Despite Its Best Efforts, Nobody Wants This Still Seems Stumped by Jewish Women

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A few episodes into the second season of the Netflix rom-com Nobody Wants This, I started to wonder if I was actually enjoying it, or if it was just easy to watch. That’s a fundamental question for any TV critic, and usually the answer is obvious. Some shows are genuinely good, like Severance. Others are just a pleasant distraction, like And Just Like That. Interview With the Vampire is captivating in a healthy way, like a great workout. And then there’s The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, which is addictive but ultimately harmful – like a guilty pleasure you know isn’t good for you.

“Nobody Wants This” is a bit of a mixed bag. While Kristen Bell and Adam Brody are incredibly likeable, and the show often nails its observations about love and family, these strengths sometimes overshadow its flaws. The first season received mostly positive reviews, but a common criticism was the show’s stereotypical and harsh portrayal of Jewish women, created by Erin Foster who drew from her own experiences. When Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan, both Jewish and known for their work on “Girls,” joined as showrunners for Season 2, many hoped they would bring a more nuanced perspective to these characters. They’ve improved things to some degree, and the new episodes have plenty to offer. However, the show still feels inconsistent, relying heavily on the charisma of its leads and continuing to struggle with its depiction of Jewish women, even with a more sensitive approach this time around.

Last season, Hot Rabbi Noah Roklov (Brody) and his girlfriend, podcaster Joanne Williams (Bell), had a rocky patch – they broke up because she wasn’t sure about converting to Judaism, then quickly got back together. Noah was struggling with a career opportunity that would be complicated by being with someone who wasn’t Jewish, and he confessed he couldn’t have both. Despite this, he kissed Joanne, leading fans to believe he’d chosen love over his career. Now, at the start of Season 2, Joanne happily tells her listeners that she’s in a wonderful and fulfilling relationship with a mature man.

Things quickly become complicated. At their first dinner party with loved ones, Noah unexpectedly reveals he still expects Joanne to convert to Judaism, simply believing she needs more time to consider it. Meanwhile, Joanne’s continued hesitation is made worse when Noah’s workplace replaces their rabbi with another man named Noah. This adds stress to their relationship, as Noah becomes increasingly frustrated and Joanne resents the pressure to alter her identity for him.

The central struggle between love and the expectations of family, faith, and tradition is back, mirroring the previous season’s storyline a little too closely, especially the ending. Bell and Brody still have fantastic chemistry, and their commitment to each other feels genuine. The episodes, around 25 minutes long, offer a good mix of humor and emotional depth. A key question throughout the season is how we can be certain about big life choices, like marriage or changing religions. The episode title, “When You Know, You Know,” reflects this theme, but the season also asks if that certainty is always reliable, and what happens when your feelings change.

The series explores these themes through other characters as well. Joanne’s sister, Morgan, quickly falls for a doctor, Andy, and struggles with whether to ignore the warning signs she sees. Their mother considers her own past, remembering how her inability to make a decision kept her in an unhappy marriage – her husband later came out as gay after decades. The complex and loving, yet often difficult, relationship between these three women is one of the most rewarding parts of the new season.

Noah’s brother, Sasha (Timothy Simons), and his wife, Esther (Jackie Tohn), are also facing problems in their relationship. Esther discovered Sasha had been flirting with Morgan at their daughter’s bat mitzvah, and things haven’t been the same since. They’re trying to work through it, and even consider having another baby, but now Sasha realizes Esther is unhappy. Joanne suspects something is wrong when Esther shows up to a double date sporting a new hairstyle – bangs – suggesting she’s trying to change things up.

In a TIME article, Esther Zuckerman criticized the show for its negative portrayal of Jewish women, describing them as annoying, cruel, and villainous. The character of Esther Roklov, particularly, seemed to embody these criticisms. She was depicted as mean-spirited, controlling, and fiercely loyal to Noah’s ex-girlfriend, Rebecca, who hoped to marry the rabbi. She even insultingly referred to Joanne and Morgan as “whore number one and whore number two.” Her antagonism reached its peak during the bat mitzvah when she angrily reacted to the men staring at the non-Jewish women, declaring they “had to go.” Given that Rebecca and Noah’s mother, Bina, were also presented as unlikeable, the show’s creators felt they needed to revise Esther’s character.

The character feels more sympathetic and approachable now, though her change doesn’t quite feel believable. Several other characters have also become less complex after the first season, for reasons that aren’t clear. It seems love has toned down Joanne’s strong personality, and Sasha is less of a playful character. We don’t learn why she stopped being angry with the Williams sisters, which makes her calm conversation with Morgan and Sasha in the second season feel unearned. She claims she’s not always angry and that she’s actually fun, even demonstrating with a dance. Later, she helps Joanne write a peace offering email to Bina. There are some touching scenes between Esther and Joanne as they slowly become friends. However, when Esther suddenly pulls away from Sasha, it seems like she’s trying to manipulate them back together, wanting him to leave his wife for Joanne without having to directly ask him to do so.

The show doesn’t give much attention to its other Jewish female characters. It seems to think a little goes a long way. Notably missing this season is any discussion of Gaza, a topic many Jewish families discuss frequently. As one person pointed out, Jewish people love to talk about everything, except for this very important issue. Rebecca appears so briefly, it’s hard to understand why her character was brought back, and Bina remains stubbornly opposed to Noah’s girlfriend, Joanne, excluding her from family dinners and blaming her when Noah doesn’t get a promotion. She dramatically accuses Joanne of ruining her son’s career. There’s a brief, amusing moment where Bina and Morgan, two strong-willed women, share a moment of mutual respect. However, this doesn’t excuse Bina’s awful behavior towards her son and his partner. Oddly, the show drops Bina’s storyline halfway through the season.

After a finale that felt forced in its attempts to tie everything together, I’m still as conflicted about Nobody Wants This as I was after the first season – for similar and some new reasons. There’s not much the show can do about its initial, somewhat strange idea of separate social circles for Jewish and non-Jewish people in modern Los Angeles. However, the show has broadened its focus and toned down some of its more controversial characters to avoid causing offense (though they’ll probably have to address the character Bina at some point). It’s become more subtle, but maybe a little less distinctive. Is it a good show? It has its moments. Will I keep watching? Absolutely.

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2025-10-23 11:06