New Girl 1x09: The 23rd

Original Air Date: 13 December 2011

Storyline: The gang attends Schmidt's holiday office party before everyone leaves town for the holidays. Jess frets when she receives an expensive gift from Paul and reconsiders her feelings for him.

Best Quote:

Kim: Does that mean no more sexy Easter bunny?
Schmidt: No sexy Easter bunny.
Kim: What about cinco de Sexy?
Schmidt: No cinco de Sexy.
Kim: And no sexy Martin Luther King?
Schmidt: I can never get the voice. I never felt I had the authority.

Review: I am going to get past the fact that this was a Christmas-themed episode for the simple fact that this is a new show and, like every other new show, it needs to have a Thanksgiving (bleah!), a Christmas and a Valentines Day installment in its first season. I'll just mention the cliche of it and move forward, because I could spend hours talking about how much I hate holiday-themed episodes.

Unfortunately, adding to that was the almost complete lack of adorkableness and douchyness, so the fun factor was seriously reduced by at least 50%. Nevertheless, there are a lot of other things that are starting to work like a well-oiled machine, one of those being the chemistry between the cast members (including - surprisingly - Lamorne Morris). The characters are completing each other really well and that's like air for a budding TV show. 
The episode - focused on Christmas - profited greatly from Zooey's amazing voice singing one of the carols from the latest She & Him album and managed to integrate Jess' quirks as well as some Schmidt humor to bring a good mix of comedy and feeling, around the lines one would expect from a holiday installment. It may not have been the funniest episode, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Unfortunately, it also meant the send-off of Justin Long's Paul, Jess' male counterpart. Although I knew he would have a very short arc, I will still miss him. I wish the showrunners kept him longer, as I - as opposed to Jess - was pretty much falling for the guy already. 
On the good side, we saw a side of Schmidt's we haven't seen before - the one where he actually has enough balls to tell his boss he won't be Sexy Santa anymore (or Sexy Easter Bunny, or Cinco de Sexy, or Sexy Martin Luther King, for that matter). That's a first, New Girl's reigning D-bag saying no to showing off his sculpted abs. Does this mean he's growing up? Let's hope not, we wouldn't want another 2011 Barney Stinson, do we?
Some other highlights: Nick breaking it to Paul and being stuck on the balcony during the breakup. Winston's newly-found babysitter skills (is he finally going to get a job?). Schmidt's gift to Cece and his "I hope you appreciate that I have kept eye contact with you the whole time and have made to reference to the fact that you are basically naked." The final scene, which reminded me of the joy I always felt as a kid when the Christmas lights were being lit in my home town. New Girl 1x08: Bad in Bed Back to Season 1