Men and women are different; a not so shocking statement and a sitcom staple. New Girl has been playing with group hang tropes all season as they try to work out all the kinks from last year and “Girl Fight” takes a look at the way we handle conflict and has fun with it. Disagreements and how they are addressed takes various forms and we’re presented with a quick aggressive solution and the less physically painful passive aggressive approach.
Jess and Cece’s friendship is an integral aspect to the New Girl dynamic and it was something that was lacking last season as a result of the Nick/Jess romantic pairing and because of Schmidt’s two-timing. Cece has at times been the hardest character to incorporate into the overall narrative thanks to her dating history with Schmidt and as the only non-loft dweller. They aren’t just passing acquaintances and while Jess was the ‘new girl’ at the start of the show, Cece is her oldest friend. Other arguments have come before this one; back in the first season they fell out in “Secrets” when Jess found out Cece had been sleeping with Schmidt on the sly and in “Models” a boob slap fight took place after Cece overheard Jess making disparaging comments. An image I’m sure Schmidt would have found very arousing if his teddy bear placement this week is anything to go by.
They have questioned whether they would be friends if they met today as they are so different and whether their shared history is the only thing keeping them together. Now they are unleashing 20 years of unspoken hurt about whatever awful stuff they have done to each other in the past after Schmidt’s “I know women” hubris gets in the way. After witnessing how quick the guys sort out being pissed off with each other (a swift nut punch) Jess mentions how glad she is that they don’t fight like this. Schmidt’s turned into a bit of a dummy this season, first the whole not knowing how to do laundry thing followed by mentioning the yellow bag Jess went back for. Cue compliments tinged with so much passive aggressive subtext and Schmidt’s whole “I know women” bravado comes crashing down. Coach has three sisters (something he points out to prove on several occasions to emphasize his girl fight knowledge) and Schmidt chooses to ignore both Jess and Coach when they tell him to stay out of it.
Schmidt is “penis weak” when it comes to Cece and he brings this whole carefully constructed ‘ignore each other for three days/latte/pretend it never happened’ system crashing down by interfering and getting the yellow purse for Cece. Why did Jess need the purse in the first place? If you have been paying attention to her collection you will know there are many and she loves purses. Don’t question this love as she can be “a damn feminist who loves purses” (a riff on Zooey Deschanel’s Glamour interview “I want to be a fucking feminist & wear a fucking Peter Pan collar”). What starts as a hilarious fight using emojis (“double syringe”) ends with a confrontation at Nadia’s baby shower. Nadia is thrilled and then bored by the spectacle before her as Cece tells Jess how clean her hair looks which is greeted by a horrified gasp.
Twenty years of hurtful comments spill out and while nothing quite tops the JESSICA FREAKIN P revelation from season 1 there is a lot of pent up bad feelings. Coach brings his ‘I have sisters’ swagger to save the day and instigates a full blown brawl as he suggests punching each other will resolve things. This brings Nadia so much joy as she stomps all over her gifts (earlier when she sees the crib she asks “where is top of baby cage?”) and we’re also reminded of that time she broke Schmidt’s penis (which was post/pre Coach and he can’t believe this was a real thing that happened).
This fight does clear the air between Cece and Jess although I would probably suggest that this isn’t necessarily the best way to work things out every time they have an argument. The slate has been wiped clean as they declare that after twenty years they are each others’ favorite person to talk to. Strong lady friendships aren’t always so easy to come by on TV because there are usual contrivances that get in the way and this is one pairing I want to spend so much more time with. They are very different people, but their BFF status is something that even a knockdown fight and breast pump to the face isn’t going to destroy and soon they are back to talking about everything. This includes Nick’s new girlfriend and how the whole thing is weird; Zooey Deschanel and Hannah Simone really kill this scene. They also manage to flip things on Schmidt and Coach by pointing out how insecure their DVR disagreement would make them feel, which later results in Winston hitting them both in the nuts.
Winston is in procrastination heaven/hell (delete where applicable) as he avoids revising for his police exam and the funniest sight gag (in an episode that is one quick fire joke after another) comes as Winston pleads that he can’t turn the pages while he is saran wrapped to the chair. He is also very good at making paper snowflakes and doing terrible detective work on Kai, Tran’s granddaughter and Nick’s ‘lover friend.’ Winston is convinced Kai is homeless as she has time to sit on the sofa for three days eating pizza and drinking beer with Nick (yes she is definitely Nick’s ideal woman), instead she is actually super rich and Nick has no problem with her giving him money to not go to work.
“Girl Fight” is one of the best episodes so far this season – quite possibly my favorite S4 outing – as it continues to focus on simple but very funny stories and plays to the strengths of these characters and the history between them.
New Girl Style Watch
I have complicated feelings about jumpsuits and one day I will write a post on why, but for now here is one I really like and Cece’s floral number is by Aqua. Yet another amazing Cece lipstick color too. The amazing yellow purse that started this whole thing is Marc by Marc Jacobs and I would like it in my life; where else am I going to keep all my feminist writings?
TV Ate My Wardrobe 
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