Nathan Fielder, knee-deep in his personal actuality.
The primary episode of Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal set our expectations, solely to interrupt them with every subsequent episode, till quantity 4, “The Fielder Technique,” shattered them into mud; we’re not watching a rehearsal anymore.
What are we watching, precisely? It’s laborious to say!
The present feels a bit like watching the artistic course of in motion, with all its chaotic spontaneity, Nathan’s authentic thought having branched out into layered simulations, prompting moments of discomfort, poignancy, and sudden magnificence.
The episode begins with one other stilted dialog between Nathan and Angela, as she talks about her historical past of drug use, sparked by the anger she felt in direction of her father, with Nathan’s faux-surprise at listening to that she used to do acid and cocaine as a young person.
It doesn’t repay till the tip – nearly all of the episode sees Nathan head off to show an appearing class, convincing a bunch of bright-eyed college students to primarily stalk a goal, and imitate their life in painstaking element.
The scholars decide up on the ethical ambiguity of the duty right away, and Nathan outright encourages them to do what they’ll to assemble intel, consent of the topic be damned. After all, we don’t really know the way a lot of the duty is an phantasm – have the topics already been knowledgeable? Are the actors appearing? This present is designed to boost suspicion with each reveal – at this level, we simply don’t know what’s been staged.
Nathan has really made some nice casting selections to date, within the actors he’s utilized in his rehearsals, and this time, he even casts an actor to play himself, whereas Nathan inhabits the function of one other scholar, Thomas, full with an amusingly unconvincing wig.
Faux Nathan nails Nathan’s calculated self-consciousness, whereas Nathan himself involves the conclusion that he’s not essentially the most participating trainer, and that the chairs must be organized in a circle.
For the subsequent class, Nathan takes his personal recommendation to coronary heart, rearranging the chairs, armed with a extra energetic supply. At this level, the scholars have already embraced the duty, and appear intrigued by Nathan’s unorthodox technique. It does sound type of artsy, proper?
Subsequent, Nathan duties his college students with working actual jobs to imitate their targets, encouraging them to interrupt each boundary of privateness conceivable to nail the efficiency – the one scholar that reveals discomfort with their creepy job is Thomas.
Therefore, Nathan does one other rehearsal of his top notch, then the second; he involves the conclusion that the presence of the cameras, the fame of HBO, and collective peer strain is pushing his topics into agreeing to issues they usually wouldn’t, like signing a launch kind with out studying it, or stalking a stranger for an appearing gig. The data that they may be on the cusp of receiving their quarter-hour of fame overshadows the purple flags.
It’s an attention-grabbing reflection on Nathan’s earlier work, Nathan For You, which very a lot relied on the ability of the digital camera, and the egotism of the topics to make them conform to the outlandish premises – it actually wasn’t as a consequence of Nathan’s charisma (though, his intense awkwardness has proved an exceedingly highly effective motivator).
That’s at all times been a part of the joke of Nathan Fielder’s work – that the feeling of being filmed, whereas engaged in an uncomfortable dialog, is a hilariously highly effective immediate. Lots of people simply wish to be on digital camera, regardless of the associated fee! We see unlucky fame-seekers tortured and manipulated by actuality TV producers on a regular basis – Nathan Fielder is without doubt one of the few who appear concerned about inspecting that energy dynamic.
From there, issues proceed to escalate, as Nathan makes an attempt to echo the lifetime of Thomas, which suggests sending Thomas off to an condominium designed to imitate that of his topic, whereas Nathan stays in Thomas’s condominium, which has an unsettling assortment of stuffed animals, watching him sleep.
Did Thomas know Nathan was going to sleep in his mattress? The query of how a lot Nathan’s topics actually learn about their state of affairs continues to linger over the present. However Nathan’s appearing class quickly finally ends up, as his college students reveal their aptitude by imitating the work of their topics, an amusingly underwhelming show which ends with Nathan awarding all of them diplomas.
Subsequent, Nathan heads again to Angela’s home, the place “Adam” has grown into a young person – he greets Nathan with a heat hug, and the fake-family take pleasure in a healthful dinner. However Nathan finds the charade unconvincing, and he has a real dialogue with Josh, the actor at the moment taking part in Adam, to brainstorm concepts.
Josh, it seems, is a fairly good performer, and means that Adam must be livid at his dad for being absent for almost all of his childhood. They carry out the “welcome house” scene once more, and this time, Adam is suitably resentful. Adam’s backstory even spirals right into a drug habit, culminating in a dramatic overdose scene which prompts a panicked response from Angela, presumably mirroring her personal experiences as a young person.
Once more, how a lot was rehearsed, how a lot was spontaneous, and was Angela instructed this may occur? We don’t know, however should you look fastidiously, you may see two of Nathan’s appearing college students taking part in the function of paramedics, one in every of whom is Thomas – we’re knee-deep into Nathan’s alternate realities at this level.
Adam runs off, and Nathan reunites with him at a playground, the place a nifty transition resets Adam again right into a six-year outdated, so Nathan can wipe the slate and attempt to be a greater father. Angela has already agreed to relive Adam’s “childhood,” however once more, she appears reluctant, pressured by the presence of the cameras (though, this doesn’t seem to be a foul gig for Angela).
The episode ends with Josh confirming his scene shot, with Nathan and little Adam strolling off to begin afresh. Every episode appears to show the preliminary premise on its head – who is aware of the place this present goes? I’m unsure Nathan knew throughout filming, however he’s actually cobbled a story collectively within the edit.
One issues for sure – there’s nothing else like this on tv.
In the event you loved studying, try my recap of the earlier episode right here
