New Girl: Watch out, everybody! Jess’ new guy is a total nutcase (My thoughts on episode 2x18 “TinFinity”)

In a TV season where quite a few of my favorite TV shows are suffering from a creative slump, it’s nice to see New Girl be on such a creative roll this season. New Girl has especially been on a roll creatively ever since Jess and Nick kissed in episode 2x15 “Cooler”, and the writers’ creative streak continues in this episode.

Schmidt was planning a party to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of Nick and him being roommates. Schmidt referred to their anniversary as their “tin anniversary”, and after Jess pointed out that the chemical symbol for tin is Sn Schmidt declared that the theme of the party would be “TinFinity”. This episode once again showcased just how weird Schmidt and Nick’s friendship really is, and I thought that the episode “Models” made their friendship seem as strange as the writers possibly could when Schmidt bought Nick a cookie and Nick spent the whole episode trying to figure out the meaning behind the cookie.

The character Schmidt has already pretty much completely played out and almost all of the novelty of the character has worn off for me, so I don’t find his antics all that funny anymore, especially in this episode. Nick and his behavior in this episode is what made that storyline so funny to me, especially when it comes to the whole thing with Nick buying an old Porta-Potty and was really excited about it after Nick put him in charge of getting Porta-Potties and balloons for the party.

Personally, I thought it was pretty risky of the writers to have Jess and Nick kiss each other so early in the show’s run, but I have to say that I think it has really paid off for the writers to take that risk. The aftermath of Jess and Nick’s kiss has led to some really great material on the show, and this episode is definitely a very good example of their kiss providing some great material between Jess and Nick. Jess told Cece that she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about the kiss that she shared with Nick. She also told Cece about the fact that she kissed Schmidt in the previous episode (“Parking Spot”). I loved Cece reaction to Jess telling her that she and Schmidt had kissed. What made that scene even better in my opinion was when Nick came in the room and was acting really weird, asking Jess if he had anything on his mouth after he ate a cupcake and got frosting on his mouth. That moment was perfectly timed given the fact that Jess was in the middle of telling Cece about how she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about having “Nick’s mouth on her mouth” as she put it.

Cece suggested that Jess find a new boyfriend, saying that dating Shivrang had helped her get over Schmidt, so Jess decided to go try and meet a guy at the bar where Nick works, which led to a sequence of Jess talking to guys that were all extremely weird in their own way. Things took a turn for the better when Winston showed up with a football player named Jax, which he had interviewed for his job at the radio station. Jess immediately decided to talk to him. Winston was adamantly against the idea of Jess dating Jax, so he spent most of the episode trying to come between them, because he was determined to be best friends with him. Most of his attempts to come between them only backfired on him, making Jax think that he was weird.

New Girl: Dermot Mulroney Makes a Surprise Return—What Does This Mean for Nick and Jess? | E! Online

According to E! Online's Tierney Bricker, Dermot Mulroney will be returning for an upcoming episode of New Girl. Here's an excerpt from the article, which gives some details on Mulroney's return:

Mulroney, who will recur on HBO's Enlightened this season, will reprise his role as Russell, Jess' (Zooey Deschanel) ex, in an episode of the Fox hit sitcom set to air in April. The episode's title? "First Date." Hmmm...

Viewers last saw Russell, who was the father of one of Jess' students, in season one's "Tomatoes" when Jess ended their relationship because she wanted more passion. So how will Russell return? All we can share is that Jess runs into her former boyfriend at a most inopportune time.

Of course, a lot has changed since Jess' split with Russell: Jess and Nick (Jake Johnson), who harbored a major man crush on the successful and sophisticated Russell, have (finally) kissed and are now dancing around the possibility of a relationship, so of course, Russell's return factors into that storyline. But we refuse to say any more than that!

