Tuesday, November 29, 2016

New Girl 6x08 Review: "James Wonder" (Everything You're Not)

"James Wonder"
Original Airdate: November 29, 2016

One of the reasons that I liked acting when I was in high school was because it was the perfect opportunity to pretend you're someone you're not. Sometimes pretending you were a star when you were really the class nerd was refreshing; sometimes pretending you had a great love story when you were really unhappy and alone was uplifting. And even though it was great in a lot of ways, sometimes you just wanted to stop pretending and start feeling like yourself again. Jess has done a lot of comedic things throughout the years, pretending she's someone that she is not in order to get something she wants — or to prevent people from being disappointed in her. Similarly, Winston has absorbed many jobs and just as many personalities in an attempt to determine who he truly is.

So it makes sense that "James Wonder" finds Jess and Winston trying to prove something to one another, and to the people around them. Though this episode isn't my favorite out of the season (kudos to New Girl though for taking eight episodes this season to get to an episode I feel was just okay), it provided us with some important plot progression for Jess, Winston, and Nick. Oh, Nick's plot progression? His present to Schmidt and Cece which we all know will come back for the sake of hilarious continuity throughout the remainder of the series.


That's ultimately the question that Jess has to ask herself in this episode (and the question Winston will ask himself, too, a little bit). When Genevieve (the always incredible Lucy Punch) tells Jess that she'll be stepping away from her principal role, Jess excitedly believes that the title is within her grasp. Unfortunately for Jess, she has to schmooze with the parents and — most importantly — the president of the Parents' Council in order to secure the nomination for the position. It turns out, the president, Ed, doesn't like her. At all. Ed doesn't think Jess is fit to run the school, but it's more than that: he actually doesn't like Jess because his daughter didn't do well in the math decathalon that Jess set up.

If there's been one constant throughout the entirety of New Girl, it's the fact that Jess will do anything it takes to help the children she cares about succeed. Even when she was teaching adults creative writing, Jess was still passionate about helping them become the best writers they could be. That's what sets Jess apart as a teacher — she's willing to go the extra mile because she ultimately believes in the goodness and boundless potential of her students. But there's something else about Jess that we all know by now, and it's that she's a people-pleaser. Akin to "Par 5," Jess decides that the only way to get what she wants (and ultimately do what's best for her students) is to compromise her values.

So when that parent expresses his disdain for Jess based solely on her math criteria, she bends. She decides that she'll cancel the math decathalon if it means securing the nomination for principal. But soon, she discovers, one compromise isn't enough. Every parent in the council meeting is demanding and everyone has an opinion. As a principal, Jess can't bend to the whims of everyone and she certainly can't allow herself to be coerced into decision-making by one person.

And she doesn't let that happen. In the meeting, Jess delivers a really wonderful, really powerful speech about education and the importance of dedication and perseverance in securing progress. She points out students, by name, who have had difficulties but who she has personally worked with in order to secure victories. That is what makes Jess such a great teacher. As Cece once told her, she was her first student — Jess is patient and kind and will get down on a child's level in order to help them become better. Her rousing speech earns the approval of all of the parents, and it looks like our little Jess (who, as you recall, began the series as a teacher and has progressed into the role of principal at an acclaimed private school) is grown up!


I love when stories involve Winston and Jess working together because you typically know that shenanigans aren't far behind. In "James Wonder," Winston decides to adopt a persona in order to prove to Jess — and everyone else — that he's capable of being an undercover agent. Jess doesn't believe he's capable at all. To prove her wrong, Winston pretends to be the parent of a student at Jess' school. And... he just happens to catch Genevieve's eye. Obviously, this makes him super uncomfortable, but Jess tries to use it to her advantage in order to secure a meeting with Ed instead. 

Still, one of the most interesting things about Winston's plot in this episode was that it proved he's only willing to go so far, and THAT is why he can't be an undercover agent. It's not that he doesn't have the potential, necessarily: it's that he can't separate his real life from the life of his persona. He's in a happy, stable relationship with Aly and he can't pretend for very long that he's a mourning widower who is interested in Genevieve. While it's played for laughs, obviously, I  kind of enjoy the fact that Winston has grown up. He's more comfortable being himself than he is pretending to be someone he's not. Isn't that refreshing?


Sometimes New Girl contains a C-plot that is strictly FUN and really doesn't have much to do in the way of character growth or plot development. "James Wonder" was that episode. In it, Nick struggled to figure out what to get Schmidt and Cece as a wedding present. Nevermind the fact that he already bought a gift from their registry, or that they have a registry to buy from. No, Nick decides he wants to go off-book because they're not just any married couple to him. They're his best friends, and he wants to find a gift that is reflective of how much he loves them.

So Schmidt and Cece, touched by the sentiment, decide to let Nick choose his own wedding gift. That... was a bad idea on their part, of course. What does Nick end up getting as a gift? A tattoo of Schmidt and Cece on his leg. And not only a tattoo, but an iconic shot from Pretty Woman with Schmidt and Cece's heads replacing the heads of the characters.

Cue Schmidt and Cece panicking and trying to find a way to thank Nick, while also not thanking him. In the end, Nick decides that he has to change the present that he gave them and gets Winston and Jess added into the tattoo.

That, my friends, is what you missed on this week's New Girl!

And now, bonus points:
  • "And now you're almost gonna make what normal people make."
  • Winston's got a new alias and it combines his two favorite singers: Stevie Wonder and James Blunt. Meet James Wonder, everyone!
  • The flashback of Winston putting a walkie-talkie into the mailbox and Nick freaking out was PRICELESS.
  • "Whatever you want. The world is yours. Fly, my little hummingbird!"
  • "The Internet is so different now. Have you been on the Internet lately!?"
  • "Are you shouting at a podcast again, Jess? You know they can't hear you, right?"
  • "He's scrambling like a damn egg." This might be one of my favorite Jess-isms yet.
  • "It's like you STOLE OUR SOULS."
  • I absolutely love that Nick's tattoo is now of all of the loft crew. It's so bad, but oh-so good.
What did you all think of "James Wonder"? Sound off in the comments below!


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