Nathan For You Season 4

[checkoutgirl]

Yeah, I mean I do agree that she seemed very bright and perceptive, and could probably figure out for herself what was going on. And you could argue that there is no difference between hiring an actor and hiring a sex worker to kiss you on camera, and I suppose I have my own reasons for finding the latter uncomfortable. I say unnecessary as well, because for me you could lose that scene and the episode would be just as good. I dunno, I just had a very strong reaction of "this is weird" when it cut to him snogging her. The rest of their scenes together were great.

It's really only a minor issue for me. Did love the episode a great deal.

The thrust of the side whore story could have been handled better but the lame snog session in the hotel room ruined it. The finale was great but Nathan seemed obvious and studied while Maci seemed natural but she was being paid which ruined it. How can you believe someone who confirms thier exact dollar price before each meeting? It's a stunning editing show but it doesn't bear the slightest examination under the rules of drama.

[colacentral]

The thrust of the side whore story could have been handled better but the lame snog session in the hotel room ruined it. The finale was great but Nathan seemed obvious and studied while Maci seemed natural but she was being paid which ruined it. How can you believe someone who confirms thier exact dollar price before each meeting? It's a stunning editing show but it doesn't bear the slightest examination under the rules of drama.

You weren't supposed to think any of it was genuine. The kiss was purposely excruciatingly uncomfortable, and the girl had a completely dead expression in her eyes whenever she was flirting with Nathan. The artifice of it was part of the joke, hence the ridiculous letter writing scene at the end.

And do you have to keep calling her a whore?

[Repeater]

Aye, what the fuck?

Anyway, this was, really good... Maci seemed so sweet but clearly wasn't interested in Nathan. He fell for her, she re-set the boundaries with the camera comment and that was that, Fielder was back where he started, with no one to love him.

[colacentral]

I'm a ding-dong daddy from Dumas, and you ought to see me do my stuff.

[Repeater]

Right so this AV Club review misses the point of the Maci thing (https://www.avclub.com/nathan-for-yous-two-hour-finale-lives-up-to-the-hype-wi-1820321900). At the end they say "It's not a perfect ending, but it works nonetheless; even knowing that Macy is a professional escort, when they both say, "I like you," to each other, it feels like she means it in a way that goes beyond him being a client." Did the reviewer not hear Maci say  "You're filming something, that's the reason, right?" implying that their relationship is purely financial?

[BritishHobo]

Thought I was the only one baffled by calling her a whore. I liked that part of it, it played out like a traditional romantic subplot with the only caveat being the money. Obviously she's experienced in being genuine and at ease with her clients, so like the fictional Nathan, you can get sucked in and believe it's real. Then of course, just like always, it's not. I don't understand how it's ruined if you know she's being paid? Why would there be a romantic interest who wasn't? They couldn't go too far the other way either, because then it wouldn't hit the beats of a romantic subplot.

Fuck me that was wonderful. Totally unexpected. I would never have even considered the idea of a Nathan For You movie, but that was pretty much a perfect version of one. The one ongoing story and then several daft business ideas throughout. I was so happy after the successful heist.

And surprisingly touching. I know a lot of people like Bill who want that romantic ideal but are hamstrung by their own obsession with it. I liked that often you could see the real Nathan being genuinely amused and intrigued. As has been said, doubtless it's very different to what actually happened, but he managed to produce a genuinely compelling road trip movie.

[brat-sampson]

'I hate to use that term, you gotta know what you're sticking it in.'

'...Jesus, Bill.'

Was that the most genuine Nathan reaction of the entire run?

[colacentral]

It's got to the point where I'm laughing in anticipation of the stitch-up almost as much as the stitch-up itself, eg that example, where the escort idea was clearly conceived to get footage of Bill being a creep (with them having to conceive the rehearsal to get the same effect when he wouldn't go along with it), and Nathan's "You're so dumb" line to Salomon last week, which they perfectly conceived as a flirty line that they knew Salomon would misuse. It's an extra level of comedy that emerges when you get so used to the rhythm of the show.

[Mobius]

Such a fantastic episode. 2 hours! Nothing really comes close to this for creativity and originality. Absolute excruciating, fascinating to try and piece together how it was edited etc. Just brilliant, riveting stuff. Nathan Fielder is a comedy genius. I watched with 2 friends, one who has seen every episode and was very emotionally connected to Bill, and another who'd never seen it and spent the whole time trying to work out if it was real or not.

