- The Nobody Wants This season 2 finale leaves lots of questions unsettled. Will Noah and Joanne take the next step in their relationship?
- Morgan goes through major character growth.
- Our main couple aren't the only will-they-won't-they love story this season.
The Nobody Wants This season 2 finale ends on a high note—but doesn't quite tie everything neatly into a bow. A lot has happened since Noah (Adam Brody) and Joanne (Kristen Bell) have left the honeymoon phase and entered more serious relationship territory. Aside from trying to get Noah's parents' and community's approval, she also needs to grapple with her own acceptance of the practical realities of her interfaith relationship. Is she really willing to convert to Judaism?
While this becomes the central question for this season, a lot of other storylines are at play, especially with a surprise engagement, and the growing distance between one of the seemingly-happily-married couples. Here's a breakdown of everything that happens in the Nobody Wants This season 2 ending.
The happy couples fake it.
Tension has been building all season long between Noah and Joanne, and things came to a head in episode 9, during a triple date with Morgan (Justine Lupe) and her fiancé Dr. Andy (Arian Moayed), and Esther (Jackie Tohn) and Sasha (Timothy Simons). Everything that's been going on this season has led Joanne to believe that maybe Noah isn't sure he wants to be in a long-term relationship with her anymore.
Still, when they arrive at Morgan's lavish engagement party, they decide to keep things together—at least until after the festivities. Upon their arrival, they pretend that everything is fine. Soon we find out that the betrothed couple are also faking being madly in love. Once Joanne and Morgan get one-on-one time, Morgan confesses that she doesn't even like her therapist/fiancé anymore, and that he's been using things that he had learned about her in therapy against her.
Morgan breaks off her engagement.
It becomes clear that Morgan needs to call her engagement off, but we see her struggle to make this decision for herself. The first time she tries to break it off with Dr. Andy during the party, he manages to convince her not to. And when she goes back to Joanne for advice, her big sister (who is also dealing with her own relationship troubles) becomes annoyed and tells her just to go through with the marriage then get divorced later.
In avoiding talking about her relationship problems with her parents, Joanne ends up telling them about Morgan's predicament and the terrible advice she just gave. Their mom Lynn (Stephanie Faracy) then decides to be the one to give Morgan a wake up call. And after the heart-to-heart conversation that takes place among the three Williams women, both Morgan and Joanne have an epiphany.
Morgan finally sums up the courage to stand firm on her ground, and break up with Dr. Andy. She later admits that she was so quick to say yes to marriage because she wanted to catch up with the way Joanne's relationship was going. But, she says, "That's not how I wanna live my life."
Noah breaks up with Joanne.
Joanne realizes, after listening to her mom give a pep talk to Morgan, that she wants to fight for her relationship with Noah. But her hot rabbi beau comes to the opposite conclusion. He's had to switch to a job he hates, transferring to the more liberal Temple Ahava. He's had to lie, saying that Joanne is going to convert for sure down the line. And he can't commit to moving in with her because he feels the timing isn't right. So instead of taking that next step or coming up with a way to move forward, Noah comes to the conclusion (after a conversation with Sasha) that maybe their relationship has become too difficult. Maybe things aren't supposed to be this hard, if they're actually meant to be.
During the engagement party, Noah tells Joanne the realization he's come to, and breaks up with her. He leaves the event early, and Joanne is alone. She ends up double-fisting wines and eating cake.
Esther wants to take a break from Sasha.
Throughout the season, Sasha and Esther's marriage has also been going through some issues. Sasha's been putting in effort to try and reignite their spark, but because that hasn't worked, he's decided that maybe the move is to allow his wife to go through the motions of whatever this is. And things seem to have been going alright, which is why he tells Noah during their chat that their relationship is doing better.
However, during the slow dance at the engagement party, Esther admits to Sasha that their marriage is just "not working." And she says she doesn't know why, but she knows that the problem right now is her. She tells him, "I can't fix it while we're together." Her saying those words surprises them both.
Esther helps Joanne realize she's already Jewish at heart.
This whole time that Joanne's been grappling with the thought of conversion, and she hasn't realized that she's been ready to take the leap all along. Her conversation with Esther has made her realize that over time, the small joys she's derived from all the Jewish teachings, traditions, and experiences are genuine. And that Joanne's personality and everything that makes her her already "feel Jewish" to Esther. "I don't really know what you're waiting for," she says. "Whether it's a sign, or the waters to part, or what, but the whole thing is just a feeling."
So, maybe, Joanne really wouldn't be changing herself for Noah if she decides to convert. For Esther's final words of wisdom in this scene, she says, "With or without Noah, you're Jewish." And right then, Joanne makes a run for it to go after Noah.
Joanne and Noah get back together.
Just like the events in the first season, the two go on this wild goose chase trying to find their way back to each other—and they do. Noah tells Joanne that none of it matters, and that she's his soulmate. "That's it," he says. "I don't care if you're Jewish. I don't care if you're not Jewish. I choose you. Every time." To which Joanne simply replies, "Well, you're in luck."
We can only assume that this means that Joanne's made up her mind about converting to Judaism, and that she's taken everything Esther's told her to heart. But, of course, we can't know this for sure until get a third season.
