Entertainment

Where Does 'New Girl' Go From Here?

by Alanna Bennett

Tonight's New Girl was a little bit like watching your favorite little cousin or a kindly but strange neighborhood kid realize that (spoiler alert) Santa Claus does not exist. Most comedies have a character who you'll follow through their naive dreamings — Brittany on Glee, Troy on Community (this scene is still one of our favorites), the list goes on. For New Girl, like with Community, there are multiple characters that can take on this mantle — Nick and Jess both apparently believe horses are from another planet, for example. But it is most definitely Schmidt who takes the cake with this one.

Some back-story we learned in this episode: When Schmidt was a boy devastated by his parent's divorce his mother started comforting him by sending him letters pretending to be former Batman star Michael Keaton. It's a hit with Schmidt, who confides in and receives life advice from "Michael Keaton" through everything big in his life. When Schmidt heads off the college the responsibility of maintaining the Keaton/Schmidt relationship falls to Schmidt. Now that Schmidt is mourning his break-up with Cece and Elizabeth by never leaving the couch, guzzling mayonnaise, and rubbing ham all over his face, Jess takes control of the Keaton story in an attempt to buck the dude up. This obviously goes very badly.

Watching Schmidt realize that his childhood "best friend" was fake was actually surprisingly sad — dude did wrong with Cece and Elizabeth, but he's still our favorite little douchebag in capris. It helped that this "Keaton" was actually an amalgamation of other people in his life, and we all know how much he loves Nick.

Still, Schmidt moved out of the loft — to a smaller loft literally right down the hall. Still, it's an interesting move, and it opens up the question: Where do we go from here?

New Girl is at a big of a crossroads right now, and that's never been truer this season than it was when the credits rolled on this Tuesday's episode. First off, what the hell are they going to do with Hannah Simone's Cece now? It'll be interesting to see if they actually have a plan for the character separate from the long-run Schmidt stuff she's been centered around since the show started.

And then there's the loft. Nick and Jess are still dating and doin' it, but that's bound to blow up in their faces sooner or later. And now they've got an empty room. Does this vacancy mean that the Damon Wayans Jr. return the show's got coming up will be for longer than anticipated? Is Coach coming back for good?

(Please say yes please say yes please say yes)

And just how much chaos do you think Schmidt'll be able to rack up in his very own apartment? And with just how many imported furnishings and sex swings?

Image: Fox