‘The Rehearsal’ Season 2 Episode 1 review: “Gotta Have Fun”

Is it a coincidence or simply fate that the second season of Nathan Fielder’s deliriously pensive HBO docu-dramedy (?) series, The Rehearsal, centers around aviation control when airplane safety seems at an all-time low? That’s not for me to speculate, especially when discussing the season premiere. What I can say, though, is that based on this first episode, we’re in for yet another hilariously absurd, emotionally challenging, intellectually probing block of television. One that uses every elaborate trick in Fielder’s arsenal to continue exploring the most human question: what does it mean to connect to others, personally and professionally, whether your life (and the lives of others) is on the line, or you want to know what it means to blur the lines between what’s honest and dishonest, lighthearted or serious, beneficial or trivial, all in the service of maintaining the Fielder blend of cringey comedy and sincere(ish) emotional longing.

With that said, let’s look at The Rehearsal’s well-awaited HBO return, “Gotta Have Fun.”

It takes some time before the series directly reintroduces Fielder. This episode treats us, if that’s the right turn of phrase, to a dramatic recreation of a fatal cockpit conversation where the lack of beneficial communication resulted in the death of the pilots, as well as the passengers on board.

It’s not long before we see that it’s a simulation — as if the stilted acting, general unease of the performers, and the core concept of the series weren’t an apparent giveaway — in what seems to be an LED Volume-type backdrop (And just as a side note, I have to admit, having Fielder use this technology in the pursuit of his usual disorienting blend of the real, the uncanny, and the fabricated might be the best use of it to date). It’s also apparent by the looming eyes of Fielder. He who looks in on these poor acting souls, once again assuming a sort of god-like role as he watches the carnage ensue and the digital flames erupt, his expression one of disdain.

Nathan Fielder continues to pull the thread of awkward human connections.

As Fielder later notes, following a conversation with aviation expert John Goglia, the host-director knows how to simulate role-playing exercises that would allow real-life airplane pilots to control what appears to be one of the biggest (and, ironically, most under discussed) causes of airplane crashes: poor, improper, or simply nonexistent communicative interaction. But he doesn’t know how to apply his skills in a way that honors his pursuit as a comedian. Making people laugh is serious business, sometimes. When it comes to something as heavy as airplane safety, it’s not easy to wring out gaffs, even in Fielder’s awkward way—that self-pursuit of balancing practicality and emotionality drives (or, rather, flies) this premiere episode.

From there, Fielder spends most of this episode in the service of Moody, a young first officer with whom our host latches onto to understand him both as a person and as a pilot. Keenly observing his daily actions and going to elaborate lengths to understand the fraught relationship shared between co-pilots, including a gigantic recreation of a local airport with accompanying actors so Fielder can spend time in their private room, Fielder learns early on that Moody has a stable long-distance girlfriend but carries concerns about who she might meet on the job as a Starbucks barista and how she might interact with the flirtier ones. It’s easy to see how Fielder would feel emboldened to bridge the gap between the personal and professional.

Sure enough, audiences must watch in fidgety delight as Fielder creates one of the most squeamishly fun cockpit conversations in recent television memory. Fielder’s television persona often faces difficulties making lasting connections with others, and he may even disrupt other relationships in the process. At a certain point, you have to wonder who would be willing to get into these odd endeavors. But thankfully, for our sake, Fielder knows how to find those few patiently prickly people who will indulge in his televised antics. Perhaps the call of HBO is simply too good to ignore, or maybe they just don’t keep up with one of the most acclaimed comedy creators of our time? Or maybe they’re in on it, and that’s all part of Fielder’s warped magic trick? To dig into it too deeply would likely ruin all the uncomfy charms.

It’s all a rehearsal until it gets too real.

I’ve taken special notice of how Fielder continues to incorporate the presence of cameras in his show. Just as it did in the first season’s second half, the host-director lets us see more and more and more of what he sees. Nathan shows us the camera crew in key moments, including a shot near the end of this first episode when Fielder tries to help Moody and his girlfriend make amends after a particularly heated conversation.

Fielder has a brief but notable look into the lens not long after, when he plants a clown actor from before into the central focus for a pointedly metaphorical reason. Even when Fielder is trying to have an intimate conversation with Moody about his partner, Fielder allows us to see the camera crew cluttering Moody’s bedroom, allowing us to know, like him, that we’re not always witnessing the real truth of anything. Or, in some sense, we, like Fielder, have to know that there are caveats, as it might pertain to potent interactions.

Teasing the audience with a cliffhanger sequence where Fielder studies old newspapers and news footage of the Wright brothers, who faced ridicule in their pursuit to flight before being taken seriously, our host — always at odds with viewers expect of him but most especially himself — questions if there is a way that a documentarian/comedian/filmmaker/researcher like himself can bridge a gap found between the humorous and honorable. Surely, we know that Fielder is capable of blending such divides.

But what remains a mystery is the lengths Fielder will go to prove it, and what people will be caught up in, all his intricate webs of deceit, to realize that vision. Indeed, it’s all a rehearsal until it gets too real. And that, of course, is the Fielder guarantee. So, whether real life is mirroring Fielder’s fiction is irrelevant. For that was always set to be the case in some manner. But let’s hope it is not as disastrous as flying seems today.

The Rehearsal Season 2 Episode 1 is out now on HBO. 

Will Ashton