‘Nobody Wants This’ Season 3 Premieres on Netflix: A Deep Dive Into the Ups and Downs of Joanne and Noah’s Relationship
Just in time for a cozy fall binge-watch, the third season of Netflix’s hit romantic comedy series “Nobody Wants This” has officially dropped, bringing viewers right back into the wonderfully messy world of agnostic dating podcaster Joanne, played by Kristen Bell, and the exceedingly charming Rabbi Noah, played by Adam Brody. Over the course of the first two seasons, audiences watched this unlikely pair fall deeply in love while navigating their contrasting lifestyles, early relationship hurdles, Noah’s skeptical and chilly family and community, and Joanne’s initial lack of clarity regarding whether she wanted to convert to Judaism.
The end of season two left fans with plenty of narrative hooks: Joanne had finally decided she was ready to make the plunge and convert, while Noah’s brother Sasha, played by Timothy Simons, and Esther, played by Jackie Tohn, saw their relationship tragically fall apart. Simultaneously, Noah embarked on a new professional chapter at the less-than-stellar Temple Ahava. Season three wastes no time jumping into these lingering questions, exploring whether Joanne will actually complete her conversion, if that means Noah and Joanne are officially endgame, how Noah plans to survive his tenure at Ahava, whether Sasha and Esther can patch things up, and if Sasha and Joanne’s sister Morgan, played by Justine Lupe, will finally act on their undeniable chemistry.
Episode 1: It’s Perfect
Season three begins with Joanne and Morgan moving in together, and the domestic arrangement is blissfully perfect until the couple’s minor quirks start driving each other crazy. Joanne leaves every cabinet open—prompting Noah to later confide in Esther, “I love closing every cabinet. It’s my passion”—while Noah looks over Joanne’s shoulder at her screen while she reads celebrity gossip, asking, “Do we know her?”
This invasion of privacy frustrates Joanne to the point where she starts having her morning coffee at Morgan’s house under the flimsy guise of recording podcast ads. Once Noah catches on, he confronts Joanne, asks why she didn’t just tell him to get lost, critiques her dishwasher-loading technique, and playfully carries her back home so she can try her morning routine in subpar conditions in the backyard under an orange tree.
When the couple lists their mutual bad habits, Joanne demands that Noah deal with his stray mail, specifically telling him to make a decision about Brian’s upcoming wedding in Napa. Noah reveals that Brian’s wedding isn’t just a social event; he is officiating it, and he urgently wants Joanne to accompany him. Meanwhile, Sasha and Esther officially separate, briefly introducing their elusive daughter Miriam when breaking the news, and Sasha moves in platonically with Morgan and Lynn because his height is useful for reaching high shelves.
Episode 2: Daddy’s Home
Episode two opens at Joanne’s conversion class at Temple Chai, where she encounters her catty nemesis, Sebastien, for no apparent reason. The class is taught by Rabbi Eden, played by Sarah Silverman, who greets the prospective converts with classic dark humor: “Don’t worry — the guilt doesn’t happen all at once, it just happens gradually. You barely feel it until one day you’re strangled and dead.”
While Joanne is busy in class, Noah explores the halls of Temple Chai and discovers widespread resentment toward Big Noah, the rabbi who secured the senior rabbi position Noah had wanted. Vowing to win his career trajectory back, Noah schedules a meeting with the board, who offer him an audition sermon during the upcoming Rosh Hashanah services.
Feeling insecure about whether she has what it takes to be a rabbi’s wife, Joanne seeks advice from Bina, who eagerly seizes the opportunity to mold Joanne into her ideal image of a rebbetzin. This results in Joanne walking into Rosh Hashanah services dressed entirely like Bina. Noah takes one look at her and delivers a genuinely appreciative critique: “Oh, babe, you look awful,” setting a humorous and honest tone for the holiday.
Morgan also flirts with disaster by wearing a slinky, sparkly dress to the Jewish New Year service, while Sasha and Esther whisper-argue about dating apps during the prayers. Noah ultimately delivers a stellar sermon, incorporating a clever line written by Joanne: “I know what you’re thinking: How did I get even cuter?” Returning home, the couple finds their trash cans blocking the driveway, courtesy of their new neighbor Travis—who happens to be Joanne’s ex-boyfriend.
