New Girl - Episode 4.01 - Review: "The Last Wedding"

Hi everyone and welcome to the start of the fourth season of New Girl. Things ended last season with Jess and Nick breaking off their relationship, Schmidt realizing he still has feelings for Cece, Winston realizing his full potential as a police officer, and Coach being, well, Coach.

Over the course of the summer, the gang has been attending wedding after wedding, with the guys attempting (with varying degrees of success) to score with the ladies. With the season winding down, the gang decide to go out with one last bang. At their last wedding, Jess decides to make a play for Ted, the best man (guest star Reid Scott) but finds herself competing with smart, steely-gazed Kat (guest star Jessica Biel). Meanwhile, Schmidt spends a good portion of the episode trying to convince Nick to participate in a foursome with a duo of bridesmaids, but has a sudden change of heart when Cece unexpectedly arrives at the wedding—suddenly single. Winston, after a long week (weeks?) of training for the police academy can barely bring himself to move from the table while Coach strikes out looking for a new girl to take home, realizing that he’s basically slept with every female wedding guest—or waiter, or photographer—that will give him the time of day.

The standout moment of the episode takes place in the men’s room, where Jess throws caution to the john to try and win Ted but winds up trapped by Kat from the outside. In the end, it’s Nick who makes Jess realize that she doesn't have to compete for a guy who obviously isn't capable of making the decision on his own. Not to mention, how awkward were those ramblings from Ted after he is flat out given the choice between both women? Eventually, neither lady chooses Ted as Jess meets up with the gang and Kat gets to go home with her summer wedding fling, the priest! In my opinion, that scene dragged on. No one could expect adorkable Jess to go home with a so-called "ideal date" at a wedding who can't even make up his own mind. Jess is better when she is written as a strong, yet slightly weird woman trying to figure out the dating pool in Los Angeles.

The gang ends up back at the apartment, celebrating their summer success by destroying unwanted wedding invitations. I'm happy to see that Nick and Jess aren't as awkward as I had originally feared after their break-up. It's only been a few months since their split so it's refreshing not to see them immediately fall back together after one of them strikes out with the opposite sex. However, this type of incident will most likely happen in a future episode. You can practically bet money on a scenario like that playing out, either between Jess and Nick or Schmidt and Cece. Speaking of Schmidt, he eventually has to have the conversation with Cece to show her that he's matured and is ready for something serious. I imagine these two plots will merge sometime around the mid-season winter break in a culmination of relationship mayhem. If the first episode is any indication of season four's direction, we may be in for the type of classic episodes that made New Girl such an initial hit. I just hope they pull out all the stops for the ultimate version of "True American" this season! Let me know your thoughts on this episode in the comments below and check back here after new episodes of New Girl for my reviews.

A Few More Favorite Quotes of the Episode after my Preview:

"Sex Fisting" Jess

"And at wedding number 12...I sat on a men's toilet!" Jess

About the Author - Edward Slothus

Edward Slothus is a young professional working in the Washington, D.C. Metro Area. An avid pop-culture, film, and television fan, his favorite shows include LOST, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, New Girl, Outlander, and (for inexplicable reasons that go against all sanity) The Leftovers.