Nathan Fielder’s Most Elaborate Prank Yet Unveiled in The Rehearsal Season 2 Finale
Warning: This post contains spoilers for finale.
Throughout the second season of The Rehearsal, and indeed throughout his career, Nathan Fielder has consistently demonstrated his ability to surprise. Therefore, it should not be entirely unexpected that the season finale of his acclaimed HBO series features what is arguably his most ambitious and elaborate comedic scheme to date. Nevertheless, the fact that he managed to execute it is still quite remarkable.
After dedicating a significant portion of Season 2 to supporting his argument that many plane crashes are attributable to co-pilots struggling to voice concerns to their captains, the finale included a flashback to two years prior. This revealed that Fielder spent months acquiring his commercial pilot license to captain a real Boeing 737 with genuine passengers, facing all the real risks associated with flying. First, however, he needed to learn how to fly, a skill that he soon realized did not come naturally to him.
“When I first began this project, I decided there was no better way to understand pilots than by becoming one myself,” he explained via voiceover, accompanied by clips of his flying lessons. “But it became clear very quickly that I was not a natural at this, especially when it came to landing the plane.”
Fielder was informed that most students typically master landings and are ready to fly solo after 10-30 hours of flight time. However, after over 120 hours, he had yet to convince his instructors of his proficiency. Following the fatal crash of another student pilot and their instructor during one of his training sessions, Fielder took a month-long break to rehearse flying at home, portraying a fearless pilot. After the break, he finally made progress and was permitted to fly solo. However, obstacles to his plan persisted.
Given that 1,500 hours of flight time are generally needed to be considered for a commercial airline pilot position and Fielder had accumulated only around 270-280 after two years, he recognized the need to exploit a loophole. This would involve completing an FAA-approved 737 training course, acquiring a passenger plane (financed by HBO), and convincing nearly 150 actors to pose as passengers to circumvent regulations regarding paying customers.
Acknowledging that he was the least experienced individual licensed to fly a 737 in North America at the time, Fielder prepared for the flight by enlisting Aaron, a pilot who had served as a judge for his “Wings of Voice” singing competition earlier in the season, as his co-pilot. He then outlined the objectives for the flight, which was scheduled to depart from the San Bernardino airport, fly east to the Nevada border, and then return to San Bernardino.
“I’m trying to demonstrate how hard it can be for any pilot to say what they’re thinking in a cockpit environment. And this dangerous phenomenon that leads to planes crashing I truly believe happens in some form on every single airline flight,” he stated. “Now, obviously with this flight, I don’t want to let anything unsafe happen. So the second I see my co-pilot thinking something that he’s not saying, you’re going to get to see that. And then I’m going to quickly jump in and ask him about how he’s feeling so he can share that with me and be comfortable sharing that. And nothing will be left unspoken.”
Ultimately, nothing significant occurred in the cockpit during the flight. However, after disembarking to applause and cheers from the actor-passengers, Fielder concluded that since cockpit activity is not generally observed, “as long as you get everyone down safely, that’s all it takes to be their hero.”
While Fielder is known for blurring the lines of reality, making the real-life implications of his stunts quite astonishing, the stakes were particularly high this time. But he went even further, revealing in the closing minutes of the finale that he has also started working for a company that relocates empty 737s around the world.
It appears that, despite being a comedian, Fielder is capable of being taken seriously. Or perhaps it simply comes down to practice. As he stated earlier in the episode, “I’ve always believed that if you rehearse long enough and hard enough, nothing will be left to chance.”
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