New Girl - Review - "The Right Thing"
"The Right Thing" comes from the idea that Jess needs to make amends from sending a "sext" to a date Coach set her up on with Pete only to have it backfire when he dies before their meetup. Things only get worse when Jess walks in on the funeral and find out that Pete already had a girlfriend. Meanwhile, Nick and Schmidt are working with Winston and his partner, Aly, to write out all of his Bar Mitzvah cards so that Schmidt's mom will give him his money to pay for a share of the bar near their loft. Guest stars Nora Dunn and Nasim Pedrad, playing Louise, Schmidt's mother and Aly, Winston's partner, liven things up a bit on top of the awkward comedy that comes from funerals. Also, Houston Texans defense end J.J. Watt also guest stared in a hilarious tie-in to the main storyline.
The reveal that J.J. Watt had also sent Pete a text firing him as his agent was a great way to tie in his role and it was quite funny watching him interact with the gang in his own quirky way. You knew, sooner or later, that it would come out that both parties had different reasons for being at such an intimate event. It fell a little flat for me only because it felt forced. It seemed like such an outrageous idea, the need to delete one single text, that was used as the episode's McGuffin and it just didn't work as smoothly as past episodes of New Girl like the crawl or Jess's father's wedding. Meanwhile, I was happy to see Schmidt stand up to his mother even if it was a complete cliche to have an overbearing mother. Schmidt is a grown man, almost (probably) in his 30's. He shouldn't be afraid to confront his mother with his feelings or how she intrudes on his life.
Overall, I thought this episode of New Girl was a weak entry coming off of a hiatus. Louise realized her mistake after talking with Cece and gave Schmidt the money for the bar, but unless it was a part of something bigger leading in to the finale or even next season, it didn't feel as grand as it could have been. If it ends up being a move to something bigger like the guys working at the bar as co-owners with Cece as a bartender next season,(2 guys, a girl, and a bar?)then this would be a great starting point to even zanier adventures. I will say it was nice to see Aly change her ways with Winston and give him a real example of why she doesn't get close. Aly's last partner fell in love with her, but Winston reassured her that he has no intention of falling for her...even though "he is lovable as hell!"
There are only a few episodes left and I was hoping for something more with Coach and May, Schmidt and Fawn/Cece, or maybe even Jess and Nick. It was officially confirmed today that New Girl was renewed for a fifth season so hopefully we get to see those storylines develop over the final episodes and lead into new beginnings next year! Comment below with your thoughts for last night's episode (maybe I need to re-watch it if you enjoyed it more than I did) and tune in next week for an all-new New Girl.
