{"id":247156,"date":"2025-10-23T22:44:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/247156\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T22:44:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:44:14","slug":"season-2-highs-lows-oh-nos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/247156\/","title":{"rendered":"Season 2 Highs, Lows, & \u2018Oh No\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n If you thought that Noah and Joanne spent the hiatus between seasons figuring out the major obstacle they face on the way to love and happiness, you thought wrong.
\n Photo: Erin Simkin\/Netflix\n <\/p>\n

As Ryan Gosling once famously asked, What do you want?<\/a> And the answer is \u201cI don\u2019t know, Ryan, God, does anyone know what they want? Please stop asking me!\u201d The second season of the Kristen Bell\u2013Adam Brody rom-com Nobody Wants This, about a rabbi who falls in love with a podcaster despite the odds and, like, so many red flags, tackles this very idea of how to know what you really want. Does Joanne want to convert to Judaism? Does Noah want to give up his dream of being a head rabbi in order to marry someone who isn\u2019t Jewish? Do they really want to fight this much to be together?<\/p>\n

Over the course of the season, they grapple with these questions, seeking answers in the form of gut instinct or signs from a higher power or advice from a wildly unethical therapist. By the end, Joanne and Noah do manage to make some decisions about what they really want, and it\u2019s honestly kind of a miracle for these two ding-dongs. So in that spirit, let\u2019s dissect each episode of season two to see how they get there and make our own decisions about what we, the audience, really want (or don\u2019t) from Nobody Wants This.<\/p>\n

Spoilers follow for all of season two.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Erin Simkin\/Netflix\n <\/p>\n

If you thought that over the hiatus Joanne and Noah would have figured out the major obstacle they face on the way to love and happiness \u2014 Noah\u2019s career at Temple Chai can only move forward if his wife is Jewish, and Joanne is unsure about converting \u2014 you\u2019d be wrong. In fact, that problem is festering. And when Joanne and Noah realize they are on completely different pages \u2014 he thought she was taking her time before converting, she thought they agreed to just be an interfaith couple \u2014 they wonder, once again, if they might be doomed. They especially wonder this after Noah gets passed over for the senior rabbi position to make room for another Noah who isn\u2019t dating a shiksa. Hey, at least their first attempt to merge their friends by way of a dinner party isn\u2019t a complete disaster. I mean, Joanne\u2019s friend Ryann does spend the evening wallowing on the floor because she just got dumped and no one can really get the lighting right, but other than that, pretty good!<\/p>\n

Oh, nobody wants this: Esther is putting a complete kibosh on the perhaps-at-moments boundary-crossing friendship between Sasha and Morgan because she\u2019s tired of seeing him have fun with another woman. It\u2019s a shame because that friendship was one of the best parts of season one. On the bright side, this threesome\u2019s discussion about threesomes does gift us Jackie Tohn\u2019s perfect line reading of \u201cFirst of all, neither of you would be involved.\u201d Honestly, maybe they should just have a threesome and flush out these weird vibes.<\/p>\n

Actually, everybody wants this: Ugh, of course, of course, Noah (but mostly Adam Brody) can make nightstands sexy. It\u2019s really unfair to all other men on this planet that Noah can calm fears and silence doubts with just one thoughtful furniture purchase. But that\u2019s exactly what happens when Joanne notices he went out and bought a nightstand for her side of the bed at his house to hold her copious nighttime-routine items. Does it solve their converting-to-Judaism problem? No, but it does remind them they really want to make this work and lets them, uh, table the discussion for later. (Noah would love that joke, I just know it.)<\/p>\n

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Photo: Erin Simkin\/Netflix\n <\/p>\n

Well, the reviews for Big Noah, our Noah\u2019s replacement at Temple Chai, are in, and they are, in a word, \u201ctranscendent.\u201d Unless you ask Bina, in which case Big Noah sucks the big one. Seeing Big Noah flourish with the community not only breaks our Noah\u2019s heart but fuels the hate Bina has for Joanne, whom she blames for everything, naturally. She even comes to a Matzah Ballers game to inform his son\u2019s girlfriend of this. Meanwhile, Sasha attempts to heal the growing rift between him and Esther, who is still bothered by the closeness between her husband and Morgan, by taking her back to the park table they hung out at as kids. A lot of table work in season two of Nobody Wants This!<\/p>\n

