New Girl 5x9 'Heat Wave': Nick's Been Here Before

New Girl 5x8 pines for Jess yet again, while being regrettably conscious that Reagan is in fact NOT Jess.

Reviewed while looping the Captain America trailer. Oh, and this one, too. I CAN'T WAIT OH MY GAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

Let’s just get this out of the way: ‘Heat Wave’ is getting a full mark more than it deserves solely for Outside Dave’s first cameo scene. He is a solid but heavily underappreciated staple of New Girl, and 9 times out of 10 he just nails the punchline of a scene. And he did so again this week. I’ll leave it to you to watch.

On its own, ‘Heat Wave’ is another safe, somewhat stable sans-Jess episode, but the withdrawal is clearly taking hold. Nick and Reagan’s kiss comes a week after Nick declined sex with her because he didn’t want her ‘like this.’ A similar sentiment he gave Jess when they were pressured to hook up in ‘Cooler.’ This kiss comes after a structural fault in the apartment (electrical failure here, a locked door in ‘Cooler’) that forces the two together, to confront their- hmmm- feelings. Shit, the episode is called ‘Heat Wave,’ where everyone is fighting to be… wait for it… COOLER!! The parallels between the two romantic plots are just so distinct, it had to be deliberate. And I’m not sure how I feel about that. Because it's a noble but obvious play to study Nick when Jess isn't around and then compare the results with the Nick/Jess relationship. And it's the writers trying to put the show without Jess to good use for when she returns. Unofrtunately, this leads to recycling plots and themes.

The main issue in the weaker episodes of Zooey Deschanel’s absence is lazy writing. Or fatigued writing, more likely, because the writers are good and professional, but probably getting more lost on what to do. The gag of Winston practicing his ‘cop’ voice went on for too long and was primarily flat, as if they were killing time. Diddo for the gag of him watching people collapse of dehydration on the street. The Schmidt/Cece plot was given with minimal effort and attention, the message being to not sell yourself short, something Cece often does. It’s always been an interesting element in her outwardly confident character, but it’s been retread too much of late.

The writers are trying their best, and there have been sound results at times over the past month. But they know Jess’ absence is starting to really be felt. And this undoubtedly seeped into the flaw of the Nick/Reagan shipping. It’s not bad per se. There are glimmers of sparks here and there (Megan Fox surprisingly does a great rat voice in perhaps the cutest moment on the show in a while), but overall the chemistry just isn’t quite right between the two. Which is largely due to the lack of time they’ve had to grow together relationally. Megan Fox is doing a better job than many are giving her credit for, though she’s arguably the weakest New Girl addition in a while (which probably speaks well to the consistent quality of the show’s guest stars). It’s not her. It’s the concept of borrowed time. Any investment in Nick and Reagan is pyrrhic, because it was always going to be short-lived and Reagan was always going to be unfairly compared to Jess, more than other Nick love interests because she’s given much more time and Megan Fox is a bigger name. Mirroring the climatic build of Nick and Reagan with Nick and Jess in ‘Cooler’ only heightens the differences, the strengths that Jake Johnson and Deschanel have always had looming of the flaws of Johnson and Fox in a much smaller time frame.

The ultimate result is a lack of real connection to the moment when we’re supposed to be cheering the two on, when Reagan gives in and frenches Nick. It’s sort of cute, but it lacks the punch the writers want us to feel. After all, Reagan’s just passing by. The best thing that will likely come from this, and no offense to Reagan’s character or Fox’s performance, is the drama that will result from this when Jess returns. There’s a lot of potential there, and the writers will be awash in material to work with yet again. Reagan may meet Jess, may not. Either way, there will be conflict, and good comedic payoff. But New Girl is just waiting for Jess to get back and trying not to show it, trying to get us hooked on Nick with another big presence. That much is evident, and it diminishes the joy of ‘Heat Wave,’ which did have some great comedic moments at times, and was just lazy at others. A for effort. B- for execution. Thank God that Outside Dave came in and salvaged for the B.

Grade: B-

When I got sidetracked

-I'm officially drafting Outside Dave for my Zombie apcolapypse team. As well as my post-apocalyptic baseball team.

-‘I hope the Chicago Cubs win the World Series while you’re in a coma.’ ‘That’s one of the meanest things anyone has ever said to me.’ Damn, that is COLD!! (Hey, it might just be our year this time!!)

-‘Stop being so whimsical Winston.’ Whimsical Winston. That’s my nickname for him now.

-Let's all just applaud Megan Fox getting a solid role after Michael Bay tried to derail her career. Come on, he did.

-I must give credit to the writers for tying back Jess’ uncanny knack for knowing when a loved interest will come back after storming out to Winston’s failure at the same. He counts down, Cece doesn’t come back. It’s an interesting thread to follow on Winston’s character.

-‘Don’t jump in a pile of leaves. There might be a dead dog in there.’ WOW… that got dark real fast.

-Contrary to Schmidt, I legitimately believe Nick WOULD make a great dad one day.

#review #NewGirl #TV