In September of 2011, the American television show “New Girl” premiered on the network FOX. It’s a similar show to that of old favorites “Friends” or “How I Met Your Mother” in that it’s centered around a group of friends just trying to make it through an important time of their lives.
New Girl started out with Jessica Day (Zooey Deschanel), a quite awkward and very unique girl responding to a craigslist ad for a new roommate. She soon moves in with three men living in a Los Angeles loft and the series continues to follow all the crazy schemes the group gets up to.
In mid-2017, FOX announced that “New Girl” would be ending with a short seventh season in order to tie up all of its loose ends. Show-runners new from the start that the show probably wouldn’t last too long as they wanted to focus mostly on the way people go through their 30s, and with the characters growing older and some even moving out of the loft, it is definitely time to bid these beloved characters farewell.
Looking back on some of the best moments in the first six seasons of “New Girl” there a whole bunch to choose from, with nearly seven years of various relationships, jobs, dreams, heartbreaks, fights, friends, family and everything else that goes into your 30s. Here are a few of the best moments from the beloved show to get everyone ready for the series finale later this spring.
“Pilot” Season 1, Episode 1
Right from the start, it’s impossible not to fall in love with Jessica Day. She’s had a pretty rough time of it and had managed to throw herself into a fairly strange situation by moving in with three random guys in their 30s that she doesn’t actually know anything about.
Then as you get to know Nick, Schmidt and Coach, you realize that maybe they don’t really want her there, to begin with, and have no idea what kind of trouble they’ve just signed themselves up for. The opening episode is a perfect way to draw an audience in and sets up the rest of the series really well. The iconic first meeting between Jess and the boys is an important part of their story.
“Valentine’s Day” Season 1, Episode 13
One of the most substantial aspects of the entire show is the relationship between Schmidt and Jess’s friend Cece. These two finally get together after numerous episodes spent flirting back and forth. They keep their relationship a secret from the rest of their friends stating that it’s purely physical, so they don’t need to tell anyone.
Schmidt and Cece have a really weird relationship throughout the series and continue to be on again, off again until they finally get married half-way through, but it’s a really interesting addition to the story as a lot of people go through rough patches in their romantic relationships like these two did in their 30s.
“Pepperwood” Season 2, Episode 14
This episode is the perfect “New Girl” episode and throws in everything a ridiculous sitcom needs in an installment. Nick thinks one of the students in Jess’ adult writing class is a psychotic killer because of the dark pieces he is handing in.
He goes through a lot of effort to put on the disguise of Julius Pepperwood and then proceeds to stalk the student in question. He breaks into his shed and eventually comes to the conclusion that he was wrong all along.
It’s some of the first plotlines that focus on Nick and Jess teaming together and is a great foreshadowing of the relationship that develops by the end of the season. It’s been hinted at for a while, but the episode really starts to show how much Nick cares for Jess and that he would go through so much effort to be there for her when she needs him.
“Elaine’s Big Day” Season 2, Episode 25
The season finale for season two left everyone just a little bit speechless, it was jam-packed with quite a few different stories running through at the same time. Cece was about to be married to someone she definitely didn’t love so Schmidt, who is still in love with her, pulls Winston into a scheme to ruin the wedding.
Jess and Nick are having second thoughts on their relationship, having just decided that morning to try it out, and then you add a badger being dropped from the ceiling during the ceremony and a guest appearance from Taylor Swift and chaos ensues.
At the end of the episode, the audience sees Nick and Jess run away together saying that they don’t care what the consequences may be, and the season ends on a cliffhanger of what the relationship will eventually become.
“Landing Gear” Season 5, Episode 22
The moment everyone has been waiting for, Schmidt and Cece’s wedding. It’s been a long time coming but the two finally tie the knot with a beautifully stunning ceremony that had viewers in tears.
“New Girls” season five finale was full of moments that left everyone gasping, Schmidt almost missing the wedding entirely because he was stuck on a plane, Jess realizing she may still have feelings for Nick, Nick and Reagan decided to try having a real relationship, and of course Winston pulling some outrageous prank that end up failing. It’s full of the simple “New Girl” humor fans have come to love as well as a sweet wedding they’d all been hoping for from season one.
The seventh and final season of “New Girl” will be released on April 10, 2018, which gives you plenty of time to go back and watch some of your own favorite episodes from the last six seasons. The final season will consist of eight episodes, including a one-hour finale to be released on May 15, 2018. The show is available on Netflix as well as other streaming devices if you want to catch up before the final season.
