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New Girl – Jess has penis issues

Hands down, this was the most hilarious episode of 'New Girl' in its freshman season. Smart writing, hilarious references and a tender, 5-letter, 2-syllable moment no one expected.

- Season 1, Episode 4 - "Naked"

The “viewer discretion advised” notification before New Girl that came on was rather quick, almost an aside. I barely gave it any thought. Could I have missed the warning on previous airings of the show? Had I simply not paid attention to it before? Little chance of that, I thought, because I saw it plain and clear this time. I shrugged it off.

And then it hit me. All 22 minutes of it. Not only did the hilarity of the show ensue fast and furious, it was quite evident why the warning was put out there.

What took place tucked in those 22 minutes was some pretty nifty comedic gold, complete with fumbling, awkward nakedness, angsty characterization and guffaw-worthy references to genitals I’ve never heard previously.

The fun began when Jess accidentally got a gander at Nick’s privates while he was dancing in front of a mirror in his bedroom to boost his confidence before a date. Barging in, Jess scream-giggled when she saw him. Now, I don’t care who you are — there’s high probability being the brunt of such an action could mess with your head. And, as fragile a constitution as Nick had in doing what he could to ramp himself up to go out with his co-worker, it plunged him into a vicious internal mind game.

Then, the comedy really began hitting its stride. Jess’ confession to Schmidt and Winston about having seen Nick compromised was just all-out hilarious. From her describing male genitalia with doofus names to finding out Nick is about to head out on a date and whispering to his crotch, “The adventure begins” to Schmidt trying to coax out of Jess how large Nick’s junk measured. (That particular scene right there was outstanding in and of itself.) Like I said: Nifty comedic gold.

And the show didn’t stop from there on. It just kept throwing the barbs and boisterous mirth our way until it reached a point where I was actually missing things being said.

The whole “Feeling Stick” scenario? Where everyone got the opportunity to confess what they were thinking without being judged? I thought it was pure Schmidt that he used the opportunity for purely selfish ulterior motives. Because — Schmidt being Schmidt — he would never have subscribed to it otherwise. Am I right? Yeah … I’m right.

In the mix of the episode, if you were paying attention between snorts, Winston was attempting to come up to speed with pop culture references and trivia in order to land a job. Best scene with that secondary story line was his attempt at watching The King’s Speech and Human Centipede simultaneously.

And then, damn … if the writers weren’t as good as they were on this show, they have to go knock us up along side the head and prove they are “just that” with injection of real-world awareness. That came in the form of Winston’s revelation during everyone’s little powwow: ““Everybody has their moment. We might get a cat one day. That cat might play the keyboard. A bear might fall on our trampoline. We don’t have to have it figured out right now.” Funny … yet sadly true.

Lastly, at the end of all the belly laughs we get the requisite tender moment in the show. Now … if you’re reading this post without having seen this episode of New Girl, you’ll think what I’m going to say goes off the deep end, but it’s entirely true. The tender moment of the show came exactly as Jess confessed to Nick she’d “worked on something” for him. And that “something” was her uttering the word “penis” … sans Swedish accent … sans singing it … sans dopey Italian utterance … sans pig Latin … and sans vocalizing it as one of the undead.

Excellent, excellent episode. Very smart writing, terrific back and forth between the players.

Notes:

  • I might think about calling someone else’s southern hemisphere “peepee and bubbles” comically, but I will never refer to theirs — or mine — as “bingbong and chickadees” … ever. Ever. Eh. Ver.
  • “Just the gun … just the nub …” That entire exchange between the two when Schmidt was trying to catch a glimpse of Nicks’ junk had me forgetting part of what was said because I was laughing all through it …
  • … nor do I remember what Jess’ reference was to her private parts. But I know it was equally as funny.
  • Jess violated one of my rules at the beginning of the program. Given the opportunity to watch a program with her I would decline without hesitation.

Quotations:

“Suck in the gut.” — Schmidt talking to Nick about his upcoming date
“What gut? — Nick
“The little pooch … where you keep the extra cookies.” — Jess, pointing at Nick’s stomach

“Families talk about things.” — Jess pleading with Nick to talk things out
“Families ignore things until they go away.” — Nick

Photo Credit: Fox

3 Responses to “New Girl – Jess has penis issues”

November 2, 2011 at 8:42 PM

Well done, sir. I agree. I LOVED this episode. They did a good of integrating Winston’s storyline. I didn’t notice the viewer discretion warning. I’ll admit Jess annoyed the heck out of me in the opening because she was “hyper-Jess,” but after the opening this week’s episode kicked ass from start to finish.

January 5, 2012 at 10:46 PM

She said Gumbo Pot ha

January 10, 2012 at 9:22 PM

I am in LOVE with this show! It is so hilarious and zany and sexy and intelligent. The acting is superb!

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