‘New Girl’ restarts Nick & Jess, but is it the right choice?

With Tuesday’s (Jan. 10) episode, “New Girl” reignited the spark between Nick (Jake Johnson) and Jess (Zooey Deschanel) in a very subtle way. As longtime viewers and fans, we’re of two minds about what feels like an inevitable outcome.

On the one hand, Johnson and Deschanel have always had a nice, easy chemistry with each other and it was on fine display with the latest episode. The scene of them talking about what killed them as a couple was played with such affection and just a touch of longing that it’s hard not to hope they find their way back to each other.

However, Reagan (Megan Fox) is a nice addition to the “New Girl” family — one that we would like to see made permanent, in fact. And Fox is another person with whom Johnson has a nice chemistry — different from that with Deschanel, but strong.

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The show has done the Nick/Jess thing: Her life is mostly together, his life is kind of a mess. But now that his life is more together, the show seems to be hinting that it could work out after all…

Ultimately, we’d like to see them settle into a great friendship, leaving Jess free to find someone who is more her match than Nick is — but while Robby’s (Nelson Franklin) affection for Jess is very endearing, Robby and Jess as a couple just feels off. The actors don’t have great chemistry together and there’s nothing dynamic enough about Robby to make him feel like a real contender to be part of Jess’ long-term happiness.

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But if Jess’ love interest was someone a bit more interesting, who had more heat with Deschanel, the show might really benefit from pairing Nick and Jess off with people from outside the friend group, the way they did with Winston (Lamorne Morris). For now, the writing on the wall seems to indicate that Nick and Jess will be together by season’s end, which should make some of us pretty happy, at least in the short term… But zigging when everyone expects the show to zag would be a lot more interesting to watch.

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