New Girl, arguably the best new comedy of the past year, ended its season this week, not with a bang or a whimper but with a tenderhearted episode focusing not only on comedy but also on the bonds of friendship that these roommates share. It’s moving out day for Nick, and Jess seems to be the only person that cares that he is leaving them for good. They pack up the moving truck, and Schmidt and Winston go along for the ride to help Nick move in. However, instead of stopping as his apartment complex, Nick has a total meltdown and keeps driving. He’s suddenly completely freaking out about moving in with Caroline and doesn’t stop driving until he hits the desert. When Schmidt and Winston politely ask Nick to get over himself and drive back, Nick chucks his keys into the depths of the desert.
They call Jess and Cece to come pick them up, but when Jess sees an opportunity to find out why Nick is freaking out, she throws her own keys into the desert. The five of them are forced to camp out overnight and try to find their keys in the morning. This might have been the most convenient campsite in the history of the world. They not only had endless furniture and clothes, but they had a bed, blankets and all sorts of amenities in the moving truck. They are having an amazing time, reminiscing and listening to music, until Nick realizes what they are doing. They are trying to show him how much he would be missing if he left all of them. He decides to go out into the night and look for his keys, and Jess follows him. As they are searching for the keys, they are interrupted by non other than a coyote. After a few moments of freaking out and Jess trying to make roadrunner sounds, they have a pretty emotional heart-to-heart. The amount of times I have wanted these two crazy kids to hook up has been numerous this season, but nothing quite beat the moment that these two had in the desert. Jess says that if Caroline makes him happy he should move in with her. Nick (rightfully) replies that Jess needs him too much, to which she responds that she would be okay because she got to know him and that was enough (swoon). Then, instead of making out, Jess pretends to be a coyote and scares him away. Although I wanted them to get together oh so badly, it’s a testament that this show created a heartfelt moment without needing to make it physical.
The coyote wasn’t the only wild creature in last night’s finale. Schmidt starts feeling really insecure about his relationship with Cece, so he decides to “White Fang” her. Essentially, he feels that she is too much a wild animal for him and in order for her to be happy and free, he needs to let her go into the wild. Cece sees right through this (because White Fang is his favorite book), but she is still appalled that he is trying to push her away. Although their blossoming relationship has wilted slightly, I’m sure things will be patched up next season (hopefully).
The next morning, we discover that Jess actually had the keys all along. She pretends to find them and they drive back home to move Nick into his apartment. They say a tender goodbye to Nick and drive off back to the apartment. What I forgot to say so far is that they found a replacement roommate for Nick, but he’s literally the weirdest human on earth, uses a fax machine, and barely deserves a sentence because he’s not Nick. Everyone is sadly sitting in their own rooms, privately mourning Nick’s loss, when they hear the familiar tune of Nick’s music coming from his room. Jess comes out of her room, looks across the hall at Nick and says,“Welcome back, you clown.” This anti-climactic beautiful moment is followed by one of the best dance montages of all time as all the roommates (minus Winston trying to sleep) throw themselves a personal dance party in their room. I could not have thought of a better way to end this amazing season.
Best Quotes:
“When Nick leaves, I’m going to call a plumber and just throw cash at him…fitties and hunnids, hunnids, hunnids….” – Schmidt
“It’s time to make this horse into a unicorn” – Schimidt, so excited to get his penis back.
“I’m worried about Schmidt. He’s a Jew in the desert. I don’t want him to wander” – Winston