The Rehearsal Season 2 Episode 2 “Star Potential”crescendoes with one of Nathan Fielder‘s most insane creative swings ever — and it’s all in service of saving one of the most iconic Nathan For You episodes from streaming purgatory. About two thirds into this week’s episode of the deranged HBO masterpiece, Fielder reveals that in late 2023, he learned that Paramount+ had removed Nathan For You Season 3 Episode 2 “Horseback Riding/Man Zone” from the streaming service. That’s the episode that launched Summit Ice, aka Nathan Fielder’s apparel line that stands up for Holocaust education.
**Spoilers for The Rehearsal Season 2 Episode 2 “Star Potential,” now streaming on MAX**
The journey that Fielder goes on to grapple with what happened to the “Summit Ice” episode results in a sequence where the Canadian Jewish comic stages a meeting between himself and the very Nazi-coded Paramount+ offices in Germany. It’s hilarious, it’s insane, and it’s incredibly brave.
The Rehearsal Season 2 Episode 2 “Star Potential” is not-so-subtly fixated on series star and creator Nathan Fielder’s professional past. The episode not only opens with Fielder’s idea to recreate his first industry gig, as a 23-year-old junior producer destroying dreams on Canadian Idol, to watch how a group of co-pilots communicate bad news, but it also touts the success of Summit Ice.
Fielder explains that he started the Summit Ice apparel line for an episode of his old Comedy Central hit Nathan for You. In that episode, Fielder reveals that he was horrified to learn that the company behind his then favorite jacket brand donated money and gave a public platform to a Holocaust denier. To prevent this shame from befalling him again, he creates Summit Ice. “Deny Nothing” is the brand’s motto and it has literally raised millions of dollars for Holocaust awareness.
Fielder describes the success of Summit Ice as his greatest achievement because it’s proof that something silly created for a comedy show can have serious positive impact on the world. So when he learned that the Nathan For You episode focused on the project was ripped off of Paramount+ worldwide, he had to find out why.
The Rehearsal reveals that Fielder was told that the decision initially came from Paramount+ Germany. They removed Nathan For You Season 3 Episode 2 “Horseback Riding/Man Zone” in their region because they were uncomfortable with “anything that touches on antisemitism in the aftermath of the Israel/Hamas attacks.” The Rehearsal then uses a World War II-esque map of Europe to show how Paramount+ Germany’s decision rippled out into the rest of Europe.
“Before long, the ideology of Paramount+ Germany had spread to the entire globe, eliminating all Jewish content that made them uncomfortable,” Fielder says. “This is real, by the way.” He then goes to Paramount+ itself to show how many results for “Nazi” and “Hitler” pop up in the library, compared to the zero titles he found tied to Judaism. “We’ve been erased,” he says, the camera panning to a title you can stream on Paramount+ right now called Hitler’s Riches.
What Fielder then does is astonishing and very Nathan Fielder. He stages what he imagines the Paramount+ Germany offices to be so he can rehearse confronting the executives about his qualms about their programming decision. Instead of setting the scene in, I don’t know, a modern Berlin office building, Fielder envisions Paramount+ Germany HQ as a rich Nazi’s palatial estate. Massive Paramount+ banners overtake the walls. Soldiers run drills outside. The actor cast as the executive is basically a snide Indiana Jones villain. Fielder’s choices are even thrown in his face by the actor himself who mocks the comedian for not even wanting to consider Paramount+’s perspective.
It’s all designed to show that Fielder feels, as a Jewish creator, that pulling the Nathan For You Summit Ice episode because it might make Gentiles feel uncomfy is the real antisemitism.
So what about the Summit Ice Nathan For You episode could be so controversial? Well, the Summit Ice retail experience does have recreations of Nazi imagery, but they are there to both show the history of the Holocaust and to be ironically absurd. The whole mission of the brand is to ensure people know about the six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust and that Nazism is bad.
Of course, you can’t currently watch the Nathan For You Summit Ice episode on Paramount+ to see for yourself what could be so awful about it. Paramount+ has taken it down worldwide.
It’s a good thing, then, that you can stream Nathan For You on MAX. (Yes, last we checked Nathan For You Season 3 Episode 2 “Horseback Riding/Man Zone” is still on MAX.)
The Rehearsal returns Sunday, May 4 at 10:30 PM ET on HBO and MAX.
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