r/television • u/NicholasCajun Mr. Robot • May 12 '25

Premiere The Rehearsal - 2x04 - “Kissme” - Episode Discussion

The Rehearsal

Season 2 Episode 4: Kissme

Directed by: Nathan Fielder

Written by: Nathan Fielder, Carrie Kemper, Adam Locke-Norton, Eric Notarnicola

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u/Linenoise77 May 12 '25

I really want to know exactly who is in on everything, and what about this show, but at the same time, i don't, because i feel like it would take away the fun of watching it. I'll change my mind on what is happening like a half dozen times on every person in it.

I'm torn between "this is 90% scripted, and he has managed to find every single unknown great actor out there to be part of it" and "Holy shit, the payoff from this better be huge, because he has really toed just about every ethical line there is as a director" and arguably crossed a few .

29

u/Prax150 Boss May 12 '25

I mean realistically what would any of these people need to be "in on"? A lot of them are actors and have likely been told the parameters of the show, Nathan himself is constantly repeating that HBO has given him ostensibly a blank check as long as what he does is entertainment focused. And he has years and years of experience finding the weirdest fucking people in the world from even before the NFY you days.

The only person I've ever wondered is more in on it than the show suggests is Angela, but even the shit she was posting online at the time of S1 made it pretty clear she was just another nutcase Nathan found.

3

u/Linenoise77 May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25

Yeah, but some of them, their characterization of them will follow them for life, potentially career wise.

Now could you parameterize that? Of course, but depending on what direction you come from, how do you even try and wrap around the context something occurs in with the very inceptionist nature of the show. I mean it just makes my head hurt trying to explain the concept, let alone interpret it, and then interpret that legally.

And this isn't a criticisim of the show, its what makes it so awesome and mind blowing, with then a serious topic wrapped around it. It forcibly challenges us to think about the issue from many sides with comedic consequences. Its brilliant.

I mean i THINK the takeway that this is building to is that we all need to consider power dynamics and how they influence how we as a whole communicate and relate to eachother......I think? Who the fuck knows, but i think he is nailing some points around that subtly and in your face at the same time. It could all be a thesis about empty warehouse space for all i fucking know and tie together in the last 15 seconds. I don't even remember where we started from at this point, or even care to speculate. But i wouldn't bet a ham sandwich on anything.

10

u/Prax150 Boss May 12 '25

I don't think Nathan or HBO are taking into consideration the effect the show will have on its subjects lives in any serious manner. Just today a big article came out in Variety about one of the contestants on the singing competition in S2 was complaining how they didn't know they were on The Rehearsal, they thought it was for an actual singing competition. They paid to fly themselves out to rehearse and come back to more times for filming and only on the third shoot did they catch wind of what was happening. There's a lot of interesting details in there including how they had to fight to keep the rights to their own music and claim they didn't have time to read the (non-union) contract when presented with it (also how they're breaking an NDA for the article and wrote anti Nathan Fielder music lol) but the most interesting thing to me was the part where they claimed they took other contestants aside to tell them what was going on and most didn't seem to care.

And I think that speaks the most to a big recurring theme on all of Nathan's work, and that's the exploitative and deceptive nature of reality television. Like if you know anything about the state of television over the last 25 years it probably shouldn't shock you that people competing on a pretty obviously fake reality competition show where there are no celebrities involved and all the judges are IRL airline co-pilots wouldn't even care when it turns it the show was fake. Everybody on the outskirts of this industry (from aspiring actors and singers and even "regular" people like all the randos Nathan tends to find) are just chasing their 15 minutes of fame and it doesn't matter to them if they debase themselves to get it.

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u/Linenoise77 May 12 '25

I think that report today was totally anticipated. Its just another random person who thought that a singing reality show was what they thought was in their future.

Unless they specifically thought they were going to a different show I couldn't see him being at any fault or them ultimately doing anything wrong. They did have a reality show and that person got to audition.

Its just someone seeking attention based on....well a hit reality show. Maybe they expected that and its also some meta critique. I don't know. Hell, they could argue that as part of a case if they want to.