It’s Jess! And the guys! They’re back! I’m pretty excited about it if you couldn’t already tell. "The Story of the 50" was the first offering of New Girl in 2012, but perhaps more importantly, it featured the triumphant return of the douchebag jar.

This week’s episode opens with a mystery. The gang is lounging around the loft, discussing Schmidt’s latest contribution to the douchebag jar. In case you’re not familiar, here’s a brief history of said jar: It was first introduced in the pilot and people (mostly Schmidt) have to cough up some cash when they do something that is considered over the line or too bro-ish.

Anyway, Schmidt has recently made his largest donation, fifty bucks, but we don't know for what yet. Surprised that Schmidt has only forked over fifty dollars considering the number of ridiculous things he says and does? Me too. Right on cue, New Girl reminded us of some of those things in a montage of Schmidt’s douchebag jar worthy sayings. I thought it was one of the funniest bits the show has done. I could fill the whole New Girl quotes page with them, but to be fair to the rest of the episode, I didn’t. One or two did make it in though. My personal favorite?

Damn it! I can't find my driving moccasins anywhere! | permalink

It was nice to see Jess take charge tonight and actually do something for one of the guys that didn’t completely embarrass them. Schmidt’s party bus was perfectly tailored to him with the kosher yogurt (ko-yo), pick-your-own-condom station and stripper pole. Sure, Jess’ attempt at getting a stripper didn’t work out so well, but it gave Schmidt the chance to discuss his career options with the male dancer (Matt Besser). Schmidt wisely concluded that his stripping persona was a warrior poet. I’m taking suggestions for Schmidt’s stripper name so leave them in the comments below. Winner gets a ko-yo.

Okay, enough about Schmidt, let’s talk about Nick. Finally, after all his moping, he’s found himself a lady! Did anyone else instantly think True Blood and Mean Girls when Julia (Lizzy Caplan) appeared as Nick’s date? I think she’s great, and Julia could be really good for Nick, so I hope she’ll be sticking around. Side note: what is this bro juice that Nick invented? I’m a little scared by what the answer might be.

The only person that got lost in “The Story of the 50” was Winston. Of all the dudes, we know the least about him. Before the midseason break, he had hit it off with the son of Schmidt’s boss, and it seemed that that might lead to a high-paying babysitting gig. Let’s hope New Girl brings this back sometime soon – Winston deserves a little more character depth.

So what did you think of Schmidt’s fifty dollar douchebag jar offense? I was expecting something far worse than trying to kiss Jess.

Final thoughts

• New Girl is becoming a magnet for awesome guest stars. I already mentioned two of the great cameos in this week's episode, but I also want to point out David Neher as Benjamin (Schmidt’s "fremesis") and Rachael Harris as the party animal Vice Principal from Jess’ school.
• I expect a remix of “We Built This Schmidty” online by tomorrow morning. Get on it, people.
• The writers or actors (maybe both?) on New Girl really like doing impressions. My vote still goes to Justin Long’s Jimmy Stewart, but Lizzy Caplan’s Bill Cosby was pretty funny.