New Girl

New Girl

Episode 7: Bells

By: Carlos Uribe

New Girl is a show about a girl who moves into an apartment with three guys.

Spoilers Ahoy!

This episode, Jess is in charge of a teenage bell group. The bell group isn't very good, and the episode isn't about them becoming the best bell group of all time. The episode is actually about Winston. After Winston is revealed to have a talent for playing bells, Jess convinces him to join the group to motivate the kids. Winston tries to make the bell group about being the best. He wants to win, he has to win. There is no competition, there is nothing for him to win. He simply has a drive to be the very best-even when no-one is competing with him. It's in his nature, and frankly that's all we know about the character. I like Winston, I think he's funny, but he's not the roommate that we have gotten to know the most about.

His need to be the best at playing bells completely consumes him. He becomes to committed to being in the best group, that it actually gets him fired from his temporary job. He predictably becomes mean to the kids and starts driving them away, so he gets kicked out of the group. He is left with nothing, not a job nor being in the group. At the end of the episode he realizes it was never about being the best. It wasn't even about being good or decent. It was about the kids, to show them a good time and to not give up on them. It was about showing the kids that someone isn't giving up on them and to give them a positive role model. At the end of the episode, he is able to do just that. He knows their not going to be any good-but he accepts it. It's all very funny, but I wish that the first episode to be about Winston showed something new about his character.

The sub-plot of the episode was left to Nick and Schmidt. It turns out that rather than hiring people to fix things, Nick likes to do it himself with some home-made remedies. This annoys Schmidt since he wants everything to be formally fixed. This leads to a large argument between Nick and Schmidt over their different point of lives: Schmidt has money and likes to use it, while Nick instead prefers to solve problems on his own without money. This fight is taken too far by both of the characters. A fight that is made worse because they live with eachother, and they live with other people. Jess is often seen having to deal with their “way” even though she's not involved in it. Their fighting is simply causing problem for everyone living there.

It was interesting when you consider why they fought. Schmidt simply wants to pay to fix things, and he's generally someone who places values on objects. Nick, on the other hand, believes that money doesn't fix everything, and that he doesn't need money. The two of them are right and wrong at the same time. It's acceptable that Schmidt would want objects to be formally fixed, even to pay someone to fix them. Nick makes a point that one can be self-reliant and not give some material as much value (for instance, conditioner). The show doesn't ask you to take sides, but merely to watch their little fight evolve.

It was overall a pretty funny episode. The problem is that Winston continues to be more underdeveloped then both roommates, and he feels like the only main character that doesn't really feel human. If the show could start to explore his character a bit more, then it would definably be able to benefit more. The show brings up that winning is a major part of who he is: but what about the other parts?