Why Noah From Nobody Wants This Is the Kind of Man Worth Marrying

Every so often a fictional man shows up and ruins the dating pool for everyone. Mr. Darcy did it. And since Nobody Wants This first hit Netflix, a hot rabbi named Noah has been doing it to all of us at once. Women have been obsessing over Adam Brody for a while now, and Noah is the reason it went from crush to full-blown spiritual crisis. He is pure book-boyfriend energy. Anyone who grew up rereading Pride and Prejudice knows exactly what I mean. Season 3 premiered on Netflix on October 22 with all ten episodes at once, which means you've probably already finished it, debriefed the group chat, and reevaluated every man you've ever dated. Same. Noah has every classic masculine trait women are actually drawn to. So here is my thesis, and I will defend it to the death. Noah has every classic masculine trait women are actually drawn to, and Season 3 proves it over and over. He takes charge, he protects his woman, he's secure enough that nothing rattles him, and he is respectful, sensitive and loving the whole way through. He Goes After What He Wants Masculine men move. They decide, and then they do the thing. In episode 2, Noah wants back in at his old temple, this time as senior rabbi. He walks into a meeting with the temple board and asks for the job himself: "Look, I know you chose someone else, and I know that I left, but things are different now. And if there's any part of you that still imagines me as senior rabbi, I think we should explore that." When the current head rabbi tells him "You're not what the people want," Noah's answer is pure confidence: "I wouldn't be too sure about that." He gets the job. Of course he gets the job. Then there's the airport in episode 4. Joanne gives her seat to a stranger, which is sweet and also a problem, because Noah has a plan. "Okay. But I'm getting you on that plane." He tells the gate agent "my girl gave her seat to somebody in need," then climbs up and addresses the entire gate: "Okay, everybody, listen up. I will pay $500 for someone's seat on the 2:45 flight to Napa." He bids himself all the way up to $2,050 before security shows up. Was it unhinged? Sure. But was it hot? Extremely. He's wound up because "Brian's wedding" doesn't exist. Noah faked an entire event, schedule of events included, to get Joanne somewhere beautiful and propose. The speech alone: "Joanne Elizabeth Williams, you are not what I saw coming because I never realized how good I could have it" gave me full-body chills. She says "Of course I will." Obviously. What makes the proposal even better is everything that went wrong before it. Joanne's unhinged fan spills a drink all over Noah and then tells him to buy her a new one (after happily taking Joanne's ticket for the plane for the worst reason ever). She is rude, condescending, and she manages to wreck his entire outfit and very nearly his whole plan for proposing. He stays polite and kind the entire time instead of blowing up at her. It's incredibly unrealistic, but sweet nonetheless. Then there's Joanne, who shows up to what she thinks is his friend's wedding in sweats with half a manicure, a complete mess. Most guys would be annoyed by that at a wedding. Most guys would be livid knowing it was actually their proposal. Noah doesn't care, doesn't make a fuss, and proposes to the mess anyway. He loves her exactly how she is. He Has Her Back, Even When She's Being a Lot Joanne is a lot. That's the show. And not once does Noah act like being a lot is a deal breaker. Let's be honest. There are moments in all three seasons where you want to climb through the screen and shake her for acting like a lunatic, and there's plenty of her behavior I couldn't defend if you paid me. Noah never seems to mind. He puts up with her crazy, and somewhere along the way he softens it. Watch her relax a little more each season, lean into her feminine side, and let him take charge. Having a husband you can be fully yourself around, no eggshells, no replaying whether you said the wrong thing, is the dream. He still holds her accountable. When she makes a crude joke about him and his mom in front of her parents, there's no screaming, no storming out, no name-calling. He calmly says he needs a second, steps away, and brings it up with her gently later on. That's healthy communication, and it's rarer than it should be. If you watched that episode without getting butterflies, you're lying. Another great example is his reaction to Travis. Joanne's ex, played by Avan Jogia, is now their next-door neighbor, which is nobody's idea of a good time. At the housewarming party in episode 3, Travis pulls Noah aside for a little chat. "Listen, bro to bro, she's nuts," he says. Then: "it wasn't a big deal to me, but are you sure you wanna do this forever?" Noah has zero interest in keeping the peace. He says one of the most satisfying things a man has ever said on television: "First of all, don't ever talk about Joanne like that to me or anyone, okay? Second of all, I'm glad you f***ed it up with the best person on the planet. Worked out well for me." And then, because he is a king: "Get your f***ing trash cans out of our driveway." If you watched that episode without getting butterflies, you're lying. He is just as willing to stand up to the people he loves. His mom Bina (Tovah Feldshuh) has a lot of feelings about the wedding, and in the finale she announces, "We're not having a DJ at my wedding." Noah responds with, "Uh, it's not your wedding." Then: "Listen, we've taken a lot of your ideas, which you wanted, but this is what we want." He adores his mother, but he also chose his wife. That's the order. The Housewarming Lie Is the Whole Thesis If you want to understand why Noah is the internet's favorite TV crush, episode 3 is the one. It's where his security really shows. Let's