Link to the full article:New Girl: Dermot Mulroney Makes a Surprise Return—What Does This Mean for Nick and Jess? | E! Online




My thoughts: I for one really liked Russell last season, so I'm definitely excited that Dermot Mulroney will be returning for an upcoming episode of New Girl. With the exception of Steve Howey's character in the most recent episode, I've really liked all of Jess' love interests that she's had on the show so far. I love Steve Howey as an actor, but his character was really annoying, if you ask me. That being said, I can't wait to see happens when Russell returns. Based on the title of the episode, I'm guessing that Jess and Nick will decide to finally go out on a real date and they will end up running into Russell while they are on their date. Regardless of what happens in the episode, I really am very excited about this news.

New Girl: Episode 2x18 "TinFinity" Promo (HD) (ft. Steve Howey)

Here's a promo for next week's episode, episode 2x18 "TinFinity". I can't wait to see this episode. :)

New Girl: Get ready to witness a kiss that’s so hot that it should probably only be allowed to be shown on premium cable (My thoughts on episode 2x15 “Cooler”)

Let me begin this post by saying that as a hardcore Jess/Nick shipper, this is the episode that I’ve been dying to see pretty much since New Girl began. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again; I’ve always loved the way the writers have handled the will they or won’t they get together element of Jess and Nick’s relationship. Personally, I’ve always found Jess and Nick’s relationship rather refreshing and original when you compare the writing for their relationship to couples on other TV shows, such as Ross and Rachel on Friends.

If you ask me, it was very risky on the writers’ part to have Jess and Nick kiss each other fairly early on in the show’s run, but after seeing how the whole episode played out I think it really paid off to have them kiss in this episode. I thought it was handled very well. As I mentioned in this post (Why Jess and Nick's [SPOILER] almost didn't happen), the creator of the show, Elizabeth Meriwether, had originally planned to have Jess and Schmidt be the ones who went into the other room to make out, and not Jess and Nick when they were playing a new version of the game True American. I’m not sure how that would have impacted the Jess and Nick material in this episode if the writers had gone that route, but I’m glad that they changed it to Jess and Nick being the ones who ended up being sent into the other room to make out. The idea of Jess and Schmidt kissing each other in any situation just seems beyond weird to me, and I’m not sure that I’d want to see that.

Nick absolutely cracked me up in every scene that he was in, especially when it came to him wearing the women’s trench coat that he found and the way he and everybody else was talking about it. Nick thought that he looked really cool wearing the trench coat and kept saying that it made him feel very confident, but everybody else just kept reminding him that it was a women’s trench coat. The way that he was acting about the trench coat in this episode was classic Nick, and it once again reminded me why I think Jake Johnson is the true breakout star of New Girl.

The whole bit with Nick and the trench coat wasn’t the only thing that I found rather amusing when it came to Nick in this episode though. Nick and Schmidt met a girl named Holly at a bar who was basically aroused by sadness, which just sounds beyond weird to me, but I suppose there are probably people in the world who are really like that. Personally, I thought that Brooklyn Decker did a great job of playing the role of Holly and I really liked how she played Holly’s fetish for sad men in such a comedic way. Anyway, Nick and Schmidt spent most of the episode trying to one-up each other when it came to convincing her that they had the saddest life, which I thought was hilarious. It actually kind of reminded me of the first episode of the TV show Go On and the whole “March Sadness” competition that Ryan came up with for the other people in the support group to play in order to decide which person in the group had the best sob story.

New Girl: Odette Annable Cast as Nick’s New Girlfriend-TVLine

According to TVLine's Michael Ausiello, Odette Annable has been cast in a potentially recurring guest-star role as a new love interest for Nick. Here's an excerpt from the article, which gives some details on Annable's role:

Annable will portray Shane, a perky and preppy management school grad who is Nick’s new boss at the bar. Per the casting notice for the role, Shane “unabashedly” starts having a fling with her new charge.

Annable’s casting comes just days after Nick and Jess shared their first kiss.

Annable, whose credits also include Breaking In and Brothers & Sisters (opposite her real-life hubby Dave),  will soon kick off a multi-episode arc in Cinemax’s rookie drama Banshee.

