Jmunney's Blog

Season Analysis: New Girl Season 3 had its share of hits and misses: put Nick and Jess’ affectionate but rocky relationship and the return of Coach in the plus column, Schmidt’s regression in the minus column (though it was a valiant effort), and everything Winston-related in both columns (since he was consistently hilarious, but also consistently detached from the rest of the group).

“Keaton”
With the Cece/Elizabeth storyline, Schmidt’s characterization had gotten a little out of control in the New Girl writers’ room.  It was basically as impossible a situation as Schmidt himself found himself in.  Just as there was no way for him to break it off with either of the women in his life without hurting one of them, there was no way for the writing to not make him a pretty awful person if he were to go on deceiving both of them.  So it was an important corrective to have an episode like “Keaton” to give Max Greenfield an opportunity to really earn back the audience’s sympathy.  This episode also showed off New Girl’s propensity for seamlessly weaving in revealing backstory, as we learned that Schmidt’s communication with “Michael Keaton” began with his mom playing the part of the Batman actor and then Nick picking up the role in college.  The fakeness of the Keaton correspondence should have been hilariously obvious (Nick’s e-mail address for Mr. Mom was keatonpotatoes@aol.com), but Schmidt, like a lot of us, needs a hero to hold on to.  Ultimately, this episode was a story of both the filial and romantic love of New Girl, with Nick Miller suffering a crisis over deceiving his best friend while partnering with his girlfriend, with the two of them taking part in the deception because of their support for each other and their mutual concern for Schmidt.  It is one of those scary moments when your life is at a crossroads and you do not quite know how to do the right thing that New Girl pulls off so well.

Season Analysis: Season 2 of New Girl toned down the quirkiness (which was never really that big a part of the show anyway) to become this pleasant, low-key show that anyone can enjoy.

“Cooler”
I had been a little wary about the Jess/Nick will they/won’t they leading to the two actually getting together, not because I thought they didn’t have enough chemistry, but because will they/won’t they’s have been done so many times on TV already, such that I did not know if New Girl could possibly have anything new to say about it.  But when Nick Miller passionately kissed Jess Day (and then did a whole lot more post-“Cooler”), those concerns faded away.  Those concerns may not have been answered, exactly, but they did not have to be.  The kiss was a chillingly soundless scene, with Nick’s “I meant something like that” punctuating the silence.  Maybe a few years later, we will have settled on the meaning of Jess/Nick (Jick? Ness?) in the Will They?/Won’t They? Pantheon, but for now we can just go gaga over how romantic the kiss was and how beautifully it was staged.

Season Analysis: Initially, Zooey Deschanel’s character was the only one defined at all on New Girl.  The other regular characters eventually became consistently strong by season’s end, but there is still some work to be done before the storytelling is just as consistently strong.

“Jess & Julia”

I love Zooey Deschanel.  I find her charms irresistible.  I find that iPhone commercial adorable.  But, I recognize that there are some people who are immune to her charms, and I even understand where these people are coming from.  But I do not accept it.  As far as I am concerned, such people are missing out on plenty of joy.  Anyway, it seems that the writers of New Girl also recognized the existence of the Zooey haters, so they decided it was important to confront that force on their show, whose premise and initial promotion were almost entirely reliant on Zooey’s persona.  In the climactic scene of “Jess & Julia,” in which Lizzy Caplan’s Julia points out to – with not-too-subtle disapproval – Zooey’s Jess her “whole thing” of cupcakes and breaking for birds and “bluebirds come and help me dress in the morning,” I thought, “Hey, I like both of these ladies!  Can’t they get along?”  Even though I was disappointed that there ended up a conflict between these two different personality types, I was happy that it prompted Jess (and by implication, Zooey Deschanel, and also by implication, creator Liz Meriwether) to stand up for herself, pointing out, that she does not in fact talk like Teddy Ruxpin and proving that there is indeed some toughness to her despite her intensely sunny worldview.  Seriously, Zooey haters, what is your deal?  She means you no harm and I do not think she means to force her personality onto the rest of the world.