Quick Thoughts: NEW GIRL, "All In"

I'm not ashamed to admit that I was really excited for the Season 3 premiere of New Girl, but "All In" was just OK when it was all said and done.

Oddly enough, the aspect of the show that's kept me hooked, Nick and Jess, was the storyline that left me feeling cold once the episode was over. The last two seasons were building up to this moment, them finally being a couple, but it all felt rushed and cobbled together, and things were not helped by the fact that Elizabeth Meriwether and her staff immediately started pulling at the threads. I get that the tension was what made things click over the past two years, but having them already doubting whether they will last or not is going to make it hard to root for them because clearly the writers aren't. That said, I did enjoy Jess' slightly saccharine but heartfelt speech about them being a family.

What was even weirder than a lukewarm Nick and Jess plot was the fact that we got a Schmidt story that made me actually care about him. While I'm not a huge fan of the love triangle as a device, I liked how he didn't automatically dismiss Elizabeth in favor of Cece and was willing to commit to her due to their existing relationship. Sure, I could've done without the lying and shenanigans, but his feelings for the two women, and his over-reliance on Nick, made Schmidt seem like a human being for the first time in a long time. It's just too bad he was also involved in the laziest Winston moment of all-time, and that's saying something..

So, I didn't love "All In" but I'm ultimately OK with that because I thought that Season 2 also started off on the wrong foot but was able to course correct and become one of the better shows on TV today. I'm sure Season 3 will do the same.