New Girl, “Teachers” (4.8) - TV Review

New Girl, Season 4, Episode 8, “Teachers”

Tuesday, November 18, 9pm, FOX

Nick is teaching Schmidt how to do laundry, and Winston how to use a ruler?! This was a relatively strong episode of New Girl, where the writers are revealing character via a tried but true “guys weekend,” as Jess and Coach attend a teacher’s conference. I have a bit of a hard time believing neat freak Schmidt would not know how to do laundry, but some of the best moments of the episode was watching the physical comedy of Greenfield in the fat suit (always good for a laugh), and attempting to use the machine. I also had a hard time with Nick’s admission that he didn’t know how to love. Sure Johnson’s delivery was on point, but are the writers really just pretending that he never loved Jess, or that they never dated? I’ll take guys night with sangria in a fort though.

Onto Jess’ plot-line tonight. She and Coach get to spend some quality time at a teacher’s conference this week, where a very welcome cameo by Lisa Bonet, as “the guru,” scares Coach into doubting his abilities, and brings Jess closer
to the forbidden fruit that is the angelic, and beautiful Ryan. I’m so very glad that they have, a) given Jess a new love interest, and b) an interest that takes her out of her comfort level. It’s always great to see Wayans exercise his genetically handed down comedic timing, as he gets an “Almost Famous” moment, drunk on the roof of the pool, and later when he demands a puke bucket.

New Girl keeps chugging along, it’s still not what it once was for me, but it’s finding it’s footing with its characters’ evolutions.

[The Round-up]

• “No porns have teachers!” “Every porn has teachers.”
• “I wanna french braid those girl’s hair.”
• “She looks like one of those ladies that convinces you into having a baby in a tub.”
• “Did you learn nothing from the movie Elizabeth, you stupid bitch?!”
• “I can’t say the alphabet unless I’m singing the song and I never learned how to love”… “That’s heavy..”