Fans Are Upset Over This Nobody Wants This Season 2 Error
One little mix-up is causing so much drama.
Judaism is an integral part of the Netflix rom-com Nobody Wants This, but one line in the show’s second season isn’t landing well with Jewish viewers. And although it may seem like a small mistake, the blunder has led some fans to call out a larger issue they see in how the series is written.
In Season 2, Adam Brody’s character, Noah, gets to know a fellow rabbi named Neil, who’s played by Seth Rogen. Although Noah is initially swayed by Rabbi Neil’s more relaxed approach to Judaism, encouraged by the promise that joining his temple would make it easier for his agnostic girlfriend, Joanne, to fit in, he later begins to sour on Rabbi Neil, growing concerned with how he avoids teaching foundational Jewish lessons and traditions.
This character arc may have been hinted at in Noah’s first conversation with Rabbi Neil, when Rogen’s character mixes up an important Jewish holiday with a frivolous one. “I saw the sermon you gave Tu BiShvat at Temple Chai a few years back,” Neil tells Noah. “It changed the way I mourn. I was mourning all wrong.”
As Jewish viewers have pointed out, Rabbi Neil most likely meant to say Tisha b’Av, which is a prominent Jewish mourning commemoration. His reference to Tu BiShvat doesn’t make sense, given that’s a minor Jewish celebration of trees and ecology.
Nobody Wants This has been criticized for its portrayal of Judaism before. This mistake has led to some fans questioning whether the writers are adequately well-versed in Judaism. One religious leader has even reached out to offer classes. “It would be my pleasure to invite the screenwriters to join my Judaism basics course,” Rabbi Mendy Korer of Islington Chabad told The Jewish Chronicle.
The show’s creator, Erin Foster, has been very open about how the series is inspired by her own conversion to Judaism in 2019 prior to her wedding to husband Simon Tikhman. Much like Joanne, Foster was agnostic before her relationship with Tikhman.
