Note: The following story contains spoilers from Season 2, Episode 10 of “Nobody Wants This.”
Just as Season 2 of “Nobody Wants This” ended with a dose of clarity for Kristen Bell’s Joanne and Adam Brody’s Noah that brought the couple together, the finale also brought a moment of clarity for Jackie Tohn’s Esther, which brought her even closer to Timothy Simons’ Sasha.
In the season 2 finale, Sasha tells Esther that he noticed she wasn’t herself and although he did what he could to bring the spark back, he instead decided to step back and let her figure it out. While Esther applauds Sasha for her efforts, she tells her that it’s not working and that she can’t fix what’s going on herself while they’re still together, taking a step back from their marriage.
While this decision seems rather monumental, it’s the culmination of Esther’s exploration throughout Season 2 that has left her with questions about her life and what she wants, according to Tohn, who notes that Esther is “trying everything to not take a break from marriage,” including considering having another baby, cutting bangs and all the “real, relevant things we all do when we’ve been in a relationship for 15 years.”
“It’s like, ‘We need to change this. I’m losing my mind now, especially as I realize I don’t want to just be on this bullet train until old age — I need to take stock of where I’m at and what are these decisions I would have made if I had the opportunity, instead of just getting pregnant and then moving forward,'” Tohn told TheWrap of Esther’s thought process. “At the end of the season, she tries a lot of things and realizes that, even though they absolutely love each other, and it’s going to be so difficult, she has things to figure out, and she can’t do it within the confines of the relationship.”
For creator Erin Foster, Esther’s Season 2 ending was the only one that made sense given her character’s trajectory, saying, “It wasn’t going to feel right after the season that we had built up to Esther wanting to stay with Sasha.”
“When you have so many doubts about your relationship and you wonder what’s on the other side, who you are without this person, I think in general that person feels the need to explore what that looks like,” Foster said. “We wanted to be true to what they felt was right, and it was really good for her to be honest with him and walk away, and we also think it’ll be really interesting to see what that does for Sasha.”
As for whether Esther’s pushback is just a separation or whether it could lead to a divorce, Tohn said Sasha’s gentle and understanding reaction opened the door for Esther to return to him. “If anything, it would keep her coming back a lot more than saying, ‘Well, eff, you’ — it solidifies, ‘Oh, well, I made the right decision,'” Tohn said. “He’s not on purpose… making the best decision possible for this relationship to have a future.”
It’s a harsh reality for Sasha, but Simons said Sasha was somewhat prepared, with Simons noting that he already realized he was “trying to hold on too hard” and trying to find quick fixes — like his dancing to Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” — that didn’t do much to solve the underlying problem.
“Even before she says that, he says he’s just going to give her space to figure it out…so I think the answer is already there when she tells him,” Simons said. “I don’t think it was really a realization that he came to in the moment other than like, ‘All right, here he is. I really need to back up what I said with the action of… giving him space.'”
Sasha spends the rest of the night with Morgan, who, like Esther, listened to her instincts that things were wrong in her relationship with Dr. Andy and called off their engagement. Justine Lupe noted that Morgan finds the determination to pull the trigger after talking with her mother and realizing “she’s pushing something that’s not working, and she hasn’t really taken the time to figure out if she even wants to be with this person.”
“She also realized that this whole relationship was reactionary, and that she wanted to be in a relationship so badly, and that it was heartbreaking to see her sister leave their dynamic for her own romance, that Morgan had had a bit of a breakdown and was feeling alone and didn’t want to be alone, but that she was brave enough now to take the next steps in an authentic way,” Lupe told TheWrap.
As Morgan and Sasha reel from their breakup, they confide in a scene that even Tohn admits she found cute. “I almost felt like, ‘Oh, well, here’s the romantic comedy,’ as Jackie, obviously,” Tohn said. “Esther… it would drive her crazy, but also, at that moment, she was making her bed. She wanted to separate [so] no matter who Sasha ends up with, he will end up with him.
The scene sees no material steps toward Morgan and Sasha reuniting, with Sasha telling Morgan that he’ll wait for Esther while she figures out his affairs in arguably one of the sweetest line readings of the season, to which Lupe said Morgan responded sincerely when she told him what a good guy he was. But as for whether Morgan and Sasha are truly platonic, Foster said their relationship is “platonic with an asterisk.”
“They found a nice camaraderie between them, and it’s purely platonic in that way,” Lupe said, while admitting that the two are attracted to each other. “There’s something magnetic between them – I don’t know if it’s platonic or romantic or somewhere in between. There’s probably a part of her where she’s like, ‘I’m attracted to this, but you’re weird’… that’s what’s interesting, is the nuance and how vague it is.”
Simons added that there is a “kinship” between Morgan and Sasha that extends beyond the “loser brother” joke and translates into a similar worldview that isn’t shared by too many people.
“There’s a natural attraction between these two people — maybe it’s romantic, or maybe it’s not at all, but it’s clear that they enjoy spending time together and are supportive of each other,” Simons said. “They ask each other for advice, even though neither of them should give advice to anyone.”
Regardless of whether their relationship will be taken to the next level in a potential season 3, Lupe hopes Morgan finds someone she’s actually passionate about with some substance to her.
“I love the surprise of not having a clue what’s coming…who would think she’s going to fall in love with her therapist this season? I could never have imagined that,” Lupe said. “I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us if there is a third season.”
Season 2 of “Nobody Wants That” is now streaming on Netflix.
