[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Rehearsal, Season 2 Episode 3, “Pilot’s Code.”]
I know you can say this after pretty much every episode of The Rehearsal, but emphatically, what the actual fuck??
The first two episodes of The Rehearsal Season 2 already have presented plenty of jaw-dropping moments. From the season opener’s “friendship flowers” incident to last week’s callout of Paramount+ for removing the Summit Ice episode of Nathan for You, there’s been a lot to digest. And yet, this week’s episode, “Pilot’s Code,” easily ranks amongst the wildest shit Nathan Fielder has done onscreen yet — and that is saying a lot.
The episode opens with an interesting, though relatively lightweight, primer as Fielder attempts to perform a personality transfer on a cloned dog. It’s ultimately a bit of failure, as even though one clone has a single breakthrough moment, none of the subjects truly take to the original pet’s personality.
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That’s when Fielder decides it’s time to test out his theories on himself… and when the real fireworks start.
After studying one of the most famous pilots of recent times — Captain “Sully” Sullenberger, who’s best known for landing a plane in the Hudson River — Fielder decides to see if he can absorb Sully’s traits by recreating his upbringing. “Look, what you’re about to witness is going to seem weird,” Fielder warns before the grand reveal. That reveal? Fielder walking into an oversized room completely shaved and dressed as a baby.
†From there, it’s a surreal nightmare as he speed-runs Sully’s life, complete with monstrous puppet parents, breastfeeding simulations, and Fielder straight-up masturbating in the cockpit of a plane. (When I tell you I full-on screamed at the screen more than once, I am honestly downplaying my reaction.)
This isn’t the first time Fielder has turned his absurd ideas on himself: He did so repeatedly on Nathan for You (most notably with the “Claw of Shame”) and in Season 1 of The Rehearsal. This time, however, he takes it further than ever before.
One of the most ridiculous, though shockingly believable, revelations Fielder has as a result of his experimentation directly relates to Sully’s claim to fame, the Hudson River emergency landing. In the latter parts of his memoir, Sully begins to consistently reference different songs. However, there’s one band, Fielder notices, that Sully seems to come back to particularly often — Evanescence.
According to his own writing, the airline captain had something of an infatuation with the emo hitmakers. Fielder relates this to pilots’ tendencies to keep their emotional struggles to themselves, as feelings of anxiety or depression can result in one losing one’s aircraft license. After “living as him for so long” and simulating the landing in the Hudson, Fielder takes it one step further by suggesting that Evanescence may secretly be the reason Sully was able to pull off such a remarkable feat.
As presented in The Rehearsal, there’s a 23-second gap during the emergency landing where Sully doesn’t speak a word. It just so happens, Fielder explains, that the chorus to Evanescence’s beloved track “Bring Me to Life” is also 23 seconds long — and Sully’s iPod was found in the plane wreckage. Is it possible Sully spent that third of a minute listening to “Bring Me to Life,” and that’s what gave him the strength to ask his co-pilot for help and ultimately avert disaster? Fielder thinks so.
But, hold on, did Sully actually listen to “Bring Me to Life” while landing US Airways Flight 1549? Short of Sully himself confirming one way or the other, it’s impossible to know. Though, we can at least check to see if Fielder’s math truly adds up.
Firstly, let’s address the facts that The Rehearsal unequivocally gets correct. For one, Sully’s iPod was indeed recovered in the wreckage, as confirmed in his memoir, Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, and an essay titled “What I Got Back.” He also does write about about Evanescence in his memoir and has mentioned the band in passing throughout the years, like in this interview with Runner’s World.
Where Fielder’s theory gets a little hazier, though, is when it comes to the exact numbers — the period of time Sully remained silent in the cockpit and the length of the “Bring Me to Life” chorus. According to the official transcript, Sully actually stayed mum from 3:29:45 to 3:30:11, meaning he kept to himself for 26 seconds rather than 23. As far as the epic hook of “Bring Me to Life,” it’s a little more subjective. There’s some wiggle room depending on when exactly you consider the chorus to have started and ended, as well as which one of the several instances of the chorus you’re specifically looking at. By my count, however, the first chorus lasts about 21 seconds, and the next two last about 25 seconds. Not far off, perhaps even within the margin of subjectivity, though different enough to warrant mentioning.
Of course, we’re splitting hairs here. As mentioned, certain details are up to interpretation. Plus, who’s to say that Sully needed to listen to the entirety of the chorus? Or how long it took him to find his iPod, put in his earbuds, pull up the song, scroll to the chorus, and hit play? Or if, perhaps, he simply recalled the chorus mentally, leading to a slight variation in tempo and, as a result, length?
So, no, in all likelihood, Sully did not listen to “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence while performing what might be the most famous plane landing of all time. But that’s just it… “in all likelihood.” The fact that there is enough coincidence to not fully rule out the possibility is, admittedly, insane. And as we learned in The Rehearsal Season 1 Episode 3, maybe the illusion is enough. I, for one, think it’s a whole lot more fun to believe that Fielder’s recreation is exactly what went down on that fateful day.
New episodes of The Rehearsal premiere Sundays on HBO and Max.
