‘Nobody Wants This’ Season 2 Review: Kristen Bell and Adam Brody Keep the Faith (Mostly) in Netflix’s Interfaith Rom-Com

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Oct 27

(L to R) Adam Brody as Noah, Kristen Bell as Joanne in episode 207 of Nobody Wants This. **Cr. Erin Simkin/Netflix © 2025**

The chemistry’s still there — just quieter, quirkier, and buried beneath a show still figuring out what kind of love story it wants to tell.

Netflix’s Nobody Wants This was one of last year’s small miracles — a sharp, romantic, and unapologetically Jewish comedy that managed to make a rabbi and a podcaster feel like one of the most believable couples on TV. Season 2 arrives under new stewardship, with Girls alum Jenni Konner and Seinfeld writer-cartoonist Bruce Eric Kaplan taking over as showrunners, and their influence is immediately felt. The tone is more grounded, the pacing slower, and the humor more introspective. What was once an energetic interfaith rom-com about chemistry and conversion now plays like a relationship dramedy about the quiet work of staying together.

Adam Brody and Kristen Bell return as Noah and Joanne — the rabbi and the podcaster whose mismatched but magnetic relationship anchored Season 1. The two remain irresistibly watchable, even when the scripts lose focus. Brody’s Noah still radiates patient intelligence and understated charm, while Bell’s Joanne channels the anxious charisma of someone who can’t stop joking long enough to admit she’s scared. Their chemistry remains the heartbeat of the show, but this time it’s buried under the fatigue of familiarity. They’re a couple who’s been through the big gesture phase; what’s left are the small arguments, the little acts of faith, and the long silences that only happen between two people who truly know each other.

Under Konner and Kaplan, Nobody Wants This becomes a different kind of funny — less about punchlines and more about precision. The humor sneaks up on you, often in small conversational rhythms or in Noah’s habit of quoting Talmudic lessons at inappropriate moments. It’s a show that still dares to treat religion as both subject and subtext — messy, human, and not always flattering. Few series on Netflix, or anywhere else, are this committed to depicting Jewish life with specificity instead of stereotype.

(L to R) Kristen Bell as Joanne, Adam Brody as Noah, Leighton Meester as Abby in episode 205 of Nobody Wants This. **Cr. Erin Simkin/Netflix © 2025**

Season 2 expands the world around Noah and Joanne with a stronger ensemble and a few inspired guest stars. Arian Moayed (of Succession) joins as Dr. Andy, a therapist whose relationship with Joanne’s sister Morgan (Justine Lupe) walks the thin line between ethical boundary and comedic disaster. Moayed brings the same dry, cerebral energy that made him memorable on Succession, playing a man too self-aware for his own good. Leighton Meester — Brody’s real-life wife — appears in a scene-stealing guest role that doubles as meta-commentary and emotional curveball, injecting a kind of playful chaos the show could use more of. And in one of the season’s most delightfully strange subplots, Seth Rogen and Kate Berlant cameo as a pair of well-meaning but clueless progressive rabbis, sending up the LA liberal temple circuit with the same wit that defined Rogen’s Platonic.

(L to R) Seth Rogen as Rabbi Neil, Adam Brody as Noah in episode 206 of Nobody Wants This. Cr. Erin Simkin/Netflix © 2025

If last season flirted with broad rom-com energy, this one leans toward melancholy. The tension over Joanne’s potential conversion lingers, but it’s less about religion now and more about belonging. The show doesn’t push her toward an easy resolution — and that’s its quiet triumph. Conversion here isn’t a plot twist; it’s a metaphor for learning how to meet someone halfway. The writers handle it with care, balancing humor with hesitation.

There are moments when the show drags — episodes that feel padded or over-explained, especially as subplots pile up around Noah’s congregation and Joanne’s podcast. The humor occasionally dips into self-awareness overload, where everyone sounds like they’re auditioning for Curb Your Enthusiasm. Still, even in its baggier stretches, Nobody Wants This remains emotionally articulate. Konner and Kaplan understand that the best romantic comedies aren’t about will-they-won’t-they — they’re about can-they-keep-it-up.

Justine Lupe as Morgan in episode 204 of Nobody Wants This. Cr. Erin Simkin/Netflix © 2025

The supporting cast shines in quieter moments. Timothy Simons’ deadpan delivery continues to ground the show’s more absurd beats, while Jackie Tohn’s Esther gets some much-needed dimension. She’s no longer just the sardonic foil to Noah and Joanne’s drama but a character genuinely wrestling with her own reinvention. And Lupe, as Morgan, remains the show’s secret weapon — her mix of ambition, cynicism, and surprising empathy gives the series its emotional realism.

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Visually, the show remains elegant and modern — all warm light, cozy temples, and LA coffee shops masquerading as places of worship. The direction feels cleaner and more cinematic this season, with Konner leaning into the irony of how spiritual crises often unfold in the most mundane spaces: a podcast studio, a dinner table, a therapist’s office. It’s not flashy, but it’s purposeful — a reflection of how Nobody Wants This continues to find holiness in the ordinary.

(L to R) Adam Brody as Noah, Kristen Bell as Joanne in episode 210 of Nobody Wants This. **Cr. Erin Simkin/Netflix © 2025**

The finale, which circles back to the couple’s original dilemma — faith versus comfort, conviction versus compromise — doesn’t land with fireworks, but it lingers. It suggests that love stories don’t always end with answers, just better questions.

This second season of Nobody Wants This may not be as fast, funny, or immediately endearing as its first, but it’s more lived-in and emotionally resonant. It trades big laughs for smaller truths and finds something deeper in the process. In an era when most romantic comedies chase nostalgia, this one leans into uncertainty — and somehow that feels braver.

Rating: ★★★★☆

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“A warm, funny, and occasionally frustrating second season that finds new sincerity in old questions. Bell and Brody still make divine chemistry look human.”

— Jonathan P. Moustakas

CREDITS

Airdate: October 23, 2025 | Netflix

Cast: Kristen Bell, Adam Brody, Justine Lupe, Timothy Simons, Jackie Tohn

Creators: Erin Foster;

Showrunners: Jenni Konner, Bruce Eric Kaplan

Out Now: Streaming on Netflix

Rating: TV-MA