New Girl 1x12: The Landlord

Original Air Date: 7 February 2012

Storyline: Against Nick's wishes, Jess makes it her mission to get the loft's cantankerous landlord to like her. In doing so, she inadvertently jeopardizes their living situation and the guys are forced to admit they've made some "unofficial" changes to the apartment. Meanwhile Schmidt tries to decipher what he thinks are mixed signals from his boss Kim.Trivia: The landlord mistakenly calls Nick "Brad." Damon Wayans Jr., who played Coach in the pilot, plays a character named Brad in Happy Endings.Best Quote:

Schmidt: (about his New Year's resolutions) I was very young. And drunk.
Winston: Were you too drunk to (reading) "begin the search for the cocoon that will one day release your butterfly"?
Cece: No, it does not say that one!
Nick: That's number three!
Schmidt: Why are you doing this to me?
Winston: Maybe I just got bored painting your interplanetary ass dojo. This is my favorite: "find out where Winston gets his sparkle, and then steal it." 


The Douche Factor: My boss and I, we're running a Pre-Sex Marathon right now, and I feel like we're stuck in mile 25. I'm cramping, Cece, my toenails are falling off, I'm peeing down my leg, it's like I can see the finish line, but I just can't get there.

Review: Is Nick ever going to stop making that turtle face? I love turtles, I have one myself, I'm just not looking forward to seeing a human being making that face.

This episode seems to be addressed to those who think Zooey Deschanel (and Jess) is going overboard with her belief that the world is made up of rainbows and unicorns. It brings up the question of whether one should blindly trust everyone or should immediately distrust each and every person on this planet because "people stink". So, on which side are you? Jess' or Nick's? Personally I'm somewhere in between, but leaning more and more towards Nick's view of things, as time goes by.
So, in a nutshell, Jess tries to prove Nick wrong about his general distrust about people by bringing Remy - the building's grumpy, smelly and weird landlord - into their lives. There's no way he would have ulterior motives for wanting to fix the malfunctioning stuff from the loft, would he? But then again, it doesn't happen every day that a sweet girl who rocks polka dots wants to bake him cupcakes and heal his broken divorcee heart.
I found the development of the story a bit of a stretch - how to you go from fixing things in a loft to thinking the inhabitants wanted to have a ménage a trois with you?, but episode brought some funny moments that made me love the idea of a Nick&Jess in the future even more. My favorite moment of the week was probably Nick explaining to Jess why a guy would want to show a girl how to do something by standing right behind her. It reminded me of high-school and how the guys would teach us gals how to shoot pool.
But the best part of the episode was - as always, I'd say - Schimdt. His secondary arc made me laugh from start to finish and how can you not do that when he brings his douchyness to an art level? For all of you who enjoy Max Greenfield's character and his hilarious outbreaks, it's enough to pay attention to the 2 minutes where Winston recites his 2007 New Year's resolutions. "Just pick a color of Crocs and buy them already!"
Personally, I can hardly wait for next week's installment - albeit a Valentine's one - because of the True Blood reunion that brings together Lizzy Caplan and hunk Ryan Kwanten. That should be a blast!
New Girl 1x11: Jess and JuliaBack to Season 1