Morgan's messy journey in Nobody Wants This season 2 delivers the show’s most powerful message

**Warning: contains spoilers for Nobody Wants This season 2.**

When the first season of Netflix romcom Nobody Wants This wrapped up, it wasn’t the relationship between agnostic sex-and-relationships podcaster Joanne and rabbi Noah that I couldn’t stop thinking about, but another duo entirely.

The dynamic between Joanne's chaotic-good sister and podcast co-host Morgan, and Noah's outlandish brother Sasha, quickly became the most compelling part of Erin Foster's series – not only because it defied categorisation, but because of its delicious potential for naughtiness.

Were they into each other – and en route to doing something very reckless? Or are they just two playful people tuned into their own weird frequency that no one else can access?

Either way, it was deeply entertaining. While Joanne and Noah were undoubtedly the main course – and we devoured every crumb with relish – Morgan and Sasha were the perfect wine pairing, elevating Nobody Wants This from "should watch" to "must watch". And the 4.9 billion viewing minutes it pulled in after its debut attest to that.

After initially being completely repulsed by him (she described him as "brutal" in a text to Joanne, followed by the ogre and vomit emojis – all of which played out on loudspeaker in front of Sasha himself), something inexplicable began to happen – from Morgan's perspective, at least. Their interactions became comfortable, teasing, and undeniably charged.

Before long, they were secretly texting – messages Sasha kept from his wife – and then came Morgan's sex dream, though countless psychologists have since debunked the idea that such things signal attraction. Yet nothing ever actually happened. There was no messy drunken kiss à la Scrubs' JD and Carla; no text that crossed a line.

Still, their dynamic was confusingly intimate. "Stop saying that it's not weird when we both know that it kind of is," Morgan tells him at his daughter's bat mitzvah – as Esther watches on, muttering to her mother-in-law Bina that "those f**king sisters have got to go".

In the immortal words of Pamela Shipman: it's all the drama – I just love it.

But in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in October last year, Foster – who based the series on her own experience of falling in love with a Jewish man and marrying him after converting – hinted that things would become less ambiguous and messy in season 2.

"I think we’re going to wrap up their weird 'Is it romantic?' thing," she said.

"We want to see them together in season 2, hanging out. We want to see Esther. I think we went down that road enough that now we're going to pull back and reposition so we can have them all in scenes together without [Morgan] being, like, a full homewrecker."

Foster also teased "something very fun" for Morgan – something Justine Lupe (who plays her) was immediately on board with.

And boy, did she deliver.

Yes, Foster stayed true to her promise to steer Morgan away from homewrecker territory, because while the hint of something forbidden was fun, the reality of it would have been a massive downer.

Morgan and Sasha's relationship is indeed cemented as a friendship in the first episode, when Esther boldly pulls them both into a room to get everything out in the open, an awkward but necessary intervention that forces any lingering doubt – or mystery – to quickly dissipate.

From that point on, their dynamic crystallises. They confide in each other in ways that solidify a genuine platonic bond, rather than skirting the kind of intimacy that's off-limits when you're in a relationship.

But while that change could easily have drained some of the show's spice, what we get instead is another inspired bit of writing – completely in step with what we know about Morgan – and one that adds a whole new layer of chaos to the narrative.

When Noah encourages Joanne to celebrate her mum's birthday, she plans a small gathering, to which Morgan turns up with a surprise plus-one – someone no one has met before, and whom she hasn't ever mentioned, not even to Joanne, who she tells absolutely everything.

"This is Dr Andy," she announces.

"Hi," he grins, to a chorus of confused looks. Who is he?

Cue the big reveal: "I'm Morgan's boyfriend."

The room collectively freezes – especially Joanne, who knows something is way off.

So, at her insistence, Noah tries to suss out what's really going on – and the truth is… bad. Very, very bad. Dr Andy is, drum roll please, Morgan's therapist.

"I mean, he's not my therapist anymore," she insists. "We had our close-out session last week. Really intense. He cried."

Oh, no.

While Morgan's dynamic with Sasha in season 1 flirted with crossing a line, her actual, monogamous relationship with Dr Andy – the fact she still calls him doctor should've been enough to snap her out of it – is something else entirely. It's darker, more unsettling, and far more dangerous, with Morgan once again providing the season's most captivating storyline.

In an effort to jolt Morgan out of her reverie, Joanne is quick to point out that they're "breaking the law by dating" – and in some US states, like California, it is actually illegal. But it's the ethical implications that truly scandalise: a therapist pursuing a relationship with a patient (or even a very recent former one) raises serious questions – certainly more seismic than those sparked by Morgan's flirtations with Sasha.

Dr Andy knows all of her "trauma and baggage", which, unsurprisingly, he uses to his advantage in difficult moments and discussions when she's not in alignment with him. During one confrontation – when Morgan tries to end their engagement – he tells her that her "inner child" is afraid of being in love.

Thankfully, she finds the strength to listen to her gut, spurred on by her mother. But she very nearly doesn't.

"It feels very intrusive," she says, referring to his weaponising of the things she shared during their paid sessions – sessions that should have been a safe space.

What's more striking, though, is what it all says about love itself: beautiful, orchestral and technicolour in Joanne and Noah's brightest moments – but dizzying, disorienting and spectacularly self-destructive in Morgan's.

As independent, self-assured, and outspoken as she often is, Morgan is still susceptible to choosing the wrong path in pursuit of love – a desire that has only intensified after watching her sister and Noah. The aftermath of her divorce might not have stung so sharply if her sister had been struggling too – but now, with Joanne and Noah finding something solid (however imperfect), Morgan feels adrift. Isolated. Unwanted.

"I wasn't sure I would ever be loved like that," she admits to Sasha as she reflects on her new, whirlwind romance. "I thought I would just be unlovable, period."

And while she says she was "all ready to look inward and figure out what exactly was so wrong", it proved far easier to lose herself in Dr Andy – and his genetically engineered flowers.

Still, even if the road to clarity is messy, Morgan gets there in the end: that love, even the right kind, can't save you – and that external validation will never lead to inner peace.

Nobody Wants This has plenty to say, but its most powerful message of all, and one that stands in opposition to so many romcoms, is that sometimes, loving yourself isn't a consolation prize – it's the whole point.

Nobody Wants This season 2 is streaming now on Netflix – sign up from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Add Nobody Wants This to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.