New Girl: "Fluffer" Review

Warning: Full spoilers from the episode to follow.

This week on New Girl was all about fluffers, Romneys and loft trolls -- normally an odd combination, but not so outside the realm of possibility for Jess and the guys. More specifically, though, "Fluffer" acted as an emotional outlet this week, as each of the roomies dug a little deeper than normal to solve their respective problems.

For Jess, it was using Nick to justify her sexual urges with her new boy toy Sam. This, of course, started out innocent enough as Nick joined Jess for a platonic date at a fancy restaurant. This scene probably had some of the best bits, including Nick's out-of-place hesitation to stick around ("I don't know which fork to kill myself with.") and Jess's thermos full of white wine ("You unexpected genius!"). Unfortunately, the fun didn't last long after Nick learned that he was merely an emotional patsy -- a "fluffer," if you will -- for Jess.

By the end, however, this was a sweet story for Nick and Jess, if not a bit of a redundant one; at this point, we've pretty much gotten the all clear that they're both into each other. Still, Nick's dresser dilemma ("It's like high-stakes LEGOs.") was a pleasant arc for all involved. I particularly enjoyed Nick's few scenes with Winston, a one-on-one pair-up that I feel doesn't happen nearly as often as it should. It was also a plus to learn for sure that Nick and Jess had both "thought about it;" Jess's flashback with Nick and the peanuts was especially hilarious.

Meanwhile, Schmidt's recurring Romney gag provided a few good laughs, as well as some intriguing insight into his past. On the surface, the Tugg Romney stuff perhaps felt a little over-the-top -- after all, he looked a bad guy from an '80s movie -- but it did its job in leading Schmidt to the real heart of his character arc this week, namely his unresolved father issues. And while the Romney stuff was all well and good for awhile, it was Schmidt's final scene with Cece that let us see a side of him we hadn't really before. I suppose that can be chalked up to his sage-like advice from Cece, who, being brown, has "the wisdom of a thousand white women."

Another big win this week was Winston's storyline with Shelby and his mental cheating. Not only was it hilarious to see his creeptacular arousal face -- which, by the way, is now in the running for best facial expression alongside Nick's turtle face -- but we also saw his clear struggle to make ends meet emotionally with Shelby. This paired with his mom's career remark from last week, and it seems as though Winston is going to have his own struggles to work out. While he still hasn't really taken center stage this season, it was nice to see him land some of his own scenes here as well.

It's true, New Girl is usually at its finest when they can somehow keep all the major players together in one overarching event. In this case, though, it was fun watching the characters veer off into their own stories. Every character had their moment this week, and in a half-hour comedy, an impressive all feat by itself. On the other hand, the stories themselves weren't incredibly engaging this week. At the end of the day, we're pretty much where we were at when the episode started. Still, a little personal character development goes a long way, too, and it was very much appreciated to see a few more of those seeds sewn.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com