There’s something strange about spending extended periods of time away from a close-knit group of friends. A clear-cut void makes itself comfortable somewhere deep in one’s subconscious, and the rather unnerving feeling of not being quite whole has a funny way of rendering people dissatisfied until they see their pals again. Specifically, I’m talking about the kind of crew whose antics can be classified as utterly stupid, their humiliating hijinks so uncomfortably cringe-worthy that it all seems, well, scripted.
As if overnight, the hot summer season has given way to a cool fall climate, the once-scorching sun replaced by bleak cloud cover. College students have returned to their respective classes and social cliques. For me, though, the aforementioned void has yet to be filled. This summer, I’ve missed my crew—it’ll be nice to see what they’ve been up to while we were apart.
And no, actually, I’m not talking about reconnecting with my college friends.
If there’s one ragtag group of idiots I’ve been missing for months, it’s the gang from Fox’s consistently hysterical sitcom New Girl. For years, the show starring Zooey Deschanel has garnered much hype and accumulated a larger fan base with each passing season. Astoundingly, the show’s corny jokes and overly-complex love triangles are written and executed in a way that puts most predictable TV comedies to shame. The series’ producers and dynamic cast boast a unique ability to transform hackneyed plot from dull to delightful, and the recurring theme of romance-gone-wrong from overdone to entertaining.
This fall, life returns to normal in the gang’s trendy Los Angeles loft—er, well, as “normal” as a successful buddy sitcom in which every episode features buffoonery at its finest can be.
Since the predictably chaotic season five finale—one in which Schmidt’s spontaneous, last-ditch attempt to convince Cece’s mom to attend the wedding results in his attending his own wedding via video chat—fans of the series have been mulling over a number of cliffhangers that left various character relationships up to anyone’s guess.
Will Cece and Schmidt move out of the beloved loft? Has Coach returned to the golden Coast for Good? What the heck is happening between Nick and Jess? Does Winston care for new girlfriend Aly as much as he does his cat Ferguson? And, arguably most important of all the queries, where was Ferguson during the pivotal last episodes of the fifth season? Such are the haunting musings that deprived fans of sleep and kept them up at night—thoughts that just barely scratch the surface of the pressing questions raised by season five’s eventful wrap-up.
Throughout the show’s time on the air, viewers have been privy to a host of interesting love affairs: Winston and Aly, Cece and Schmidt, Jess and Sam, Jess and Nick, Nick and Reagan—hell, even Nick and Tran. For five seasons, the show has orbited around the trials and tribulations of modern dating. It documents and mocks the sexual misadventures of 30-somethings, creating a painful-to-watch parody of love that viewers can laugh at. If season six stays fresh and entertaining while still following the show’s unchanged formula—hopelessly immature adults + humiliating love life = laughter—it will mark a real feat of creativity, indeed. Deschanel directs the season six premiere, an episode rumored to revolve around Cece and Schmidt’s search for a new home. If the spunky starlet’s talent in performing translates to that of TV production, viewers should expect a promising start to season six.
As for me, I’ve been craving information about the newlyweds, dying to get dirt on Winston’s budding relationship with Aly, and itching to see what unfolds from all the awkward, ever-present sexual tension between Jess and Nick. Soon—Sept. 20, to be precise—the crew will be back to entertain fans of the show with episodes detailing the disastrous dating lives and coincidental encounters so intrinsically rooted in the sitcom genre.
Now that the characters seem to have grown and developed significantly—exhibited perhaps most notably through control freak Schmidt’s calm and uncharacteristically apathetic attitude toward missing the wedding that he at one time obsessed over—the question of whether this newfound maturity will augment or detract from the characters’ humor and likeability emerges as a prevalent concern.
Returning for a sixth season this September, New Girl brings everyone’s favorite group of misfits together for another pathetic attempt at mastering adulthood. This season, Schmidt will navigate life through the unfamiliar lens of a married man. Winston will learn to love a woman more than he loves his cat. At some point, Nick will most likely screw up whatever is going well for him. Finally, Jess’s quirkiness will most likely manifest in one of three ways: sporting her signature wacky wardrobe, doling out lame dad jokes, or transforming the loft into an arts-and-crafts kingdom.
Fingers crossed it’s all of the above.
Featured Image By 20th Television
