Caemeron Crain
The following recap contains spoilers for The Rehearsal S2E4, “Kissme” (written by Nathan Fielder & Carrie Kemper & Adam Locke-Norton & Eric Notarnicola and directed by Nathan Fielder)
The Rehearsal S2E4 begins with the performance of a multi-genre medley of “Amazing Grace” by contestants in the Wings of Voice competition, which Nathan notes he doesn’t really care about anymore. The idea has served its purpose in terms of his concern with airline safety, but he’s obligated to carry the competition through. After all, he promised the winner the chance to sing on national TV in a partial recreation of the Houston airport.
In “Kissme,” however, Fielder quickly moves on. There isn’t much of a connection with the events of last week’s episode, which makes sense since it would be hard to see real pilots being convinced to reenact the entire life of Sully Sullenberger. But, Nathan is thinking about how he has learned that pilots avoid therapy due to the risk of losing their licenses, and how real-life pilots don’t tend to talk to one another.
He rounds up some actors to pose as members of the film crew and asks them to attempt personal conversations with the pilots involved in The Rehearsal, making sure to note to the FAA in voiceover that this is definitely not therapy.
Ultimately, we home in on a first officer named Colin and his virtually non-existent dating life. Colin claims that women don’t tend to understand his life as a pilot and what it entails, but he’s not engaging in subtle misogyny so much as he’s making excuses for himself. When it comes down to it, he doesn’t know what he’s doing when it comes to dating, and this should be clear to anyone watching this episode.
Nathan has the idea of giving Colin a pack of followers, composed of actors who repeat what he says and mimic his actions. This pack is deployed during a fake date between Colin and another actor, and it boosts his confidence to some degree, even if the idea at play here is absurd.
The bigger problem is that the date itself is fake. If Fielder is going to explore a parallel between a co-pilot’s lack of confidence in dating and the lack of confidence first officers have exhibited in the run-up to plane crashes, the stakes will have to be real.
So, Nathan asks the actors in the pack if any of them are attracted to Colin, and three of them say that they are. Fielder notes that he ethically can’t, and won’t, pressure them to pursue Colin romantically, but also says that he won’t stand in the way if they want to.
Ultimately, things move forward with Emma, whom Colin begins dating. And, of course, with this being The Rehearsal, Nathan proceeds to get together five fake Colins and five fake Emmas from the group of actors he has at his disposal, allowing them to choose how they pair up and giving them all the option to decline to participate in this exercise if they don’t feel comfortable.
The fake relationships proceed far more quickly than the real one. The real Colin does not know how to take a hint or how to read when Emma wants him to kiss her. In contrast, the fake couples are all making out on the couch in short order, even though some of them have significant others in real life, and Nathan has told them only to do what they’re comfortable doing.
He proceeds to bring those significant others to set and discovers that the idea of acting seems to exert a kind of magical power, as none of them are overly bothered by seeing their partners becoming intimate with strangers.
This leads Fielder to create a scene wherein Colin is to play a character named Captain Powers, who has the special power of always asking for a kiss when he’s on a date. His scene partner will be Emma, playing a character named Jennifer Kissme. The idea sort of works, in that Colin asks for a kiss and proceeds to give one, but it’s just a peck on the cheek.
C’mon, man! She wants you to kiss her! I can’t help but feel for this awkward guy.
Reminding us that The Rehearsal is not actually about Colin’s love life, Nathan meets again with John Goglia to talk about what he’s been up to. Nathan floats his ideas about working on communication between captains and first officers before they ever fly together. Goglia is onboard with the approach and notes that the focus tends to be on what happens in the cockpit. He agrees that there is some low-hanging fruit that could be engaged with in terms of the relationships between pilots outside of the cockpit. Goglia encourages Fielder to talk to Congress about his ideas, while noting that it’s not easy to get Congress to do things.
Thus, The Rehearsal S2E4 ends with Nathan Fielder getting ready to testify to Congress. If I’m honest, I can’t be sure whether these are the real members of the subcommittee or actors playing them. One would expect that Fielder would rehearse such an important event, but I pulled up photos of the real people and compared them to the faces on my screen without being able to come to a definitive judgment.
If these are actors, they look a lot like the real people they are portraying, and “Kissme” cuts to black before we get any further information. I’m presuming we’ll pick up right here next week, though.
I’ll see you then.