Oh, nobody wants this: It doesn\u2019t matter that Morgan tells Bina that Joanne did give up Noah so that he could have his dream job and it was Noah who dramatically ran after her. It doesn\u2019t matter that Bina sees how good Noah and Joanne are together when Joanne encourages him to talk about his anger and jealousy over the whole Big Noah thing. She may finally invite her son\u2019s girlfriend to Shabbat, but Bina has not abandoned her plan to break these two up. Well-deployed Taylor Swift music cue or not, this retread of last season is both frustrating and boring!<\/p>\n

Actually, everybody wants this: Morgan just keeps winning over members of the Roklov family, doesn\u2019t she? During the basketball game, Noah\u2019s friend Lenny gives Morgan some harsh notes on her behavior at the dinner party (she\u2019s severe, self-centered, not a \u201creal person\u201d) and she heads into the bathroom to have a good cry, as one does. She runs into a surprisingly open-hearted Bina, who tells her that if she\u2019s this hurt by what someone else said, it\u2019s probably because she believes those things are true. \u201cShe\u2019s just so small and wise,\u201d Morgan tells Joanne later. If we can\u2019t have Morgan and Sasha hanging out anymore, maybe this budding friendship between Morgan and Bina will do?<\/p>\n

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Photo: Erin Simkin\/Netflix\n <\/p>\n

Noah\u2019s having a tough time with his demotion at the temple, so he begins to channel his rabbi skills into his personal life, doling advice out to Joanne and Morgan\u2019s podcast audience (give this rabbi his own podcast, people!); forcing Joanne into celebrating long-lost birthday traditions for her mom, Lynn; and providing Lynn with the opportunity to achieve her dream of getting a tramp stamp. Okay, that last one isn\u2019t technically under the purview of a rabbi, but it is quite gentlemanly of Noah.<\/p>\n

Turns out everyone needs advice from the good rabbi when Morgan arrives at the party with a surprise boyfriend named Dr. Andy, who is, in fact, her therapist. Well, former therapist \u2014 they had their close-out session the week prior. Noah may have a few more interested parties for his heart-to-hearts when he hears that, thanks to Bina, Sasha has broached the subject of having another baby and Esther could not be less interested. And hey, Noah may have more time to assist with the fallout of that obvious incoming implosion, since he decides to take some of his own rabbi\u2019s advice to have faith in the unknown: He officially says goodbye to Temple Chai.<\/p>\n

Oh, nobody wants this: Joanne does use the phrase \u201cNoah and I are figuring out how to be a \u2018we\u2019\u201d and that is objectively disgusting.<\/p>\n

Actually, everybody wants this: If you\u2019ve been waiting for season two to get swoony, look no further than the scene when Noah joins an upset Joanne in her mother\u2019s bed to debrief her big fight with Morgan about Dr. Andy. Noah very sweetly tells Joanne that even if she can\u2019t support her sister dating her therapist, she can still be there for Morgan. Joanne very sweetly comforts Noah because she knows he\u2019s having a hard time giving up his dream job. They share a snuggle and a kiss. Is Lynn there the entire time? Yes. But she\u2019s just as big a fan of this moment as we are.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Erin Simkin\/Netflix\n <\/p>\n

Valentine\u2019s Day is a big ol\u2019 misfire for Noah and Joanne once Joanne learns that Noah seems like such a great boyfriend because he\u2019s basically pulling things from a boyfriend handbook \u2014 he buys all his girlfriends the same gifts, plans the exact same dates, and treats them the way he thinks a boyfriend should treat his partner rather than, you know, treating each person he dates like an individual. It\u2019s rocky for a moment, but they get through it. Meanwhile, Dr. Andy gives Morgan the Valentine\u2019s Day of, well, not her dreams exactly, but someone\u2019s dreams, and while she seems genuinely into him, she does question how fast things are moving \u2026 right before she agrees to move in with him. It was probably the soloist playing \u201cKiss From a Rose\u201d to wake her up that did it. That or the psychological manipulation he\u2019s running on her. One of the two.<\/p>\n

Oh, nobody wants this: Hey, remember how romantic and sexy and earth-shattering that big kiss from season one<\/a> was? This episode is kind of the opposite of that. Every activity Noah plans for Joanne is either boring or goes wrong, mostly both of those things, and somehow these two have the least romantic bubble bath in recorded history. I guess they learn to be honest with each other even when it\u2019s difficult, but at what cost?<\/p>\n

Actually, everybody wants this: Is the best part of this episode the Shaq-as-Kazaam movie poster Joanne gives Noah or Sasha\u2019s cringey dance to Ariana Grande\u2019s \u201c7 Rings?\u201d The answer is neither. The best part is that nightmare mashup photo of what Sasha and Miriam\u2019s child would look like. I regret to inform you that\u2019s not a typo \u2014 Miriam, his daughter. I will be offering no further context at this time.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Erin Simkin\/Netflix\n <\/p>\n

