This article contains spoilers for Nobody Wants This.
A rabbi and a podcaster walk into a dinner party. Have you heard this one before? No? It’s the premise of the new Netflix series Nobody Wants This. The show provides a new spin on the typical meet-cute rom-com story by infusing the central relationship with a conflict related to religious practice. It’s a fun romp that follows two characters as they try to figure out what happens when one person in a relationship is deeply religious and the other one is … not.
The broad strokes of the story will be familiar to anyone who has ever watched a romantic comedy. Noah (Adam Brody) is a recently separated rabbi who meets Joanne (Kristen Bell), a spitfire single gal with a podcast about sex and relationships. The two have an immediate connection — Bell and Brody have worked together before, and their chemistry is undeniable — but as they get closer, they keep butting up against the elephant in the room: Noah’s genuine devotion to his faith.
Created by Erin Foster, Nobody Wants This is loosely based on her own experience converting to Judaism for her husband. Unlike Noah, her husband is not a rabbi, but he was devoted to his religion and she agreed to convert for him. Charlotte did the same for Harry on Sex in the City ages ago, right? But, with the exception of a few stories, religion isn’t often a throughline in onscreen romance.
With its consistent emphasis on Noah’s Judaism and reputation as “Hot Rabbi” at his synagogue’s summer camp, Nobody Wants This most immediately invites comparisons to the critically lauded second season of Fleabag, in which the title character (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) grapples with her faith (or lack thereof) alongside Andrew Scott’s “Hot Priest.” However, unlike Noah and Joanne’s relationship, Fleabag’s connection with Hot Priest starts when she seeks some sort of spiritual guidance. The rapport between the two intensifies into a forbidden sexual dalliance, and the idea that two people could be so connected emotionally and yet have a fundamental belief system that separates them is frustrating and compelling in equal measure.
Unlike the theological spark that kindled Fleabag’s relationship with Hot Priest, Joanne and Noah just want to be together. They get each other, they have great sex, and they genuinely support one another in their pursuits. As they get closer, references to Judaism are sprinkled throughout each episode — in the premiere, Joanne goes to temple in a conspicuous red dress to hear Noah give a sermon, Noah’s basketball team is called the “Matzo Ballers” — but never in a way that might suggest an end to Noah and Joanne’s relationship. However, the show has already promised that this issue will become a central conflict: When Joanne and Noah first meet, Noah says, “Rabbi, gentile, it’s pretty hard to pull off.” But is it impossible?
As the season progresses, Noah gets increasingly pulled to his job, which is also his calling. He has to cancel a weekend away in Big Sur with Joanne to go help out at the summer camp, and here it’s revealed that he doesn’t feel he can be seen with her among his constituents. He tries to hide Joanne away in a cabin like Baby in a corner. (Baby was also at a Jewish summer retreat, I may add.) And no one puts Joanne in a corner, so she leaves. Later, when the head rabbi eventually comes to Noah and offers him his job, he comes with a warning: do something about the shiksa.
Overall, the show is deeply Jewish and happily makes space for many of the unique traditions that the religion holds dear. During the camp episode, Shabbat is explained, and later, Noah uses the Shabbat candles to make his relationship with Joanne official. She thinks the inclusion of the candles is sweet, but she’s far more concerned with being off the apps than what the ceremony means to her beau. Later, when Noah is stealthily working to try and convince Joanne to convert, he introduces her to Havdalah, the blessing ritual that concludes Shabbat. It’s all very lovely, but Joanne is too focused on texting with her sister to really take it all in.
It’s delightful that Adam Brody, a.k.a. Seth Cohen, creator of Chrismukkah on The O.C., would be the one to gently introduce all of these rituals to Joanne. While religion might not be something that’s often highlighted in current pop-culture, Brody’s reverence for his personal faith and his embrace of portraying a desirable rabbi makes the inclusion of these religious details feel entertaining and educational instead of a diversion from the emotional conflict between Noah and Joanne. Jewish people have historically been persecuted, but with the uptick in antisemitic crime, the escalating upheaval in the Middle East, and general scapegoating of Jewish people by our former president, it feels like Nobody Wants This is premiering at an auspicious time.
Brody knows all of this. In a recent profile with the New York Times, he commented on representation being a big part of acceptance, saying, ““He’s going to grab the girl and kiss the girl with the yarmulke on. And that seems pretty positive.” For her part, Foster told Vulture that, “This show is not meant to be any kind of commentary on what’s happening in the world. […] I didn’t grow up Jewish, I did not grow up in Israel, so I don’t think that it’s responsible for me to try to tell that story.” Instead, the show succeeds in telling a human story, one of disparities in family values, upbringing, passions, and societal pressures.
As it’s based on Foster’s real-life story, it’s no wonder that the majority of Joanne and Noah’s conundrum feels relatively organic. As the season progresses, the couple inches toward an understanding — in order for Noah to get the promotion he’s dreamed about since childhood, Joanne needs to convert — and Joanne considers her options. Eventually, aided by her two non-sibling besties (hi, D’Arcy Carden!), she decides to convert because it’ll be easy and allow her to remain in the relationship with Noah. However, Noah doesn’t want her just checking boxes, and in a conversation with Noah’s ex, Rebecca, Joanne begins to understand exactly what conversion might mean for her. As the partner (or eventual wife) of a head rabbi, Joanne would be a pillar of the community, a light to look for when others were struggling with their own faith, and Joanne doesn’t want that.
So, she kindly breaks up with Noah in the middle of his niece’s bat mitzvah, leaving him to his faith. But Noah runs after her, telling her that he chooses her. It’s the polar opposite twist of the ending of Fleabag, in which Hot Priest chooses God over Fleabag, but in the world of Nobody Wants This, Noah chooses love. Most rom coms would end here, awash in the glow of two souls who have chosen one another against all odds, but we know better. This move all but guarantees a second season of the show, one in which Noah is sure to grapple with his decision to leave everything behind for one person. Can Joanne live up to the expectation?
All 10 episodes of Nobody Wants This are available to stream on Netflix now.
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