Where to begin with New Girl’s first season finale? I guess let’s start with a generalization: when you’re in your twenties (or in Nick’s case, early thirties), there are lot of life milestones to experience, and a lot of them can feel like jumping off a cliff into a dark chasm that might not have a bottom.

Okay, so that’s a really elaborate generalization. Here’s a less involved one: these milestones, which can sometimes be scary, are necessary for growth. New Girl and its characters have done a lot of growing this season, but I can’t help shake the feeling that "See Ya" was a step backwards on a lot of fronts.

Nick’s will-he-or-won’t-he moving out plot ended with a definite no, he won’t. Of the gang, Nick has struggled the most this season with growing up (which is a surprise - I would have bet money it was going to be Jess) and it’s given him some of his strongest story arcs and funniest lines. Moving in with Caroline would be the most concrete proof of his attempts at maturity, but he just can’t do it. Is Nick doomed to be stuck in adolescence forever?

Maybe not. You could argue that not moving in with Caroline showed greater maturity than simply caving to what was easy and submitting to what might be an unhappy relationship in domesticity. I’m not sure which side the writers wanted us to fall on. What do you guys think? 

Either way, there’s obviously more at play here than just Nick and Caroline’s relationship. What really stood out this week was Nick and Jess’ relationship. I don’t think they could send clearer signals that they’re in love with each other, besides just coming out and saying it (which would be the mature thing to do, but where’s the fun in that?).

Jess clearly had an ulterior motive when she pretended to throw her keys away. At one point during the group’s desert hang out, she claimed that they were just having fun, but someone doesn’t manufacture a crisis just to have fun. That is the desperate act of someone who wants to spend more time with the person they’re in love with.

So full steam ahead for Nick and Jess ‘shippers! I expect you’ll be getting what you want come season two!

While Jess and Nick are on the verge of a relationship, Schmidt and CeCe’s hit a rough patch. Schmidt can’t handle that CeCe hangs out with hot male models all day (oh yeah, she’s a model! Glad we finally saw her do some model stuff), and can’t believe that she could be happy with a guy like him.

Seems like underneath all his bravado, Schmidt has some self-esteem issues. But CeCe sees right through his attempt to “White Fang” her, which makes her all the more perfect for Schmidt. Their White Fang discussion is over at the New Girl quotes page. I was afraid that New Girl was going to close the case on their relationship in this episode, but instead it was left in limbo, which is a nice hook to leave us with over the break. 

Finally, do I even need to say it? You guys know what’s coming – Winston got the short end of the plot stick, again! At first I was willing to let this slide in the hopes that a stronger, more central Winston was coming, but now it’s just become a pattern. It’s worth questioning – is Winston slowly being demoted to tokensim? If New Girl keeps this up next season, we’re gonna have a serious discussion eclipsing the media frenzy surrounding Girls and it’s lack of racial diversity. Okay, I doubt it will be that big, but seriously New Girl - deal with this!

Overall, "See Ya" was a true to form sitcom finale with just the right amount of nostalgia and scenes of the whole gang hanging out to make us realize how much we’re going to miss this bunch of crazies over the summer. I expect things will pick up right where we left off – with a dance montage – and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

See you next season, Newbies!

Stray observations

• In the past, I’ve lauded Deschanel’s physical comedy skills, but it seems they checked out early. Her way of scaring off the coyote was more cringe-worthy than funny.
• Schmidt can’t say, "wolf." I would like to know what other words he has trouble pronouncing. Just a montage idea, New Girl. 
• I really wanted to see what Neil could bring to the loft! Clearly, he was intended to be the male version of Jess when she showed up at the guys’ doorstep, but I liked his moving in song, the fact that he described himself as a troubadour, that he has some sort of feral animal in a large box, and that he answered their Craigslist ad with a fax.