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Hey New Girl fans! Here's a few thoughts my friend had about the new season. Thought you all might be interested in reading them!

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"The Resurgence of New Girl"
by Sam Graves



We mourned it. We thought it was dead. Maybe one, two moreseasons, and New Girl would be a thing of the past. We had enjoyed thethoroughly entertaining, if somewhat childish, first two seasons, DVR’ing with friends and making anevent out of every episode—but season three had ruined the good feeling. Coming in to season four, we had low hopes.

New Girl introduced us to a truly fresh cast of characters. Zooey Deschanel as the indomitable-spirited Jessica Day was the celebrity draw, but we quickly came to love Max Greenfield’s delightfully douche-baggy Schmidt and Jake Johnson’s failure-to-launch Nick Miller. A strong, fully realized cast of characters including Cece, Jess’s model best friend, Winston Bishop, the former Latvian-league basketball player, and Coach, the too-intense athlete, helped round the show out, but in reality, through the first two seasons, Schmidt and Nick are what keep the show afloat.

With such great moments in those early years as Nick’s drunken wedding congratulations (and subsequent decision to “live in a photobooth”) to Schmidt’s brilliant list-style speech detailing exactly what is most important to him in life the series really showed some comedic freshness and writing prowess.

If not as consistently impressive as season one, season two continued New Girl’s success. Memorable moments include Jess and Nick on absinthe, Nick’s firm conviction that Jess’s student is a psychotic murderer, and the finale in which Nick, Schmidt, and Winston chase a badger around the ductwork of a hotel.

But we also saw the beginnings of some cracks forming. Nick and Jess start an ill-fated romantic relationship that continues into season three, and Schmidt inexplicably double-times the woman of his dreams.

This is where New Girl went wrong. Think of all the great television shows of the last twenty years. They’ve all had a strong, dependable anchor couple. Friendshas Chandler and Monica, How I Met Your Mother has Lily and Marshall, andThe Office has the legendary Jim and Pam; without an anchor couple the show loses focus. Schmidt and Cece could have been that couple, but instead theNew Girl writers decided to take a shot at Nick and Jess.

It worked for a while. There are some shining moments in season three (i.e. Nick and Jess’s secret sharing). But overall, the show lost much of what was so interesting about it, especially towards the end. As viewers, we started to enjoy that Nick seemed to be growing up a little without losing his charm. Winston seemed to be moving somewhere in life, and even Schmidt started to soften through his relationship with Cece.

But New Girl’s writers weren’t pleased to have their characters progress. And the show got ugly and boring. The last half of season three sees Nick and Jess’s relationship on the rocks and eventually crumbling. Schmidt’s cheating comes home to roost, and what was a really funny facet of the show in his relationship with Cece was completely ruined. New Girl undid most of what was great about it in the span of half a season, and we thought it was finished.

We gave season four a begrudging final chance. Lucky us.

Within the first few episodes, we get to see Cece, Nick, and Coach attending a police function in, *ahem*, an impaired state.

Nick finding his true calling as the apartment’s secretary, and Jess fully convinced that she has absorbed meth through her breasts, Season four removes some of the emotional depth that season three mistakenly sought, and goes back to the basics that made New Girl great: quirkiness, strong ancillary characters, and great monologues.

New Girl may never be the Great American Television show, but it was never meant to be that in the first place. It’s a fun, rofl’y 22 minutes meant to be binge-watched. If you’ve been burned by season three, give season four a chance. After 15 straight worthwhile episodes, it’s earned those 22 minutes per week back.