New Girl - Episode 5.2 - Review: "What About Fred?"
In this episode of New Girl , Nick and Schmidt become co-owners of the bar and have to deal with the repercussions of Nick's standoffish managerial behavior as Jess begins to date a guy named Fred (SNL's Taran Killam), but soon realizes that Fred is a dud and that his parents, Flip and Nancy (Henry Winkler and Nancy Hagerty) are the life of the party and she resorts to continue seeing Fred just so she can spend time with his parents. I knew from this initial setup that Nick's storyline would be the focal point of the episode because we've seen Jess go down this path before. Second episodes rarely outdo the first episode of the season and this was no exception. In my opinion, it was a solid character move for Nick that I'm interested in following, but Jess's was obviously the weak link.
I also find it interesting that the new title card is here to stay. Someone once mentioned how infuriating it must have been for the graphic design department to make that title card with Coach only to have to get rid of it as soon as he wanted off the show. At the bar, Schmidt tried to give Nick management experience, saying it needed to be run mercilessly like the Cobra Kai dojo from Karate Kid. That plan backfired after Nick abruptly fired the bar favorite Javier which led Cece to start a revolt and had the staff quit on Nick. Meanwhile, Jess found out that Fred's parents couldn't stand their son living at home either and propositioned her with a deal to stay with him in return for spending time with them at their cabin in Vermont or other exotic trips. Winston tried to play a mentor to Jess, but soon found himself infatuated with Fred's parents while Jess was losing her mind with Fred's obsession over model train sets.
In the end, Jess decided she couldn't live with that arrangement and made the assertion that she's ready to date for real again. I don't know about you, but the whole dinner conversation to me was rough to sit through. Over on Nick's side of things, he visited Javier to apologize and say that he still wants the bar to be a fun place, but has to make sure it stays open for everyone to keep their jobs. The recurring joke about "your mother" was surprisingly funny and added some humor into an already funny predicament. Overall, I thought there was a lack of progress on Jess's part which is a shame considering how little time Zooey Deschanel has this season whereas Nick's arc had gravitas as it seems like the writers want Nick to grow as a character this season. I'm interested to see where things go as we lead into Zooey's departure as well as Schmidt and Cece's wedding plans begin to grow. Comment below with your thoughts on the episode and tune into New Girl Tuesday's at 8/7 central.
