New Girl- Season 2, Episodes 13-17

As an anon on Tumblr pointed out, it has been a long time since we've talked about this show, and a lot has happened. We didn't care for the episode with Nick's father. Con-man dads have been done to death (something commenters recently pointed out to us, haha). It's also predictable that Nick's dad would be a jerk. We would rather him be the sweetest old man in the world to have it be more surprising.



Of course Jess was gullible and fell for everything Walt Miller tried. Schmidt and Robbie teaming up was the highlight of THAT week. For New Girl, A Father's Love was weak. Not as funny as the other episodes this season. Or last season.

After that, we had the episode where Nick crashed Jess's writing class because he thought her student was creepy and about to kill her. This episode was a winner solely for Schmidt's eyebrows. Nick's fake detective persona was Nick at his funny best. And it was sweet that he was so protective of Jess, even though we KNEW the show would never actually have the student be a bad guy. It would be too dark.

Ern would like to confess that her "pogo" (bad things about living with a person) are a complete inability to do the dishes and her all-consuming love for her dog that reaches annoying levels. Leeard's is probably that she hogs the TV, but she won't say. We gave Pepperwood a B- and not a better grade, because we felt that some moments were a little too over-the-top. Too slapstick in moments.

Then came The Episode. The kiss episode. The way the kiss happened was so perfect and surprising. Leeard has watched this episode ten times. The show nailed the moment we've all been waiting for, which is no mean feat. The episode even had Winston hook up with Brenda Song, who we like. She's a good TV girlfriend for him.

Also, Cooler brought back True American, best game on TV right now. And it had a Homeland reference (Abu Nazir). Perfect. Schmidt fainting was hilarious. The show really went all out here, and we have no complaints. Nick and Jess have insane chemistry.

After Cooler, we had Table 34, which loses points for breaking Jess and Dr. Sam up so abruptly. It makes no sense that he would dump her for getting kissed. We could understand him having a problem with it, but just giving up? It's like he didn't like Jess that much in the first place. It wasn't believable, and it missed opportunities to do things with his character.

We liked the episode, overall, because of the great idea. Hindi/Indian speed dating. Schmidt was at his best this week. We loved the "perfect table" Jess and Nick built and the panic moonwalk. The show handled the kiss aftermath well. It was addressed, but it was also awkward and complicated enough to keep Nick and Jess apart for a while.

Last night, the show was back with the slapstick. We had a problem with how Jess slammed into Schmidt's car. It's one thing to be zany and super comfortable as roommates, but it's another to have a complete lack of respect for each other. It was unrealistic for anyone to do that and have it turn out okay. If your closest, most favored roommate of all time did that, how crazy offended would you be?

We liked Schmidt's finding out about the kiss and the way he handled that for the most part (it was funny), but his forcing Jess to kiss him came off a little rape-y to one of us. The contract was totally disrespectful. But funny. A little. We loved the sexual tension in this episode, and the contest to get the parking spot. We loved Nick pronouncing "wi-fi" was "wiffy," and refusing to pay for it.

Winston's B-plot wasn't as funny. We're getting worried that this show will toss Brenda Song before all her character's potential has been explored, like it does with nearly everyone someone dates on this show. We still want Robbie and Lizzy Caplan back. And Sam. There were plenty of laughs this week, and we still love how the show is handling the sexual tension in the aftermath of the kiss, but it was the off moments that stuck with us this week.

A Father's Love: C
Pepperwood: B
Cooler: A+
Table 34: B+
Parking Spot: B-