With only a few episodes remaining, New Girl swerves us big time in ‘Where the Road Goes.’
Right out of the gate, we see the gang driving through the rain to a funeral with a police escort. I’m sitting there watching, sure there is going to be some sort of joke involved here. But we have yet to see Winston or Ally. (I needed to be sure!) Sure enough we see the couple only to find that this elaborate funeral service is for Winston’s beloved cat, Furguson. Even though I knew it was going to be a misdirection, I have to admit I breathed a sigh of relief.
In the Jewish tradition, Winston unveils Ferguson’s gravestone a year after his passing. He explains he saw Winston as Jewish. His relationship with the cat was always unique so they definitely (more than) did Furguson justice in this episode. All of the details, tributes, and music for the cat were pretty epic. Robbie (Nelson Franklin) was even going to do an interpretive dance as a red dot from a laser pointer. Ultimately, we learn the Winston hasn’t had a good cry about losing his friend, so I think New Girl is cleverly preparing us to learn how to say goodbye to these beloved characters as the series comes to a close.
Anyway, we learn that Jess accidentally killed Winston’s cat! (Or so we think) Apparently he accidentally ate purple glitter. “I’m sorry Winston. I talked to a cat psychic. She said he’s in a good place. But then she also said he’s with the cat from Sabrina the Teenage Witch and I KNOW that cat’s a puppet!” Sure enough, Winston says it wasn’t Jess’s fault and that Ferguson had a heart attack. Sad stuff, but great to always see the friendships overcome everything on this show.
No Ruth this episode, but Schmidt telling Cece that there is no right answer when it comes to re-marrying after he is gone is pretty adorable. I liked Schmidt’s, “Not even a full presidential?” line in regards to her waiting three years to re-marry. Cece admits she’d be lost without Schmidt and that was a nice moment for them.
Oh yeah, Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.) came back and ate cat teeth. We find he opened a restaurant called Coach’s Jim (not an actual gym) that failed miserably, using $71,000 from Nick. Nick is upset, but again the strong bro-mances prevail as the two are able to make up. Good to see Coach back for a minute.
Winston losing it and hearing Cat meows in the bar was interesting. I thought maybe there would actually be a cat there. Sure enough as Winston is able to finally cry about Ferguson, they do indeed find a kitten in the bar. When the kitten turned out to be the bartender’s (Tig Notaro) and Jess offers her $5,000 for the kitten, I’m yelling at the TV at this point. She is immediately spending all of Nick’s money from Coach! (Although Jess had cleverly made a reference earlier to people being so nonchalant with large sums of money.) We find the bartender would’ve been happy taking $50 for the kitten, but Nick pays her the full $5,000 for Winston’s happiness. That’s what friends do.
If this is the kind of tribute Ferguson the cat gets in the final season, I’m very excited to see what kind of elaborate plans they have for the gang when the series finale comes around.
Where the Road Goes Rating: 8.5 out of 10
-Rob Crowther IV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhQwUj0WUCs
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