Never have I understood a conflict more than when Joanne and Morgan explain that the reason they have an undying hatred for Abby, the influencer who hired Noah for his first freelance brit bat, is because at a sleepover in the sixth grade Abby cut off their Felicity doll\u2019s hair. Maiming someone\u2019s American Girl doll? Especially the \u201cplucky redhead who survived the goddamn Revolutionary War!\u201d Decades of hatred over this wrongdoing aren\u2019t even enough. Still, over the course of the day at Abby\u2019s house in celebration of her daughter, Afternoon, Joanne realizes that she doesn\u2019t really hate Abby: She\u2019s jealous of everything she has \u2014 nice house, doting husband, cute kids \u2014 and admits to Noah that she wants this, too. Elsewhere, Sasha and Esther are showcasing that a traditional life isn\u2019t all it\u2019s cracked up to be when Esther has a pregnancy scare and they both react very differently to the news. Most important, though, Esther gets bangs.<\/p>\n

Oh, nobody wants this: How about that insane lingering shot on the Estee Lauder serum? The product placement this season is \u2014 how do you say \u2014 not subtle?<\/p>\n

Actually, everybody wants this! Can anyone deliver the two lines \u201cIt was really nice seeing you. Can you get out of this room, please?\u201d in a tone as simultaneously sweet and cutting as Leighton Meester can? More! Leighton! Meester! Both on this show and just in general.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Erin Simkin\/Netflix\n <\/p>\n

It\u2019s Purim, baby! A holiday during which anything can happen, self-revelations are encouraged, and people get very drunk while in costume. It sounds like a day Joanne would love, but she\u2019s feeling the pressure from Noah to maybe, possibly, have that revelation about converting to Judaism during the festivities. She is a ball of anxiety even in her Cinderella costume. The conversion talk has ramped up around the same time Noah has requested \u201ca night off\u201d to prep for his interview at a new, more progressive temple (a job he gets), but of course Joanne takes that personally. Her insecurities regarding anything that doesn\u2019t center her know no bounds. I\u2019m no Dr. Andy, but maybe her dad \u2014 who comes dressed as Queen Esther \u2014 isn\u2019t the only narcissist in the family. It certainly doesn\u2019t help when Lynn has an epiphany that she\u2019s Jewish, only to be one-upped by Dr. Andy, who realizes he never wants \u201ca night off\u201d from Morgan, so he proposes. It\u2019s a true nightmare situation for Joanne.<\/p>\n

Oh, nobody wants this: There\u2019s certainly no subtlety to the reveal that Esther, who usually attends the party as Queen Esther, would rather change it up and be a sexy cat this year. If you didn\u2019t get it, Bina\u2019s \u201cEsther doesn\u2019t want to be Esther\u201d line should clear it up. Esther and Sasha are struggling, and it\u2019s a real mood killer.<\/p>\n

Actually, everybody wants this: Not a mood killer? Sasha becoming Dr. Andy\u2019s biggest fan. It was bound to happen once they realized they both played Kenickie in their high-school productions of Grease the same year, just three states away. Your mudda!<\/p>\n

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Photo: Erin Simkin\/Netflix\n <\/p>\n

Joanne just can\u2019t help herself, can she? She\u2019s right that Morgan marrying Dr. Andy is a bad idea and that Morgan can\u2019t seem to say no to her fianc\u00e9. But instead of talking to her sister, she embarks on a passive-aggressive blaze of glory that, yes, includes donning a wedding dress during Morgan\u2019s wedding-dress shopping. Joanne insists she\u2019s not jealous \u2014 you just can\u2019t come to a wedding-dress store and not try on a dress, which her dad counters with \u201cYou can if you\u2019re not an attention whore.\u201d Joanne and Morgan\u2019s relationship implodes on their podcast, and they decide to take a break from each other. Meanwhile, it looks like Noah\u2019s gig at the progressive temple was a real \u201ctoo good to be true\u201d situation and will not be his way out of this conversion problem.<\/p>\n

Oh, nobody wants this: You get Seth Rogen and Kate Berlant to play the leaders of the no-actual-rules (or plans!) progressive Temple Ahava and \u2026 have them make Fantastic Four and Kylie Kardashian jokes? What did we do to deserve this?<\/p>\n

