FOX's New Girl - Episode 3.19 Fired Up
Jess hires, then must immediately fire, Coach as her school's new volleyball coach; Schmidt gets sued and enlists Nick and a procedural television-loving Winston to represent him at the deposition; and Cece catches the eye of a much younger man.
Jess and Coach are just a reliably funny pairing. Jess is a dreamer and he is a motivator. Those dynamics are a perfect match of hilarity for each other. Adding Coach to her school environment is such a smart move to get them to interact more (But does this mean he no longer works as a personal trainer or will he balance both jobs?) It's a mutually beneficial friendship. She gets him this job coaching the volleyball team which makes him feel so validated and loved - he's Coach Coach now! He in turn helps her find the strength to ask for a promotion. Of course, things are then flipped on their head as she has to fire him. Then she has to be the one to motivate him to go get back his job. And it's all just really amusing.The B-story involved Nick and Winston trying to help Schmidt when he gets sued. Nick tries to prove that he can be a capable lawyer even though he lacks the clear initiative to follow through on it. He did pass the bar and can practice the law in California. But he never had the proper motivation to prove everyone wrong that he could do it. And that leads to this story about him first seeming incompetent during the deposition. But it was all a part of his master plan for them to let their guards down before he swoops in saying how crazy and determined he is to make their lives all about so much paperwork. Now, would Nick even follow through on such a threat? Probably not. But they don't know that which just makes this story work so well.
Some more thoughts:
- "Fired Up" was written by Sophia Lear and directed by Steve Welsh.
- That Cece story feels important for later on but was just tacked onto this episode. I love Ben Falcone and his funny lines. But this story was two scenes which just doesn't make anything meaningful.
- A volleyball to the face is such a broad gag and yet it totally works here because of Coach saying not to laugh.
- Similarly the court reportor reading the transcript is an old joke but is so good here because it all leads up to the point of Nick saying he'll vamp by asking her to read what she just wrote.
- I first thought Winston wasn't responding to Jess because she didn't call him Courtroom Brown.
