New Girl - Episode 4.08 - Review: "Teachers"

Last night on New Girl, the guys were celebrating a "guy's night", the first time they've had the loft to themselves in quite sometime without Jess around. Jess and Coach went to a teacher workshop to learn how to communicate with their students. Both had objections to the conference; Coach didn't know how to teach Health class and feared making a mistake if he got the "birds and the bees" wrong. Jess was afraid that a full weekend with teacher Ryan would put her in jeopardy of the principal's no fraternization policy. As usual antics ensued, with a drunk Coach divulging why he was so nervous, Jess admitting her feelings for Ryan, and Schmidt and Winston learning valuable life lessons that should have been taught at a much younger age from Nick of all people.

First off, I have to say, American pillow gladiators was pretty awesome and made me even more excited about True American than I have been these past weeks. Next week is titled, "Thanksgiving IV", so one can hope the whole gang stays in for a year of festivities and Abraham Lincoln chugging a beer. The most outlandish part of this episode was Nick not knowing how to do a load of laundry, well into his 30's, and Winston not knowing how to use a ruler. Schmidt had an understandable fear of the laundry room, from his flashback to college and feeling judged by the women in the room. Winston on the other hand was delegated the weird arc for the episode and I understand why. Not everyone can have a standout moment in each episode. Look at Cece, she literally had one scene shoehorned in to react to Jess's eccentricities about telling Ryan how she felt around him. 23 minutes just isn't enough time to focus on the growing set of main characters on New Girl. In a twist of irony, I loved how Nick was the one who showed Schmidt and Winston how to use the laundry room washer/dryer combo and Winston the ruler. Schmidt's gag about the washing machine and the quarters had me laugh out loud a few times. The guys had a pretty good evening after almost ruining the night by spilling Sangria on Jess's comforter.

I am almost happy to say Jess grew a pair and opened up to Ryan. I am happy to see Ryan tell Jess exactly how he felt so she doesn't have to keep judging herself around him. Sometimes it's best just to be honest with someone when you think of them romantically. They're all adults and sometimes it bothers me that they still act like children on the playground. Coach's reluctance to teach Health came to a head with a drunk fueled rant on why he was afraid of teaching the kids. The realization that Health is a tremendously important subject to cover in early childhood development sunk in and Coach was ready to accept the challenge. The final gag that Jess's comforter had shrunk from Schmidt washing it was a nice capstone to the episode. All in all, "Teacher" was another good episode on the recent string of good New Girl episodes starting with "Background Check". Only a few more episodes to go until the mid-season finale. Tune in to next week's holiday themed episode at 9PM on FOX.

Favorite Quotes:

(Intoxicated) "Maybe I'll bring up Magic Johnson…Maybe I'll bring up Kobe Bryant." - Coach
"I want to be the somebody that somebody is looking for." - Nick

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.