Sad to say I was a little disappointed when this week’s episode of New Girl began. It was worrying to see it turn down a cliché Thanksgiving/camping ‘everything goes wrong’ path that most sitcoms seem to have gone down at one time or another. New Girl is usually quite consistent in its originality, and while this episode did have some zinger lines, ultimately it just seemed a little too close to classic sitcom structure for my liking.
That being said, it was wonderful to see the characters all working together as one unit, Schmidt back firmly in the gang and Winston and Cece getting that bonding time we never quite realised they hadn’t had. Development, I think, ran a little low in this episode, with the exception of Nick who possibly reached a new personal height of maturity upon realising he didn’t really have to live up to Coach’s scale of masculinity. Although, I do hesitate to use a word like ‘maturity’ in conjunction with a man who genuinely believed that the ‘foragers’ (a.k.a the girls plus Winston) managed to find such a variety of suspiciously shiny fruit just lying around in the woods. He came around when he saw the sticker, but that plot-turn in itself drew up very close to the line of banality.
Some nice scenes between Nick and Jess in this episode, particularly his rescuing of her from the hole. They managed to be sweet without being overly sentimental, and that shows signs of durability for their relationship. On the topic of relationships, I was very pleased to see Cece had backed away from Coach, and here’s hoping she leaves the Loft Boys alone for a while. Honestly, Cece, I love those guys but you can do better! That being said, it would be nice to see something from Schmidt other than moping. He’s dragging himself back to his usual standard, but it’s taking a while to get there.
I’ve dragged this episode through the mud a bit, but it did have some funny moments and the amusement factor was still relatively high. The highlight, for me, may just have been the short montage of Thanksgivings past. I’m wondering what part they might select from this episode should there be a montage in Thanksgiving IV.
Review Score: TWO AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
New Girl airs in Australia on Channel Ten.
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