Netflix Rom-Com Never Goes Deep
The soundtrack of the Netflix rom-com “Nobody Wants This” is positively littered with Top 40 hits. Season 2 features instantly recognizable syncs from Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX — songs deployed not for their thematic resonance (XCX’s “Apple,” a song about generational trauma and mother-daughter relationships, plays over a group of friends goofing off at a bar), but for a blunt-force catchiness that keeps the mood light. This approach to music curation of course reflects the show’s status as a bona fide hit with the resources to match. It also encapsulates the series’ house style. For its follow-up, “Nobody Wants This” remains the TV equivalent of an earworm that gets stuck in your head, even if the song’s substance leaves no lasting impact and the melody itself is borderline irritating.
At least Season 2 removes some of the obstacles that made the original setup a guiltier pleasure than it had to be. In depicting the romance between narcissistic podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) and “Hot Rabbi” Noah (Adam Brody), a flirtation that unfolds across the eastern half of L.A., “Nobody Wants This” drew criticism for its depiction of Jewish women as adversarial foils. The deeply goyish Joanne starts to weigh religious conversion as her relationship with Noah gets more serious, an intriguing internal conflict the show illustrated with external obstacles like Noah’s mother Bina (Tovah Feldshuh) and sister-in-law Esther (Jackie Tohn). Esther refers to Joanne’s sister and co-host Morgan (Justine Lupe) as “Whore No. 2,” which tells you all you need to know about her and Bina’s characterization: as domineering bullies who nag the men around them into doing their bidding. “Nobody Wants This” is loosely based on the life story of creator Erin Foster, a quasi-influencer who’s a convert herself, and seemed to reflect a mismatch of empathy between Foster’s fictional surrogate and these stereotyped others.
But the new showrunners of “Nobody Wants This,” “Girls” alumni Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan, know a thing or two about making captivating TV out of self-centered urbanites. Over the first few episodes of Season 2, they recalibrate the show’s status quo: Esther gets to have a heart when her marriage to Noah’s brother Sasha (Timothy Simons) hits some bumps in the road; Bina is nudged into the background, albeit somewhat abruptly. (She gets a menacing, episode-ending line about her intent to drive Noah and Joanne apart that’s never really followed up on.) Joanne even gets a Jewish childhood frenemy, Abby Kaplan (Brody’s real-life partner Leighton Meester), retconning some basic familiarity with the tribe for a woman who previously claimed not to know what Shabbat was. It’s enough to cross “weird issue with Jewish women” off the show’s list of problems, even if that list still has some action items on it.
“Nobody Wants This” also starts to spread the wealth of dysfunction a little more equally. Noah was at first an idealized fantasy. Now, his people-pleasing tendencies are developed into a full-on character flaw, one that presents both challenges and opportunities for growth. Joanne learns Noah has a history of making grand romantic gestures regardless of how he actually feels about who he’s dating, because it’s what he thinks boyfriends are supposed to do — a conflict with far more heft than the garden-variety miscommunication that tends to generate plot on these kinds of shows. In the professional sphere, Noah finally stands up for himself when he’s passed over for the head rabbi job at his longtime employer Temple Chai, quitting rather than agreeing to play second fiddle to a man who, adding insult to injury, is also Rabbi Noah (Alex Karpovsky — I told you this is a “Girls” reunion!).
These changes certainly give “Nobody Wants This” more depth than it had in Season 1, but that’s not quite the same as going deep. This is still a low-stakes sitcom designed for second-screening and handing out paychecks to an entire class of comedic actors. (Kate Berland, Seth Rogen and Lauren Weedman join Karpovsky and Meester on the cameo roster.) Morgan finally gets a romantic relationship of her own, with a boundary-challenged therapist she still reflexively calls Dr. Andy (Arian Moayed, Lupe’s former castmate on “Succession); her previous marriage and divorce still remain unexplored, which after two full seasons feels more like oversight than intentional mystery.
Watching “Nobody Wants This,” I found it hard not to think about “Long Story Short,” another Netflix comedy with Judaism at its core. “Long Story Short” is unusual in how it treats being Jewish as a spiritual practice and not just fodder for, say, Purim theme episodes. (You’d expect the latter from the cartoon and the former from the show with an actual rabbi as co-protagonist, but it’s a wild world we’re living in!) Noah’s search for a new professional home gives “Nobody Wants This” slightly more to work with in defining his personal faith, and the cultural references in Season 2 are a little less surface-level than “shalom.” Yet the show’s largest question marks, over whether Joanne will convert and if Noah can accept that she may not choose to, still feel unmoored from any broader religious reckoning. They’re a setup for this particular couple’s teary goodbyes and stirring speeches — which isn’t a spoiler for Season 2, because it’s exactly how Season 1 plays out, too.
All the objections listed above, however, occurred to me as I was binging the season at the speed of light. The same issues that keep “Nobody Wants This” from being a nuanced, meaningful story are also the ones that keep it airy enough to gobble up like popcorn. You’ll never be emotionally overcome enough to need to take a beat between chapters, which keeps the engagement metrics right where Netflix likes them. Bell and Brody are pros who can make cutesy banter in their sleep; with Konner and Kaplan at the helm, they’re now supported by fellow veterans savvy enough to keep out of their leads’ way. “Nobody Wants This” is a more refined version of itself in Season 2. The self in question is just fundamentally slight and not especially ambitious.
Season 2 of “Nobody Wants This” is now streaming on Netflix.
