New Girl- Fluffer

By Genevieve (Max Greenfield) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

What happened:  When Jess realizes that meaningless sex isn't the best thing for her, Schmidt suggests that he and the other roommates take her out on a date before she sleep with Sam. That way, she can get her emotional foreplay on with an actual connection. Schmidt and Winston bail to go to a club, and Nick gets left with Jess. They have their date and then she starts using him as a surrogate boyfriend/emotional fluffer.

Winston tells Nick to stop doing this, but Nick doesn't really like someone telling him what he can and can't do with his friend. Jess and Nick have another funny little fight. He builds her a dresser and makes her a "sexy" mixed CD. Jess plays the time the next time she sleeps with Sam. Meanwhile, Schmidt gets into the club by pretending to be a Romney, and he keeps it going for a while. Winston's relationship with Shelby is sexless and fightless. This does not get resolved.

What we thought: The plots on this show have been genius lately. We're mostly talking about the Tag Romney bit. It's hilarious that it wasn't so much about landing chicks, but about Schmidt wanting a real dad like Mitt Romney. We love that it never got political too. It just stayed fun. We don't really think he looks like one of the Romney boys though.

We know in TV land it's "normal" and "healthy" to have casual sex without getting into an intense relationship, but in real life, girls have the same reaction as Jess. Truth is, a lot of guys have that reaction too. Sex is an act that connects people, whether they want to make some sort of commitment or not. Sure, you can have tons of sex and harden yourself to it, but is that the best way to go? It's not shameful to want human interaction before and after sex.

We like that Nick realized that being around Jess as a friend was a "reward" in itself. It was time to broach the subject of whether they had feelings for each other, and this episode did that in a realistic way while also putting actual romance off for a season or two. It was hilarious that Jess was only attracted to him when he was making his peanuts talk at the bar. To be fair, that was adorable.

Shelby, what's your deal? Winston is the most normal, reasonable guy ever featured on this show. Land that! Sleep with that! Cece comforting Schmidt was sweet. We like that there isn't hostility there. Her hair at the club was fantastic. How does she get body in the back of a ponytail like that? Why can't we do anything cool with our hair like that?

Episode grade: B+