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‘New Girl’ Recap ‘Homecoming’

*This recap is based on the second 1/2 hour of the New Girl & Brooklyn Nine-Nine Crossover*

I have to hand it to the writers at New Girl. I was extremely skeptical about the Brooklyn Nine-Nine crossover episode but come the end of the episode I realized that I not only thoroughly enjoyed it, but also didn’t even feel like I watched a crossover. The Brooklyn Nine-Nine presence was not the main focus of the episode, and while their parts did seem a little out of the box, they fit quite nicely into the story without being too distracting.

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The gang finds themselves in New York for Schmidt’s high school homecoming where they will be honoring him for all of his accomplishments post graduation. They all arrive full of excitement, except for Jess who is a little uneasy about it. You see the last time she was in New York she didn’t have the best experience. She had trash thrown on her, a puddle splashed on her, a man committed suicide on her subway platform, and she fell into a open gate on the sidewalk. However, it’s Jess so negativity is not an option in the Big Apple. She has a new mantra: PADFUNT ( Positivity Always Decency forever no trouble). It really doesn’t make too much sense but she uses it to encourage CeCe to try her best with Schmidt’s mom.

Schmidt’s mom, Louise, arrives with his brother in the front seat (her dog) and she actually considers him Schmidt’s brother and makes Schmidt say hello and kiss him. When Schmidt refuses, CeCe volunteers and is quickly shut down by Louise telling her that kissing the dog would basically be kissing her husband’s brother and that’s just wrong. While all of this is happening, Nick and Winston have self-declared themselves “men of means” and are heading into the city for a lavish lunch.  From here the gang splits up so we will too!

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Nick and Winston

Nick and Winston have a little too much fun at their “men of means” lunch and end up spending all of their money. They realize this just minutes after Nick gave his last $5 to a man playing the drums by the subway. Now with no money because Nick doesn’t have a credit card and Winston only travels with pre-paid debit cards the two have to figure out a way to scrounge up some cash so they can get home in time for Schmidt’s ceremony.

The two decide to take after the aforementioned drummer and try their hand at busking, hoping they will earn enough cash to get a subway ticket. So they cause a little commotion and gather around a crowd and then are struck with the reality that they don’t have an act to perform. They bullshit around until the train gets called and they end up making $0.72. This gives them the idea that if they just pretend to be setting up an epic act until the train arrives then they will make at least some sort of cash.

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Their plan works until the next train gets delayed. They’ve stalled long enough to have a giant collection of trash cans, cones, and just general bags of trash. The crowd is starting to grow ruthless and the two know they actually are going to have to do something now. Detective Charles Boyle from Brooklyn Nine-Nine (played by Joe Lo Truglio) is there and starts a chant that gets the crowd even more hyped. The two decide that they are going to have to long jump over the trash.

In slow motion they both run towards the pile. Winston trips and falls and shouts for Nick to continue on, which he does. Naturally, he doesn’t clear the pile and instead wipes out and receives a traffic cone to the face. Surprisingly this works in their favor as Boyle’s kid puts a huge wad of cash in their cup.

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Jess, Schmidt and CeCe (+Louise)

The rest of the gang arrives at Schmidt’s childhood home, where Jess makes an awkward remark about having made out with Schmidt’s father. There is also a square off going on between CeCe and Louise over who can take better care of Schmidt. Louise feels that CeCe has taken Schmidt away from her and is constantly throwing shade and comments about how nothing compares to mother’s relationship with her son.

Schmidt finds the packet for his Homecoming celebration only to quickly find out that they aren’t honoring him at all. In fact, the whole thing is just some ploy to get alumni to donate money to the school.  He storms off to his room upset (only to find out that his mom had turned it into the dogs room). “I HATE MY BROTHER!” He says as he slams the door. The three women all try to get Schmidt to come out and talk but the only thing they are able to get out of him is that he wants some comfort soup from a local deli. CeCe and Louise argue over who will go to the deli and who will stay and try to comfort Schmidt. Jess ends up volunteering to avoid any more drama. Louise lets her borrow her car as long as she doesn’t put a scratch on it.

Once at the deli, Jess realizes that her personality will take her nowhere in NYC. She’s too polite and not loud or fast enough to get her order placed. She ends up getting fed up when her number is skipped because she was too slow and shouts at the man who cuts her loud enough to stop the whole store. Feeling invigorated she calls and tells Schmidt that he needs to take the same attitude she did and direct it towards telling off his high school bullies at the event.

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On her way home, Jess’ car is commandeered by Detective Jake Peralta (B-99’s Andy Samberg) so that he can chase after a criminal. Under explicit instructions by Louise to not wreck the car Jess is naturally freaking out as Jake  wrecks the car. She ends up back at the precinct where she meets some other members of Brooklyn Nine-Nine who vow to have her care repaired and returned the next day.

She sits down with Detective Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher) for a quick conversation where she realizes that this visit is just as horrible as her last one. Holt reminds her that sometimes things happen for a reason and it gives Jess a second to reflect. If her last trip to NYC hadn’t of been so bad she wouldn’t have left early. Since she left early she caught her boyfriend Spencer cheating on her in their home, forcing her to move out and meet Nick, Winston, Coach, and Schmidt.

This revelation makes her realize that you have to accept your past and acknowledge that it leads you to where you are today. She convinces Schmidt to not say the roast of insults he had prepared for the fundraising event and just be proud of all that he has accomplished since then. Schmidt agrees to her plan and the four of them all go to the event. Nick and Winston wander in a little later.

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Schmidt however quickly ditches the high road and crashes on the stage to perform his prepared roast. He feels vindicated and high as a kite when he’s done…except the plan backfires. They all start laughing at him and making jokes about how stupid he looked. Louise starts getting upset that everyone is heckling her son, but CeCe the powerhouse bad-ass wife that she is, is already on her way to the stage.

“If any of you have anything else you’d like to say to my husband, I will drag you outside and we will handle this L.A. style,”  CeCe says as Schmidt stands proudly behind her and Louise stares lovingly from the crowd shouting “that’s my daughter!” 

The gang all get ready to leave and Jess tries to convince them to walk since she still doesn’t have her car back. She’s saved by the bell because Winston and Nick skipped the subway and instead spent their earnings on a limo!

As the group is heading out they run into Coach! A hilarious cameo by Damon Wayans Jr. who gives them a hard time about not even calling to let him know that they were all in town. He tells them the only reason he’s not mad is because he has already been back to LA like 5 times since he moved.

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