jason stives has eggs on his face…
While I have encouraged the importance of strong separate storylines for the main five characters of New Girl sometimes it’s best to feature different stories that stay closely attached to the core group. Last night’s episode, “Eggs,” provided just that and also gave texture to characters that have been struggling to find a purpose this season.
Set up was simple for last night’s proceedings: Sadie the lesbian gynecologist returns with a new girlfriend and the news of an expecting pregnancy. This prompts Jess to believe that at 30 her time is running out and that she and CeCe should get tested to see how many eggs they truly have left. When sitcom characters with a pension for overreacting do indeed do so it can be a bit grating on the nerves and Jess and her sudden need to use her eggs felt like such a plot device. Jess has had many knee jerk reactions throughout the show and this one felt a bit out of left field but it provided better character development for CeCe than it did Jess. After discovering that she has more than enough eggs to wait awhile she decides to wait on motherhood but only after watching CeCe suffer some devastating news that she has only so many eggs left and should consider action now if she wishes to have a child.
It didn’t really hit me till last night’s Cee Cee and Schmidt escapades that the show is slowly working its way back to reconciliation between the two. It seems logical because their relationship deflates the superficial nature of both characters (Schmidt and his sexual dominating side and CeCe and her free will modeling career) and both plot points tonight served as a natural way to explore what both of them should be doing. CeCe in particular, suddenly realizing that her time to have a child is running out sets into motion the idea that maybe modeling isn’t the best career choice. This isn’t the show harping on any personal belief as much as it is giving CeCe more dimension than what we are use to which they have been doing slowly through her relationship with Robbie.
But does she really want to have kids with Robbie? No, probably not. It’s Schmidt and it always has been and she still loves him and through some crushing blows to his ego Schmidt realizes the same. I knew his sex contract with his boss wouldn’t last too long and it thankfully came to ahead with Emma being unsatisfied by the va-genius himself. Schmidt might take a little more time to develop the sense of maturity that CeCe is starting to but for now we got another classic Schmidt moment in his more than graphic depiction of oral sex in Sadie’s office. Also Schmidt’s various sexual maneuvers had some fantastic titles like “Spiking the volleyball” and “Go outside, get the paper and shake the neighbor’s hand.”
Elsewhere we have Nick finally coming to terms with the need to finish his book, Z for Zombie, thanks in part to his observations of Winston at his apparently amazing job. Now that we know that Winston is on an adjusted schedule because of his job that gives us a reason to why he has been underutilized and by doing so we were given a tired Winston dealing with Nick and his bizarre tactics to finish his book. As a struggling and stubborn writer there is a lot of understanding in Nick’s mentality about his work but going the great lengths of being drunk at a zoo doesn’t do much and there is no personal pay off to his storyline. The pay that ultimately comes of it is he completes his book at which time we are treated to not only the wonders of Winston reading it aloud but the knowledge that Nick misspelled “rhythm” 27 times.
Storylines will always start and stop in the sitcom format and New Girl has done a great job of starting some new ideas while distinguishing others quickly before they get stale. Eggs was a great starting point for some new ideas as well as a way of expanding on old ones. We know these characters well enough at this point that we can see logical stepping stones in their development and this episode provided many while also having some very amusing and entertaining moments.
Rating: 7 out of 10 (very good)
All Photos Credit: FOX
