Before Nobody Wants This Season 2: Why the breezy Netflix romcom needs more heart and fewer forced gags

Not to be dramatic, but until Nobody Wants This, it felt like we were trapped in a loop of dark, morbid thrillers—each one following the same copy-paste formula. Someone goes rogue, trusts the wrong person, and suddenly they’re cooking in the middle of a forest. Yawn.

When it came to romance, it was either sighing through a Jenny Han drama like The Summer I Turned Pretty or enduring an hour of ballgowns and corsets in Bridgerton, all for that intense, longing kind of love. But sometimes, don’t we just want something lighter… for dinner?

And that’s where Nobody Wants This helps. Starring the millennial’s joy Adam Brody and Kristin Bell, we were given a rather unconventional story teasing a romance between a Rabbi and a woman with a rather…let’s say outspoken podcast.

The two couldn’t have been more different, but considering that’s the main motto of romcoms, they find love, despite family protests, fights, and ex-girlfriend insecurities that loom large. However the main problem is: Noah (Brody) wants to become head Rabbi and needs to marry a Jewish woman. Realising that she can’t ever fit into this lifestyle, Joanne decides to let him go, only for him to chase her down and reunite, implying that he might just give up his entire lifelong dream for her.

When the show premiered, it was met with unexpected applause, with social media buzzing about how it had given romcoms a much-needed CPR. Brody’s Noah became the embodiment of the oft-overused—but here, well-earned—term “green flag.” Viewers praised the show’s maturity: the couple navigates their hiccups within 26 minutes, with none of the usual over-the-top melodrama. For once, the emotional stakes feel real—clashing cultures, a high-pressure career, and the risk of ostracisation—all without clear-cut answers, because, in this world, no one is entirely wrong. And that, fans agree, is the heartbeat of Nobody Wants This.

Nevertheless, while the show is sweet and fun, it sometimes feels overly safe—to the point of feeling contrived—and leans on a particularly grating type of humour where snark is meant to be funny but misses the mark. After a point, it's just like please stop, this isn't funny or rude, but quite like an awkward dinner guest who needs to be shown the door. And then, there are scenes seem as if extra effort was spent turning it into an overly sentimental fest. One particularly tired line stands out: she tells Noah, “I’ve been hurt, so I don’t want to trust people.”

We've seen and heard it all before, folks.

This is not to deny that it’s a very real feeling; everyone experiences that. But, it comes across as a little overdone and doesn’t quite have the hard-hitting impact that the scene should have had. And Noah’s follow-up, as sweet and moving  as it is, “It would kill me to break your heart,” just jars you further.

Moreover, while the world around Noah has been built carefully, somehow Noah himself, lacks a little insight, his passion for the job lacks conviction at points, and so the final punch of him 'giving it all up' for Joanne, makes it a confusing sacrifice.

All said and done, the show is fun at points, when it doesn't try too hard. It's not the particularly rewatchable sorts, unless you just need your dose of Brody and Bell. But if you're still invested, Season 2 is on the way. Are we expecting a bitter end? Or, will the couple manage to steer through this complicated sea of faith and family?

Your guess  is as good as mine.