Nobody Wants This review
Cast: Kristen Bell, Adam Brody, Justine Lupe
Creator: Erin Foster
Star rating: ★★.5
‘When I say it’s for me, I mean us,’ is how Adam Brody’s hot rabbi Noah responds in a crucial moment with Joanne (Kristen Bell). It is for both of them; the two of them have now progressed from the meet-cute hesitation and decided to give their relationship a good chance. The second season of the hit Netflix show that made us fall so easily in love with these two gets deeper and more secure in taking their story forward. I’m afraid it doesn’t always land, and the show ends up losing a lot of its personality in the process.
The next steps
Noah and Joanne’s relationship is tested because she is just not ready to convert. As much as Noah wants to wait for her and take it as it comes, the people around him (especially at the church), and he ends up losing his job. His mother, Bina Roklov (Tovah Feldshuh), is understandably displeased with how this is turning out. Meanwhile, Joanne’s sister (Jennifer Lupe) will make some questionable, unpredictable and grand decisions along the way, which will rattle a lot of the balance that Joanne wants to establish in her immediate. environments. As she and Noah magnify on each other’s persistence and truly try to give their love a fair shot, the drama begins to shake up a little.
There’s so much potential, and the show comes close to addressing the pressing concerns from both Joanne and Noah’s perspectives. It adds the necessary level of maturity to the way this relationship has evolved over time and with changing priorities. Unfortunately, the writing feels a little rushed, as the makers wanted to preserve the sweet effervescence of the two and not delve too deeply into the gray areas. Let it all be colorful and sweet, and a little obnoxiously so, given how the character arcs do not land by the end of the last episode and that choppy denouement.
What doesn’t work
Nobody Wants This, created by Erin Foster and loosely inspired by her own relationship, tries a little too hard this time. It has a bit of an identity crisis between choosing between the big problem and the 10 other convenient problems lying across the table. And to top it off, so many actors and new additions are wasted in this season, especially Leighton Meester, Brody’s real-life wife, who guest stars in episode 5 as Abby. The interlude simply does not land and feels overly undone, lacking in nuance.
Like the first season, it is the electric chemistry between the two leads that carries the proceedings. Here, despite the easy contrivances, Bell and Brody share a wonderful, unvarnished energy on screen, which wisely informs some of the choices they make individually. I wondered whether people their age (in the 30s) would really be worried so much about situations in order to see one another anew.
And boy, does this season rely on some ‘situations’ because it is like a game plan here- let’s keep one setup per episode to reach new questions rather than deal with what is already in store. Valentine’s Day, baby naming ceremony and Halloween. Each infuriates more than it creates wisecracking jokes, because by this time, we are not sure what to root for: Noah or our patience. The second season of Nobody Wants This is not as good because it doesn’t even try. There’s an obviousness in the setting that does the opposite of rooting for the characters- it makes them unlikeable at times. It has a lot of dilemmas, but what it lacks is some heart.
The second season is available to watch on Netflix.
