Reviews by Rob Crowther IV
The first episode of the two-part New Girl, ‘Godparents,’ delivered as it was all about parents and their children. The episode opened with a reality show type elimination of sorts, as Winston and Ally select their godparent. As everyone is told to face the wall, Jess is left standing as the Godmother. Once everyone leaves the room Winston and Ally test Jess by lighting up a cigarette prompting Jess to run in screaming “CIGARETTE!” and disposing of it. We’re already off to a great start.
Nick sees Jess’s new role as an opportunity to officially become Ruth’s godfather. As I’ve been saying for a while now, I absolutely LOVE Nick and Ruth’s interactions. Nick insists that Ruth loves him, whereas Schmidt reminds him that she sees Nick as more of a, “dim-witted racoon.” Nick tries to go the extra mile this episode and ends up bringing her a disgusting giant teddy bear he found by the garbage. His heart is in it, but he just doesn’t get it. Nick even tries to help Cece get Ruth out of school, but ends up nearly breaking into the pre-school and eating Ruth’s peanut butter sandwich. When caught by security Nick unfortunately says, “I want to be a girl’s godfather.So godfathers can basically make rules and do things with little kids when their parents aren’t around.” YIKES!
Meanwhile, Winston is freaking out about becoming a dad. He’s worried that he might end up like his dad that left him.
Naturally, Jess somewhat oversteps her bounds and finds who we assume to be his dad. Once Winston and his “dad” Van (JB Smoove) hit it off we realize Jess dropped the ball. This is not his dad. Jess annoys me sometimes when she does stuff like this but it is perfectly consistent with the character. Just like Nick, her heart is in the right place.
Schmidt going back to work was fun, because his office life has always been a key part of the show. Naturally, Cece and Nick can’t handle Ruth alone, and Schmidt has to leave his meeting to save the day. We really get to see Schmidt and Ruth’s relationship shine here. Schmidt is kind of a girl and you can really see them bond over doing face treatments and being very particular about every little thing. I’ve said it before, but it is incredible how much this little girl(s) fits right in with the rest of the cast. You can see where this episode is headed early, but Schmidt quits his job as he ultimately decides that his favorite job is being a stay at home dad.
At the episode’s conclusion, Winston finally forgives Jess for finding the wrong dad. She is re-instated as godmother. Although Winston is disappointed for now, I have a feeling we are going to meet his real dad soon. As for Nick and Ruth, they hit it off while she puts highlighter markings all over his signed Chicago Cubs baseball! (I died inside a little) They have a cute teasing, name-calling relationship that works great since Nick is just a giant kid. It’s great when Ruth goes, “Ugh, it’s Uncle Nick.” Again, the love is there.
New Girl continues to crush it as a show about friendships has become ALL about family. Everything is starting to wrap up in an almost too neat little package. The next big move should be Nick proposing to Jess, which I sense is coming very soon.
‘Godparents’ Rating: 8.5 Out of 10
New Girl really has been giving viewers the perfect mix of comedy and the feels this final season.
Even though ‘Mario’ was a very sweet proposal episode, I think Winston’s story or the flashbacks to pregnant Cece really stole the show. When Winston puts on specialized glasses to make himself see colors for the first time, his range of emotions was amazing. I was so happy to see him cry when seeing colors for the first time, and then get angry when he saw blue for the first time. Additionally, we finally realize why Winston’s fashion sense has been so crazy all this time. It’s pure gold when Winston sees his wardrobe for the first time and asks why Ally didn’t tell him about this, to which she replies she did several times. “He was being a complete bitch about pink,” Ally tells the gang.
As for the Pregnant Cece, she was just amazing in all of the flashbacks (always great) and cell phone videos. Schmidt is nervous to have another baby with Cece because apparently she is not only incredibly mean but super anti-semitic when she’s pregnant. “Hey gefilta-face stop playing where’s my foreskin and get in here and rub my feet before I divorce your Yenta loving ass.” I’m not even sure I quoted that entirely correctly, but damn!
There’s so much epic-ness in this episode that the proposal stuff was almost secondary. Of course Nick waits til the very last minute to propose to Jess, so he fumbles to get everything perfect while Jess is concerned about adopting a dog.
A few things here. Nick had me dying when he tells the boys, “And then I got us on the kiss cam at Dodger Stadium, that’s where I was gonna ask. But once we got on the scoreboard I guess I went for the laugh, and I kissed the old guy next to me.” I was done. Classic Nick. Meanwhile, Jess is clueless about the proposal and is being super counter productive towards Nick’s secret proposal plans.
Here’s the thing. I wasn’t annoyed at Jess for holding up Nick’s plans, but sometimes she is just a little much for me. The way she is with the dogs and the cutesy-ness, I was kind of glad the dog adoption agency person kind of called her out on being over the top. I guess that’s the point of her quirky character though. I’m glad she realized she had to be reigned in a little bit. I think it shows a little bit of growth for the character.
So now after everything goes awry as Cece and Schmidt have sex in the loft while the dog lady is there. Jess cancels their dinner reservations and now the dog runs away.The clock is ticking for Nick to propose as they chase the dog into the park. Of course when the banner in the park says “80s Movies Night” you kind of see where this is going. Nick finds the dog and Jess is happy. Nick continues to fumble through excuses while Jess’s dad calls.
I was dying as Jess sees Nick’s back sweat and goes “Back Sweat!” She quickly puts the pieces together and tells Nick that this is as close to perfect as it gets with them. Nick gets down on one knee and proposes. Jess says Yes in a very Jess sort of way I don’t know what was better. Nick and Jess finally getting engaged or Nick pulling the ring out of a plastic baggie.
So now Nick and Jess are finally engaged and we have added a new dog to the mix. Cece and Schmidt have decided they are going to try for another kid, and Winston and Allie are about to have their first child. With only a couple episodes left I can only anticipate a few big things left to come, like maybe a wedding. I have a feeling there could be some minor heartbreak like someone is going to have to move for a job or something like that, but I hope it doesn’t go that way.
One thing is for sure, after Ruth perfectly fitting into the show this season, that dog has a “ruff” task ahead of him!< ‘Mario’ Rating: 9 Out of 10
Point Loss for Jess driving me crazy and lack of Ruth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lSIggaXkrk
