I don’t know if it’s because it was juxtaposed to that hellscape of a Glee episode or what, but last night’s New Girl made me laugh so hard I had to pause the DVR more than once to get myself together. The premise is that Nick always sees the worst in people and Jess always sees the best in people, so much so that she keep a madman from having a shootout over a parking space just by smiling and hoping he doesn’t pull the trigger. To test her theory that there’s a lot of good in everyone, she treks down to her landlord’s place and asks him to come fix some stuff in their apartment. He is a notorious curmudgeon/potential axe murderer, so Nick decides to stay around in case he tries to have sex with/axe murder Jess. What results is the most hilarious almost-threesome I ever remember seeing on TV.
Schmidt, meanwhile, is trying to decide whether or not his boss is giving him work instructions – “Schmidt, my files need sorting – or inviting him to her pants party. After a whole lot of dirty talk involving hard drives and conference calls and paper clips and Post-It notes, Schmidt decides to go for it with his boss in the parking garage after work. She’s like, “Finally, thank God!” But the security guys think Schmidt is assaulting her, so they race to the scene and beat the hell out of him. I don’t remember when I started loving that guy, but I know I’ll never stop.
AFTERELLEN BAIT
Despite the hilarity, “Landlord” doesn’t have much in the way of AE Bait. No Lizzy Caplan. No June Raphael. CeCe did stop by to ridicule Schmidt, but I don’t think Jess interacted with any other ladies this week. Still, though: Top giggle bombs.
FEELINGS, FEELINGS, FEELINGS
Any person with a single working eyeball could see the New Girl writers going there with Jess and Nick, and while I’m usually a sucker for will-they/won’t they, I was afraid they were showing their hand way too soon. After last night, though, I can’t help but root for those two crazy kids. They’re the ying to each other’s yang, and their chemistry is stellar. I was even like, “OH, COME ON!” when they almost kissed, but Jess broke it off at the last minute.
CUTE OVERLOAD
The cutest thing about “Landlord” was Schmidt’s 2007 New Year’s resolution list that Winston found when he was cleaning out the closet:
1) Everything is easy when you are a battleship invading the bay of success.
2) Stop pursuing Caroline. She’s Nick’s girl. Deal with it.
3) Begin the search for the cocoon that will one day release your butterfly.
4) Find out where Winston gets his sparkle – and then steal it.
5) Start floating the idea that people call me Mr Finish/Game Time Jones/The Hook-Up-erator.
6) Just pick a color of Crocs and buy them already.
GIGGLE BOMBS
“Let’s have a THREESOME.”
Also, I love that New Girl finally learned how to use the smash-cut to make things infinitely more hilarious.
What did you think of “Landlord”?
