A quick review of tonight’s “New Girl” coming up just as soon as I panic moonwalk away from you…
Okay, that’s two episodes in a row that have done very well by this Nick/Jess romantic stuff. For the time being, I will trust Liz Meriwether and company on where this is going.
“Table 34” followed up last week’s sparkling kiss scene with a whole lot of uncomfortable, funny regret from both Jess and Nick. It unfortunately means the end of Jess and Sam – someone please go watch the six episodes of “Bent” and write David Walton another series lead, okay? – but all the beats here played out honestly, fairly and amusingly. When Nick apologized to Jess after Sam broke up with her, I was briefly thinking there was no way the show could plausibly have them continue to be friends and roommates after that, and yet by the end of the scene, the script and Deschanel and Johnson had made the awkward detente believable, and even sweet.
Placing the awkward morning after action at the same Indian marriage convention attended by the other characters – and featuring the latest twist to the Schmidt/Cece relationship (with the simultaneously warm and ridiculous, in that very “New Girl” way, moment where Schmidt speaks up on her behalf in front of the prospective Indian grooms) – was also a clever idea, because it forced them to continually interact in what was otherwise a very comic context, while also frequently pairing them with others. I’m not sure I can remember the last notable Nick/Cece scene, assuming one even exists, but the idea that they would be treated as comparable within this social sphere was inspired, and also kept the two main plots well connected.
Throw in a funny Winston subplot that didn’t feel like it got short shrift on time, and you’ve got another winner.
What did everybody else think?