The ‘New Girl’ Finale Wasn’t Bad, It Just Wasn’t Necessary

At a time when TV fans are hoping for one more closure-filled season of their favorite show, it feels a little bit insensitive to admit this, but after last night’s New Girl series finale, well, it kind of feels like maybe we didn’t need that seventh and final season after all.

I know, I too used to live by the motto, “The more New Girl, the better!” but the final season responded by saying, “Hmm, maybe there has been enough”. And let’s be clear, these last 8 episodes weren’t bad. There were some good jokes in there and it was nice to see Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Cece (Hannah Simone) as parents, and also great to see Jess (Zooey Deschanel) get high one last time. By no means did this season take away from all the excellent television that New Girl has provided us…it just wasn’t quite on par with what came before it.

After Nick (Jake Johnson) and Jess kissed in the elevator at the end of season 6, and we knew that Schmidt and Cece and Winston (Lamorne Morris) and Aly (Nasim Pedrad) would live happily ever after, and that Ferguson would live at all, that was an ending I could live with. I could imagine that Jess and Nick get married and it would be wacky but lovely and true to them as a couple, and that the friend group would enjoy hanging out as all their kids played together too.

Instead, this season forced me to face Ferguson’s ultimate demise, and to look at Jess’s disgusting eye situation on her wedding day, and to feel bad for Nick for not being able to publish his non-Pepperwood book. I don’t want to believe Nick and Jess’s union could even remotely be cursed, or that Schmidt and Winston could deliver anything less than a full, emotional sob-fest of a rehearsal dinner speech.

It was a nice sentiment that New Girl got the chance to say goodbye and did their best with the opportunity, bringing back memorable guest stars and allowing viewers to see favorites such as Tran (Ralph Ahn) and Fat Schmidt for the final time. But when it comes to Russell (Dermot Mulroney) declaring his feelings for Jess on her wedding day? Too far. It felt like both an unnecessary hurdle and an attempt at filling time in an episode that revolves around a wedding, and should therefore be packed enough. Why not just leave us with the image of him as a #SadDad, which is much funnier and a better way to say bye?

Perhaps I’m alone in not understanding how to play True American, and sure, it’s fitting that the group gets one more round of the game in before they call it quits. But I’m not sure it’s quite as effective as intended, is all. Same with knowing what Jess and Nick wrote on the back of those valet tickets on their first date (“I don’t know”). What a great nugget to bring back and tie it all together, but I totally forgot those even existed. It wasn’t an answer I needed to have before the show went away. And also, it seems easy enough for creator Liz Meriwether to just Instagram something like that, rather than have to work it into an episode, where it didn’t have much of an outcome besides confirming what we’ve already known about these characters: they don’t know, but they’re going to figure it out together.

And as far as the very end goes, Winston’s pranks have…never impressed me. I know, a terrible thought to admit. They’ve been useful in getting the others riled up for laughs, and I can appreciate a good Winston-Cece Mess Around just as much as the next gal, but even thinking about the “Jeff Day” episode (Season 5, Episode 15) with Winston and his prankster wife Rhonda (Sonequa Martin-Green) gives me anxiety. That he caused Nick and Jess to move out of the beloved loft would anger me even more if it wasn’t so necessary for the characters and the viewers to grow up, move on, and say goodbye to the location.

Again, I’m never going to be mad at seeing this group together, that would be silly. But this is the rare case where we didn’t need these final episodes. They won’t cause me to miss this group any more or any less, but the biggest emotional reaction I had, and the show did try to evoke many, was to the news of Ferguson dying. And that was sad! I liked New Girl best when it was (sorry but it’s true!) quirky and adorkable, and this final season attempted to make these characters at least somewhat grown up and complete — and come on, when has that ever been the case for this bunch?

When I go back and rewatch episodes of this show, and I surely will, it will be the ones where Nick and Jess are falling in love, or when Schmidt is having an outburst, or when Prince was on the show because wow, that can’t be topped. This last batch of episodes tried their best to capture the friendships and the feelings that it already spent the six previous seasons perfecting. At least now we know for sure, if we could all make it through the end of Ferguson, we can make it through the end of this show, too.

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