A quick review of last night’s “New Girl” coming up just as soon as I’m comfortable with racial slurs…
I’ve been worried about the direction “New Girl” has been taking several of the characters this season, with Schmidt turning heel and Winston going completely insane. “The Captain” kept pushing both of those angles – at least until Winston regathered his marbles at the end for the loft meeting – and yet it was by far the funniest and most satisfying episode of season 3.
So while I’m not happy with Schmidt being a villain who’s trying to break up Jess and Nick, his plan at least put the focus back on the main couple, who’ve felt oddly marginal in a few previous episodes. It’s remarkable how much better the show has gotten at Jess sex storylines from the early days; she still often seems at a loss about what to do in the bedroom, which is why she’d be susceptible to Schmidt’s scam about “The Captain,” but no longer in a way that makes her seem like a 10-year-old. Nick and Jess’ post-Captain confusion and self-loathing was hilarious (I especially liked Jess’ rant about her huge eyes giving her great night vision), and overall, this was the show’s best combination of raunch and laughs since last season’s “Quick-Hardening Caulk.”
I’m hopeful that Jess telling Schmidt to deal with the bad thing he did rather than taking out his frustration on them will be a turning point for our resident d-bag, and Schmidt’s reaction to swallowing the birth control pills was another excellent gag. I’m torn on Winston, though. On the one hand, they’ve probably pushed Crazy Winston too far, and I do enjoy scenes like the loft meeting where he’s the only grownup who lives there. On the other hand, Crazy Winston is the first stretch of “consistent” characterization Lamorne Morris has received in the entire run of the show – in that being an insane person is a very large umbrella under which you can insert both incompetent puzzling and failed cat-pimping – and there’s been some very funny stuff in there. But I can also see how blowing things with Riki Lindhome would be a wake-up call for the guy, and I’ll be curious to see if he’s normal next week or working on a new sanitarium-appropriate hobby.
Overall, though, I’m just pleased to have a “New Girl” episode that hit the highs I know the show can achieve, after a group of lackluster installments to open the season.
What did everybody else think?