New Girl - 1x20 - Normal

Ironically THIS feels like the real Part 2 to Fancyman Part 1, much like last week felt like the Part 2 to Fancyman Part 2. If it wasn't for the fact that FM2 explicitly showed Jess and Russel's first date, I'd recommend shuffling the viewing order a little.

Jess spent an entire week at Russell's GIANT MANSION, and it all went splendidly. But Jess gets scared by how good it's going. And who could blame her? I'm 98% certain her line about living in a romantic comedy montage where she tries on floppy hats is from an actual Zooey Deschanel movie. So, she tries to get the relationship on a more even keel by asking Russell to spend the weekend at her place. Not surprisingly, a middle aged man spending a weekend in a loft with drunken twenty-somethings ends in nothing but tears and blood.

It starts out well enough, with Russell gleefully taking part in their drunken antics. True American is the greatest variation on Calvinball I've seen since HIMYM's chinese gambling game. It's also nice to see that Jess has actually gotten damn well integrated into the group with shared silly things like that. But soon enough, booze and overwhelming testosterone turn Russel into "one of the guys", and he's shushing Jess and ignoring bed-hithers to listen to Winston's work problems and Nick's crazy pitches.

Yeah, Nick is still in love with Russell and is now trying to pitch him entries from his "idea journal", including his Real Apps platform: a swiss-army case for your smart phone. You know there might be a market for that (there isn't!). I'm also disappointed that the "Relapse" pun was not intentional.

So yeah, drunken night with the guys turns into morning-after resentment from the girlfriend. Seems pretty "normal" to me. But when a severely hungover Russell is in no mood for Jess' chippy day trips to places like apple picking, shit gets down and dirty, and they have a real fight, and Russell splits for his place.

Now, for the record, things that make Russels hangover a nausea-over:

• Jess voice.
• The idea of picking apples from a tree. 
• Nick and Schmidt.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Meanwhile Winston's brief return to part-time nanny-hood is quickly waylaid when he gets a new job as an assistant for some sports shock jock asshole who mistreats him. He tries to quit, but wiser-beyond-his-years kid doesn't want Winston to give up on himself and puts the kibosh on that by pulling a frame job. And surprisingly his mom buys it. Well I'm less surprised the mom bought it than I am that she cared. She seemed PRETTY desperate for a babysitter a few months ago, you'd think a little alleged marijuana wouldn't sway her, even if it was being offered to her kid.

In the end Winston has second thoughts about getting revenge via teabagging his boss's shakes, and keeps the job. See, now, I never understood how that sort of thing counts as revenge, unless you get off on it. If the idea is to tell the guy and have him be disgusted, why go through with the actual dipping? Just lie. And if the idea is not to tell him, then...again, why? Eh. I don't get it. The subplot did have some great cameos from Kareem Abdul Jabbar, which...hey why not? Also it leaves us with some fodder for ongoing Winston stories. So yay?

Jess and Russell make up back at his place and decide to spend the rest of the weekend there. Whether that's a lesson on respecting your significant other's limits, or a depressing omen on how things are always going to default to Russell's way in this relationship, I don't know yet.