‘Nobody Wants This’ season 3 review: Did someone accidentally hit the romance fast-forward button?

After spending much of season 2 making us wonder whether Joanne (Kristen Bell) and Noah (Adam Brody) would ever get their act together, Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This” season 3 is finally letting its central couple enjoy being a couple. They’re moving in together! They’re planning a future! Joanne is taking steps toward converting to Judaism! It’s all very exciting, and honestly, about time.

But having watched all 10 episodes of season 3, I have a new complaint: Now, the show seems to be in quite a hurry to advance Joanne and Noah’s relationship, so much that it barely has time to breathe.

The romantic comedy series returns with plenty of the charm that made its first season such a hit. Bell and Brody remain an effortlessly likable pairing, and there are still laughs to be found in the awkward family dynamics and the business of dating someone whose background is different from your own.

But while season 2 felt like it was spinning its wheels, season 3 has apparently decided to floor it. There are plenty of lovely romantic moments, but the writers seem to want to skip over the messy part of, you know, building a solid relationship.

Warning: Major spoilers for “Nobody Wants This” season 3 ahead!

Joanne and Noah are moving at warp speed

Season 3 picks up with Joanne and Noah moving in together and figuring out what their future looks like. For Joanne, that means getting serious about converting to Judaism, a decision with enormous implications for her life with Noah.

Sarah Silverman joins the cast as Rabbi Eden, Joanne’s warm, quirky teacher in her Intro to Judaism class, while Andrew Rannells plays Sebastien, a fellow student who quickly establishes himself as Joanne’s nemesis. Both are welcome additions who bring fresh energy to this world.

The trouble is that the big milestones come thick and fast. Joanne and Noah get engaged, she completes her conversion and a surprise wedding follows. Fans who’ve spent two seasons rooting for these two will finally get some of the romantic payoffs they’ve been waiting for. But there’s barely time to savor one milestone before the next arrives.

My biggest gripe with season 2 was that it kept revisiting the same relationship obstacles, as though Joanne and Noah hadn’t already spent an entire season proving they wanted to be together. Season 3 corrects that problem, but swings the pendulum so far in the opposite direction that it creates a new one. There’s a difference between moving a romance forward and rushing through it. Sometimes, I felt like the writers had gotten word that they wouldn’t be renewed for season 4.

Sasha and Morgan deserve more room to flirt

While Joanne and Noah are busy checking off life’s biggest milestones, the people closest to them have romantic complications of their own. Sasha (Timothy Simons) and Esther (Jackie Tohn) are navigating life after their separation, while the long-simmering attraction between Sasha and Morgan (Justine Lupe) finally comes to a head.

I’ve been happy to watch them banter, support and flirt with each other for two seasons. When they finally sleep together toward the end of season 3, though, it feels like it happens too fast and too soon (much like their siblings’ relationship, as I detailed above).

It’s drama overload. Their hookup and the aftermath compete for attention with Joanne’s conversion, the wedding and Sasha and Esther’s own rekindling moment. Hey, you know you can let a plot go unresolved for more than three episodes, right?

Verdict: ‘Nobody Wants This’ season 3 needs to pump the brakes

The finale wraps things up with Joanne and Noah essentially eloping, so it could double as a series finale. If the show does return, where exactly does it go from here? Are we about to watch Joanne and Noah try for a baby — and then have one a few episodes later? By season 5, will they be grandparents, with Joanne now in the role of a busybody mother-in-law?

For all my complaints about the pacing, “Nobody Wants This” season 3 is still an enjoyable, charming rom-com. I’m glad it finally dropped the will-they-won’t-they nonsense — at least for Joanne and Noah (they should’ve kept it for Morgan and Sasha). The first few episodes are good stuff, with a focus on the quirks of new cohabitation and Joanne’s conversion journey. And the cast remains appealing enough to make me want to spend more time with these characters.

But in rushing its central couple through so many life-changing moments, the show loses some of the emotional texture that made their romance compelling in the first place. Nobody wants a rom-com to rush the rom or lose the com.

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Kelly is the managing editor of streaming for Tom’s Guide, so basically, she watches TV for a living. Previously, she was a freelance entertainment writer for Yahoo, Vulture, TV Guide and other outlets. When she’s not watching TV and movies for work, she’s watching them for fun, seeing live music, writing songs, knitting and gardening.