Actually, everybody wants this: It\u2019s a tie between literally everything Stephanie Faracy and Michael Hitchcock do in that wedding boutique and Morgan\u2019s two interesting facts about Dr. Andy being \u201cHe hates his mother and was in a hit-and-run once.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo: Netflix\n <\/p>\n

The season\u2019s hurtling toward its conclusion, which means everyone is beginning to have some major and majorly honest conversations. Noah admits that Temple Ahava\u2019s \u201cgroovy vibes\u201d aren\u2019t really for him. He also tells Joanne that he\u2019s scared of her obvious commitment issues. She assures him all she wants in her adult life is the stability she never had growing up \u2014 she\u2019s not running from this. Esther blurts out to Rebecca that if she were to get married today, she would not choose Sasha. During an evening spent trying to break into Dr. Andy\u2019s phone after Morgan learns she isn\u2019t the first patient he\u2019s dated, Sasha admits that Esther is pulling away and it\u2019s \u201ckilling\u201d him. Emotions are running high \u2014 and that\u2019s all before Joanne finds an eviction notice on her door after her landlord listens to her trashing him on her podcast.<\/p>\n

Oh, nobody wants this: No offense to Gabe, but they bring him back to inform us about his separation and not Abby Loves Smoothies? How dare you!<\/p>\n

Actually, everybody wants this: Between her sincere conversation with Joanne about figuring out what she wants inch by inch and her conversion meeting at Temple Ahava \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m a speed reader, and also I know what happened to me on every day of my life. Just like Marilu Henner\u201d\u00a0\u2014 Stephanie Faracy\u2019s Lynn is stealing the show this season.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Erin Simkin\/Netflix\n <\/p>\n

Well, this is why you don\u2019t have honest conversations. It\u2019s also why you shouldn\u2019t play games invented by therapists. All three of our main couples wind up at a beer-garden hang, and Morgan and Dr. Andy, fresh out of couples therapy, bring the \u201cGo Deep\u201d card game invented by their therapist, Lois. (She sold the movie rights, Dr. Andy is an associate producer; it\u2019s a whole thing.) Since Joanne and Noah are already on edge because he doesn\u2019t want to move in with her, Sasha and Esther\u2019s marriage is on its last leg, and Morgan is beginning to notice Dr. Andy is a giant red flag in human form, this game of asking probing questions does not go well. Everyone winds up hurt and yelling at their significant other and it seems that most, if not all of them, might be calling it quits.<\/p>\n

Oh, nobody wants this: This has been obvious for some time, but are we really doing the same exact conflict as the first season? Joanne converting is the only way Noah sees this relationship having a future, and she is left wondering if maybe they \u201cboth deserve to be in a relationship where [they] both get to be exactly who [they] are while moving forward.\u201d He was the one who ran after her and wanted to give this a go. I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m Team Joanne here.<\/p>\n

Actually, everybody wants this: Morgan and Dr. Andy\u2019s insane relationship holds up the com portion of the rom-com proceedings. The moment he reveals he has a twin he hates and Morgan knew nothing about it was a nice reprieve in an otherwise tense episode.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Netflix\n <\/p>\n

Welcome to the most depressing engagement party of the century. Even the bride- and groom-to-be break up. Although Morgan, thanks to a sweet but forceful push from her mother, of all people, dumps Dr. Andy. Hey, as her fianc\u00e9, he may be heartbroken, but as her therapist, he\u2019s really proud. This was much needed. The breakup between Esther and Sasha, though? That one hurts. Still, Sasha already admits he\u2019ll wait for her to figure out what she needs to, and honestly, Esther out in the wild alone with those bangs is going to be a good time. Breakups are contagious, it seems: Joanne and Noah use the party for a teary good-bye after coming to the conclusion that this shouldn\u2019t be so hard and Noah doesn\u2019t want to be the one to force Joanne to change.<\/p>\n

But wait! Then, Esther tells Joanne that she\u2019s overcomplicating this Jewish thing and that if she already loves all of these little Jewish traditions, what is she even waiting for? At the same time, Noah remembers how fucking good that kiss was last season \u2014 and, I guess, some other things he loves about Joanne. They race toward each other.<\/p>\n

Oh, nobody wants this: That\u2019s right, for some reason we\u2019re ending season two the same way we ended season one<\/a>: with a romantic run and a proclamation that Noah and Joanne choose each other, no matter what. Like, they probably could\u2019ve just used the same footage. Would anyone have noticed?<\/p>\n

Actually, everybody wants this: OKAY, FINE. I am a sucker for a big, romantic Joanne and Noah kiss. I\u2019m not a monster!<\/p>\n

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