Nobody Wants This

It’s as smart as anything else on TV right now, including more serious fare on other channels and streamers, and, like Joanne and Noah, it truly deserves all the love it’s got coming.

The true draw here was and will always be the palpable central romance. The dilemmas faced by Noah and Joanne feel relatable and serious, packaged and delivered in a lighthearted yet captivating manner. And as far as TV rom-coms go, it’s so easy to fall for this one.

With Nobody Wants This season 2, most everything remains compelling, interesting, funny, or romantic, and in a way that feels real and relatable.

The show is good at skewering LA and its personality types. It also hits the romcom beats by running through the stages in a relationship: introducing two sets of friends and family to each other, the honeymoon phase giving way to little irritations.

With a respectable joke rate – though we’re talking smirk-inducing wisecracks rather than belly laughs – and a steady stream of keenly observed details (Joanne’s palpable delight at getting the pious Noah to properly kvetch; Noah’s nice-guy credentials crumbling ever-so-slightly when Joanne finds out how he treated previous partners), Nobody Wants This is easy to buy into and easy to love.

Overall, Netflix's rom-com captivates with a season that is nearly as charming as its predecessor. A focus on Noah and Joanne's relationship after their honeymoon phase and having them work out their differences allows for the series to feel much more raw and real.

In terms of plot and purpose, this installment is essentially a placeholder. But hanging out with these two families is still mostly fun, if sometimes a bit frustrating. And as long as you’re tuning in just to be with these people, to perhaps laugh at their escapades, to maybe learn a bit about Judaism if you’re a goy, then you’ll be satisfied.

What follows is a well-paced, engaging season of television marred by a finale that feints toward originality but swerves. Still, there’s plenty to like.

We get self-contained episodes, a few guest stars, and a finale cliffhanger just intriguing enough to bring you back for more. Sustaining a TV romance is tricky, and “Nobody Wants This” proves how hard it is to keep love interesting on screen.