One of Netflix's Most Surprising No. 1 Shows Is Back for Season 2. You May Wish It Weren't.

"At Netflix, always at the forefront of streaming, releasing entire seasons of television in which basically nothing happens is fast becoming an art. Other streamers may try, but nobody is doing it like the Tudum factory. Who else would have the nerve to come out with seasons upon seasons of Emily in Paris that always end up in the same place-with Emily at a romantic and professional crossroads, bien sûr-or the audacity to bestow viewers with a new season of one of its reality real-estate franchises in which no one manages to so much as sell a house?"

"And so it's disappointing but not shocking that this chutzpah has extended to Nobody Wants This, the rom-com series that just returned for a second season on Thursday. It's an achievement in nothingness: Essentially zero happens over the course of 10 episodes."

"The first season of the comedy, which told the story of a rabbi and a secular Los Angeles gal falling for each other, was a surprise hit for Netflix last fall, topping its most-watched list for weeks. Stars Adam Brody (as Noah, a rabbi) and Kristen Bell (as Joanne, a girl who has a podcast) proved powerful draws, especially for millennials who have been following them since their breakout roles in aughts teen shows The O.C. and Veronica Mars, respectively."

"Season 2 picks up with the couple still at an impasse over whether Joanne will convert ... and pretty much camps out there all season. The last episode, incredibly, retreads many of the elements of the first season's finale, down to the couple almost breaking up during a party over the religion issue but then getting back together anyway, without having made a decision."

Netflix has embraced whole-season releases that often feature minimal narrative movement. The streamer offers repeated examples, from Emily in Paris to reality real-estate fare where expected plot events fail to occur. Nobody Wants This returned for a second season that stretches across ten episodes with almost no substantive events or resolution. The first season paired a rabbi (Noah) and a secular Los Angeles woman (Joanne) and became a surprise hit, led by Adam Brody and Kristen Bell. Season 2 remains stalled on Joanne's potential conversion to Judaism and repeatedly revisits the same impasse without a decision, with the finale retracing the prior season's climax and ending in another last-minute reconciliation without meaningful progress.

Read at Slate Magazine