[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 2 finale of The Rehearsal, “My Controls.”]
There’s one thing fairly profound concerning the second in The Rehearsal finale when Nathan Fielder brings essentially the most random moments of Season 2 collectively. The airline pilots, “Sully” Sullenberger’s memoir, the singing competitors — all of it culminating in a stunning efficiency from a proficient younger girl named Isabella, who beat out hundreds of others to win the grand prize supplied by Wings of Voice: The chance to carry out Evanescence’s “Deliver Me to Life” on tv.
When you tried to elucidate to a newcomer that this was the place all of this was headed, when Fielder first started exploring the query of airline security in the beginning of the season… Yeah, you’d get some confused seems. However the truth that this made sense after watching all six episodes is a testomony to the type of magic Fielder is able to creating, with only a few cameras and some million {dollars}, courtesy of HBO.
Isabella’s Wings of Voice efficiency feels just like the fruits of the whole lot we’ve seen up up to now, but it surely’s not precisely the climax of the episode — and even the season. The ultimate episode spends most of its hour-long runtime constructing as much as Fielder within the cockpit of a real-life 737, flying a full aircraft of “passengers” (paid actors) for over two hours as a method of exploring secure communication between pilots whereas they’re up within the air.
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Fielder and the manufacturing crew put quite a lot of effort into establishing that sure, Fielder actually spent a month in Henderson, Nevada coaching to develop into “the least-experienced individual licensed to fly a 737 in North America.” When you won’t describe it as a coaching montage, the episode devotes no scarcity of display screen time to revealing simply how difficult it’s to fly a 737, whereas additionally revealing that pilots go from coaching in a simulator to flying actual planes carrying passengers — no apply flights in between.
After receiving his license and monitoring down an out there (and operational) 737, Fielder’s prepared for his first flight, along with his “solid” on board. The purpose of this “rehearsal” is to know communication between pilots; as this season has confused, a co-pilot being afraid to talk up has led to no scarcity of aeronautical accidents.
The Rehearsal (HBO)
And Fielder intentionally provides a layer of issue for himself by choosing a co-pilot named Aaron to affix him on the flight: Aaron’s an aspiring TV creator, which could make Fielder, in his eyes, “considerably of a captain within the subject of leisure.” Thus, Aaron is perhaps extra intimidated than others to talk up if he notices any issues, for worry of pissing off his “captain.” However that might imply catastrophe once they’re within the air.
Luckily, all through the flight, Fielder makes a degree of speaking regularly, and shortly the 2 of them are collaborating easily on their flight. The flight is a profitable one, with each Fielder and Aaron receiving applause as soon as they land on the bottom. Good communication saves lives!
However that’s probably not the purpose of this story.
Halfway by the episode, after getting his 737 license, Fielder fills out his medical certification, which features a guidelines of points that might disqualify an individual from flying — together with being identified for “melancholy, nervousness, and so on.” Eager to be conscientious about this stuff, and acknowledging that he has skilled nervousness not too long ago in addition to previously, he goes in for a mind scan that may measure for quite a few situations. Together with autism.
The outcomes of Fielder’s mind scan aren’t prepared earlier than his flight, although, so he checks “no” for the nervousness query: “With the data I’ve, I’m match to fly so… I assume I’m match to fly.” Afterwards, he discovers that it’s not unusual for pilots to keep away from receiving related diagnoses, since they’ll disqualify you from flying. So when he will get a voicemail informing him that his mind scan take a look at outcomes are prepared… he deletes the voicemail.
The season concludes with Fielder revealing that he’s been getting work as a pilot since his first flight, working for an organization that relocates 737s going spare around the globe. It’s work he appears to take pleasure in, and never only for the ego increase that comes from realizing that “they solely let the neatest and greatest folks fly a aircraft of this dimension.” As he captures within the footage from his flights, it’s peaceable up within the sky. Lovely, even.
Then, Fielder lays naked the Catch-22 inherent to pilot life as of late: “Nobody is allowed within the cockpit if there’s one thing incorrect with them. So when you’re right here, you should be effective.”
These are the ultimate phrases of the season, a season during which Fielder discovered excess of simply learn how to fly an airplane — he additionally discovered what he doesn’t need to learn about himself. It’s possibly not as as satisfying an ending as him getting his take a look at outcomes, or discovering some option to totally overhaul the FAA’s rules concerning psychological well being, or each. But it’s an ending that lays naked how difficult it may be to be an individual on this world, how unimaginable it may be to seek out your house. Irrespective of how a lot rehearsal time you set in.
Each seasons of The Rehearsal are streaming now on Max.
