Home » HBO’s ‘The Rehearsal’ Recap, Episode 5: Culture Clash

HBO’s ‘The Rehearsal’ Recap, Episode 5: Culture Clash

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All through Nathan For You and The Rehearsal, there’s an implicit assumption that the viewer understands Nathan is placing on a persona.

That persona looks as if an exaggerated model of Nathan’s awkwardness, however nonetheless a masks. In episode 5, “Apocalypto,” that masks appears to slide; we seem to catch a glimpse of who Nathan actually is, if just for a second.

The episode begins with a sketch that Nathan and little “Adam” have provide you with, which sees Nathan consuming chocolate and pretending it’s poop. Clearly, that is the peak of humor for a six year-old, however when the 2 present Angela the sketch, she will be able to’t conceal her disgust – in truth, she repeatedly brings it up all through the episode, seemingly infuriated. Angela has by no means actually pretended to love Nathan, however now, her disdain is on full show.

The fantasy get surprisingly actual when Nathan invitations his dad and mom to come back and go to, and his mom observes that the dynamic between him and Angela is mirroring that of his earlier relationships; with a view to keep away from battle, Nathan goes with the movement, typically ignoring his personal discomfort.

His mother means that Nathan “increase” Adam as each a Jew and a Christian, as Nathan himself was raised Jewish. It’s amusing that Nathan’s mother even cares about how he raises his pretend son, however maybe she views it pretty much as good follow earlier than the true factor.

Adam’s “religion” appears to be a real concern for Nathan, but it surely’s additionally the proper technique to push Angela’s buttons – Angela is clearly not sympathetic to different perception programs.

Therefore, Nathan prepares for the troublesome dialog with Angela by rehearsing with one in all his college students from the appearing class within the earlier episode (and to her credit score, the actress completely nails Angela’s passive-aggressive whisper – possibly there’s one thing to be stated for Nathan’s technique).

Whereas the 2 rehearse all kinds of responses, when the true dialog comes, actual Angela dismisses the concept right away – she merely doesn’t appear to view Judaism as a legitimate perception system, resulting from her devotion to Jesus Christ.

Therefore, Nathan decides to reveal Adam to Judaism in secret, underneath the guise of swimming classes which might be actually periods with a Rabbi named Miriam. The strain is constructing, and the absurdity is spiking; the home is surrounded by pretend snow, an imitation of winter that Nathan ordered, to make the home really feel extra festive, and assist spark the dialog round religion.

Angela’s dismissal of Judaism comes proper earlier than she casually tells Nathan that her favourite film is Apocalypto (nice film), and that her favourite director is Mel Gibson (yikes), infamous for his blatantly anti-Semitic rants. The timing is nearly too excellent, and we all know that when Angela learns about Adam’s secret schooling, her response goes to be … attention-grabbing.

Ultimately, Nathan brings Miriam to the home so she will be able to make the case for him, and the dialog is extremely tense; whereas Miriam makes a robust case for tolerance, Angela simply received’t budge, insisting that worshiping Jesus is the one technique to stay.

Pissed off, Miriam quickly offers up, and even labels Angela an anti-Semite. And admittedly, she’s in all probability proper – Angela’s insane obsession with Satanic rituals mark her as Qanon-adjacent, and relating to conspiracy theories, all roads result in anti-Semitism.

Nathan then withdraws to the reproduction bar he constructed for the primary episode of the collection, and watches footage of Angela, taken by the cameras littered round the home, to see how severely she takes the rehearsal when he’s not there. After all, Angela doesn’t care to remain in character throughout Nathan’s absence – she’s taken this as a chance to goof off, and who can blame her?

So, Nathan engages in a collection of rehearsals to confront Angela about her true motives, whereas the strain between him and the true Angela continues to rise. Angela simply can’t recover from the poop sketch, and even declares it a Satanic ritual – Nathan’s exasperated, sarcastic response seems like one other glimpse behind his masks.

Throughout rehearsal with pretend Angela, there’s one other uncomfortable second of reality, as pretend Angela goes on an outburst through which she basically accuses Nathan of laughing at her, understanding that she is the butt of the joke. And it’s true – Nathan’s experiments aren’t overly mean-spirited, but it surely’s simple {that a} massive a part of the enchantment is laughing on the freak present.

Faux Angela even accuses Nathan of being emotionally broken, that the complete collection is simply an try to really feel one thing – Nathan’s response appears genuinely wounded, and once more, the road is being blurred between Nathan’s persona and his persona. After all, we don’t know the way a lot of this was scripted, how a lot was improvised, or if Nathan wrote this script himself.

Lastly, the time comes for Nathan to have an actual dialog with Angela about what, precisely, they’re doing right here. Whereas the dialog appears quick and is closely edited, Angela makes an attention-grabbing level, stating that she by no means felt like an actual collaborator. This is likely to be her dream home and fantasy life, however Nathan is the puppetmaster pulling the strings – in spite of everything, that is his present, and no quantity of appearing can change that actuality.

Nathan’s topics are hardly ever as outspoken as Angela – they have an inclination to go together with every thing to ease discomfort, like Nathan does. However Angela appears very conscious of the truth that Nathan is winding her up, and has put up with the situation for therefore lengthy as a result of it was a form of trip.

However sufficient is sufficient, and Angela decides to depart; her stilted farewell to Nathan highlights the actual fact she by no means felt comfy round him. Nathan, nevertheless, decides to proceed the experiment with simply him and Adam.

Miriam returns to the home, and outright celebrates the truth that Angela is gone. Miriam’s frankness is refreshing, till the ultimate scene, through which she begins to aggressively push Zionism on a clearly uncomfortable Nathan. Amusingly, Miriam and Angela are extra related than they’d wish to consider, each ruled by an ideology which they consider to be the one reality.

Indirectly, the present has been a personality research of all these random oddballs Nathan manages to search out, and even Nathan himself – to a point.

I’m curious to see how the following episode, the finale, binds all these bizarre, great plotlines collectively right into a cohesive entire, or if Nathan will flip the tables on us once more, with one thing fully sudden.

I’m guessing it will likely be the latter.

For those who loved studying, take a look at my recap of the earlier episode right here

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