The dumbing down of Jess on New Girl

There was a whole lot of underlying angst going on throughout this episode of New Girl. So much so that uneasiness prevailed within most of the characters:

• Nick’s solution to his angst was to get back with Caroline.
• Cece’s answer was to remove herself from the situation … “the situation” being Schmidt.
• Schmidt? Naturally, sleep with someone else … like, say … Nadia, Cece’s roommate. Brilliant.
• Jess sees something that’s not her, never will be her and something she can never have while with Russell: Relational electricity.
• Winston is the only one who is happy-go-lucky in this chapter.

Jess’ situation is the most despondent of all because it makes her look careless and impetuous in her dealings with Russell. By trying to extract a spark out of him — something she saw and longed for in the argument between Russell and Ooly (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and which is the furthest thing from her bent ever — it makes for a poor, sad and desperate image. And that’s just not Jess. It’s not the Jess that attracted me to New Girl, it’s not the Jess I want to see going forward. And by making her pout and demand to be taken home like a little girl throwing a tantrum? Off-putting. In so doing, the Powers That Be are doing the viewers a disservice. Quit it, you guys. It’s not fun. Fix it, already.

Notes:

• Jess’ taunting of Russell about the way she says “thin-K” and the buggy eyes and the squatting and the coaster tossing? None of that was believable. The writing staff was really pushing it. Or … maybe they weren’t. And, if they weren’t, what they were doing was making Jess look pitiful. Stop it, you guys. It’s sad and doesn’t make for good television. (Yes, I said it before, I’m saying it again.)
• I would have bet cash money Jess and Nick locked lips with all the “passion” they were throwing at each other after their argument over Caroline. It was precisely the thing Jess was looking for after her failure with Russell and would have made perfect sense at the time.
• While some of the situations stretched the limits of credibility, the quotes still remained funny.

Quotes:

“As you guys know it’s been kind of a rough year for me. I got dumped by Caroline … and Julia. I opened myself up to love, I was hurt badly … and I closed myself up again. So I’ve decided to give up on women … and put all that energy into … tomatoes.” — Nick
“You know what? It was on us for thinking this wasn’t going to be stupid …” — Winston
“Thank God. I thought he was trying to sell us something.” — Schmidt
“Guys! I have a whole speech!” — Nick
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait you guys. I told him not to lead with tomatoes, but he did. As his friends, don’t you want to know why he wants to plant tomatoes?” — Jess
“Is it because he wants … tomatoes?” — Winston
“Just my feeble attempt at a new beginning.” — Nick
“He’s sowing the seeds for a more fruitful tomorrow. He is turning over a new leaf …” — Jess
“Jess please don’t do plant metaphors right now …” — Nick
“Okay … I’ll trim it back a little bit …” — Jess
“Okay … but you did it again …” — Nick
“It’s just ripe with plant metaphors …” — Jess
“Okay, but stop!” — Nick

“Whatever you’re doing, just stop with the hammering, okay? Because me and Shelby are downstairs, right now, trying to make love …” — Winston
“Ugh … did you honestly just say that?” — Nick
“Dude … we’re making love, man … it’s beautiful …” — Winston
“Who’ve you become, man?” — Nick
“I’m happy. Am I not allowed to be happy?” — Winston
“You’re allowed to be happy … but it’s really annoying the way you’re doing it. You know what I don’t care about? Shelby. Oh … Shelby loves puzzles. Oh … Shelby loves donuts, but hates donut holes …” — Nick
“Why you hatin’ on Shelby so much?” — Winston
“I used to be your Shelby … [grimaces] … that came out wrong.” — Nick
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was my fault that your life sucks and you’re so miserable. Look at yourself! You look like one of those guys who crawls out of the grave in the Thriller video …” — Winston

“What is this? Martin Scorsese’s Wizard Of Oz?” — Winston to Nick as he bludgeons his garden scarecrow stuffed in the kitchen wastebasket

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Apr 25, 2012 @ 00:00 EST5EDT