New Girl

New Girl

Episode 22: Bachelorette Party

By: Carlos Uribe

New Girl is a show about Jess and her three best friends (Winston, Nick, and Schmidt)

Spoilers Ahoy!

It is common for girls to dream about their wedding. They'll talk about how the ceremony will be beautiful, the delicious food, the great music, and the perfect man. There is no doubt that Jess has planned every second of her wedding. She's not the one getting married. She doesn't even know what she is with her roommate as their arc sadly goes into the background this week. It is her best friend, Cece, who is planning to have her wedding in three weeks. This doesn't seem like it would be enough time for Cece to get her dream wedding but it turns out that she never really wanted one. When Cece was just a kid, she wanted the dirtiest bachelorette party of all time. Jess decides to give her the party that she's always wanted but Cece can't enjoy it. This is because Cece is trying to be more traditional and conservative than who she really is. It's a lot of pressure into any serious relationship to have the family approve of you. After all, a marriage isn't just between two people but their respective families as well. This would be true in any couple but it's more-so for Cece and her fiance. Their engagement is arranged meaning that there's more emphasis on family than if the marriage was based on love. They come from a culture where views on family are old-fashioned. It makes sense that Cece would want to downplay her party girl persona so that the family she's trying to marry into will accept her into the fold. So the biggest obstacle to Cece having a good time at her party is the aunt of the man she's marrying. This aunt happens to tag along to the party because she wanted to get to know Cece's friends better. This doesn't stop the party from happening but it does give us hilarious scenes of Cece trying to stop all the dirty bits. This might have been the party that Cece has always wanted but she's trying to change herself into a person who doesn't want it.

While Jess throws the party, she has Nick and Winston take her fiance out to the bar to keep him distracted. They get their own little plot when Jess wants to get a picture of the fiance's penis because Cece hasn't seen it and it's partly freaking her out. It's a funny plot. There was a third plot with Schmidt. He's not happy when he doesn't get a plus-one because he was hoping to use the wedding as an opportunity to drive Cece jealous. The wedding budget is restricted so Cece will only allow him to bring a plus-one if he gets a serious relationship by the time of the wedding. Schmidt tries his best to get a date from all the women he's slept with but he's surprised when they all turn him down. He's forced to go all the way back to the only long-term girlfriend he's had in the past, Elizabeth. She is from the days when Schmidt was fat and a nice person. They dated until he lost weight and became mean. Elizabeth turns him down because while fat Schmidt was the best boyfriend in the world, she doesn't like the person he transformed into. At the end, Schmidt gives up his challenge to get a plus-one as he decides to get back into Elizabeth's good graces. It's a good journey that continues to show that he is starting to grow or should I say digress.

What I find interesting about Bachelorette Party is the idea of who Cece and Schmidt are. It was a smart choice to focus on these two characters because of their previous relationship together. The two met and they managed to connect because they were on the same page. The two wanted to have sex with each other. It might have surprised Cece she was attracted to him but it was never that serious. The Schmidt she was dating was not one she would want to marry. So what is this episode about? It brings up who Schmidt used to be. He was a caring boyfriend who would listen to the person he was dating. He might have been fat but he's someone you wouldn't mind being married to. This old Schmidt would have been able to win Cece back in order to marry her. If he manages to get back some of those old traits while remaining the character that we love then he might end up with Cece after all. He might need to become the person he used to be. Cece on the other hand is also changing herself. She's not just changing to gain the approval of her new family but because she's trying to fit society's expectations of who a wife and mother is. The problem is that this means she won't be with someone who really knows who she currently is. He's not going to be able to really love her if he doesn't understand where she's coming from. Schmidt and Cece might be separate right now but it wouldn't surprise me if the events of the episode will in the long-term lead to them getting together. This is because it's an episode that plants a seed on where the characters need to end up so that when they do reunite they'll be ready for the next stage.

Bachelorette Party is not the best New Girl episode but it is a pretty good one. It's funny and it works well with Schmidt and Cece. The whole Nick and Winston plot with trying to get the fiance to take a picture of his penis was hilarious but it didn't hold the same level of depth as the other plots. It looks like the end of the season is heading towards the wedding and I'm sure that Nick and Jess' unresolved feelings are going to be an issue during it.