New Girl Review: No Giggles Allowed

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New Girl returned after far too long this week with "Nick is Naked" My verdict? An uneven episode.

While it made me laugh with the physical comedy, my annoyance with Jess - almost non-existent up to now - emerged, ready to break its lease with her. Only Schmidt could calm it down. Let's go over the good and the bad, shall we?

Schmidt and Jess

The Good. There were some really strong lines from this episode, but some scenes can't be properly described or quoted. They must be viewed.

  • Exhibit A: Jess' nervous giggle-scream. I can relate. I can so relate.
  • Exhibit B: Schmidt trying to gauge the length of Nick's member by his hands, and asking Jess to "just say when." I rewound this scene five times. His FACE!
  • Exhibit C: Nick psyching himself up for the date in his bedroom. It was awkward, confusing, but also hilarious at the same time.
  • Exhibit D: Nick's scene with the hot date, where he really couldn't bring himself to take off his clothes because of Jess' reaction to seeing him naked. Poor Nick.
The physical comedy is golden. Schmidt is officially my favorite character, as almost anything he says cracks me up. Plus, I like that his douche level has been brought down to tolerable levels (though I will admit to missing the douchebag jar). And, oh dear, that ends my "good" section...

The Bad. Jess was intolerable as a roommate in this episode. I don't mind her being as quirky as she wants. She can even sing every word she speaks for all I care. But quirky and "lacking any sense of boundaries" are two completely different traits. And she was so out of bounds tonight that no charm could really make up for it.

The one place the roommates are safe from her is their bedroom. But she invalidated that privacy by not knocking. She made it worse by constantly wanting to talk about seeing Nick naked, and even chasing him when all the guy wanted was some space. Going from worse to what in the Hell?... her solution to the problem after Nick refused to hash it out with her was to show up naked in his room. What the writers probably thought of as "quirks" were really contrivances, and restraining-order worthy behavior.

The end showed us Schmidt and Winston taking up the Feeling Stick for some reason. Nick was somehow touched by Jess finally learning to say the word penis, while Nick even admitted that maybe Jess was right about him not being ready for meaningless sex. After every episode, New Girl forces these characters to all come together and basically enable Jess' bizarre behaviors. Jess somehow always increases their affection, instead of a more understandable reaction: annoyance. It's usually never earned, and almost always comes out of left field.

Since I really enjoyed the last episode so much, I thought they had learned to tone down the Jess character for good, but I guess I was wrong.

Still, a comedy that makes me laugh so hard is a comedy worth watching. The rest of the show elements, especially Schmidt, made up for my disappointments. I just wish I didn't have to enjoy it with a tinge of irritation. And I wish I didn't have to feel the annoyance towards Zooey Deschanel's character. I mean, don't make me hate a character I want to like.

Stray Observations:

  • Winston, he's not that funny. It will be interesting to see what use they'll have for his character in upcoming episodes.
  • Lake Bell was really adorable in this episode. Okay, fine, she was also really hot.
  • How cute was Schmidt as a young, chubby boy dressed in a bunny suit?
  • I wonder if we'll have the inevitable romance between the roommates. Or a love triangle.
  • Honestly, when Nick was talking about being foiled in his quest for meaningless sex, I kept thinking that Jess would go there with him. I'm glad she didn't.

And now visit our quotes page for some of the funnier moments!

Nick is Naked Review

Editor Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 3.9 / 5.0 (104 Votes)
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New Girl Season 1 Episode 4 Quotes

Schmidt: Just suck in your gut
Nick: What gut?
Jess: The little pooch where you keep your extra cookies.

Sum up the last two years? The country's broke. Betty White came back.

Schmidt