The gang goes a little overboard playing True American and there is a relationship shake-up. Check out our New Girl season 3, episode 20 recap now!
Alright, so, Nick, Jess, Winston, Coach, Schmidt and Cece might have had a little too much to drink playing True American last night. Mixing liquors left and right, and not giving their bodies enough time to recuperate, all are struggling the next morning.
Nick and Jess, looking fairly worse for the wear in Jess’ bed, are horrendously hungover. Nick, moaning and groaning, asks his girlfriend in bed, “Jessica did we die?” That siren call of Jess’s phone confirms that no, they did not die. Sadie’s son Jacob’s first birthday is today and Jess, as godmother, must attend. Before they can leave though, Nick must put together the birthday present that has a million colorful parts.
Elsewhere, Schmidt, Winston and Coach are carbo-loading up with bagels and coffee when they bump into their new neighbors moving in – two gorgeous women who are subletting Schmidt’s apartment. Why he didn’t know who was taking over his apartment is a little questionable, but it’s okay, we’ll go with it.
Portland or Mars?
Meanwhile, Nick and Jess are not in good shape. Jess is wearing a bikini top and button up, and Nick is struggling to button his top. That’s when we learn Jess gets emotional when she’s hungover, and this episode probably isn’t going to end happily for Ness fans.
She thinks about what their children would be like and she’s incredulous he’s never given much thought to it. We can’t say we’re surprised, this is a man who, well, still acts like the children she’s talking about having.
Jess envisions a house by a lake, in a town with a lot of history. Two small children who don’t need discipline, and a house that smells like cider. She gets lost in her imagination and Nick, meanwhile has gone into a catatonic state.
Once he comes to, he says he has unwillingly decided on the name of his future son: Reginald VelJohnson (the actor from Family Matters.) Schmidt bet Nick he could flip a really big pancake, but, surprise! he can’t. Before they know it, they’re arguing about little Reginald, their future son, and his education.
Jess always thought she’d move back to Portland. Nick envisions himself living on Mars.
Jess wants to get them on the same page, but they want different things. Nick suggests they break up, but they laugh it off. Why would they break up over something so insignificant. But, they realize they’re a good team and he concedes. If she wants to move to Portland, they will move to Portland!
That agreement lasts for only a few minutes, as anyone who has ever tried to put anything together more complex than a Lego tower knows that those toys only bring frustrating and aggravation to any adult who tries to build them.
What if love is the only thing they have in common? They can’t continue with their romance if all they’ll do is bicker and fight about details big and small.
They miss their friendship – not their relationship. With a salute and failed joke, Ness is no more. In a recreation of that fateful season 2, “Cooler,” kiss – same spot, same color scheme, they instead hug it out.
Nick’s philosophy on looking at the future? “You can create a plan for your life, and then crazy things get thrown at ya.” He has a very ‘cross that bridge when we come to it’ idea of life. Short-sighted or insightful?
Cece needs to step away from the phone.
Cece spends most of the episode trying to course-correct her relationship with Buster, her 20-year-old “child bride” boyfriend after sending him some very strange text messages in her drunken state the night before. Schmidt scrolls through some of the insane texts and promptly declares: “this isn’t a text message, it’s a Russian novel!”
By the end of the episode, Cece is surprised when Buster shows up to take her to breakfast, sure he would have bolted from her by then, and charms her right off her feet. At least one couple is happy.
Winston comes out on top, for once.
After helping his new neighbors move in all day, watching Schmidt and Winston pretend to assist, Winston snaps. He had been ignored by the arms race between Coach and Schmidt for Michelle’s affections, and goes off on a crazy rant that we have come to expect from him. But for once, he actually is making sense. Could this be a turning point for Winston? Is he going to rise above the hijinks of his friends and get serious about his life? Okay, probably not – this is Winston, after all.
A few highlights from what we saw of True American:
What did you think of tonight’s episode, ‘Mars Landing’?
Will the Nick and Jess break-up stick? With this first breakup, have we officially entered the ‘Ross and Rachel’ dilemma?
New Girl is off next week due to the hour-long spring premiere of The Mindy Project.
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