Raina Deerwater ‘16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson in the New Girl episode “Goldmine.” Photo Credit: Adam Taylor/FOX.
Nothing like pretending your ex-boyfriend is gay to get over a breakup, right? At least that’s what New Girl is telling us this week. When Jess (Zooey Deschanel) is ready to third-date get it with stubbly cutie Ian (Michael Stahl-David), she needs to address the subject of living with her ex. While Nick (Jake Johnson) has been using the living with his ex to make girls leave in the morning, Jess wants to be a mature adult about it. Of course, being Jess, she messed that up and tells Ian that Nick is gay.
Meanwhile, Winston (Lamorne Morris) and Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.) debate the long game vs short game with their hot neighbors. All the while, Schmidt (Max Greenfield) has an emotional breakdown over CeCe (Hannah Simone) getting a breast reduction
It’s sort of a classic New Girl plot out of season one, which is the major direction the show is heading this season, which the exception of last weeks episode. It appears to be a bunch of the boys being boys and girls being girls, which is not what the 2014 viewers of New Girl want. This episode does cut a little deeper that this, however, which is good. Damon Wayans Jr., Max Greenfield and Lamorne Morris in the New Girl episode “Goldmine.” Photo Credit: Adam Taylor/FOX.
Schmidt does realize that he does not love CeCe’s boobs for their size, but because they are attached to the most beautiful girl. It’s a nice moment, but again, it is a moment we saw Schmidt go through three years ago. It’s nice to see that he isn’t that shallow, now that the show is pushing Schmidt and CeCe together.
We also have the great season one joke of Schmidt seeming very gay, which he does, as he is Schmidt. When Ian doubts Nick’s homosexuality, Schmidt is there to act as an ex-lover. It’s a completely unintentional move on Schmidts behalf, which makes it all the more funny. It’s probably the best moment in the episode, just because Schmidt is having genuine emotions. They happen to be about CeCe’s boobs, which makes it even funnier, because in the context of the scene, it seems to be about his love of Nick. Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson and Amanda Lund in the New Girl episode “Goldmine.” Photo Credit: Adam Taylor/FOX.
The Winston and Coach plot is a little lacking, which is sad because they are two very underutilized characters and comedically brilliant actors, yet they were not given much to work with. A plot about who can bang the hot girls is just so over done in this show that it seems to waste the large potential of Lamore Morris and Damon Wayans Jr. Additionally, the characters of the girls themselves are not fleshed out at all, which is a mistake that could be easily righted, yet it wasn’t.
Overall it wasn’t a bad episode, it had some good laughs and some sweet moment. It’s just disappointing in comparison to the excellence that happened last week. It showed the potential that New Girl could have in this fourth season, but then it dropped back down to the previous level with “Goldmine.” Sadly, it was not the goldmine it could have been. Overall Episode Grade: B-
