One of the great living artists Nathan Fielder returns with a second season of his magnum opus The Rehearsal after nearly a three year wait. The six-episode season, which just wrapped this past Sunday, offers an overwhelming amount of insights about aviation, relationships, and even himself.

One of the hardest questions to answer when discussing the show is also one of the simplest: “What is The Rehearsal about?” The show touches upon a number of hard-hitting topics: the human condition, the ethics of creating art, anxiety, and the mere burden of existing. This list of subjects is still unable to paint what the show is truly about, as you cannot truly understand what this show even is without watching it. But I implore anyone and everyone to witness The Rehearsal, which may just be the best show on television.

Nathan Fielder serves as the “host” of this series, guiding others into “rehearsals”: elaborate productions to replicate something that they may be anxious about to adequately prepare them. The first season escalated this premise to unhinged heights, ending with Nathan rehearsing as a father with an interesting woman named Angela. This season sees Nathan exploring aviation, pondering if communication between pilots results in a notable percentage of aircraft crashes. However, in the nature of the show and Fielder in general, he explores this in a variety of abstract ways. 

The second season of The Rehearsal maintains the first’s fabulously jaw-dropping concepts, whether Nathan is recreating the entire life of Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger or depicting the offices of Paramount Plus as Nazi strongholds. However, it also features a significantly more vulnerable Nathan, who examines his own weaknesses like never before. Nathan has famously always maintained a fierce hold on his persona, which he has maintained as long as he’s been in the public eye. Across his shows and various public appearances, the awkwardly ambitious, pointedly socially inept man he portrays himself as has never once been dropped. This doesn’t necessarily change with this season of The Rehearsal, we get a far more nuanced look at the man in front of the camera (though the extent to which that reflects the man behind the mask remains up for debate). Nathan spends nearly an entire episode acknowledging how his character has been embraced by the neurodivergent community and another segment interrogating the likelihood of him being a part of that community himself. Whether or not Nathan has conditions like anxiety is not relevant to the point he is attempting to make; instead, he showcases how aspects of mental health conditions are not as divorced from neurotypicality as they are stigmatized to be. Perhaps the intentional vagueness on whether or not he has a condition is to covertly continue using anxiety as the root of his Nathan character and of The Rehearsal as a whole. Perhaps I’m just projecting! But the fact remains that Nathan’s relative openness on the mental state of his own persona is one of the most daring things I’ve ever seen on television—though the major feat that occurs in the season 2 finale may have that beat.

The whole conceit of the show stems from the fear of the unknown, the stress that comes from the uncertainties we face nearly every day in our lives. We can try to prepare as best we can for job interviews, first dates, and exams, but at the end of the day there’s an element of mystery that will always exist in what’s ahead in life. While many can find beauty and excitement in that, there are many people like Nathan who do whatever they can to prevent it. The Rehearsal beautifully taps into this avoidance of the unknown, avoidance of embarrassment, and most of all, avoidance of self. It does so with a perfect blend of humor, intrigue, and intelligence that solidifies it as the most fascinating show on television, and Fielder as perhaps the most exciting living artist.

10/10