Episode 3: Housewarming
Joanne and Noah throw a housewarming party that doubles as a traditional hanukkat habayit, a house blessing that Noah wryly notes is too traditional even for his tastes. Conversion classmates initially show reluctance to attend, and Rabbi Eden remains pointedly distant.
On the night of the event, chaos reigns. Joanne has subtly tipped off her ex, Travis, hoping he will show up and make him jealous, while Noah anxiously awaits Rabbi Eden’s arrival. Sasha struggles to hide his separation from Esther from his overprotective parents, and Morgan aggressively promotes her newly viral self-help philosophy, "Make Them," which she formulated as a counterpoint to Sasha’s mentions of the "Let Them" theory.
Miraculously, some conversion classmates arrive, including Sebastien—who surveys the house and quips, "Uh, on a rabbi’s salary?"—and ends up connecting Morgan with his literary agent aunt. Rabbi Eden eventually arrives to clear the air, revealing that her coldness stems from jealousy over being passed over for the head rabbi position, not from Noah drinking coffee on Yom Kippur as he had suspected.
During the central ritual of hanging the mezuzah, Joanne spots Travis and goes completely overboard trying to make him jealous. Bina is so devastated by the revelation of Sasha and Esther’s separation that she takes to her bed, wailing, "You have ruined my last years on Earth. Oy." As Travis leaves, he warns Noah that Joanne is volatile, prompting Noah to proudly defend her honor by telling him never to speak of her that way again.
Episode 4: Brian’s Wedding
Tensions flare at the nail salon when Morgan refuses to stop talking about her impending book proposal meeting, causing Joanne to storm out with only three fingers polished. Morgan’s pitch meeting with Sebastien’s aunt ultimately proves disastrous as Morgan is completely unprepared despite wearing her most literary-looking glasses.
Preparation for Brian’s wedding in Napa leads to a classic, relatable travel dispute between Joanne and Noah over airport timing. Noah wants to arrive four hours early, while Joanne protests the excessive wait time. The airport journey features a whirlwind of minor crises, including Joanne temporarily giving away her ticket to an overzealous fan and Noah taking a Bloody Mary spill directly to the chest.
Despite the turbulence, they make it to the Napa rehearsal dinner just in time. The venue is meticulously decorated with Joanne’s favorite flowers, playing her favorite Taylor Swift music and serving her favorite wine. To her complete shock, Noah drops to one knee and reveals the truth: there is no wedding, and there is no Brian; it is an elaborate proposal.
Episode 5: The Love Card
Following the engagement, Bina immediately attempts to take over planning a massive backyard wedding, while Joanne dreams of a low-key ceremony and Noah tries to keep everyone happy. Meanwhile, Esther secures her real estate license and lands her first major showing with Julian, a wealthy older man with a private chef, igniting instant chemistry between them.
Morgan and Sasha continue their close platonic hangouts across Los Angeles. Sasha encourages Morgan to attend a local writer’s group, but she gets cold feet and visits a psychic tarot reader instead. She manipulates the reader into validating her ambitions as a writer. As a souvenir for Sasha, she pulls a random tarot card that Lynn later identifies as the most powerful love card in the deck.
Episode 6: Heatwave
During a punishing heatwave, Joanne and Noah visit a wedding venue while Bina tags along in a long-sleeved button-down, complaining that the space is too small to accommodate distant relatives like Cousin Irv. They are given 24 hours to drastically cut their guest list if they want to secure the venue.
Morgan submits her revised book proposal to Sebastien’s aunt Eleanor with Sasha’s encouragement, only for Sebastien to later break the news that his aunt has passed on the project. However, her despair is short-lived when she receives a direct message from Andy Cohen inviting her to appear as a guest on Watch What Happens Live.
Later, Joanne and Noah struggle to get a table at a perpetually packed restaurant until Esther arrives with the well-connected Julian, who easily gets them inside. Out of loyalty to his brother, Noah refuses to dine with his brother’s ex-wife’s new boyfriend. The next morning, the couple tries to tackle their guest list while lounging in their pool, but the gathering quickly devolves into an impromptu pool party as Morgan, Sasha, Travis, and Cousin Irv wander in. Ultimately, Joanne concedes that it is impossible to trim their guest list down to size.
