50,000 First Dates: A True Story Review 2025 Tv Show Series Cast Crew Online
50,000 First Dates is a two-part docu-series, diving into the real-life story surrounding Nesh Pillay and her partner JJ. Unfortunately, their life is changed completely when Nesh ends up with a traumatic brain injury, causing her to lose her memory.
The first half of episode 1 dives into Nesh’s backstory and what led up to her brain injury. A marketing professional, entrepreneur, mother, and fiancé, Nesh’s life is completely upended when she awakens one morning with memory loss. She thinks she’s still 17 and can’t remember her daughter’s name, any part of her fiancé, JJ, or even what year and month it is. With doctors at a loss for what caused her memory loss, Nesh and JJ set out to try and get answers.
Nesh ends up taking to social media, sharing her story on TikTok where it blew up and garnered widespread attention. As a result, Nesh doesn’t just have a brain injury to contend with – she also has doubters online, and a social media obsession which the show never really addresses beyond a few off-hand comments.
Of course, those answers do come and at one point, Nesh laughs at the camera, uttering: “I’ve been so damaged by my experience of being dismissed that I was thrilled to have something pop up on my brain scan.” The documentary never dives into this side of Nesh’s psyche, nor the need for validation online, and how that could potentially be damaging her own relationship. In fact, at one point she hits record just before a couple therapy session!
However, this is an easy documentary to sit through despite this, partly thanks to the banter and likability of both Nesh and JJ (when they’re not, on the rare occasion, fighting). We see how their “meet-cute” came to be, along with various trials and tribulations that led them to eventually getting together. From here, the show moves into fly-on-the-wall territory, showcasing the current ups and downs of JJ and Nesh’s relationship like it’s an episode of 90 Day Fiancé.
The reason I mention that show is because episode 2 in particular genuinely feels like its been ripped right from that show, right down to the framing and the bursts of drama that pop up. Nesh is unsure whether they can get married, she’s not sure what’s going to happen with hr daughter, and she’s not sure if JJ is really the one. While these may be legitimate concerns, the way they’re edited into this documentary just feel like bits of drama for the sake of it.
In essence, the show changes from a documentary looking at Nesh’s brain injury and seeking answers, interwoven around the relationship, to instead focusing solely on the typical relationship issues you’d expect, with the added aspect of Nesh’s brain injury recovery.
In fact, at times it does feel like this has been designed specifically for Nesh’s online followers and to doubt the naysayers, given the emphasis on social media and reactions online. Nesh even mentions that she’s under pressure solely because of the internet fame the couple have, and it’s unclear whether this has swayed her decisions rather than trusting her own feelings.
Within the episodes, there are numerous movie clips sprinkled throughout, especially 50 First Dates as you’d kinda expect given the subject material. Furthermore, the series also has a ton of interviews, not just with Nesh and JJ but also with a brain specialist called Morgan Barense and Nesh’s family and friends.
If you’re interested in a fly on the wall documentary about a couple’s will they/won’t they romance, then you’ll be in your element here. For anyone after a more cerebrally challenging doc looking at Nesh’s brain injury, seeking answers around CTE alongside the relationship woes, you’re likely to come away a bit disappointed.
