Netflix’s breakout rom-com Nobody Wants This is back — and yes, so are Kristen Bell, Adam Brody, and the kind of crackling chemistry that made the internet collectively sigh “I’ll have what she’s having.”
But as the honeymoon glow fades, so too does some of the show’s earlier sparkle. Season two is still charming, still cheeky, but occasionally feels like a perfect first date that’s dragged on a little too long.
The Story So Far
In case you missed the buzz the first time around, Nobody Wants This began with a delightfully oddball premise: a blunt, agnostic host of a sex-advice podcast accidentally falls for a soft-spoken rabbi in Los Angeles. Kristen Bell plays Joanne, neurotic, honest, and painfully self-aware, opposite Adam Brody’s Noah, whose “Hot Rabbi” status broke the internet faster than you can say mazel tov.
Their romance was messy, modern, and magnetic. By the end of season one, Joanne had pushed Noah to chase his rabbinical dreams, only for him to toss that ambition aside in the name of love. Season two picks up from that emotional cliffhanger: the couple is together, the sparks are still flying, but the real question now is — can two people this different actually make it work?
Love Meets Logic (and Faith)
This season digs deeper into the unglamorous bits of romance — compromise, belief, and what happens when the fantasy collides with real life. Joanne is wrestling with the idea of converting to Judaism, while Noah grapples with his ambitions and the expectations of his tight-knit community. The result? A relationship that’s equal parts passionate and precarious.
Their chemistry remains intoxicating — the kind that makes you rewind their first kiss just to feel it again — but the show isn’t all candlelight and flirtation. It explores that universal question every couple eventually faces: how much of yourself can you give before you start to disappear?
The Supporting Cast Steps Up
While Joanne and Noah take centre stage, the supporting characters get more airtime this season — sometimes to great effect, sometimes not. Joanne’s sister and podcast co-host, Morgan (played by Succession’s Justine Lupe), remains a chaotic delight, even if her new romance feels like it crash-lands out of a completely different show. Noah’s brother Sasha (Timothy Simons) and his razor-tongued wife Esther (Jackie Tohn) return with less bite this time, which slightly dulls the show’s comic tension.
Still, their tangled family dinners and awkward religious debates bring enough humour to keep things interesting — it’s like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel collided with Starstruck in the best possible way.
Funny, Flawed, and a Little Too Real
Nobody Wants This still nails what it set out to do: deliver a warm, whip-smart rom-com for the millennial crowd. Creator Erin Foster (who really did convert to Judaism for love) writes with both wit and self-awareness, poking fun at cultural clashes and modern dating clichés without ever losing heart.
That said, the show does wobble. At times, it can’t decide whether it wants to be a sharp, Lena Dunham-style relationship dramedy or a screwball comedy in the vein of When Harry Met Sally. Some scenes swing from touching to tonally confusing within a single breath. And yes, a few gags — including the occasional over-the-top sex joke — feel like they wandered in from a different show entirely.
The Verdict
Despite its bumps, season two of Nobody Wants This is still irresistibly watchable. The writing sparkles, the soundtrack hums with summer-romance energy, and Bell and Brody’s connection is so palpable it practically lights up the screen. It’s the rare streaming rom-com that manages to be both hot and heartfelt — even when it’s figuring itself out.
So, does Nobody Wants This still have what it takes? Absolutely. The plot may wander, the tone may tilt, but its heart beats strong. Bell and Brody remain one of the most addictive on-screen duos of the decade — the kind of pairing that reminds us why we fall for rom-coms in the first place.
Nobody Wants This Season 2 is streaming now on Netflix — just don’t be surprised if you end up rewatching that first kiss. Twice.
