{"id":246217,"date":"2025-10-23T13:58:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/246217\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T13:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:58:07","slug":"nobody-wants-this-season-2-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/246217\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobody Wants This season 2 review"},"content":{"rendered":"

It can be a challenging task to sustain romantic comedies for multiple seasons of TV. There\u2019s a risk that the expanded runtime will turn an ever-reliable formula\u2014a meet-cute followed by a fun montage, obstacles, a eureka moment or confession, and a happy ending\u2014into a drawn-out, cyclical experience. There have been notable exceptions, including You\u2019re The Worst<\/a>, British series Starstruck<\/a>, and the ongoing Australian import Colin From Accounts<\/a>. These shows have taken advantage of the this lengthy medium to evolve their protagonists, relationships, and worlds in specific and resonant ways without feeling repetitive. With its 2024 debut, Netflix\u2019s Nobody Wants This<\/a> became a worthy addition to this lineup\u2014and thankfully, season two maintains that status quo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NWT now ventures into dangerous territory for a rom-com, exploring what comes after the grand gesture while keeping the swooning factor intact. The 10 new installments follow up on the dating adventures of Noah (Adam Brody) and Joanne (Kristen Bell), total opposites with an undeniable magnetic pull between them. It doesn\u2019t matter that he\u2019s a devoted rabbi and she\u2019s an agnostic podcaster who understandably needs time to decide if she wants to convert to Judaism. In the season-one finale, Noah chased Joanne down after she broke up with him for his benefit. He declared his commitment, choosing her over his work and family. Nobody Wants This, created by Erin Foster and loosely inspired by her life, now grapples with the sacrifices made to pursue a happily ever after.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next chapter for Noah and Joanne after the honeymoon phase is hopping on a plane back to reality. The premiere resurfaces the subject of her potential conversion, with Noah still thinking it\u2019s on the table and Joanne assuming they can carry on as an interfaith couple. While this issue simmers in the background throughout the season, threatening to boil over at any point, Nobody Wants This believably deepens their bond. (Think merging friend groups, hosting parties, attending more family events, and so on.) In the process, there\u2019s a satisfying emphasis on healthy communication. And it\u2019s refreshing to watch these adults try to be honest, learn from their mistakes, and work on themselves as people, not just partners. The payoff in terms of character development, particularly for Joanne, feels earned here.<\/p>\n

This concerted effort also makes Nobody Wants This realistic despite its improbable setting of constantly sun-drenched Los Angeles, where flowers are always in bloom and characters are impeccably styled, hang out in cool places, and live in chic Nora Ephron-esque homes. How does Joanne afford her big Spanish-style apartment on a podcasting salary? The production, set, and costume design, along with contemporary needle drops from Chappell Roan<\/a> and Sabrina Carpenter<\/a>, add to the breezy escapism. But the sincere performances from the two leads ground things, and the pair\u2019s chemistry remains off the charts. (That excellent first kiss in season one was only a teaser.) Brody nails the charismatic lover-boy persona, while Bell shines in discovering newer, softer layers to the sarcastic Joanne.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kristen Bell recalls tension between herself and Nobody Wants This creator Erin Foster<\/a>What’s on TV this week\u2014Nobody Wants This and Lazarus<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks to the actors\u2019 captivating work, it\u2019s hard not to root for their characters. Not even Noah\u2019s uptight sister-in-law, Esther (Jackie Tohn, this season\u2019s sneaky MVP), can resist their charms. As the latter struggles in her marriage and has a midlife crisis, her unexpected friendship with Joanne becomes a highlight. Mercifully, there\u2019s far less of the family drama that dominated season one, with Noah\u2019s strict mother (Tovah Feldshuh) popping up in less than half of these new episodes. It\u2019s also nice to see Jewish stereotypes toned down in the portrayal of Noah\u2019s parents. Instead, this round focuses on how the central relationship affects Joanne\u2019s erratic sibling. Morgan (Justine Lupe) finds an unorthodox boyfriend (played by fellow Succession vet Arian Moayed) to try and catch up to her sister\u2019s personal progress, and it\u2019s a rushed, chaotic subplot. It\u2019s not that Lupe isn\u2019t hilarious\u2014she\u2019s actually the ensemble\u2019s funniest performer\u2014but this arc feels contrived and added simply to give the sisters some conflict.<\/p>\n

The show also suffers from introducing several promising faces (portrayed by guest stars like Seth Rogen, Kate Berlant, Miles Fowler, and Girls\u2018 Alex Karpovsky) without giving them much to do and forgetting them entirely after an outing or two. (And the same goes for returning star D\u2019Arcy Carden.) At least Brody\u2019s real-life wife, Leighton Meester, makes a memorable impression as Joanne\u2019s middle-school nemesis. But 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\u2019s so easy to fall for this one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nobody Wants This season two premieres October 23 on Netflix\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It can be a challenging task to sustain romantic comedies for multiple seasons of TV. There\u2019s a risk…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-246217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}