I Think Nick Is More In Love Than Jess

New Girl, S01E17

Instead of Nick and Jess finally getting together, Jess was unexpectedly thrown into the arms of a parent of one of her students, who seemed like the biggest jerk at first.  As his generous nature and interest in Jess is made clear, Jess is able to look past her first impression of him and see a charming guy.  Nick, on the other hand, takes much less time to fall for the man, and it took little more than a sweater and a cellphone.  Winston also struggles to look smart while Schmidt shows that he thinks that Winston isn't as smart as he is.

Before I talk about how I laughed almost the entire time Jess and Nick both came to know Russel, I will say that I didn't care much for Winston's story.  I did realize that Schmidt is a know-it-all, talks way too much, and looks down on others.  I guess I have been so distracted by his OCD qualities and sexually unnerving banter to notice this earlier.  In the end, Winston learned that Shelby didn't care that Winston didn't know a bunch of random facts, but Schmidt didn't learn anything.  In fact, he continued to give his opinion about matters no one asked him about while Winston and Shelby were making out.  This may have been the first time I wanted him to shut up (usually the things out of his mouth are gold).

That story paled in comparison to the laugh fest I was treated to with Nick and Jess.  In the beginning, Nick was ridiculed in a cellphone store because his credit score was so low, he became a breathing, walking joke.  I love that that they brought the whole staff out to laugh at him about that.  Although Jess tries to comfort him by suggesting he use his inability to get a phone to add mystery to himself, his friends are not really that sympathetic to his credit problem.  Two of my favorite comments made about Nick's poverty was that he had a credit score of a "homeless ghost" and that he weighed more than his credit score. 

Jess' rocky start with Russel was due not only to her defending her teaching methods (mostly that of "dreamcess") against a parent who complained that his daughter needed tutoring and less creative time, but was also due to the fact that she was playing "Mr. Monogamy" and rambling on about just having had demonstrated the proper way to put on and remove a condom with a cucumber.  We would expect nothing less from Jess.  It reminds me a little of how bad she was at picking up guys at the bar.

Even though I think Jess was stupid to listen to the craziest poor man she knew (aka Nick) and go tell off Russel at his office, it was a good thing that she did.  On a side note, no one wanted to listen to Winston (aka the 3rd smartest guy in the loft) who suggested that she just make a simple apology to Russel to reduce the likelihood she would enrage him enough to withdrawal all his donations to her school.  If she hadn't gone to Russel's office, her car wouldn't have broken down in the street, and Russel wouldn't have been able to show up and offer her his car and an invitation to his cookout.

I had mixed feelings about Jess accepting Russel's help (although if my car was stuck in the middle of the street, I think I would readily take anyone's help) and his invitation.  I mean, they barely knew each other and the first time they met, he was pretty rude.  I would wonder if he had something under his sleeve.  Worse still, she accepted the invitation and brought Nick along.  Really?  Nick?  I was worried he would either make a huge jackass out of himself or piss off Russel without Jess having to do a thing.

Instead, Nick went from scoffing at all the luxury Russel lived in with classic lines such as:

This hallway is excessive.  It's braggy.

To becoming so enamored with Russel's desk that he felt like he could be a CEO or a president.  He also grabbed a wooden duck and felt like he understood hunting for the first time.  It was incredible how Nick went off the deep end (of amazement at a better lifestyle) in such a short while.  By the time Russel came into the room, Nick already had his sweater on and seemed pretty settled in (I think Jess could have easily left him there without him noticing for a day).  When Nick rambled on to explain himself to Russel, it was hilarious that he thought the sweater was for the chair (a chair sweater--how fancy do you think he is?).  I wonder if Russel would have been as nice to let him keep the sweater and give him a new phone if he didn't like Jess as much.  Still, that's a long way to go to date a girl.  I would take more time to figure out if Jess was on the level (she's on her own level, that's for sure) before I tried to win over her friends.

I felt embarrassed for Jess when she had the fiasco in the bathroom with the Japanese bidet, but it was also very familiar to me.  The control panel for the toilet was just like the many ones I saw while in Japan, so I enjoyed the reminder of my previous life.  I'm just glad that none of the toilets I ever used had an automated voice.  Also, what was Jess thinking pressing random buttons and sitting down on a toilet like that?  I would have ran out of there too, acting as stupid as she did.

 The best part of the end of this story was not that Russel asked Jess out properly, nor that she fell into the koi pond, but was that Nick, listening to Russel's instructions that he should only fold his new sweater, rushed to fish Jess out of the water, but never made it there in time because he was too busy folding his sweater as carefully as if it was his most prized possession (it probably for a man who has a credit score like he does).

I also liked that they showed a few clips of Nick playing "boss" or whatever kind of important person he could imagine.  It was like watching a little boy playing in his father's study or something.  Perhaps Nick really will take the things that Russel told him to heart and start to get a little of his life together.  It's like as the episodes go on, you get to see one more thing about Nick that makes you wonder how he gets by.

I'm not too in love with the idea of Jess dating Russel, but I'm curious to see if he can really impress her.  I know that money isn't going to make Jess swoon, but perhaps he can relate to her on some level that no one else has so far.  Or at least, we can enjoy Jess floundering around while she tries to have a normal meal with him (looking forward to that disaster).  If Russel can do any kind good for this show, I would love to see him have a good impression on Nick and challenge him to be the best man he can be.  Perhaps if Nick grows a little as a person, we might see him and Jess get together a little sooner than I'm waiting for.