'New Girl' Review/Recap: "Landline"

Raina Deerwater ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Things are finally heating up romance-wise in New Girl. The show has always been ridden with various attractive individuals dating one of the roommates for about three episodes, then taking off. Hopefully with the new Coolidge Science teacher Ryan Geauxinue (Julian Morris), we have another one of these very handsome boyfriends for Jess (Zooey Deschanel.) Yes, his last name is pronounced “goes-in-you”, and he’s British. Seems like a catch.
Ryan comes into the picture when Jess has to enforce fraternization rules among the staff at Coolidge because Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.) is having a little too much fun with the school nurse. Of course, this is the moment where the cute British teacher shows up and makes Jess all sorts of flustered.
Not much substance coms form this plot, but it shows that New Girl is jumping right into Jess dating other people after Nick (Jake Johnson). It’s interesting to see what will become of Jess and Ryan, if it becomes more than just a workplace romance. Will Jess living with her ex-boyfriend effect their potential relationship? Will Nick become increasingly angry and jealous? These questions remain unanswered, as season four so far has barely acknowledged the fact that Nick and Jess dated for a year, and that there was more than a year of build up involved in that. Hopefully, if Ryan and Jess do become a major item, New Girl will address its past.

Speaking of the past, the loft gets a landline phone in this episode, due to a cell service mishap in the building. Since Nick is the only one who doesn’t work during the day, he ends up playing secretary for Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Winston (Lamorne Morris). Nick has been wanting to connect with his roommates more, so this gives him an opportunity to learn more about their lives. Unfortunately, since this is Nick Miller, he ends up messing up Winston and Schmidt’s personal affairs, so they replace him with an answering machine.
It’s nice to see a plot between just Nick, Winston and Schmidt again. The three of them have always had good comedic chemistry since the early days on season one, and it’s fun to see that back in full force. It’s also an excellent use of Lamore Morris’s humor, as Winston possess’ the trait of being smooth as all heck when talking on the phone. The image of Winston sprawled out on a coach, smooth talking into the phone while Schmidt and Nick tell him what to say is beautiful.
All in all, it was an episode that brought the laughs, and told a compelling story. Once again, it did feel a little out of the past, but it is definitely a step up from last weeks “Micro.” New Girl is still in the process of getting its groove back this season, so hopefully with a lounging Winston and a cute new guy, that groove will come out of this season.
Overall Episode Grade: B