I still remember the feeling in my stomach while watching Nobody Wants This on Netflix. Kristen Bell and Adam Brody’s starrer gave a fresh and memorable love story that we didn’t know we wanted. The chemistry, the narrative, and the charming characters instantly became our favourites. No doubt we desperately wanted the second season, which we got. However, as much as I was excited for Noah and Joanne’s love story, this season left me with mixed thoughts about the show. The butterflies that I once felt were missing now, but the web series still has some positives that impressed me. Here’s my honest two cents on the same.
1. The Real Picture
In the second season of Nobody Wants This, the show dealt with some of the most real problems that can along in a relationship. The question of conversion which became the foundation of Joanne and Noah’s shaky relationship, all the little insecurities that the couple faced once in a while, the clash between the sisters, the void that Esther felt in her marriage with Sasha, and even the journey that Joanne’s parents shared. While there were problems, there was also enough communication happening around it, reminding us that it is key in any relationship. The show made it a point to address different relationship issues that every couple at different stages in their relationship were facing, and made it as raw as possible.
2. Packed In A Lot
While Nobody Wants This kept it as real as possible in this season, it focused a lot about telling us the story of each character, ultimately sidelining Joanne and Noah’s love story, and the complications that we actually wanted to see. Our attention was divided among all the conflicts that the characters were struggling with ultimately having a hard time relating to any. What once was a love story about a unconventional couple between a Rabbi and a podcaster suddenly shifted to becoming a lesson on all kinds of relationship issues, and I am not a fan of this!
3. Dragged
Compared to the first season, this one felt very slow and dragged for no reason. Some situations that were created on the show did not feel organic at all, and well, questionable too. Why would they add the Morgan dating her therapist angle just to convince her that she was jealous of Joanne’s serious relationship or their mother’s Jewish calling, or Joanne’s eviction notice to start the couple’s conversation around living together. The conflicts felt forced in the narrative and took away lot of attention too. Even Noah’s Rabbi career was an undercooked sub-plot which seemed to have lost its plot.
4. The Cameo
Although deviating from the plot again, we still loved Adam Brody’s wife and actor Leighton Meester’s cameo in the show. The charming also annoying nature of her character was quite a delight to watch, and her on-screen dynamics with Adam Brody’s shy Noah was cute too!
5. The Gaslighting
I also felt that Joanne was gaslighted on many occasions to question her perspectives and decisions, and all these worked in Noah’s favour. The universe or here the writers tried hard to convince Joanne into believing that she was somewhere a Jew, whether it was through her mother’s Jewish calling, or the conversation she had with Esther towards the end. Even Noah’s good boy behaviour felt manipulative too, for example: his justifications for becoming the “Perfect Boyfriend” and treating all his girlfriends the same, the extra-sweet behaviour with Joanne’s family was getting on our nerves too, the even the attempt to barely address the live-in relationship issue.
Well, overall the show was quite a bumpy ride that failed to cater to our needs of watching Joanne and Noah’s relationship grow from nothing to something!