Loved the meta sort of ending as well, really felt like a nice ending for the Nathan Fielder character.

[StewartLeehaslethimselfgo]

The phone call in the car with Bill ringing her making her guess who he was, and even Nathan looking as uncomfortable as the viewer, Jesus

[Small Man Big Horse]

Absolutely adored this, it just blew me away, in some ways I think it's a shame it didn't get a limited cinema release because I'd have loved to see it on the big screen with an audience, and it might've helped raise Fielder's profile too if it became a cult hit. I noticed that the ratings for this season have been pretty awful which is horribly depressing, but I hope that given the critical acclaim he receives Comedy Central will back whatever he decides to do next.

Edit: This is Maci's website (NSFW, obviously) https://www.macidelavon.com/ - maybe we should all chip in for a US Cabber to meet up with her for an hour under the proviso that he / she only asks questions about Nathan and doesn't do anything sexual. They can do that on their own dime quite frankly.

[Artemis]

I found myself wanting to spend an hour with her just to let her know that her laugh is quite lovely and her demeanour makes me feel warm.

Just me?

[Small Man Big Horse]

No. Oh no.

Also: This is a must watch, as the subtitles vary from what's said on screen towards the end: https://twitter.com/Enduerrment/status/928831008228696065?s=17

[brat-sampson]

Also: This is a must watch, as the subtitles vary from what's said on screen towards the end: https://twitter.com/Enduerrment/status/928831008228696065?s=17

Nah, i agree with the consensus below that this was just a re-write that got left behind when the subs shipped. Not that I expect/assume a fifth season, the guy can make what he wants, but the voiced version expresses essentially the same sentiment without the air of finality.

[Repeater]

Agreed, fake.

watched this again with the girl, she couldn't stop laughing at Bill's sketch. Loved the episode, cringed through the kiss scene. Same reaction as me actually. Amazing episode.

[Petey Pate]

Edit: This is Maci's website (NSFW, obviously) https://www.macidelavon.com/ - maybe we should all chip in for a US Cabber to meet up with her for an hour under the proviso that he / she only asks questions about Nathan and doesn't do anything sexual. They can do that on their own dime quite frankly.

She's made it quite clear that she will not be happy if anyone does this.

https://www.macidelavon.com/single-post/2017/11/11/For-All-Of-You-Curious-Souls

[Petey Pate]

Anyway this episode was stunning. Agreed that it would be a perfect finale to the show, but I have no issue if he decides that he wants to make more.

[Petey Pate]

While Bill failed to find love with Frances, he is now one of the leads in a feature length Hollywood production, so at least he's achieved one of his life long ambitions.

Here's a video of Bill making a surprise appearance at a screening of the episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL19prcBwZ0

[colacentral]

I reckon they might have edited out some of Bill's political opinions to protect him a bit. They couldn't resist leaving in the odd reference to Trump, but I bet they had footage of some controversial opinions there.

I don't agree with the general consensus that this was the best season so far - I thought the chat show episode was more clever than funny; the chilli and psychic episodes were about average for the show, and if you take out the Bill episode, that only leaves 4 really strong typical episodes (though the smoke alarm and Uber episodes were up there with the very best).

I do get the feeling that they're struggling a little bit for new ideas with the format - there was alot of looking back this season, with revisits of Bill, the age artist, the taxi driver, and the retrospective episode (which was probably part of their 8-episode order). And I'm thinking the chat show episode, Bill's episode, and the retrospective were all conceived of to make up for a lack of solid new business ideas. Not that I didn't love those episodes - just that they seem to be symptoms of the show running out of steam. I'd still love for there to be more seasons, or for them to go really elaborate and develop an actual movie. I'd take a season 5 with seven weak episodes if it means getting one more that's as good as something like the smoke detector episode.

I think Seasons 2 and 3 are still better overall, with a greater quantity of big laugh out loud moments through the entirety of those seasons.