Episode 7: Watch What Happens
Morgan travels to New York for her Watch What Happens Live appearance, dragging a supportive Sasha along. Stating the classic television trope, they arrive at their hotel to discover there is only one bed, though the lanky Sasha immediately claims the couch.
When Morgan discovers that Lisa Rinna has already worn her planned television outfit, Sasha treats her to a high-end shopping trip, purchasing a $15,000 Valentino dress. Morgan shines during her appearance alongside Andy Cohen and Ciara Miller, and she and Sasha celebrate afterward with dinner, drinks, and rare emotional vulnerability. Back at the hotel, the tension peaks; after an exchange of text advice with their unreachable siblings, they nearly kiss, pull back to protect their friendship, and head to their respective sleeping areas. However, moments later, Morgan opens her door to find Sasha about to knock, and they share a passionate kiss as the scene fades to black.
Episode 8: One in a Million
Sasha wakes up alone in the New York hotel room to find Morgan gone and ignoring his texts. Back in Los Angeles, Noah and Joanne check their phones after a technology-free Shabbat, finding the late-night messages from Morgan and Sasha, alongside a firm text from Bina declaring that the wedding will take place in her backyard.
Esther struggles with her emotions upon learning Julian has a date elsewhere, but after staking out his home, she discovers he canceled the date to pursue her exclusively. In conversion class, Sebastien warns Joanne that Bina’s house resembles a Cheesecake Factory and urges her to stand her ground.
When Joanne tries to confront Bina, she loses her nerve and gives in, horrified to learn that the mother-son dance will be set to LeAnn Rimes’s "How Do I Live." The wedding watch party for Morgan’s television appearance becomes a disaster when Joanne realizes Morgan has deep feelings for Sasha. When Morgan rushes to find Sasha at his workplace, he rejects her sudden grand gesture, saying he cannot move forward because she abandoned him.
Back at home, Joanne and Noah’s argument over boundaries escalates until Joanne makes a severely ill-advised joke about Noah’s relationship with his mother. They clear the air before sleep, but Joanne drops a final bombshell: Sasha and Morgan slept together in New York.
Episode 9: Last Christmas
Opting for a holiday pivot from previous seasons, the narrative tackles a Christmas episode to celebrate Joanne’s final holiday before completing her conversion. Noah is determined to give her an epic send-off, though the rest of her family is distracted by personal turmoil, including Morgan’s heartbreak and Lynn’s sudden preoccupation with a mattress store.
Flashbacks reveal past Christmases, detailing Joanne’s history with Travis, her first accidental crossing of paths with Noah, and the origins of the sisters’ podcast. Joanne explains her deep attachment to Christmas: despite family dysfunction, the holiday always provided a fleeting sense of a normal, cozy family life. By the end of the episode, Noah helps pull the family together, but Joanne realizes she no longer needs the holiday because Noah makes her feel that same warmth every single day. The episode concludes with quirky developments, including Noah agreeing to let Lynn be their flower girl and Morgan declaring she will not attend the wedding if Sasha is present.
Episode 10: The Plunge
As the season reaches its climax, Bina ramps up her aggressive wedding planning, pushing unwanted floral arrangements and dove releases. Morgan officially bows out of attending Joanne’s mikveh ceremony to avoid running into Sasha. Meanwhile, Sasha continues his romance with Esther after showing off a newly decorated room for Miriam.
Sebastien encourages Joanne to use the "Make Them" philosophy to force Morgan to attend her immersion ceremony. Joanne and Noah attempt to trick Sasha and Morgan into driving to the beach together, but Morgan bolts, forcing Joanne into a frantic footrace along the shoreline.
When the group finally arrives at the rented beach house, they find a full family confrontation underway, compounded by Lynn casually dropping the news that Sasha and Morgan slept together. Amidst the shouting match between both families, Rabbi Eden discreetly whisks Noah and Joanne away to complete the conversion ritual in the ocean. The ceremony goes off without a hitch, and standing by the water with Rabbi Eden and a randomly encountered Jewish passerby, Joanne and Noah decide not to return to the chaos, choosing instead to marry right there on the spot.
