★★★★★ The Rehearsal Season Two
Nathan Fielder: Genius. Silver fox. Graduate of one of Canada's top business schools. Performance artist. Auteur. Possible autist, though what does this diagnostic category really mean? Who cares? And why do so many people agree to get on board with Fielder's diabolical projects? These are just some of the many profound questions that run through season two of The Rehearsal, Fielder's ambiguously neurodivergent but undeniably excellent (un)reality show. The premise of the series is derived from a strange yet well-established concept found everywhere from 1970s Argentinian Marxist theatre to 2020s management literature: that rehearsing for challenging situations in daily life can help a person improve their confidence and performance—especially when the rehearsal takes place in a meticulously constructed HBO set and is supported by an army of desperate actors. This season is focussed on aviation safety. It goes from strength to strength, culminating in one of the greatest final episodes of any TV show we've ever seen. Our review cannot address the specifics of the aforementioned Ep. 6, because two of the three editors haven't seen it yet. But from the one who has: what the hell! Omg! ZOmg. What the HELL? Did he ACTUALLY do that? He did? He did. He really did that. That's wild. That's crazy. The suspense? The pressure? The way that it was impossible to truly rehearse for… the whole bit?! As the credits rolled and we picked our jaws back up from the floor, we wondered: was the show's conceit about altering pre-flight pilot interaction to improve airline safety really a metaphor for all human interaction, of the masks we put on and the masks we take off, of the void beneath those masks, of the perniciousness of politeness, of so much more…? Longtime Fielderheads will be amazed to see Nathan scale up his enterprise so successfully. The Rehearsal makes that Nathan for You episode where people hike to the top of a mountain for an overnight stay in order to claim a petrol rebate payable only after they solve countless riddles seem like child's play.
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