New Girl Review: Schmidt Tells Nick What the Audience is Really Thinking

By Nicole Bozzani

What do soup, a bar mitzvah, and a trouble-making sister have in common? Absolutely nothing except for how they were paired in this week’s episode of New Girl.

Jess’ sister Abby (guest star Linda Cardellini) has had a little mishap and needs to be bailed out of jail. Jess attempts to make sure Nick and Abby don’t meet on this quick visit. Meanwhile, Schmidt needs a little help with the ladies and he turns to his old wingman, Nick, for some assistance. But what happens when everything begins to run off the rails?

Firstly, let’s just get the awkward soup dinner party out of the way. It’s truly hard to understand why Winston is with Bertie. His scenes this week revolved around an 11 course soup dinner that only two people actually showed up to. Not only that but one of the courses was made with tang. Yes, the powdery orange astronaut drink that may not even be on the market anymore. The food seemed fairly disgusting just as the sandwiches did the first time we were introduced to Bertie, and the two dinner party guests, Cece and Coach, didn’t exactly make things feel less awkward. Coach is still upset with Cece because she didn’t text him after they made out. (Move on Coach! That whole moment could have easily been forgotten entirely.)

Next up? Schmidt and his romantic antics. As I mention almost weekly, Max Greenfield continuously saves this series with his comedic delivery and timing. He’s a true pleasure to watch and this week was no exception. This week, Schmidt needs Nick’s help getting the attention of his rabbi’s daughter at a bar mitzvah, but Nick is a little too preoccupied with Jess to help his buddy out, a truth that even Schmidt can’t let slide anymore.

Schmidt confronts Nick about it and like a Greek chorus of sorts he spills just about everything we’ve all been thinking about the caliber of recent episodes. Since the coupling of Nick and Jess, things have pretty much been about Nick and Jess, with other key characters taking a back seat to the romantic entanglement of the week. The result? A watering down of the tension and hilarity between the loft mates and in particular between Schmidt and Nick. Their bromance has taken a real backseat of late, which is ultimately disappointing. At least with this bar mitzvah, the two were back in action which was a refreshing, if brief, change of tone.

Lastly, there’s Abby, played spectacularly by Linda Cardellini, who was a breath of fresh air in this episode. (That’s saying quite a lot considering the sheer number of guest stars with which New Girl has padded its current season.) Finally Jess had something heartfelt to deal with. Not only did Nick feel she was ashamed of him, but Abby knew Jess was ashamed of her. Abby and Jess had some real sister bonding going on until their moment was ruined by a text. Their sisterly bonding involves making fun of their mother, which quite honestly, isn’t very far off from actual sisterly bonding. Abby is an excellent character because she’s the complete opposite of Jess. Abby is rebellious and starts prison fights, and has ‘chaos in her eyes.’ We can only hope she returns to visit quite soon.

At times it’s hard to maintain faith in New Girl. There is a subtle sensation of the the show slowly rolling downhill post Nick and Jess’ pairing up. What else is coming down the line for fans to get excited about? The random appearances from Outside Dave? An entirely new cast of family members no one knew existed? A wedding? It’s not easy to see or guess exactly where New Girl is going, and some viewers may not be waiting with baited breath for what comes next.

However if there’s one thing to take away from “Sister,” it’s Tang soup should never EVER be a thing.