“The Rehearsal’s” season two pilot opens with a scene that doesn’t seem particularly relevant to the show: a pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit of a commercial flight. At first, the two are engaged in conversation when an issue arises. In a matter of seconds, the plane is plummeting toward the ground. The two pilots are assumed by the audience to be dead, surrounded by a raging fire. A tragedy, to be sure, but then, out of the flames, we see a familiar face. That face is Nathan Fielder’s.
“The Rehearsal” on HBO Max is an overwhelmingly beautiful viewing experience from the hottest guy in town, Nathan Fielder (“Nathan for You,” “The Curse”). A documentary/comedy whose concept is unlike any other show on TV right now, “The Rehearsal” features Nathan Fielder’s “Fielder Method.” The method involves having people rehearse social interactions before they happen. Fielder sets up elaborate sets, hires actors to play the people he will be interacting with, and goes through slight variations of the same scenarios over and over until the subject feels confident enough to carry out the real interaction. Fielder does this on an enormous scale, building a full-scale recreation of a wing of the Denver airport, a bar, and hiring dozens of actors to play pilots.
The show explores how, in Fielder’s eyes, everyone is always performing, and it also delves into living with undiagnosed autism. Additionally, it examines the role of social tension in preventing commercial airplane crashes by examining the dynamics of airline pilots and first officers. “The Rehearsal” can completely rework how someone looks at the world—personally, I’ve found it’s given me a different outlook on social interactions in my own life. It is also one of the funniest shows on TV right now.
Season two of “The Rehearsal”—with its six episodes airing on Sundays at 10:30 PM—focuses on preventing commercial airplane crashes by making sure that first officers (more commonly known as co-pilots) have the confidence to stand up to pilots in the cockpit. That is the overarching plot of the season, but there’s a lot more under the surface. Without spoiling too much, the later episodes of season two go into subjects like autism diagnoses and the injustice of the commercial airline industry. This is mixed with a poignant but not necessarily statistically relevant dive into flight safety. In addition, it’s unclear how real the show is. The whole thing is presented as fully true to real life, but the show is a commentary on how people are always performing, so it’s sometimes hard to tell. “The Rehearsal” is also laugh-out-loud funny—especially when it gets more absurd—like the episode where Fielder lives out the entire life of Sully Sullenberger, from his childhood to landing a plane on the Hudson River. Every episode is unique and often moving, especially later in the season. “The Rehearsal” is first and foremost a comedy, but there are stretches in the back half of season two with almost no comedic moments. The show is still entertaining, but if you signed up for a pure comedy, you might be in for a surprise.
This article also appears in our June 2025 print edition.
