New Girl, Season 2, Episode 18: “Tinfinity”

Written by Kim Rosenstock & Josh Malmuth

Directed by Max Winkler

Airs on Tuesdays at 9pm on FOX

New Girl is back on top form this week after last week’s disappointing episode.

This episode focuses on Nick and Schmidt’s friendship as Schmidt throws an extravagant party to celebrate being roommates for ten years. This is a welcome change to all the romance that is dominating the show at the moment; Nick and Jess are great but placing the tension somewhere outside of the loft works better.

Nick and Schmidt are complete opposites and sometimes the audience can’t help but wonder why they are even friends, “Tinfinity” is here to remind us. Hilarity is provided through goofy college flashbacks of the pair as well as the honesty and emotion that are put on display when the best friends share a moment alone. This heartfelt episode is touching, funny, and refreshing as the audience get to see that Nick and Schmidt still share a strong bond.

Despite being satisfied with minimal focus on romance, it needs to be said that the scene where Cece accepts Shivrang’s (Satya Bhabha) proposal in front of Schmidt is one of the best scenes of this season. Max Greenfield is on top form here as we see pure heartbreak and loss across Schmidt’s face. New Girl often doesn’t seem established enough for strong, emotional character moments but this scene is definitely a game changer.

Following last week’s Jess and Nick wierdness, it’s more Jess that is freaking out this week. To our surprise Nick is acting somewhat cool, whereas Jess cannot stop focusing on his mouth and makes it her mission to get another “mouth to erase [his] mouth”. Jess’ attempt to move on from her kiss with Nick is funny at first but ends in ridiculous fashion and not in the usual, funny New Girl way. The scene of Jax’s (Steve Howey) proclamation of love is ludicrously unrealistic and not much fun to watch either but Zooey Deschanel really does nail her reaction shots. Overall, the right amount of attention is paid to the Nick/Jess saga, moving it further along, if only slightly, without taking away from Nick and Schmidt’s moment.

Despite the lack of material for Winston, this is another solid episode and really makes up for last week.

Tara Costello