Link to the full article:‘New Girl’ Season 2 Spoilers – Odette Annable is Nick’s New Girlfriend - TVLine







My thoughts: This news combined with the news about Steve Howey being cast as a new love interest for Jess (Steve Howey Cast as a Love Interest For Jess) really makes me thinks that there's going to be a lot of drama that Jess and Nick will be dealing with in the aftermath of their kiss, which is sure to be interesting and perhaps frusttrating to watch at times. As much as I'd love to see Jess and Nick get together and just stay together, I definitely understand that the writers can't do that since they are only in the middle of New Girl's second season. Since this is a TV show and not real life where a couple can just get together and not get caught up in an on again/off again relatoionship that is drawn out for five seasons/years, if not longer, the writers have to come up with obstacles like bringing in Steve Howey and Odette Annable to play new love interests for Jess and Nick.

That being said, I liked Odette Annable on Brothers & Sisters, and I thought that she did a decent job in the episodes of House's final season that I've watched, so I'm definitely at least a little excited about this news. I wouldn't say that she's the best actress in the world though, but I like her enough as actress to at least keep an open mind about her playing a new love interest for Nick. Hopefully, I'll like Annable's character more than I liked Olivia Munn's character, Angie, who is definitely my least favorite out of all of Nick's love interests at the moment. I for one really liked Lizzy Caplan's character, Julia, from last season as a love interest for Nick. Part of the reason why liked Lizzy Caplan's character, Julia, so much was simply because I was a big fan of Lizzy's acting in the movie Mean Girls, but I digress. That being said, I'm optimistic that I will like her character as a love interest for Nick, because the description of her character sounds very interesting to me. 

New Girl: Steve Howey Cast as a Love Interest For Jess-TVLine

According to TVLine's Michael Ausiello, Steve Howey has been cast as a love interest for Jess in an upcoming episode of New Girl. Here's an excerpt from the article, which gives some details on Howey's role:

Howey has been tapped to guest star as Jax McTavish, an intense (in every sense of the word) professional football player that Winston interviews.

The jock is later invited to Schmidt and Nick’s “Tinfinity” party — a.k.a. a bash celebrating their 10 years of living together — and it’s there that he crosses paths with (and catches the eye of) Jess.

The $1 million question: Is Jess’ current beau, Sam, also in attendance? And if not, where the hell is he?!

Link to the full article:‘New Girl’ Season 2 Spoilers — Steve Howey as Love Interest For Jess - TVLine



My thoughts: I have to say that I have extremely mixed feelings about this news. On the one hand, I've been a huge fan of Steve Howey ever since he was on Reba, and I love him on Shameless. Steve is a great comedic actor, so I'm sure that he'll do a great job on New Girl. On the other hand, a part of me wishes that the producers would stop bringing in new love interests for Jess and just have Jess and Nick get together for a while at this point. I realize that this is a TV show though and the writers have to draw out the progression of Jess and Nick's relationship, so they can't have them get together too soon, especially since this is only the second season of New Girl. Although, I've read a lot of spoilers and I've watched a lot of interviews that Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson have done recently, which seem to indicate that there's some major developments coming up later this season in terms of the progression of Jess and Nick's relationship and the possibility of them becoming a couple, which I'm definitely very excited about.

There's a part of me that's also okay with Jess and Nick not getting together for awhile since I've really been enjoying the relationship between Jess and Sam lately. Reading this news has definitely made me wonder about the future of their relationship though. While my feelings about Jess getting a new love interest are very mixed after reading this, I'm going to try and keep an open mind about this casting news since I'm such a huge fan of Steve Howey.

On a somewhat shallow note, I've pretty much always thought that Steve Howey was really hot, but I'm definitely not a fan of his most recent haircut/hairstyle and I don't care for his facial hair either. The way his hair looks these days and the facial hair aren't doing him any favors in the looks department. His current haircut and the facial hair really make him look rather creepy and gross, in my opinion, which is a shame, because I always thought that he was extremely attractive before he started wearing his hair like that and started sporting that hideous beard for the past several years.