We fell in love with season one of Netflix’s hit rom-com, but can lightning strike twice?

Nobody Wants This (season two) ★★★★

As the second season of this rom-com-drama about hot rabbi Noah (Adam Brody) and shiksa goddess podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) kicks off, the young lovers are deep in what Bridget Jones would call “smug married” territory. At least, they would be if they were married.

And there’s the rub. While they’re clearly crazy about each other, everything ultimately devolves to the same question: will she convert to Judaism, so they can fully commit to each other (and, ultimately, get married, since that’s something they both want), or will Noah learn to accept her for the goy she is? Or, option three – heaven forbid – will they each refuse to budge and instead call it quits?

All romantic comedy has the obstacle that must be overcome before the lovers can find their happily ever after. Making that hurdle religious faith seems quaintly old-fashioned, but it works because (a) it’s a real thing, and (b) it’s a personal thing, with show creator Erin Foster drawing upon her experience of converting to Judaism to marry her real-life husband, Simon Tikhman, in 2019.

He’s not a rabbi, though, and the couple didn’t face the kind of rabid opposition that rains down upon Noah and Joanne from every corner. Well, mostly on Joanne, and almost exclusively from his mother (the terrific Tovah Feldshuh as the terrifying Bina) and sister-in-law Esther (Jackie Tohn). Their antipathy is the fuel that drives the show’s finely tuned conflict engine.

Much of the comedy in this second season, every bit as enjoyable as the first, comes from outside the central pairing. And that expansion is a good thing as it spreads the load and offers different models of complex relationships to be strip-mined for comedy and drama.

Joanne’s sister and podcast co-host Morgan (Justine Lupe, Succession’s Willa) features much more prominently, as she finds herself in an ethically questionable relationship with her former therapist, Doctor Andy (Arian Moayed, another Succession alum). She’s breezily skipping past a whole parade of red flags on her sprint to the altar, driven as much by competitiveness with her sister as by love.

Esther’s determination to prove she’s “fun”, meanwhile, is all but guaranteed to produce anxiety spikes in anyone drawn into her orbit. Mostly that’s her lovable klutz of a husband, Sasha (Timothy Simons), Noah’s brother, though Joanne cops her share too.

The first episode revolves around a dinner party that goes hilariously wrong; another centres on a party for Purim, which goes perfectly right. Celebrations and traditions – religious and otherwise – are at the heart of everything, and a big part of what Noah wants to share with Joanne, and why Joanne is drawn to him and his world.

Nobody Wants This may be full of sniping and conflict, but it also has a heart full of generosity. I love the way it treats the culture clash as significant and petty, almost willed at times. It sees families as both a curse and a blessing. It acknowledges differences, celebrates them and realises they need not be insurmountable hurdles.

Focus on the person, not the persuasion, the show insists, and everything becomes possible (possibly). It’s a simple message but a good one, wrapped in a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. Seriously, what’s not to love about that?

Nobody Wants This streams on Netflix from October 24.

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