get back to when Joanne invited Travis to their housewarming to make him jealous. She then spends the party trying way too hard to impress him. Every woman has an ex she wants watching her win. That's a conversation for another article. What matters here is what Noah does with it. He never treats Travis as competition. His reaction to the invite is pure confusion: "You went a little rogue with that invite. I thought you don't like him." Then the question only a secure man asks: "Why do you care what he thinks? The last I checked, you're in a happy, healthy relationship with a total stud." Earlier in the episode, when Joanne admits Travis once told her only 20% of him wanted to be with her, Noah delivers the sweetest pep talk of all time: "Well, 100% of me wants to be with you. And you know what? F*** crumbs. You deserve the whole meal." Is it a tiny bit cringey? Sure. But it was still a really cute moment any girl would love to experience. He handles it, he refuses to make it about himself, and he gives her the win. When he does get annoyed at the party, it's about his job: "How am I supposed to get Rabbi Eden to respect me as her boss when you're talking about us f***ing on the kitchen counter?" His problem is his fiancée embarrassing him in front of his new colleague. Fair. But a few minutes later Noah is the one apologizing. "Sorry I was a little hot earlier." Then comes the lie. After the trash-can takedown, Joanne finds him. "What did he say? Was it bad?" Noah: "I wasn't gonna say anything. Uh… But he… He said he's still obsessed with you." Joanne: "I feel like I could lift a car right now." Noah: "Good. Good. Good." Now let's discuss what he just did. Two minutes earlier, Travis called her nuts to his face. Noah absorbed the insult, defended her where she would never hear it, and then handed her a gift-wrapped lie that her ex still wants her. Most men would need the credit, but Noah needs nothing from the moment except for her to walk back into the party glowing. Only a completely secure man hands his fiancée proof that her ex still wants her. That is what a grounded man does when another man insults his woman. He handles it, he refuses to make it about himself, and he gives her the win. Soft With Her, Steady for Her The protective stuff only works though because of the tender stuff. Strength without tenderness is just a guy who yells. In episode 1, Joanne has been sneaking over to Morgan's every morning because she's scared to admit living together isn't perfect. Noah busts her and takes her home with this: "Jo, there is no perfect. It's perfect 'cause it's us. We're just learning how to live together." Back at the house he asks, "Are there any other issues you were worried to bring up? Because I'm all ears." He also promises to keep closing every cabinet she leaves open. "Because you're my little ghost." In episode 2, when she shows up dressed in his mother's clothes trying to be an "amazing Mrs. Rabbi," he tells her the truth about the outfit ("Oh, babe, you look awful.") and then the truth about her: "I don't want you worrying about being anything you're not. I love you how you are." He is accountable, too, which happens to be one of the telltale signs that prove he's a good man . In episode 8 he holds his ground on the mother-son dance, then oversteps by going to Joanne's dad about it. When he realizes, he says so, plainly: "Listen. I'm really sorry I spoke to your dad about the dance, okay? That was a major overstep." No excuses. And in episode 9, knowing she's about to convert, he throws himself into giving her one last perfect Christmas. "You gave me the dance, my mom's backyard. I wanna give you the last best Christmas ever." When Morgan tries to bail with a suspiciously timed "flu," he refuses to accept it: "No. No. Not a chance. You want Morgan at your best last Christmas, she'll be there." He even offers to handle her mom, lovingly: "If I have to go Hans Gruber on her ass, hey, that's what I got to do." Die Hard at Christmas. Peak romance. A Man Written by Women If Noah reads like a character from a romance novel written by a woman designing her perfect man, that's because he kind of is. Creator Erin Foster based the show on her own relationship with her husband, Simon Tikhman , with women writers pulling from their own lives. Foster has called the show a love letter to her marriage. Even the finale's DJ, a guy named Simon from Noah's Hebrew school days, is a nod to him. If Noah reads like a character from a romance novel written by a woman designing her perfect man, that's because he kind of is. That's why Noah feels so specific. He was built out of what it actually feels like to be loved well, by a woman who got to feel it first. Season 2 gave us the love story every modern woman secretly wants . Season 3 gives us the husband. Why We All Want to Be Joanne Every woman watching this show is picturing herself as Joanne, flaws and all. For ten episodes we get to feel what it's like to be loved by a man who is strong, steady, protective and tender at the exact same time. He takes charge, he defends her, he gives her the win, and he loves her through every bit of her mess without ever asking her to shrink. That's why the finale lands the way it does. After a whole season of planning and families and compromise, Noah strips it all back on the beach. "Hey, rabbi," he says to Rabbi Eden. Then: "Would you marry us out here right now?" He knows exactly what he's doing: "It's gonna be a controversial choice, I know it is. But this is supposed to be about us, and we got way off track." And then he asks: "Marry me. Right here, right now, just us. I just want to be married to you." Joanne, finally calm, tells him what she's known all along. "I was always gonna be standing here on this beach marrying you. I was just waiting for you." So were we, Joanne. So were we.