Three cheers for the return of Ferguson! Winston’s intense love of that cat remains a very amusing theme of this season and it was nice to have it brought to the forefront yet again. Winston also took on a bigger role in this episode, although he still seems the odd man out of the gang. Regardless, some good bonding time – if you could call it that – between him and Nick whilst looking for the “misplaced” Ferguson, notably Nick’s fault and not Winston’s. This turn of events left Jess behind to mind a moping Schmidt, which is a pairing we don’t often see alone in this show, so it’s nice to see the writers changing it up a bit.
Schmidt is very possibly growing as a person as he deals with the repercussions of his actions, and it’s a nice little homage to his previous wondering if he was a good person after all. It’s also a relief to see he’s not getting off scot-free, nor is anyone forgetting about it. Following the theme, it did make for quite a sad episode as Jess tried her best to prevent him from interrupting Coach and Cece’s date. She eventually succeeded by hitting him with her car, although it probably pays to note that is was at his request (“I hit him, because I care about him”).
This takes us to Coach and Cece’s storyline, which was a little cliché , what with Coach taking on the obnoxious, overly-masculine persona in an attempt to, I can only assume, impress Cece. Still, the truth came out eventually, complete with Coach’s proclaiming in front of a crowd that he was texting his mum because of his nerves. Yes, the storyline’s been done before in media, but it was still a very nice little scene, and I suppose he probably deserved that kiss with Cece at the end – although half an hour seems a little overboard, especially with Jess and Schmidt watching from their car in the distance. Jess did seem a little too amused by all of this.
Back to Winston, who ended the episode starting something with Bertie, the outlandish, hamster-loving, bus driver. I’m curious to know if this is a one-off thing or something that might last. One thing is for sure, she’ll never compete at the same level as Ferguson, who is apparently Winston’s “best friend”, much to Nick’s confusion. Wrapping up: another good solid episode, and a plot that actually appears to be going somewhere. Where, I’m not quite sure, but we’ll find out soon.
Review Score: THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
New Girl airs in Australia on Channel Ten.
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