'New Girl' Recap: 'Jess and Julia'
New Girl's freshman season continued last night with “Jess and Julia.” Nick and his new girlfriend Julia seem to be hitting it off, but neither is really sure about the status of their relationship. As Nick tells Jess and the guys, “We’re not really labeling it.”
Julia agrees to help Jess get out of a well-deserved speeding ticket for stopping in the middle of an intersection to avoid killing a bird (classic Jess) and the two end up arguing over seemingly nothing. Julia continues to make backhanded jabs at Jess’ dress and demeanor, and as Jess’ friends explain later on, this is how girls fight—sneaky, but diabolical.
Meanwhile, Winston is slow to discover that without the help of his former basketball career, he has no game with women. He calls upon an old booty call and tries to get back together with her, but doesn’t realize that the reason she is so hesitant is because he behaved like such a jerk in the past.
Girl-crazy Schmidt is unhappy about all the women hanging around his apartment between Jess and her friends and Julia, mainly because his towel is perpetually damp. He’s shirtless for the majority of the episode (ratings boost?), and as usual he’s trying way too hard to look good for the ladies. It isn’t until the end of the episode that he finds out that he and Nick have been using the same towel, causing a hilarious exchange between the two while the apartment-mates look on.
Jess manages to interfere too much, as usual, when she mentions to Nick that Julia casually asked if there were a lot of women around the apartment in an effort to figure out if he has been seeing other people. Nick confronts Julia, and she lies by telling him that she is dating other guys. Julia then comes out and tells Jess that she doesn’t like her or the way she behaves, and even monopolizes the bathroom while both women (and Nick in the men’s room after his argument with Julia) begin to cry.
On the lighter side, Winston proves that he can still be charming after his earlier display of typical male commitophobia. He continues to woo his former fling, and instead of just trying to get her into bed, he makes an effort to talk to her and tells her he wants to take her on a real date after walking her home. This was an adorable story line, and Winston’s embarrassing victory dance after asking her out was the icing on the cake.
In the end Jess proves that she is just as strong as Julia by unapologetically admitting her traits such as wearing hats made out of ribbons and spending 90% of her day talking to children as a kindergarten teacher. She’s definitely grown as a character half-way through the first season, but she hasn’t changed completely—when Julia comes by to apologize for what she said, Jess invites her to join in for “Crochet Time.” And as a nice ending, Julia and Nick make their relationship officiall and she tries out calling him her boyfriend.
One thing I really enjoy about New Girl is that even though the episodes are sometimes really quirky or don’t always flow well, it’s the one liners and the chemistry between the main characters that make the show so much fun to watch. It’s especially great when Nick, Winston and Jess gang up on Schmidt, because his reactions are invariably hilarious. The ending of every episode before the credits always seems to provide the best comedic material, leaving the viewers with a great memory for next time. I’m excited to see how the rest of the season turns out.