New Girl has delivered it’s best episode yet while continuing to grow, putting past relationships in the rearview mirror for our two leads, by getting our characters into more positive spaces for them to move forward.

Plot wise there was very little here this week. Nick is the only character with a real narrative purpose and that is for him to finally come to terms with his ex at the wedding the gang is attending. (How did they all get invited by the way?). The lack of plot is fine as long as the jokes come as furiously and hit as well as they do here, as I couldn’t keep up in my notes. The atmosphere allowed for the characters to let loose and have fun to mostly great results.

Nick taking Jess as his date worked great, and Jess trying to suppress her normal self only unleashed something weirder. Nick begins to re-bond with his ex, thinking she is jealous of the looking great Jess, and this misconception leads to some great work from Jake Johnson. The ex is interested to talk with Nick because she thought he had moved on, and when she reveals she is seeing someone, it’s all down hill from there. Johnson plays a great drunk and his attachment to the photo booth proved to be quite funny.

Deschanel really must love this role as she gets to look super cute and gets to be hilarious week after week. This week is no different as they put her in a great dress and give her great comedic fodder. From one liners to physical humor, we get to see Deschanel deliver it all and she never misses a beat. The bike shorts were brilliant, her ditzy girlfriend routine was right on the mark, and she just works wonderfully bouncing off/with Johnson.

Schmidt’s character seems to be continuing to find a stable voice and this week was another improvement. They made lying about being an alcoholic seem not totally detestable, and this might have had something to do with the excellent payoff with Jess in the bathroom. Schmidt’s plot was most useful for introducing us to Gretchen, a weird, sex crazed Schmidt stalker, that delivers funny stuff every time she shows up on screen. Winston sadly has little to do here, again, this week, (the writers still trying to figure out what to do with loss of Coach I imagine) but the dance off was quite the laugh.

All and all, a pretty good half hour of comedy. The show’s strengths remain strong and the writing is at it’s sharpest yet. Johnson and Deschanel get to really shine here this week and I will gladly keep tuning in to see them work this well off one another.

Bullets:

-“Probably the slut butler.”
-“I will not be peeing tonight!”
-“I’d always leave water out for her.”
-The ultimate usher kid was a stretch and fell way flat for me
-“Pictures of my river rafting trip,” What?
-I like Gretchen, a lot
-“I barely sleep, so much doing it.”
-“He’s so soft, like a towel.”
-“Ha ha, I give up.”
-“I’m Mimechael Jackson.”
-Winston can dance!
-Jess calling for Schmidt to help with her bike shorts was great, “come help me slap my thighs around.”
-“I’m just cutting off my underwear; girl stuff.”
-“and our other baby!”
-Jake Johnson attacking the bride and groom cut outs was the highlight from the guys side of things
-“I love you photo booth.”
-Sweet closure for Nick and his ex, he is a stand up guy, that Nick
-The slow-mo chicken dance was funny, but we can’t end every episode on the perfect bonding high note, can we?