There’s a scene in the second episode of ‘The essays‘ (The Rehearsal) in which we see Nathan Fielder talking on the phone communicating a decision he had made. We soon discover that you are following a flowchart point by point in which you have planned all the variants of the conversation according to the reaction of the recipient of the call.
This is just one of the examples of the meticulousness with which the Canadian comedian and producer (recently in ‘How To with John Wilson’) faces this experimental series, which arrives this Saturday on HBO Max, along with Carrie Kemper and Eric Notarnicola supporting him in the script.
Under the premise of what would happen if we could rehearse vital conversations and decisions of our life, Fielder enters into a double dynamic since these essays are not only to help the ordinary person on duty (a professor who wants to confess something to his friends, a woman who wants to see if she is capable of being a mother, etc. ), but also for him.
playing to be real
In fact, ‘Essays’ begins with the comedian explaining how his own sociability problems are what, in some way, have pushed him to conceive this idea. So that when he comes to introduce himself to the subject of the first episode, this has already rehearsed dozens of times in a replica of the apartment and with an actor that initial conversation, the ways to break the ice, the jokes, etc. And that’s what he wants to do with people.
It’s not the first time, actually. I had already done something similar at the end of ‘Nathan For You‘ in which he hires an actress so that a man can simulate what would happen in a meeting with the one who was the love of his life. But here we don’t only have actresses, as in ‘Synecdoche, New York‘ of charlie kaufmanwe will have the reconstruction of real places, houses and bars in an attempt to get as close as possible to reality.
Perhaps the smartest thing about ‘The trials’ is not to stay only in “the case of the week” but, from the second episode, an arc begins that will cover the whole series with a simulation of months in which Angela, a fervent Christian, tries out the possibility of being a mother, compressing her fictional son’s entire life into a matter of weeks.
A monstrous project that proves to be much more complex and have many more implications expected, which demonstrates the tremendous difficulty of having every aspect of a life, even fictitious, under control. Embracing this makes this docu-comedy even more fascinating.
Simulation Layers
And it is that Fielder is willing to always go one step further and creates simulation layers himself, as if we were in the middle of ‘Origin’: at one point he decides to set up a class to prepare actors for future simulations and, observing a somewhat hesitant student, decides to put himself in his place to revive those classes.
That narrative ambition, also accompanied by a fairly loose budget in appearance, makes the series continually navigate between situations (and logistical circumstances of the mission) as funny as really interesting on a human level.
In short, ‘The trials’ it’s as fascinating as it is absurd. The HBO series blurs the line between reality and fiction thanks to surreal situations followed by moments of inflection and reflection. Points that, sincere or simulated, demonstrate Fielder’s genius.