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Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal returns with season 2, picking up right where the first left off—blurring the line between reality and the absurd. The premise stays the same: helping people prepare for life’s hardest moments by recreating them down to the last detail. The second season delves deeper into family ties, identity, and even Nathan himself.
Season 2 continues following Nathan as he builds simulations that spiral wildly out of control. The cast includes a mix of actors, real people, and the ever-awkward, ever-intriguing Nathan at the center of it all.
It’s part documentary, part performance, which is a fascinating theme for a show.
It's strength lies in its unpredictability. Scenes shift from deeply emotional to completely unhinged in the blink of an eye. Audiences stuck around for that blend of strange sincerity and dry, offbeat humor.
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And somehow, even with its layers of artificiality, The Rehearsal still manages to ask questions that feel real.
Now, with everything unraveling just as quickly as it’s constructed, here’s how every episode of The Rehearsal season 2 ranks—from the quietest setups to the biggest emotional gut punches.
Disclaimer: The following article includes the opinion of the writer and also SPOILERS for the show.
Ranking all the episodes of The Rehearsal season 2
6) Episode 5: Washington
Washington acts as a transitional episode in The Rehearsal season 2. It doesn’t hit with the same punch as other chapters, but it sets the stage for what’s coming.
The episode follows Nathan Fielder as he digs into a new rehearsal centered on aviation safety—something he struggles to get off the ground, quite literally.
His efforts to rehearse conversations with officials in D.C. fizzle out, including a quiet, awkward meeting with a congressman that doesn’t go far.
The episode also folds in a layer of self-examination. Fielder visits the Center for Autism and Related Disorders after reflecting on how season 1 may have resonated with viewers on the autism spectrum.
A brief scene involving an eye-reading test becomes one of the most meaningful callbacks in the finale, subtly linking both episodes.
Washington may not carry the same intensity as others, but it functions like connective tissue—tying up themes, building tension, and laying groundwork.
And while the rehearsals in this episode don’t land, they push the story toward a resolution that makes the finale all the more impactful.
5) Episode 4: Kissme
If offbeat comedy isn’t the vibe, Kissme might be a tough watch. The episode continues the thread on pilot communication but shifts focus to Colin, a first officer struggling in the dating department.
Fielder builds a rehearsal around one of Colin’s potential dates, but—as expected—it spirals. Actors are brought in to simulate the experience, and then they’re asked whether they’d actually date Colin in real life.
What starts as a dating rehearsal quickly morphs into a study on emotional consent, performance, and how far people are willing to go for “authenticity.”
Fielder also pokes at actor intimacy on camera, prompting some pretty layered questions. Is it just performance, or does something real sneak in?
At one point, Albert Einstein becomes the subject of a bizarre conversation about attractiveness—just one of those moments that could only happen in The Rehearsal.
While Kissme doesn’t push quite as far as the show’s wildest swings, it still lands as one of the more layered episodes.
4) Episode 1: Gotta Have Fun
Gotta Have Fun opens The Rehearsal Season 2 with an unexpectedly grim tone. The episode begins with a string of flight simulations—each ending in disaster—as Nathan Fielder quietly observes.
His narration sets the stage for a heavier season, touching on the seriousness of the themes he plans to explore, including communication breakdowns, performance under pressure, and emotional disconnection.
He even notes how unfunny it all is for a comedy show, which somehow makes it land even harder.
Comedy does find its way in eventually, though it’s the kind that leans more awkward than laugh-out-loud. The rehearsal process introduces Moody, a first officer navigating uncertainty in his career and relationships.
Things grow more uncomfortable as the episode digs into how people perform sincerity rather than live it.
By the end, the rehearsals unravel in a way that feels unsettling but intentional. Gotta Have Fun might not end up being the standout of the season, but it absolutely locks in the tone and direction for everything that follows.
It’s one of those openers that feels stranger in hindsight, especially once the full picture of season 2 comes into view.
3) Episode 2: Star Potential
Star Potential is the closest The Rehearsal season 2 comes to the chaotic spirit of Nathan for You. The pacing is faster, and the detours are strange.
Fielder revisits his Canadian Idol days, fixates on an unusually charming co-pilot named Mara’D, and stages a surreal rehearsal of himself confronting Paramount+ over a missing Nathan for You episode.
Threads that shouldn’t connect somehow do, and the whole thing folds into itself in a way that’s surprisingly coherent. The satire on charisma, branding, and selective memory lands without needing to spell itself out.
In just 35 minutes, Star Potential manages to be sprawling and tightly structured at once.
2) Episode 3: Pilot's Code
Pilot’s Code opens in classic Rehearsal fashion—by making no sense until it suddenly does. It starts with a couple who’ve cloned their late dog and ended up with three very different pups.
That tangent leads Nathan Fielder to a larger idea: can personality be recreated? That question eventually redirects the episode toward an extended, surreal study of pilot Sully Sullenberger.
Fielder re-stages scenes from Sully’s life like it’s a biopic, complete with memoir moments and dreamlike flourishes. It sounds absurd—and it is—but it works, somehow.
“Pilot’s Code” plays like a bizarre meditation on memory, identity, and heroism, all refracted through the lens of a fake dog and a real crash landing.
1) Episode 6: My Controls
Of all the twists and turns The Rehearsal throws at viewers, the final episode of season 2, My Controls, is the one that truly demands a spoiler warning.
No other chapter in the season pivots so sharply or lands such an unexpected emotional punch. Seriously—if the plan is to watch it, stop reading now.
Because what unfolds in My Controls isn’t just a payoff to the season’s themes—it’s a culmination of Nathan Fielder’s entire approach to performance, authorship, and the increasingly blurry line between method and manipulation.
It loops back to Washington, reactivating that eye-reading test in a way that’s clever, eerie, and emotionally jarring.
It also builds on every failed attempt and half-finished rehearsal to deliver something that feels strangely conclusive, even though nothing is tied up with a bow.
The episode moves from logistics to raw introspection, with Fielder, as always, both hiding behind and exposing himself through the layers of control he creates.
It’s sharp, uncomfortable, and brilliantly executed—exactly the kind of finale this season needed, and probably the only one that would’ve made sense for a show this structurally unhinged.
An episode this layered and unpredictable was always going to top the rankings.
Season 2 of The Rehearsal pushed the limits of reality TV, performance, and emotional transparency. Every episode peels back a new layer, ending in one of the boldest finales in recent memory.
The show is available to be streamed on Max.
