designed to be watched while looking at your phone. Contrastingly, watching ‘The Rehearsal’ felt like being injected with 250 cc’s of adrenaline. Little did I know this season had something in store that I couldn’t even have imagined in my wildest of dreams, and I have a lot of wild dreams.

The first episode opens with 2 pilots flying a plane. But wait, something seems to be off; the co-pilot seems disturbed, and the captain doesn’t seem to care about what he’s saying. Before we can fully comprehend what’s going on the plane crashes and goes up in fiery smoke, with hellish flames surrounding our fallen pilots. The camera pans over to Nathan standing outside the plane, laptop in hand. What felt so real was anything but. This is ‘The Rehearsal’, season 2.  

This season primarily focuses on communication in the cockpit, a problem that has gone mostly unnoticed for far too long. Turns out a lot of plane crashes occur because someone was afraid to say something, which is an issue for many obvious reasons. In pilot training, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) shows trainees a slide show which tells them to speak up if their pilot or co-pilot is doing something wrong, but that’s about the only expertise they give you in that specific area.  Wouldn’t you agree that simulating such emergency situations is the only way for pilots to be prepared when they do inevitably come about? Nathan takes this exact sentiment, putting the proof in the pudding in the only way he knows how. The finale presents to us that he spent 2 whole years of his life becoming a pilot not through a rehearsal (although he does do that in an absolutely lovely nightmarish sequence of events) but through actual pilot training: the studying, the lectures, the physical, the whole nine yards with a cherry on top.

This leads us into the absolute climax of all climaxes, flying a real [redacted] 737. However, due to Nathan not having as many hours in flight as a regular commercial pilot, all passengers had to be paid actors for legal purposes, some even with speaking roles. Titular lines such as “peanuts please” or” I’ll have the orange juice, thanks” permeated throughout the flight. As I watched this section of the episode perspire it felt like I too was right there in the cockpit, high above the clouds, my knuckles white with tension. The anticipation was killing me I couldn’t believe what I was watching. The plane was getting closer and closer to the ground, one wrong move and it’s over. We then hear the tires screech against the runway,the crowd cheers, the landing was a success!

Season 2 of ‘The Rehearsal‘ left me with a small but rewarding amount of closure which Nathan’s works rarely do. His writing always feels like there’s something else to be discovered, the subtext dug into further, answers to be found if you ask the right question. In essence, the show, to me explores the questioning of your ability to succeed in what you are doing. Can I make that difficult call? Have that awkward conversation? Land that plane? All while not doubting yourself? Well, In the words of Nathan himself, “If you’re here, you must be fine.”