New Girl, “Julie Berkman’s Older Sister”, (4.3) - TV Review

New Girl, Season 4, Episode 3, “Julie Berkman’s Older Sister”

September 30, 2014 8:30pm, Fox

Any New Girl episode that brings back Rob Reiner, is going to be a season highlight for me, no matter what. Especially when Bob (Reiner) sings one-hit wonder Tal Bachman’s, “She’s So High” in ear-piercing falsetto to Kaitlin Olsen from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

The major plot-line this week finally brings Reiner and Deschanel together with a fully emotional story-line. Bob, wants Jess to meet his new girlfriend. Jess’s track record of meddling in her parents affairs has already been proven dicey and messy in “Parents,” Cece begins speculating immediately with Jess what his new girlfriend will be like. Jess doesn’t think her father can take care of himself, or make good choices when it comes to women. Being a child who has to witness their parents date other people can be a difficult thing for some. When Bob comes to the door with a girl they went to high-school with (played by the always fantastic Kaitlin Olsen) Jess and Cece stare dumbfounded at this much younger woman, who turns out was called “Trashley” and viewed as the high-school slut. Yes she had a sex addiction, yes, she had to go to rehab four times before it stuck, but she’s a new woman and Bob loves her. Jess cannot accept this and her hijinx immediately sabotage their relationship. It leads to a very sweet moment with Reiner and her in the car together, the revelation that she’s not needed to take care of him, he can make his own decisions, gives Jess pause. It also brings to light her relationship with Nick a bit. She wanted to change Nick, and take care of him, and the writers really brought home the idea that Bob and Nick were alike in almost every way. She schemes with her father to get Ashley back, including one of the best lines of the night, when they barge in to Ashley packing her stuff, with a man who turns out to be her sponsor “he’s not a stranger, he’s a sex addict!” after Jess is hit by racing cyclists (which is a hilariously accurate portrayal. I did a 50km bike ride for charity, and the ones taking it too seriously caused some serious bloodshed), she presents Bob’s engagement ring to Ashley, in a sweet, sort of bloody and bruised moment

​The secondary plot this week revolves around Schmidt and his desperate attempt to win an account at work. Sponges for men. Cleaning sponges, for men. After calling Nick a “pig person”, which he is, his half of the room is disgusting; Schmidt convinces his boss to give him a shot on the account, telling her just how much men love cleaning. This leads him to round-up Coach, Winston and Nick, begging them to be a part of his focus group, read from his cue-cards and pretend to be someone they’re not. One plot-hole, and correct me if I’m wrong, but, didn’t Schmidt’s boss already meet the guys at his work Christmas party? I digress. The three of them naturally botch the session up, and when she takes the account away from Schmidt, Nick comes to his rescue. This plot had a lot of similarities to Winston’s work dilemma last week, but it was great to see a Schmidt story line that didn’t involve Cece. Also, can we talk about that commercial playing in the credits at the end? This is very un-New-Girl-like, but I really enjoyed the absurdity of it. Also, Winston’s idea for copy made it to the final cut “spongey-make-wipe-y”.

The Roundup

• Kaitlin Olsen’s round-up of sexual deviancy slayed me. I can’t wait for the wedding episode.
• Very subtly, they introduced a possible new love interest for Nick. The writers this season really have reset the story line.
• Max Greenfield is so beyond confident with his character now, his over-the-top performances and enunciation’s are killing me every time.
• “What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word ‘sponge'” - everyone, repeatedly “sponge”. Schmidt “men are idiots”.