Nobody Wants This is one of the most endearing romantic comedies on television. The series, about a dating advice podcaster named Joanne (Kristen Bell) and a rabbi named Noah (Adam Brody), broke ground in its first season in how it portrayed issues of emotional health and faith within the context of a modern relationship. In its second season, now streaming in its entirety on Netflix, Nobody Wants This dives even deeper into those issues as the couple gets more serious and tries to figure out “how to be a we” despite their obvious challenges.
And this time, it’s not just Noah and Joanne on a spiritual or romantic journey. Sasha (Timothy Simons), Esther (Jackie Tohn), and Morgan (Justine Lupe) are back with crises of their own to rival, or even surpass, those facing our main characters. After nine episodes of equally charming and cringeworthy yet always relatable misadventures, Season 2 wraps up with an engagement party that has everyone questioning what they thought they knew about faith and love. The finale leaves one couple split up for good, one in limbo, and one on a trajectory toward a bigger commitment.
Noah and Joanne “Table” Their Big Problem
Season 2 of Nobody Wants This starts as Noah and Joanne are happily all-but living together and throwing their first dinner party as a couple. During small talk, it becomes apparent that they haven’t really resolved the central conflict in their relationship: Noah’s faith and Joanne’s lack of it. He’s holding out hope she’ll convert on her own timeline, but she wants confirmation that he’ll move forward with her regardless, and without putting pressure on her to do so. Joanne’s doubts threaten their happiness momentarily, but Noah’s thoughtful gift of a nightstand is enough to assuage them for the time being. Unfortunately, what’s working for them isn’t for the Temple, and Noah is passed over for the promotion.
Having discovered Sasha’s unorthodox friendship with Morgan, Esther endeavors to reconnect with her husband and be more fun. Their spark is briefly reignited, but when Bina interferes and gives Sasha baby fever, things take a turn. Esther tries to be open to the idea. However, a pregnancy scare makes her take stock of her life. We learn that Sasha and Esther got married young because she was pregnant. Despite his best efforts, she grows noticeably distant.
Morgan starts the season as single and confident as ever, but is rattled when Noah’s vest-wearing friend isn’t interested in dating her. She leaps headfirst into an ill-advised romance with her former therapist, Dr. Andy (Arian Moayed). While Joanne and Noah move fast, Morgan and Dr. Andy move at warp speed. He asks her to live with him almost immediately, and proposes shortly thereafter at Purim, where Joanne’s and Noah’s families are meeting for the first time. At that party, Lynn (Stephanie Faracy) experiences the epiphany Joanne’s been hoping for and decides to convert to Judaism.
Some unfortunate truths are revealed to Morgan and Noah. She discovers that her new fiancé has a habit of dating patients and realizes that while Dr. Andy knows everything about her, she knows almost nothing about him. Noah thought he’d figured out a path forward when he accepted a new head rabbi position at Temple Ahava. The community’s founder, Rabbi Neil (Seth Rogen), has a non-Jewish significant other and doesn’t care who Noah is dating. But the celebrity-studded, loose-ruled congregation isn’t a great fit. Despite having repeatedly tabled the issue, Noah is forced to confront his future with Joanne when she’s evicted from her apartment, and he has to admit he’s not ready for them to move in together.
Three Relationships on the Rocks in ‘Nobody Wants This’
The Nobody Wants This Season 2 finale begins with Joanne and Noah, both dressed up, sharing an elevator. There’s so much tension, the audience wonders if they’ve already broken up. When they finally speak to each other, they decide to “fake it.”
The event they’re attending is Morgan’s lavish engagement party. Pretty quickly into the evening, Morgan confides to her sister that she doesn’t like Dr. Andy anymore and asks Joanne to let loose and tell her what she really thinks. Joanne points out several flaws in Dr. Andy’s character, and Morgan resolves to break up with him. The first time, it doesn’t stick. Then Lynn gives her a talking to. She tells her, from her own experience, to make decisions based on her happiness sooner rather than later. Morgan ends things with Dr. Andy and confesses that she pursued the relationship mostly because she wanted what Joanne and Noah had. For his part, Dr. Andy is devastated but proud that she’s become so self-aware.
In the biggest shock of the season, Esther blindsides Sasha by asking for a separation. She says she knows it’s her fault, but she can’t figure herself out while she’s with him. Sasha later tells Morgan that he plans to wait for her, even if that means she hooks up with other people in the interim. Though Sasha’s clearly still in love with his wife, he and Morgan are technically free to explore their weird dynamic. This potential love triangle will likely be a plotline in Season 3.
But the big question dangling over Season 2 is whether Joanne and Noah will resolve their religious differences. Noah determines that he wants a Jewish wife and fears Joanne will resent him down the line if they stay together. He tells her he’s “out of ideas” and leaves the party. At this juncture, all three couples have called it quits. A worse-for-wear Joanne and Esther run into each other, and the latter helps the former see that she’s looking at the conversion question all wrong. She’s been waiting for an epiphany when, really, she’s already largely accepted Judaism into her life in small, practical, and meaningful ways.
Joanne and Noah come upon each other at L.A.’s Urban Light exhibit. He tells her she’s his soulmate and that he doesn’t care if she’s Jewish. The season concludes with Joanne quipping that he’s “in luck,” implying she’s ready to join the tribe. That should set up Season 3 to be less about whether Noah and Joanne will stay together and more about Joanne’s conversion. Nobody Wants This is streaming on Netflix.
- Release Date
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September 26, 2024
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Jenni Konner, Bruce Eric Kaplan
- Directors
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Greg Mottola, Lawrence Trilling, Oz Rodriguez, Hannah Fidell
- Writers
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Lindsay Golder, Jane Becker, Barbie Adler, Neel Shah, Niki Schwartz-Wright
