‘Nobody Wants This’ just showed me the greenest flag ever
Noah saying that one line altered my brain chemistry.
If you haven’t watched Nobody Wants This on Netflix yet, let this be your reason to, because you’re missing out on an almost religious modern rom-com experience if you don’t. That’s all thanks to one of the show’s two leading characters, Noah Roklov, the Hot Rabbi played by Adam Brody.
If Andrew Scott’s Hot Priest from Fleabag had you humming Hozier’s “Take Me To Church,” Adam Brody’s charming Hot Rabbi in Erin Foster’s Nobody Wants This will have you considering conversion. And no, the obsession will not pass, because he is everywhere. From TikTok edits to tweets on X, Brody’s green flag act as the boyfriend of Kristen Bell’s agnostic podcast host Joanne has been amassing quite the fan following. His impact is particularly potent if you had a crush on Seth Cohen on The OC or Dave Rygalski on Gilmore Girls, both characters played by Brody, which in hindsight feel like early drafts of the grown-up Noah Roklov.
Spoilers ahead for Nobody Wants This.
Nobody Wants This gets so many things right, from the chemistry between its leads to effectively using banter to amp up the com amidst the rom. But it also contains one of the most emotionally mature relationships in a romantic comedy that we’ve seen in a while. Even as Joanne and Noah go through all the cliché stages of a new relationship, they find rather evolved ways of dealing with them as opposed to just sweeping them under the rug with a big emotional gesture that wouldn’t work IRL. Take, for example, Noah coming back from the fabled “ick” sensation which, according to the internet at least, is practically impossible.
There is one scene in particular that I want to talk about; a scene that makes Hot Rabbi Noah Roklov the greenest flag ever. This is the perfect example of an attribute that every person should be able to find in a partner.
At the end of episode 6, “The Ick,” Noah is about to join Joanne and her sister Morgan (Justine Lupe) in watching Vanderpump Rules when Joanne’s parents suddenly show up. As you know, Joanne’s parents are separated; their father came out as gay and now has a partner, and while their mother tries to be happy and supportive of this modern family dynamic, she’s very much not okay with it and tends to overcompensate. The complex situation is something that forces Joanne to put her guard up around Noah. As she watches Noah’s efforts to impress her parents with flattery and humor, his efforts give her the aforementioned “ick,” which she plans to use to break up with him.
Joanne hasn’t exactly had one foot out the door in this relationship, but her fears cause her to self-sabotage what she has with Noah on several occasions. This self-sabotage is something that so many women who battle with feelings of wanting something but being too scared to claim it or thinking they’re not worthy of it struggle with. Breaking up with someone before they can break up with you is a classic defense mechanism. Maybe you’re worried you’ve become too emotionally attached or dependent on the other person, and finding out that they don’t want you might destroy you. So, instead, like Joanne, you go on the offensive and end the relationship first by finding the nearest exit.
The ick has been quite the early relationship wrecker.
But against the God-given powers of Brody’s Noah Roklov, even the ick must surrender. Joanne is ready to fire the gun but Noah calls her out and says something to her that both surprises her and makes her lower her guard. His green flag cancels out her red flag, as it were.
In true Gossip Girl style, it’s eight words, two sentences, and Joanne’s walls crumble around her. Noah tells her, “I’m on your side. I can handle you.”
Ask any woman who has been told she’s too much—too dramatic, too hysterical, too insecure, too sensitive, too crazy—and she’ll tell you how isolated hearing that has made her feel, especially when it comes from a partner or someone they love. It’s hard for women to just be themselves because we’re constantly having to play society-approved roles of either being the cool girl or someone who doesn’t let their emotions weaken them. Especially when it comes to the opposite sex and the dating game, there’s this need to shield vulnerability and appear invincible even when your heart is breaking.
So when Noah tells Joanne that he can handle all her baggage, including her complicated family dynamic and how it has shaped her, it’s like Joanne can finally unclench the fist she didn’t even realize she had been clenching. The ick no longer mattered. This one reassurance from Noah gave Joanne the confidence to fight for their relationship.
As someone pointed out, it’s giving Chandler from Friends! *sobs*
Honestly, every woman, every person, even, deserves a partner who will fight for their relationship and assure them that no matter how crazy things get, they can handle them and will never judge them for being “too much.” This is just another way of saying we all deserve a Noah Roklov! Hot Rabbi, pray for us!
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