Starring
Zooey Deschanel (Bridge to Terabithia)
Jake Johnson (Jurrasic World)
Max Greenfield (Veronica Mars)
Lamorne Morris (Game Night)
Hannah Simone (Oldboy)
RECURRING / NOTABLE GUEST CAST
Anna George (The Lovely Bones)
Rob Riggle (21 Jump Street)
Nelson Franklin (Scott Pilgrim vs The World)
Nasim Pedrad (Scream Queens)
Taran Killam (12 Years A Slave)
Julie Hagerty (Airplane)
Fred Melamed (A Serious Man)
Henry Winkler (Happy Days)
John Cho (Sleepy Hollow)
Curtis Armstrong (American Dad)
Tony Amendola (Annabelle Creation)
Fred Armisen (Anchorman)
Kiersey Clemons (Dope)
Ally Maki (Cloak & Dagger)
Megan Fox (Transformers)
Clea DuVall (Better Call Saul)
Elizabeth Berkley (Showgirls)
Bill Burr (Zombeavers)
Peter Gallagher (American Beauty)
Lucy Punch (Bad Teacher)
Gillian Vigman (The Hangover)
David Walton (Bad Moms)
Busy Philipps (Made of Honor)
Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery)
Kal Penn (House)
Damon Wayans Jr. (Let’s Be Cops)
Nora Dunn (Bones)
Kim Wayans (Pariah)
Meaghan Rath (Being Human)
The laughs continue as one of television’s wittiest comedies returns for a hilarious fifth season–and it’s landmark 100th episode. Although Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and Nick (Jake Johnson) remain broken up, Schmidt and Cece (Max Greenfield and Hannah Simone) are headed down the aisle. Disaster arrives when the loft becomes an Airbnb, Schmidt’s bachelor party hits the road and Cece’s judgmental mum shows up. Meanwhile, Jess lands a fantastic teaching gig, only to learn her boss is dating her ex and Winston (Lamorne Morris) gets a great new girlfriend – or does he?
Episode Highlights Include
Big Mama P
Schmidt and Cece give the honor of best man and maid of honor to Nick and Jess, respectively. Jess plans an elaborate engagement party for the couple, with the intent of surprising Cece with a visit from her mother, Priyanka (Anna George). Nick is given the responsibility of picking up Cece’s mother from the airport, but picks up the wrong woman. After saving a boy’s life from under the weight of a car, Winston becomes tired of being labeled as a hero instead of being known for his pranking side.
Jury Duty
Jess is thrilled when she is called for jury duty, but an opportunity to be acting principal presents itself with her now wanting to get out of jury duty. Nick and Cece’s constant bickering about the apartment rules puts Schmidt between them.
No Girl
With Jess sequestered at jury duty, Nick turns the loft into an air b-n-b in order to help pay for Schmidt’s upcoming bachelor party. Meanwhile, Winston asks Cece for help when he suspects KC is cheating on him in the all-new.
Reagan
Wig
Goosebumps Walkaway
Jess returns from jury duty and attempts to uncover the real identity of a juror sequestered with her. Meanwhile, Reagan prepares to move out of the loft and out of Nick’s life, and Winston and Cece help Schmidt get over his fear of public dancing.
D-Day
After Cece receives an exciting new job offer, Jess agrees to help Schmidt with the wedding preparations, but things don’t go as planned when Schmidt’s dad, Gavin, appears. Meanwhile, Winston and Nick get into a competition over whose job is harder.
Sam, Again
Jess applies for a job at a progressive new school, but things take a turn when she finds out the principal is dating her ex-boyfriend, Sam. Meanwhile, Nick gets a cold and Schmidt quarantines the roommates to prevent himself from getting sick before his big presentation.
