Once again I found New Girl
thoroughly enjoyable this week. The highlight of this episode for me was
definitely Nick’s storyline where he was dealing with the fact that his con
artist dad, Walt, had unexpectedly come to town for a visit and was teaming up
with Jess to buy a horse, while Jess was determined to play peacemaker between
them.
I know I’ve said this
before, but one thing that I feel the writers have always done a really great job
of is writing the relationship between Jess and Nick. While this episode didn’t
really address the whole will they or won’t they dynamic of their relationship,
I feel like it did a really good job demonstrating how much they really care
about each other even though they are just friends at this point. Nick was
furious that his dad had come town since his father’s con artist ways have been
causing him problems his entire life, and he got even more upset when his dad
persuaded Jess to buy a horse with him, which they named A Father’s Love, after
Walt told her a made up story about Nick wanting a horse his entire life. In
terms of the writers showing how Jess cares about Nick, the same could
definitely be said Jess’ behavior in this episode since she was determined to
play peacemaker between Nick and Walt.
I have to say that I like
that Nick pointed out to both Jess and his father that Jess has the tendency to
be very naive and that she believes almost anything that people tell her
sometimes. He proved this by telling her that his name was actually Jamil,
which she immediately believed, prompting him to quickly tell her that his name
wasn’t Jamil and that she was being too trusting of his father. The whole thing
with the writers really emphasizing the idea that Jess is too quick to believe
almost anything people tell her at times in this episode felt very true to the
way the writers have always written the character Jess, in my personal opinion.
Apparently the reason why
Walt wanted to buy the horse was because he wanted to sell horse semen to
people Dubai, because it’s apparently very valuable and worth a lot of money
there. I don’t know if that’s actually true, but either way that’s just…gross.
For a part of the episode the characters were saying the word semen so many
times that it seemed like the writers were trying to create a drinking game for
the viewers watching the episode where they would take a shot every time
someone said the word semen when they wrote this episode.
This episode once again
reminded me of why I view Jake Johnson as the true breakout star of show, which
I discussed in my review of last week’s episode (My thoughts on episode 2x12 “Cabin”). I feel like Jake
stole every scene that he was in, especially the scene where Nick and Walt were
trying to sell the horse to several guys and Nick pretended to have a diabetic
reaction to some gum after the men insisted that he take his pants and shirt
off because they thought he might be wearing a wire under his clothes in order
to record their conversation. The writers did a really good job of setting up
Nick’s behavior in that scene by mentioning that Nick starts sweating a lot
when he’s lying and how his father used to have him pretend that he was having
diabetic reaction as a way to get out of a business deal that wasn’t going very
well when he was a kid.
One of my favorite parts of
the episode was when Jess, Nick and Walt went to meet with the guys who wanted
to buy Jess and Walt’s horse A Father’s Love. At one point in the scene, Jess
got back in the truck that they had been transporting A Father’s Love in and
started driving off, saying that they had been “conned” and now they would have
to talk to each other. I love that Nick pointed out that her doing that wasn’t a
con, it was her just driving away. In true Jess fashion, she was terrible at
driving the truck. Even though I think Jake Johnson stole that scene, Zooey
Deschanel really shined in that scene as well. As silly as Jess’ behavior was,
her plan to drive off without them actually did lead to Nick and Walt talking
to each other, and they did make peace with each other to a certain degree.
Although, there conversation was mainly Nick yelling at his dad and telling
that he blames him for a lot of the problems in his life and him not being a
successful adult. I have to say that I’m not entirely sure that Nick should
blame his father for him not being successful in life. I think a big part of
Nick not being very successful is due to the fact that he’s a major slacker.
