New Girl: "Naked" Review

After a brief hiatus of X-Factor and baseball, New Girl made it's return to Fox with enough roommate shenanigans to fill a douchebag jar. And, in keeping with the spirit of the show, this week's episode was all about that special moment every roommate shares with his or her fellow tenant at one point or another, namely, that fateful glimpse of their peen and bubbles.

Honestly, I almost can't believe they waited this long to have Jess walk in on one the guys naked. And what better choice for that humiliation than Nick? Of course, the more interesting conflict stemmed from Shmidt, who realized he's now the only roommate not to have seen Nick's joystick. And the mere fact that we can turn a guy seeing another guy's penis into an episodic motivational arc just shows how far we've come as a TV viewing audience.

Meanwhile, Winston caught up on two years of American pop culture since he'd been away playing pro basketball in Latvia. Schmidt helped to fill him in on the highlights like Betty White's comeback and Keyboard Cat. This was quite possibly the best B-arc of the series thus far, with ample references to the sad, miserable collection of fads and trends that have amassed since 2009. However, a dual viewing of The Human Centipede and The King's Speech is maybe the best idea. Like, ever.

- FOX

Nick also attempted to move past his breakup with Caroline by putting himself out there with an attractive coworker Amanda, played by the lovely and subtly hilarious Lake Bell (How to Make it in America, Childrens Hospital). Amanda's overly ironic dialect may not have helped matters with Nick, but it made for some of the more realistically humorous moments of the episode. It's almost a shame this was a one-shot appearance for Bell. Here's crossing our fingers for another guest spot.

In a slight twist, Zooey Deschanel actually wasn't the highlight of the episode. It feels like the writers may have gotten hip to the "adorkable" marketing routine and have started to oversell it just a bit. That's not to say these moments don't have their charm, but the show may have been laying it on a little thick this time around. I mean, is it funny that Jess can't say the word "penis" out loud to anyone, including herself? Of course! But to play that card for 22 minutes? Maybe not so much.

So far, New Girl has done a pretty good job of knowing when to reel Jess in, whether that's through the use of cutaways or one of the guys interrupting her exhaustive rants. And with a full season order in place, there's still plenty of time to strike that perfect balance with the character. However, if they milk it too much, it runs the risk of becoming tired.

Overall, this was still a solid return episode for the series. The ensemble elements of the show are really starting to mesh well together and the chemistry between the characters is definitely getting stronger. Let's just hope the ratings continue to reflect that after New Girl's mini-vacation.

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