In "Virgins," we learned that everyone's first time having sex sucked... well, unless it involved a certain rock icon. It was a fun episode that gave me the giggles (and what a perfectly handled way to address Jess and Nick's first time), though I'm still having a really hard time buying that Stiles from Teen Wolf went to high school with Zooey Deschanel. Dylan O'Brien's got a little baby face (and according to the internet there's more than a decade between them in real life), so I was kind of glad they didn't end up having sex because it just would have seemed inappropriate. Aside from that, and the fact that we're living in terror of The Archduke, we'd say this episode was more successful than a night with Mysteria and Octopussy.

Tags: new girl, new girl file, new girl virgins

"Chicago" was such an off episode of this show, partly because it dealt with the death of a character we only met once, but mostly because it wasn't funny. Sitcoms can certainly deal with dead people -- look at the legendary "Chuckles Bites the Dust" episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show as a prime example -- but this just seemed like it was desperately trying hard to be funny and failed almost entirely (some of the Schmidt mortality stuff was amusing). It's a shame because it had the makings of good stuff, what with Margo Martindale and Nick Kroll cast as Nick's mom and brother. But the thing that gave the whole thing an air of weirdness was the unacknowledged elephant in the room of Nick and Jess (he introduces her to his mom as "my new roommate"). Sure, Nick's brother and his insinuating eyebrows made some comments about them sleeping together, but aside from that, it was hard to tell if this episode even took place after the fish-tank-breaking-make-out session, or if this episode was meant to air earlier. It felt like this death of a con man episode existed in this own little bubble, or alternate reality. Maybe the gang should stay out of Chicago for a while.

Tags: new girl, new girl file

We've been so focused on the Nick/Jess relationship lately that we've forgotten the equally important relationship between Schmidt and Nick. Thankfully, Schmidt rectified that in "Tinfinity" with his celebration of their tenth anniversary of living together and threw one hell of a party. We only wish we'd had a chance to see more of the Paper and Wood parties as well. Our major quibbles with the episode involved the way they made Jax such an annoying weepy mess and the lack of Winston in general (yes, we sound like a broken record... for those people who even remember what records are). They could have done the Jax thing in a less over-the-top way and it would have been fine. And we'd say mazel tov to Cece and Shivrang, but we know that would break Schmidt to pieces.

Tags: new girl, new girl file

If I were grading this episode by numbers, I'd have to take off major points for every time someone used the word "nailed" (or any form thereof) to talk about sex acts. Nailing someone's mouth in particular rubbed me the wrong way. It got to the point by the end of "Parking Spot" that I was physically cringing whenever it happened. And I didn't love that Winston was again separated with his own subplot that started out entertaining and then waned, but I do appreciate the way they are dealing with the Nick/Jess stuff, and some of the random callbacks to previous episodes (Coach!), so if there is a TV curve, this would probably get bumped up to a solid "A" after seeing Kat Dennings play with marionettes and Andy Dick on 2 Broke Girls.

Tags: new girl, new girl file

"A Father's Love" just felt like an off episode after some great outings. Not to totally fault Dennis Farina as Nick's cantankerous con man father, because he seems like perfect casting to play one of Nick's parental units, but he does bring a certain gravitas to the otherwise light and frothy show. So the episode went for more of an emotional take, instead of stupid comedy, which isn't an entirely bad thing if the B plot is up to snuff but, well, it wasn't. The crazy win-back-Cece capers with Schmidt and Robbie were fun for a second, but their act quickly wore thin. If not for Schmidt's muttered threats on Robbie's life, we'd have tuned out entirely. Still, there were a few redeemable moments, though we'd probably never play Feel the Cup with these people.

Tags: new girl, new girl file

It's time for Christmas on New Girl and given that the title is "Santa," I was sort of expecting a reappearance of Schmidt's sexy Santa. While I was disappointed not to see that, the rest of the episode was pretty solid and even most of the plotlines that seemed stupid and cliché (believing in Santa, not dealing well with a stripper girlfriend) all played out well in the end. Maybe I'm overcome by the Christmas (er, White-Anglo-Saxon-Winter-Privilege Night) spirit, or the fact that there aren't any more installments until the new year, but I really enjoyed this episode.

Tags: new girl, new girl file

"Cabin" was such a bittersweet episode. On the one hand, it was pretty entertaining, had some pseudo-touching friendship and relationship moments and even managed to give Winston something to do. On the other hand, it seems to be the end of Olivia Munn's arc. Can we pray for the return of Angie in Season 3? I know everyone wants Nick and Jess together, but watching him uncomfortably ride on the back of her motorcycle and try to shoot guns was just a good time. Much better than scardey-cat Nick who is trying to prove he's a brave boy. Anyway, here's why we liked trekking with these friends to the cabin in the woods and to the 'hood.

Tags: new girl, new girl file

While I hated having to hear anything more about Jess and her ovulation cycle, "Eggs" was probably one of the most all-around funny episodes of this show in a long time. In fact, there are only a handful of things on the Don'ts list this week, though I still really wonder why we haven't seen more of lesbian couple Melissa and Sadie if they are such good friends with Jess. Still, Nick's zombie novel came to fruition and Winston actually had a purpose, so I'm pretty happy about that.

Tags: new girl, new girl file, new girl review