After a short hiatus, New Girl returned Tuesday night, paired once again with The Mindy Project, and the two shows had two big things in common. First, Max Greenfield, who guest starred on The Mindy Project. Second, dealing with two very sad breakups.
New Girl
In the aftermath of their breakup, Nick and Jess are left trying to figure out what this means for their living situation. They both pretend to be okay, but they obviously aren’t. They agree that they need to tell the other roommates about the situation. But when they go to deliver the news, they are greeted by other news – Winston got into the police academy. He’s stoked and wants to have a party, so Nick and Jess decide to keep their breakup quiet so as not to ruin his big day.
Meanwhile, Schmidt finds out Cece is studying for her GEDs and struggling. He offers to help and, despite her suspicions, she agrees. Their studying is interrupted, though, when Jess comes to tell Cece the news about the breakup. The girls hold up in a room with Schmidt on the other side of the door, wondering if Jess is pregnant or if they are kissing. Jess tells Cece she’s not okay, but Nick seems to be. Cece encourages Jess to tell Nick how she feels.
Meanwhile, Nick isn’t okay at all. He admits to Coach that he and Jess broke up, and Coach has a plan to help. He tells Nick not to let Jess see his pain and gives him some of Schmidt’s anti-anxiety medication, which totally chills him out, even when Jess tries to talk to him about the breakup. Everyone finds out about it, except Winston, who wants to have a honey roast to celebrate his big news.
At the honey roast, Jess gets drunk and delivers a speech, making fun of everyone. Finally, she gets to Nick and ends up breaking down about he is okay and she isn’t. Nick assures her he’s also not okay, his just on meds. Winston, the last to know, is touched that his roommates tried to keep their news secret so he could have his big day. At the end, Jess takes up residence on the couch watching Dirty Dancing. But Nick is still her best friend because they call each other from separate rooms to talk. Aww.
I’ve never been that invested in the Nick and Jess relationship, honestly. I’m more of a Schmidt and Cece kind of girl. The breakup didn’t really get to me, but this episode did – seeing how hard they were trying to be okay got to me and made me feel for them more than I have in a while. A very well-written and well-acted follow up to the breakup.
The Mindy Project
Speaking of breakups, Mindy and Danny are also recovering from a split. Mindy is trying to date again, and she ends up stuck with Phil, a guy Betsy set her up with. He’s so not what she wants, but she doesn’t know how to break up with him. She’s miserable, but when Danny offers to listen, she turns him away in favor of venting to Peter. Peter tells Mindy she’s only seeing Phil because Danny broke her heart and she doesn’t think she can do better, but she deserves better. He tells her to “think like a Peter” – as in, date someone and dump them the minute things go south.
Peter and Mindy head down to a bar, where Mindy lays eyes on Lee (Max Greenfield, basically playing Schmidt) and she clumsily hits on him. He seems uninterested at first, but when she apologizes and tells him her heart was recently broken, he is more receptive. They leave the bar and head back to her place, but when she wakes up, he’s gone, having only left a scarf. Mindy is sure the scarf is hint for her to call, but Peter tries to tell her otherwise. The only way to find out? Track him down at work.
Meanwhile, Danny is desperate to help with someone’s drama since Mindy is shutting him out. He catches Tamra and Morgan making out in the pantry and decides to help. Tamra is torn between Ray-Ron and Morgan. Danny tells her to go with Ray-Ron because office romances just don’t work – clearly infusing his own issues with Mindy into the conversation. Tamra breaks things off with Morgan, who is frustrated and decides to confront Ray-Ron and tell him about he and Tamra. Ray-Ron knows and even thanks Danny for convincing Tamra to pick him. When Morgan hears this, he’s furious at Danny and starts cold-shouldering him, calling him “Dr. Castellano” instead of “Dr. C.” Ouch.
After tracking down Lee at his work – he teaches grade schoolers, by the way – Mindy gives him back his scarf, sure he was pulling a Cinderella and hoping she’d find him. She does that with earrings all the time! Lee clearly didn’t intend it that way. In fact, he now has a wedding ring. Peter ends up punching the guy, annoyed by how he’s treating Mindy. When they walk out, Peter has a sudden realization: he’s a lot like Lee – he’s also a dick! Yep. But we love you, Peter.
After realizing Mindy has left for the day, he’s kind of sad and calls up Peter’s sister, Sally. While the watch TV, the camera pans down to reveal Mindy’s earrings under the bed. Aw! She Cinderella-ed him.
It wasn’t the best episode of Mindy this season, but it was still damn funny. And you KNOW I love Max Greenfield. I’m just hopeful that Mindy and Danny get back together in the finale. This show can’t leave me sad about them all summer, can they?? *fingers crossed*
But what did you think of these episodes? Tell me in the comments!
Season 3, Episode 21: Big News (originally aired November 26, 2013).
Season 2, Episode 19: Think Like a Peter (originally aired November 26, 2013).
For more from Kody, check out her other reviews.
New Girl and The Mindy Project air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m on FOX
Images courtesy of Jennifer Clasen/Jordin Althaus/FOX.
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