Schmidt’s storyline was also
very enjoyable in this episode, and it also featured some interesting storyline
development. Cece is continuing her search for a husband and dating men that
her family set her up with, because she wants to get married soon so she can
have kids while she still can since she found out earlier this season in
episode 2x09 “Eggs” that she doesn’t have very much time left to have kids. Schmidt
and Robbie were both spying on her when she was going out on dates, which was
just priceless. Given the fact that Schmidt hasn’t been very nice to Robby in
the past, I thought it was really fun see them team up and spy on Cece after
Schmidt discovered that Robby was also spying on her. What made it so funny to
me was how Schmidt kept talking about how his plan was to have Robby date Cece
first, then he would steal Cece from Robby and he was always saying this to
Robby. Robby’s reactions to Schmidt’s behavior in this episode were priceless,
and I thought that Max Greenfield and Nelson Franklin played off each other
very well. I think that it would be great to see them have some more one on one
interaction in future episodes.
If there were one thing that
I found kind of disappointing about this episode, it would definitely be
Winston’s material in the episode. He was just kind of “there”. After seeing
how funny Winston can be at times and seeing Lamorne Morris really shine in
last week’s episode, this episode was a major letdown in terms of the writing
for Winston. Although, this episode did feature a tiny bit of character
development for Winston; unless I’m mistaken, this episode was the first time
Winston mentioned that his father wasn’t around when he was growing up, which
was why he was so attached to Walt. Winston repeatedly calling Walt “Pop-Pop”
reminded me a lot of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and how Dennis and Dee
call their grandfather “Pop-Pop”. As I’ve mentioned many times before on my
blog, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is my favorite comedy that’s currently
on TV, so I always like being reminded of the show, even if it’s only in a very
small way.
Another little bit from this
episode that I really liked is that they mentioned that Nick apparently has a
habit of “angry fixing” the kitchen sink when he’s mad, which he started doing
after his dad showed up. What I liked about that is the fact that Jess did the
same thing toward the end of the episode after Walt left, which led to Jess and
Nick having a nice moment where Nick tells her that he’s a mess. The writers
definitely did a great job of setting up a lot of funny moments like that one that
happened throughout the episode such as how Nick used to pretend to be diabetic
in order to get his dad out of trouble and how he starts sweating a lot when
he’s lying.
I think the producers did a
great job of casting Dennis Farina in the role of Nick’s father, Walt, and I
thought that Dennis played the part very well. Jake Johnson and Dennis Farina
also look a lot alike, in my opinion, especially when it comes to their
eyebrows. After watching this episode, it’s very easy to see why Nick has the
tendency to be very grumpy and cynical at times. Seeing what Nick’s father is
like and seeing the role that he’s played in making Nick the way he is really
makes me want to see the producers introduce Nick’s mother at some point.
All things considered, this
was a fantastic episode for the most part. The writers really did do a good job
of showcasing the relationship between Jess and Nick and how they care about
each other a lot. As much as I love the will they or won’t they element of Jess
and Nick’s relationship and the sexual tension between them, I really enjoyed
seeing the writers focus more on the friendship between them in this episode
instead of having the writers once again hint at the possibility of Jess and
Nick getting together at some point. By doing that, people able to see more of
the emotional aspect of their relationship in this episode, which I found very
refreshing.
I also thoroughly enjoyed
the interactions between Schmidt and Robby in this episode. It was very
interesting to see them getting along and even have Schmidt say that they were
friends now at the end of the episode, even though they both want to get back
together with Cece and clearly one of them is going to end up getting hurt if
that happens. If I had to guess, it will be Robby who ends up on the losing end
of that situation.
Jess and Nick both really
shined as characters in this episode, and Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson both
did a great job in this episode as well. I thought that casting Dennis Farina
as Nick’s father, Walt, was brilliant casting on the producer’s part. Schmidt
and Robby teaming up to get back together with Cece and them becoming friends
was definitely a very interesting development, and I hope that the writers
explore Schmidt and Robby’s newfound friendship some more in the future. The
only thing that I found disappointing about this episode was Winston’s
material. The whole thing with Winston repeatedly calling Walt “Pop-Pop” was
somewhat amusing, but other than that Winston was just kind of “there” and the
parts of the episode with Winston in them felt rather extraneous to me. Other
than that, I really loved this episode.
That being said, I give this
episode a rating of an A-.
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