TV Ate My Wardrobe

Going into business with your best friend might seem like an excellent idea but not so much when those partners are Nick and Schmidt and their history is littered with disagreements. Past episodes of New Girl including the first time they tried to pitch a prototype to fancyman Russell, along with the flashback and present day Schnick Industries brainstorming sessions are enough to know they don’t have a compatible working strategy. What happens when you throw Jess into the mix? Plus Cece is still at college and encounters money woes this week.

At the end of the last episode (which feels much longer ago than it actually was) Nick and Schmidt agreed to go into business with each and since then they have been working on one idea. This one idea happens to be really terrible – the Swuit – and they have already committed to a pitch meeting with “queen of QVC” Lori Greiner. Cue extreme brainstorming sessions which quickly descend into bickering because neither wants to be bossed around by the other. Jess loves a project and collaboration so she quickly steps into the role of mediator making them excellent breakfast brain food and suggesting compromises to stem the arguments and kick-start the creative flow.

Jess goes to both of them individually regarding their issues working together claiming the other has non-specific ‘man problems’ – they infer it might be something hangy or gooey – and suggests they let the other think they are the boss right now. This plan works until it doesn’t (Jess whispering “I’m amazing” to herself is amazing) and after they have come up with a relatively good idea it all collapses into shouting again. Some of this yelling involves praising Jess but you wouldn’t know from the tone.

One reason why Schmidt and Nick storylines work so well is because everyone loves a good opposites attract pairing and it is why I could endlessly watch them sniping at each other even if we don’t quite hit the heights of “Gave me cookie, got you cookie.” Their pitch meeting dissolves into Nick talking gibberish as they’ve forgotten to bring their prototype. Jess once again saves the day by bringing the “Perfect Pet Pic” camera to the meeting while wearing the Swuit (because she spilled coffee all down her very nice cream sweater). Jess does a really great job of selling the all sweat material suit but instead of buying it because she loves it; Lori pays them $10,000 to kill the idea as she has a conflicting product. It is a victory without a victory and Schnick Industries still has work to do. If only they could learn how to meet in the middle as until then they’re going to need Jess around to referee and point out the compromise.

There’s a lot to build on here and because of their shared history coupled with their current room sharing there is a lot of comedy to be found in this set up. The real question is is this just another ridiculous pipe dream or can Nick and Schmidt find success together? The latter seems less likely as if they did find success it would change the group dynamic and I don’t know how well it would work if instead of striving for something they actually had that thing, but progression should be made in one form or another. This brings me to Kai and this relationship has never been more than a background thing so it isn’t surprising when they break up, especially after Nick turned down Ninja Turtle sex (sex with backpacks) to work instead. It also plays into the limited period of episodes pattern of a guest star love interest and the curious thing is what happens next.

Nick and Jess have been very much in the background this season, which makes sense considering how burned the show was by putting them together as quickly as they did. I’m not sure if it is a) a chemistry thing, b) because a part of me will always be a Nick/Jess shipper or c) intentional but the dance Jess does for Nick towards the end of the episode to Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Takin’ Care of Business” has a flirty edge to it and I can’t work out if this was just meant to be a friendship related move or something more. I suspect it is the former as Jess’ relationship with Ryan is going swimmingly so far and yet he is also just a guest star so there is perhaps a time limit on this too. Not that I necessarily want them to revisit Jess and Nick quite so soon after the show is getting back on track; their chemistry is just hard to deny and it was very apparent in this moment. Nick is finally motivated to do something and this was one of the problems that plagued his relationship with Jess. As friends Jess can be supportive without being viewed as a nag and they don’t fall down the less than compelling boyfriend/girlfriend bickering that occurred during some of last season’s low points.

The tag doesn’t quite hit the lofty random and hilarious heights of the line dancing from the last episode, but seeing the guys going from disdain at the song choice to hearty singing along is brilliant and if they want to end all episodes with a jukebox moment then I would be more than fine with that.

While Nick, Schmidt and Jess are busy with pitch meeting and prototypes Cece is experiencing financial worries as her tuition has been increased and she doesn’t have enough money to cover it. There are several nods to these three characters not sharing much screen time together and the last time was when they got stoned at the police barbecue (okay Nick was also there), which also happened to be when Cece decided to go to college. It is a grouping that works well as Cece gets to do her best exasperated faces while Coach and Winston try to help but are more of a nuisance. Anything that involves more Cece time is good with me and I love Jess’ very extreme reaction to finding out her friend is having money issues. After all each character is a bozo in their own way and this season continues to be very fun even if it isn’t quite hitting season 2 levels just yet.

New Girl Style Watch 

Jess has a variety of excellent sweaters this week and it is this dog pattern one from Boden that is my favorite (it is from the British icons collection and is also available with either a robin or guards pattern). Seriously considering the robin one as it is not only on sale but it hits my color weak spot. Not that I need any more sweaters (okay maybe a couple more wouldn’t hurt).

Tags: "Swuit", 4.14, Damon Wayans Jr., Hannah Simone, Jake Johnson, Lamorne Morris, Max Greenfield, New Gril, Zooey Deschanel