Sitcoms decline when they resolve their central tension, but Nobody Wants This had the opposite problem in its second season. It’s a romantic dramedy that’s anchored by its two lead performances, so to create the false notion of conflict is a stalling technique; as entertaining as the show’s ensemble is, it’s not enough to sustain a continuing series if the two protagonists were to go their separate ways. The third season has a lighter touch and is improved by a decompressed focus on the characters’ professions. Nobody Wants This is a cross-culture love story between the sex podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) and the rabbit Noah Roklov (Adam Brody), but there’s only so much that can be said about their highly distinct backgrounds without falling into meet-cute gimmickry.
The first two seasons of Nobody Wants This was criticized for the use of Jewish stereotypes, which was both accurate and slightly misleading. The show’s intention is to offer an optimistic, only slightly exaggerated riff on the realities of contemporary dating, but the guffawing approach to a prototypical eccentric family is abrasive when it's among the few works of contemporary mainstream media interested in non-secular Judaism. That component of the show is dramatically trimmed down in Season 3, and is only brought up due to a storyline involving Joanne taking classes to prepare for her mikveh. This isn’t meant to be a commentary on agnosticism, but a means to introduce fun side characters, including Andrew Rannells as Joanne’s flamboyant classmate Sebastien. He’s far more entertaining than Sarah Silverman, who hasn’t developed a new schtick in 15 years.
The fear that Nobody Wants This prolonged the inevitable is dropped fairly quickly in wake of Noah’s proposal, which was the excuse that the series needed to develop an episodic pacing structure. Although most viewers will consume Nobody Wants This as a binge, it‘s still a half-hour comedy that’s at its best when there’s a strong A and B plot to each chapter. An impending wedding (especially one with a cultural clash) is prelude to a number of tasks with comedic potential, but the stakes aren’t raised too high. The most that’s threatened is a potentially awkward ceremony or familial dispute, given that a break-up is never in the cards. Although there might not be enough going on for Nobody Wants This to have engaged an audience for 10 weeks, the narrative progression is pronounced enough that it might be easier for new viewers to “drop in;” if you miss the details of one episode, you won’t be devoid of context moving forward.
The most interesting development of Nobody Wants This Season 3 is the subdued romance between Joanne’s sister Morgan (Justine Lupe) and Noah’s brother Sasha (Timothy Simons), brought to the forefront after two years of foreshadowing. The idea of two sets of siblings falling for the immediate relatives of each others’ spouses is a screwball comedy premise, but it makes sense. Sasha and Morgan have been consumed by mundanity that they’ve only been saved from by being part of their siblings’ responsibilities; Sasha’s involved with the synagogue community because of his closeness with Noah, and Morgan has taken the leap into podcasting by following Joanne’s lead.
These paths are isolating in their own way, since Sasha has become accustomed to only interacting with other married couples and parents, and Morgan has chosen willful detachment to avoid being burned following a bad breakup. It’s not that wild to suggest that two recent divorcees would find something within each other, especially if they were habituated to being in close company. The series is still willing to acknowledge that it’s pretty weird, and definitely the last thing that either Joanne or Noah would want on the eve of their marriage. “Nobody Wants This” was a misnomer early on because Joanne and Noah's romance wasn’t completely improbable, but the title’s justified if it was intended as a reference to Sasha and Morgan all along.
I suspect that this relationship wasn’t planned from the beginning, but rather a reaction to the strong chemistry that Lupe and Simons had. This type of rewriting is a common occurrence on television; Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman was supposed to die in the first season of Breaking Bad, after all. There’s retooling that is done within the third season in some instances, with Sasha’s estranged wife Esther (Jackie Tohn) given more depth than the intolerant, manipulative scolder that she was early on. Lupe and Simons have a repertoire that’s undeniable, and it was taken advantage of by writers who knew better than to misdirect their audience.
It’s a good use of two actors who had small, but memorable roles on great shows. Simons was a standout as the inflammatory White House liaison Jonah Ryan in Veep. Lupe was Willa, the young fiancé of Alan Ruck’s Connor Roy in Succession, but she faded into the background when the show crystallized in its later seasons.
This isn’t to say that Nobody Wants This isn’t concerned with Joanne and Noah anymore, but that their relationship isn’t any more interesting than it was to begin with. The casting of both leads was always intended to be slightly off-center; Bell has such an air of irreverence that even her most sincere moments come with a slightly ironic flare, and Brody’s too charismatic to be believed as a square. The third season is a success because it doesn’t call attention to that; there are signs of progress.