Air Date: Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 9/8c on Fox
Jess is not as good a Winston on the handbells
Handbells. I’ve never played them, have no interest in them, but they are centered in this week’s episode of New Girl, aptly titled “Bells.” I am amazed the lamest musical instrument next to the triangle can be used so effectively to bring amusement to primetime television. Winston (Lamorne Morris) takes center stage as a master of the handbells. For someone who seems to have no direction in life, he picks them up and takes to them as if he’s been playing the instrument all his life. “I just pick things up.” That’s what makes it so funny. Not only is he great at playing the bells, he’s so good he turns a rehearsal into a competition when it’s supposed to be fun.
Observations:
Jess (Zooey Deschanel) is at her quirkiest this time around. But I have to admit Deschanel seems a bit over the top in this one. I think she feels it’s how Jess should be portrayed. Her reactions are contrived and overly dramatic, like when the cabinet door falls off and she yells “It’s not my war.” Yeah. I still laugh at her though.
Schmidt (Max Greenfield) is ridiculous. “All I hear is I can’t use my toilet because you’re poor.” He does have a point—he just goes about expressing it the wrong way. The fight he and Nick (Jake Johnson) have is convincing and funny as hell though. “I will not apologize again for the Midori Sour!” Their banter about who bought what is childish and leads to the truth of the matter. “You’re a loser.” Nick is in a rut and no one’s bothered to call him out on it.
Nick unfixing the basketball hoop
Nick is kind of a MacGyver type handyman in that he uses strange objects to fix things. But they never really stay fixed. Like the hole he drills in the roof to drain a puddle. Hilarious! Schmidt says, “Okay, Nick, repeat after me: ‘I am not the Chinese kid from Goonies’.” To which Nick replies, “I fix things just to the point of working.” Yes, because the soda bottles in the “wall hole” are the best way to fix a toilet. Though he does get points for creativity and originality. The real issue here is Nick wants to feel useful. He’s the go-to Mr. Fix-it and he needs that since he’s failed at everything else in his life. He quit law school, works as a bartender, and lives with two guys and a girl. Nick may not be at the highest point in his life but he does what he’s good at.
Winston and Jess provide most of the laughs with the bells, but I think Jess takes the cake with her robot bell playing. She does it so terribly you can’t help laughing at her because she’s trying so hard to upstage Winston. But let’s face it, Winston rocks the bells. Although he does get too into it and tries to take over the group.
One question: how in the world does Nick get the couch and freezer into Schmidt’s room? Schmidt can’t open the door but Nick had to get them in there and himself out, right?
Winston joins Ensembell and rocks out with "Eye of the Tiger"
Funny lines:
Winston to Schmidt on his definition of a serious job: “Serious? Dude, it’s a temp job. If by serious you mean ‘piece of crap,’ then yeah, it’s serious.”
**
Winston to Nick and Schmidt about his job: “I’m losing my mind, guys. You know I sometimes touch the frayed part of the power cord just to feel something.”
**
Jess to the guys about coming home with her kids and their instruments: “I’m so sorry, you guys. I know I should have told you but… the community center decided to turn our rehearsal space back into a hallway, so I had nowhere to go.”
**
Desiree (Raven Goodwin) with a bad attitude and volume: “Miss Day, can I eat some of these crackers up in here?”
Schmidt: “No, no, no no no no. Water crackers are for adults to eat with adult cheese.”
Desiree: “Can I eat a cracker sushi sandwich?!”
**
Jess to the kids after rehearsal: “I’m so proud of you! That’s what it feels like to play a song sort of together.”
**
Jess to Winston: “Also, what happened to the fridge and the sofa? Did we get robbed by giants?”
**
I continue to fall in love with New Girl as each new episode is a comedic minefield. Everything from props to character position and wardrobe is taken into consideration to create the magic. Between Schmidt and Nick’s girl fight—“Who you gonna hire to fight me, boy?!”—and Winston’s bell fascination, I didn’t have a dull moment while watching.
Tune in to New Girl, Tuesdays at 9/8c on Fox. For more on the show, visit http://www.fox.com/new-girl/.
All photos © 2011 Fox Broadcasting, LLC. All rights reserved.
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