300 Feet
Road Trip
Dress
Landing Gear
Romantic relationships remain the primary concerns of Jess, her four dude roommates, and her best friend Cece (Hannah Simone). In season three, Jess and her cute slacker roomie Nick (Jake Johnson) made good on the will-they-or-won’t-they? dynamic teased in the previous seasons and are already peaceably broken up at this point. (The episode “Goldmine” nicely addresses the difficulty of getting people not to bail on dates with each of them after learning that they live in the same apartment as their ex.) At work, Jess has made it up the ranks from schoolteacher to vice principal, which is all well and good until she gets a crush on a new British teacher (Pretty Little Liars’ Julian Morris) with the saucy name Ryan Geauxinue (pronounced “Goes-In-You”); unfortunately for Jess, administrator-teacher couplings are a no-no, so she tries to ignore the hunk. (That doesn’t happen.) Nick finds Kai (Greta Lee), a lady who likes to lay about the apartment as much as himself; rookie cop Winston (Lamorne Morris) “investigates” her behavior for his roommate and decides she must be homeless. (She’s not.)
The show’s other key couple, former-model-turned-inept-bartender Cece (Hannah Simone) and metrosexual would-be player Schmidt (Max Greenfield), continue their pas de deux; Schmidt starts off the season overwhelmingly obsessed with Cece while she just wants to move on. As the season continues, Schmidt cools it a bit and finds a way to be Cece’s friend… which, of course, just makes her remember why she liked him in the first place. Unfortunately, by this point, Schmidt has started up with manipulative, career-driven city councilwoman Fawn Moscato (Zoe Lister-Jones). Fawn’s power excites Schmidty, but is this duo built to last?
Wayans was a “recurring” cast member in season 3, but he’s a full-fledged co-star in season four. His presence in the show — besides demonstrating that non-“niche” sitcom ensembles can have more than one black dude in them — is wonderfully layered with jock-y braggadocio, hidden tenderness, and amiable goofiness. Coach also reacts to relationship strife in the most entertaining ways possible, whether it’s emotionally breaking down as he tries to describe fertilization in a health class he’s teaching or attracting a bar full of ladies to grind up against him to the strains of Alannah Myles’s “Black Velvet.”
That just leaves Winston, who occasionally takes a break from studying for his police exam and from being in love with his cat to try to woo a human lady. I have to admit that Winston’s decision to become a cop just keeps reminding me of the later seasons of That ’70s Show, where Kelso’s decision to join the police academy also felt fairly arbitrary and strange. This is addressed in a subplot in the episode “Par 5,” which was actually co-written by Lamorne Morris, in which the character feels forced to hide his profession when he starts dating a woman who actively protests the LAPD. This episode tries to add a little nuance and depth to Winston’s choice to be a policeman.
For a show with so many semi-arrested characters, gaining maturity and finding worthwhile career paths are unsurprisingly also an ongoing component of the show. Jess and Winston, of course, seem like they’re right where they want to be career-wise with the vice principal and police gigs respectively. Nick continues to flounder professionally, but eventually teams up with Schmidt to start their own entrepreneurial concern, and while their first concept — a suit made out of sweatsuit material — is a dud, the show seems optimistic about them finding fulfillment in working together. Cece finally goes to college, with some financial help from Coach and Winston, who consider it an investment that they expect to see repaid. When they find out Cece uses the opportunity to take somewhat esoteric liberal arts courses, the fellas are duly perturbed.
Once again, the show opens its doors to a number of excellent guest stars, including It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Kaitlin Olson as Jess’s former classmate and potential stepmom (Rob Reiner and Jamie Lee Curtis return as Jess’s divorced parents), Jessica Biel as a romantic rival for Jess, Billy Eichner as a stressed-out, catty airport employee on Christmas, Childrens Hospital’s Erinn Hayes as a promiscuous school nurse, Lisa Bonet as the touchy-feely leader of a teachers conference, Nora Dunn as Schmidt’s overbearing mother, and on and on. Justin Long. Josh Gad. Michaela Watkins. Barry Bostwick. Sarah Burns. Kurt Braunohler. Regis Philbin. Funny people! The ensemble cast truly shines in this newest season of New Girl. Some episodes come in a little below expectations, but overall the season offers some interesting developments for the characters and oodles of great jokes. If you like the show, keep liking the show.