This week's episode titled "Nerd" introduced an intriguing Mean Girls-esque storyline for Jess, who was the proverbial Cady Heron to the "cool teacher" clique at her school. Among them were Angela Kinsey and Mark Proksch (both from The Office), as well as Dreama Walker (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23). Sadly, their characters were given very little to do in this episode, despite their presumed centrality to the plot. Instead, this storyline was more about Jess trying to fit in, with Nick helping her along the way. On the one hand, it was good because this was the first time we got see Nick and Jess acting as a couple in the loft, which was great. That said, it was kind of a waste of talented guest stars. (I think Kinsey maybe had two or three lines in the whole thing.)
Schmidt's irritating girlfriend exploits also continued this week, as he scheduled a two-timer date with Cece and Elizabeth. (Sigh...) While the office party resulted in a predictable display of Schmidt running back and forth between the two women, there was, to this episode's credit, a twist ending in that he actually pulled it off -- even after Cece and Elizabeth met face to face. What's annoying about that, though, is Schmidt is now only prolonging the inevitable fallout. I'd rather him just be done with it so we can move on from this string of obviously poor decisions. (Let's be real. "Shawty" wins all.)
Meanwhile, Winston's storyline didn't fare much better... Surprise, surprise. We knew that Winston would probably have to break up with Daisy at some point (since Brenda Song is now a regular on Seth MacFarlane's FOX comedy Dads), but this was maybe the least-graceful exit they could have given her. For Winston to suspect Daisy of cheating was one thing, but then for that to actually be the case? It felt sort of weak. No comical misunderstanding or disagreement, just "Yep, I cheated." End of story. Honestly, I think I would have preferred Daisy not come back at all. But instead, the writers changed Daisy's character to serve a simpleminded plot, one that we didn't even really need in the first place.
Winston's cat-murder subplot was a little more entertaining (and I never thought I'd say that), but what made it funnier was how Nick tried to keep both Winston and Jess in check at the same time. Truthfully, Nick saved this episode, and it was kind of invigorating to see him in boyfriend mode -- or at least the Nick Miller brand of boyfriend mode. I especially enjoyed his advice to Jess at the bar about how drinking really does make you cooler. ("That is the only thing in the world I know to be true.")
Overall, this episode didn't really follow through on any of its setups, and the laughs were pretty scarce to boot -- with a few notable exceptions: 1) Schmidt's perfect two-thirds replica of Don Draper's office; 2) Nick and Schmidt's elevator button argument; and 3) all three of the guys singing their own rendition of "I Believe I Can Fly." Also, Schmidt's cat nipples, which... yeah.
THE VERDICT:
Jess's "cool teacher" storyline featured several promising guest stars that were all underused. Meanwhile, Schmidt's trite, two-timer date with Cece and Elizabeth ended in frustrating results, and Winston's breakup with Daisy didn't fare much better. In the end, it was Nick who kept this episode afloat, as he played the field between Jess and Winston's problems.
I don't like Schmidt's storyline, it's not funny, it's frustrating ugh
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I don't like Schmidt's storyline, it's not funny, it's frustrating ugh
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