The “pogo” concept at the heart of this episode is
wonderfully sincere and honest (it even makes Winston’s penis brushing up
against other people appear to be an oddly charming thing), and it’s definitely
the type of thing 20/30somethings would be fighting over. This heartfelt,
believable center drives an episode that’s immensely funny. Though the main
plot is primarily about Jess’s creepy student who Nick feels probably wants to
murder her, it’s the comedic work related to “pogo” that makes the episode
standout.
Jess’s only student who seems to care about her teaching
comes off like a possible serial killer. Nick fears for her life and pretends to
be heavily Chicago accented “Julius Pepperwood” and shows up at Jess’s writing
class. This completely frustrates Jess whose uncanny need to see the good in
everyone makes her believe that this guy is everything he claims to be. They
end up stalking the guy to his house to determine who’s right. While the whole storyline
feels like it’s ready to broach into the cartoonish (and does when the guy
turns out to be dating a woman who could be his mother’s age – a weird, unnecessary
plot turn), Jake Johnson and Zooey Deschanel are so committed to the material (like
where they fight for the notebook and it appears like they’re having sex, or
wherea too stressed to think Jess crawls under a van, or the entire end
sequence where Jess hops on the guys back and gets pepper sprayed) and get so
many genuinely funny jokes that it didn’t matter.
After brushing his manhood up against Cece accidentally,
Schmidt reveals to him that “pogo” is the things about their friends that
people talk about behind their friends’ backs. Everyone keeps stewing and wants
to know what their pogo is. Schmidt in his quest to determine what his “pogo”
is gets really, really weird. He ends up shaving part of his eyebrows (which is
one of the oddest looking things I’ve seen in a long time), while Cece continues
to whine about how she wants to know what her pogo is (like normal, non-Schmidt
people would). The gang ends up telling and admitting to their “pogos” (Cece is
a bit of a sass mouth, Schmidt has awful toe nails, Jess is a slight
know-it-all, and Nick’s “pogo” isn’t funny: they’re worried he’s “not going to
make it”). It all culminates in a great scene where all of them are confronting
or have confronted their “pogos” while putting out a grease fire.
Despite what annoys us or bothers us about our friends, we like our friends and we enjoy their company. At the end of the day, we'll kiss and make up with those people important to us. New Girl has done enough groundwork to make it plausible that these characters would be openly discussing their "pogos" and then in turn making up as if it were no big deal.
Despite what annoys us or bothers us about our friends, we like our friends and we enjoy their company. At the end of the day, we'll kiss and make up with those people important to us. New Girl has done enough groundwork to make it plausible that these characters would be openly discussing their "pogos" and then in turn making up as if it were no big deal.
Stray Observations:
-The “Annoying Bowl” – How epically awesome is that as a
counterpart to the “Douche Jar”
-“He’s the first person I got to write in 1st
Person narrative” – And he wrote about murdering someone.
-Jess wonders what a gimp suit is, and Schmidt notes: “You’ve
seen me in one before”
-“What’s my one rule?” Jess asks. Nick and Jess at the same
time (with great line readings): “Don’t steal your yarn”
-Jess thinks of an alternative name for apricots: “sweet
tangy balls”. Apparently she uses apricots too often in everyday life to use it
as a “safe word”
-“They make shoes for penises. It’s called pants”
-Nick’s latest book he’s writing: “Julius Pepperwood: Zombie
Detective”
Grade: A-
No comments:
Post a Comment