The Rehearsal (HBO/ HBO Max) TV Show • Page 31

"i mean, you're a great scene partner"

 

That part is so good lol

 

It's also a line that makes me way too speculative about what's real and what's fake.

 

I would not be shocked about a child actor saying that lol their families are typically very into it

 

I am disturbed that the zionism wasn’t ultimately confronted and the Remy story does give more weight to the manipulation criticism but goddamn this was a fascinating, hilarious at times, and thought provoking season of television.

 

Idk I felt like it was confronted by Nathan's obvious discomfort and disagreement with her?

 

the continued discussion over zionism with this show is such an absurd and silly thing

 

Yeah, like, that’s not what this show’s about. Of course, no one’s saying it’s not important, but there’s no need to constantly coax the audience. And really creators of art shouldn’t have to put a disclaimer of their political beliefs into everything they create, even if it touches on a range of serious themes. I don’t expect the show The Rehearsal to delve too deep into the Israeli-Palestine conflict. All that said, it’s pretty obvious, Nathan’s not a Zionist. The subtext is there and it’s enough, his reaction/that whole conversation could’ve been edited out but wasn’t.

 

There are like 5 different levels to that scene but he clearly isn’t a Zionist.

 

That scene was a payoff for the original observation about Angela's extremism. Nathan (the character) thinks he found a good role model for the Adams and then she just goes right into the handbook. It is a type of joke he has done often on both shows when he lets the camera roll long after the scene appears to be over and the participants start to say bizarre or revealing things.

The show likes to joke about dark things. That is why we can laugh when he says something about how we all like Mel GIbson's movies in the voiceover.

Also, I think we might overestimate the political ideology of the country and the potential audience that comes with it. Unfortunately, thinking of Palestinians as human beings is a minority position in the United States. All of the Republicans and almost all Democrats go along with Israel's plans for settlements and the continued violence against subjugated people in the region. Fielder's audience is almost certainly more left-leaning than the average audience, but it would still seem a little forced. Can we imagine what the thinkpieces would say?

 

I never said I thought Nathan was a Zionist I just said it was a little disturbing to leave us with someone dehumanizing Palestinians and promoting Zionism. I agree it’s not the point of the show and I don’t think any less of the show for it. Being disturbing was probably the point of the scene!
Maybe it’s a little personal to me as well but I don’t think it’s enough anymore to just not be a Zionist, I think Zionism has to be confronted. We rightfully have this standard with other terrible things like racism and antisemitism I don’t really know how to justify not having it with zionism. Anyway I just said I was disturbed by it, not trying to start a debate about how I feel when someone is saying Palestinians deserve to be killed during a week when they were literally being killed.

 

the drama we could be having

 

i think that is the point im trying to make though. the final scene of the penultimate episode isnt "promoting zionism." it's literally making a joke out of someone trying to do so and portraying her as similar to an antisemite.

 

It's also "disturbing" that someone making blatant anti-Semitic comments got a heartwarming redemption in the last episode but this is a comedy show and I don't think Nathan was trying to encourage anti-Semitism

 

Nathan choosing to apologize for his actions is separate from her being an anti-Semitic loon. He wasn't validating her beliefs. He was just choosing to apologize for his own actions. I don't think that's disturbing; I found it moving.

 

Yeah I’m not sure how you equate the two situations especially when Angela was called an antisemite to her face on the show lol

 

I feel like I’ve derailed the thread and didn’t mean to. I’m more interested in where this going in season 2. Do they continue the parenting rehearsal? What happened to the Fiedler rehearsal school and how does that play into this going forward? I hope they keep the bar.

 

But not by Nathan. The show has made a point that Nathan doesn’t like to challenge people when he disagrees with them. That’s the whole point of that sequence with Angela vs Miriam.

As a Jewish person, I fundamentally agree that Jewish people need to lean more into dismantling Zionism. It goes against everything Judaism stands for and yet so many Jews use the same tired arguments that Miriam does; decades of Zionist indoctrination has poisoned Jewish education. But I don’t have any expectation for Nathan to do this in his show, especially when it’s entirely constructed for guests to feel comfortable enough to spout nonsense to the camera. It’s a recurring thing—in NFY, Nathan doesn’t agree with the gas station owner when he says he drinks his grandson’s pee, but he lets him say whatever he wants to the camera.

 

Yeah I don’t really disagree. I do think bringing Miriam into the rehearsal was him confronting Angela, although not directly by Nathan. It also backfired when he wasn’t able to challenge Miriam and I get it that this was the point.
He also called out the gold digger guy for using an antisemitic trope so he’s not totally incapable of confrontation.
I have only seen a few NFY episodes but I’m trying to correct that.

 

Love the sequence where he’s in character as the juice guy and attending his own acting class, looking at the cameras, and noting how rushed the process to get him to sign a waiver is

 

I recommended this show to my First Sergeant today and he just text me "this show is nuts lol"

 

lol

 

hey I’ve actually been there! It rules