[garbed_attic]

I do get the feeling that they're struggling a little bit for new ideas with the format - there was alot of looking back this season, with revisits of Bill, the age artist, the taxi driver, and the retrospective episode (which was probably part of their 8-episode order). And I'm thinking the chat show episode, Bill's episode, and the retrospective were all conceived of to make up for a lack of solid new business ideas. Not that I didn't love those episodes - just that they seem to be symptoms of the show running out of steam. I'd still love for there to be more seasons, or for them to go really elaborate and develop an actual movie. I'd take a season 5 with seven weak episodes if it means getting one more that's as good as something like the smoke detector episode.

I think Seasons 2 and 3 are still better overall, with a greater quantity of big laugh out loud moments through the entirety of those seasons.

_{I agree.}

A great season, but I felt season 3 had the more ingenious conceptual coups and bigger laughs! Interestingly the 'smoke detector' episode was also one of my favourites. Maybe it depends on the degree to which the central concept (and subsequent digressions) matters for the individual viewer.

[Petey Pate]

I reckon they might have edited out some of Bill's political opinions to protect him a bit. They couldn't resist leaving in the odd reference to Trump, but I bet they had footage of some controversial opinions there.

"Can you change it to Fox News?" was hilarious.

What was interesting was how Bill was at high school at the same time as the Little Rock Nine enrollment. The way he talked about "the blacks" was verging on dodgy, but I don't remember him saying anything explicitly racist in what we saw.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine

[Noodle Lizard]

Bit of a ramble here, I've just woken up.

I had mixed opinions on the finale.  On the one hand, it had a lot of great small moments - mostly from Bill, who is a genuinely bizarre presence (despite likely being well "in on it" by now) - but other than that it bore little resemblance to Nathan For You. 

The subplot with Maci was just about entertaining enough, but fell flat as part of this universe and seemed to have been undertaken completely separately from everything else in the episode (my guess is it was filmed later to pad out a two-parter).  I'm not sure if going "meta" in such a way was a good idea overall.  I found Nathan's ending in The Hero far more poignant, because it doubled down on all his misery and loneliness hinted-at throughout the show whilst still working within the NFY framework.  The Maci subplot (and several other scenes) flet more like a quirky rom-com - even down to the way it was shot.

I may need to sit on it for a while.  The rest of this season has been near-perfect, so I don't think it's a case of them jumping the shark or forgetting what made it work, but I couldn't help feeling like they made a few missteps in this one.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

She's made it quite clear that she will not be happy if anyone does this.

https://www.macidelavon.com/single-post/2017/11/11/For-All-Of-You-Curious-Souls

And for good reasons.

Her whole business relies on discretion. Having a deal with a production company is the same to her as meeting customers. They bought her time, and she's not supposed to talk about it afterwards.

Anyway, she was briefed much more than shown for the first meeting. She knew there would be cameras, and she had already accepted to show her face, which may have required a lot of negotiations beforehand.

[Petey Pate]

I had mixed opinions on the finale.  On the one hand, it had a lot of great small moments - mostly from Bill, who is a genuinely bizarre presence (despite likely being well "in on it" by now) - but other than that it bore little resemblance to Nathan For You.

This was one thing about it that I liked. A lot of the time Nathan wasn't really in character - I don't think the Nathan in Nathan For You who once married someone without their knowledge would have been concerned about turning up uninvited to an old woman's house with a camera crew - and his interactions with Bill felt more genuine. Perhaps the purpose of the Macie subplot was so that the Nathan character could be featured in the show, even though it was a lot more self aware and meta than usual. I also felt that for a show that's been criticised as cruel and exploitative the episode had the most humanising depictions of its oddball characters like Bill Heath.

[checkoutgirl]

And do you have to keep calling her a whore?

Is she not a whore or something?

[Zetetic]

It's often used as a term of abuse. There plenty of terms that are more neutral in their connotations.

[colacentral]

Yeah, it's "whores", not "hoes". Unless you're from da hood of course.

Can we say "whore"? Or is that banned?

Just collecting these odd responses in here where they belong.

[Small Man Big Horse]

There's an interesting interview with two members of The Banzai Predicament here: https://www.avclub.com/we-talked-to-the-fake-band-from-nathan-for-you-1820329216

[colacentral]

I reckon the smoke detector player is bullshitting in that interview - desperately wants to come across that he knew what was going on and he was in on the joke the whole time.

[Repeater]

The Maci plot was integral to the overall theme of self-delusion. Pretty obvious tbf.