Meriwether: [Laughs] I didn’t know that!

We’re learning so much about each other!

Feeney: That’s where that came from.

Meriwether: I would say that it’s very hard to set your friends up, but I think in some cases your friends can do things that you wouldn’t have the guts to do, which I think is what Coach does in this episode. I think he knows that Jess really does want to date Ryan, and so he’s brave enough to do it in a way to push her to follow her heart. Usually, setting your friends up on dates is tough, but it can also sometimes lead to friendships? You know what? Now that I’m thinking about it, Thanksgiving is all about different people meeting each other, right? [Laughs] The Native Americans and the Pilgrims. It’s all about coming together with people you wouldn’t normally talk to, strangers. So I really feel like this episode gets to the essence of the holiday.

Jess (Zooey Deschanel) trying not to seduce her colleague. Credit: Fox

I think at this point in the series the characters are all in their 30s, and it gave some insight into what it’s like being single in your 30s, especially around the holidays. Was that something you considered in the planning of the episode, or just happen organically?

Meriwether: I feel like the whole first part of that season was just about dating in your 30s and how you have to take more risks than you normally would. By risks I mean open up your field. Open up who you’re looking for, a little bit. I think in your 20s everything can be organic, and it’s just like people hanging out and that’s how you meet people. But I feel like in your 30s, you end up going on blind dates, you end up getting set up, you end up on the internet, doing all those things. I think this goes to that. I had some experience with being single in my 30s so that was probably some of what had happened with me. Feeney has never been single in his life, so I don’t know.

Feeney: That’s kind of true. But what was good about the way that Liz did frame the season at the beginning was that there’s a big wedding at the beginning of the season. Because that’s what’s happening in your early 30s as well, right? People start getting married off. That pressure is there. Even if friends aren’t putting pressure, that pressure is kind of there. People start getting married and then it’s like, wait a minute, should I be getting married? I need to get on this.