I think I may have witnessed the greatest 2 hours of television ever last Thursday. The season 4 finale of "Nathan For You" was simply perfect in every possible way.
The episode was entitled "Finding Frances", and Nathan Fielder made it his personal mission to help a guy that impersonates Bill Gates, he was in earlier seasons of "Nathan For You", find his long lost love from 50 years ago. This episode was so well put together. From start to finish I was totally in. The episode played more like a movie than a show. The people involved with putting this all together nailed it. I had heard Fielder, while doing the podcast circuit, say that the finale was going to be 2 hours, and it was very different from what his show is usually about, and I was intrigued. The whole season was great, but "Finding Frances" was stupendous. It almost felt like a series finale, and while that would make me sad, what a way to go out.
As I said, the episode was all about this man, Bill Heath, a Bill Gates "impersonator", trying to track down his high school sweet heart. The episode started with Fielder explaining that Heath had started to come around his office more after he had asked him to do some DVD commentary for the show. All the while, the cameras were rolling, as they always are. What Fielder and crew showed was Heath constantly losing focus and bringing up a former girlfriend names Frances. He became so obsessed, that when they found out where she used to live, Bill convinced Fielder to go back to his home state of Arkansas and track her down. This is where the show changed from TV to a movie. It played out like a missing person mystery, but with Fielder's excellent dry wit sprinkled in.
When they arrived in Arkansas, Fielder pulled out all his tricks to try and track Frances down. They tried to go to the high school and find her, but they were turned away. Not to be outdone, Fielder and Heath pretended that they were filming a sequel to the movie "Mud" that was shot in Dumas, Arkansas. They even made "Mud 2" hats, and had an extra from "Mud" come in and audition for a role. After hearing that they were making a sequel, the people of Dumas were more than willing to let Fielder and Heath go through old stuff in the library and all over the school. They eventually found what they were looking for, a 1957 yearbook with Frances in it. They got the picture, and Fielder flew a man out who has been on his show before that can make a picture of what people will look like when they age. He took the picture of Frances, and did the best he could. Bill Heath seemed to think this was a great. They took the picture and posted it all over Dumas with hopes that someone would call. One kid did, thinking it may be his great grandma, but after meeting her, it was not who they were looking for.
Heath decided after awhile that he was going to stay with his niece. This is when some revelations started to come out. We found out that Bill wasn't always a Bill Gates impersonator. We found out that he may have cheated on Frances. We found out that he tended to over exaggerate things that he may have remembered. We got to hear a bunch of letters that Frances had written to him many years ago, with each one getting worse and worse for Bill's "reputation". It was so awesome.
After finding out that Bill acts differently around women, Fielder decided he was going to set him up with an escort, but only for flirting. When he tells Bill his plan, Bill says, "I don't mean to be crass, but you have to know where you are sticking it". This was disgusting and hilarious. It is also the only time I have ever seen Nathan Fielder crack. He laughed and said, "Jesus Bill". It was so good, my wife and I watched it three times in a row. But, having already paid the escort, Fielder decided to hang out with her himself. From the moment he saw her, he was in love. He may have been faking it for the show, very likely, but he showed real interest in Maci. In fact, he kept hanging out with Maci throughout the entire episode. Every time they met, it got more and more awkward. Fielder just wanted the attention, and Maci kept pushing to try and get more money from him. The scene with them making out was so uncomfortably awkward and perfect. It was only something Nathan Fielder could pull off.
We eventually got back to the plan of finding Frances. They found her on Facebook after an extensive search, which included a Dumas High School 57 year reunion, which had Bill singing and dancing. It was so god damn funny. What they found on Facebook was not great for Bill. Frances was on her second marriage, and she now lived in Michigan. Bill, somehow, convinced Fielder and crew to fly him out there, and they could come along too. Before they left, Fielder wanted Bill to practice what he would say to Frances when he saw her, and how he would react to her husband. They hired the actor from "Mud" as the husband, and Fielder flew in an actress from LA to portray Frances. The scene that followed next was so awesome and weird and uncomfortable and perfect. His interactions with the actress, like hugging, kissing and rubbing her leg, was so far across the line. The stuff with the guy playing the husband was filled with yelling and pushing. Finally Fielder made Bill wear a wig and act as Frances, and this seemed to open his eyes that maybe he shouldn't come on so strong.
Once they got this all figured out, they took off for Michigan. Mind you, they had been gone from LA for over a month now. When they got there, they stayed one night in hotel and headed to Frances' house in the morning. While driving, they barely spoke a word. When they got to Frances' home, Bill got cold feet all of the sudden. He decided that he wanted Fielder and the crew to come along, but Fielder squashed that pretty quick. Bill finally decided he would call her first. They spoke on the phone for about 15 minutes. The first couple were Bill creepily asking Frances if she knew who she was talking to. She did not know, for the record. After Bill revealed himself, they spoke about the past and present. Frances seemed happy, and this upset Bill so much that he decided he did not want to go to her home anymore. They both decided then and there to go back home.
When home, Fielder talked about how lost and upset he felt about the whole thing. He kept speaking about lost love and how he couldn't rekindle a past romance. Bill showed up one day at the office to give Fielder a present, a serving dish. But, we come to find out that he is there to ask Fielder to set him up with the woman that played Frances in their practice session. He did, and they met up. But, the episode ended with Fielder talking about love and everything involved, and we came to find out that he was sending a letter to Maci, the escort. Fielder flew back to Arkansas, this time by himself, to meet up with Maci, They held hands and talked, and a drone shot ended the episode by flying away as the 2 of them spoke.
"Finding Frances" was perfect. It gave us a delusional old man trying to rekindle a failed romance. It gave us the best type of uncomfortable moments that this show thrives on. It gave us the best Fielder moment ever, him breaking and laughing. This was just perfect, perfect TV. I highly recommend everyone watch this episode. It is the best thing that has been on television in quite some time. "Finding Frances" may very well be Nathan Fielder's masterpiece. It is wonderful.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He once went to find the lost love the head editor. All they had to do was look in a mirror, and the person the head editor had always loved was right in front of them.
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