Season 4 Had Better Fix Nick & Jess

Even the most fervent New Girl fans and supporters will tell you that the third season of the hit sitcom felt...off. Thankfully, New Girl was renewed for a fourth season, so there's time to make it right again.

The series finally hooked our resident Ross and Rachel up, only to have them analyze their relationship to death and then put us through a Nick & Jess break-up during the second half of the season, setting a rocky, seemingly indecisive tone for Season 3. But the ballad of Nick and Jess wasn't the only problem: there was the courtship-to-nowhere between Cece and Coach (in fact, the general misuse of Coach was a big failure this season); the love-it-or-hate-it post-Super Bowl episode starring Prince; and, as per every season, having no earthly idea what to do with poor Winston. (This year it was give him a cat and make him a cop.) But that doesn't mean the show can't go out with a bang during their Season 3 finale — which airs Tuesday, May 6 at 9 PM on Fox — and come back strong for Season 4. (New Girl, along with Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Mindy Project all got the go-ahead from their network for more seasons back in March.)

Here's what we can tell you about the season finale, titled "Cruise," and what it could mean for next season. The episode (which features guest stars Oscar Nuñez from The Office and Kerry Kenney from Reno 911!) finds Nick and Jess taking a cruise that they booked when they were still dating. For fans desperate to get the TV couple back together, you're not alone because during "Cruise" as Winston tries to get the pair to reconcile their differences. Huh, looks like they gave Winnie something to do after all.

The same goes for viewers ready for the (let's face it, inevitable) reunion of Schmidt and Cece, as Schmidt tries to win Cece back and away from her hunky young new Australian beau Buster. Whether these two on-and-off pairs get back together in "Cruise" remains to be seen, but at least it should point them in a new direction, wherever that may be.

So, sure Season 3 left fans uneasy with the state of the show and their characters, but it looks like there's hope for better things ahead for Season 4. Here's what we know so far:

Coach is in the Mix For Good

It was announced earlier this week that Damon Wayans Jr., who plays the hilarious, but underutilized Coach, has been bumped up from guest star to series regular. While we'd still give anything for Happy Endings to be brought back, Wayans' incredible comic capabilities could become a valuable asset to New Girl once they give him better story lines for Season 4, aside from hitting on Cece and yelling at his gym class students.

It Will Be a Straight-Up Comedy Again

Season 3 brought of a lot of emotional weight with it because of the bummer that was Jess and Nick's very early split. Even New Girl 's showrunner Elizabeth Meriwether admitted to Vulture, “I think this year we got a little heavy, we got a little into that emotional arc." While the show has never shied away from emotion (see: the great Season 2 episode "Chicago"), it did seem to overrun Season 3. But never fear, because according to Meriwether Season 4 will go back to the show's earlier screwball antics. "We’re having a chance to get back to basics and sort of reset the show, and kind of go back to the dynamics of the first season and the pilot, where it’s just this group of friends who are having fun… I think it might actually be good for the show to return to the kind of fun of it.” Agreed! And we sure hope that means even more rounds of True Americans.

Yep, Nick and Jess Could Definitely Get Back Together. Or Maybe not.

Even Jessica Day herself, Zooey Deschanel, said that "There are probably more possibilities in terms of where next season will begin" with the status of Nick and Jess. But, in an interview with TV Guide, New Girl's executive producers executive producers Brett Baer and Dave Finkel hinted at some other possibilities (not the one pro-Nick and Jess fans are likely hoping for) in Season 4. As Baer put it, "Some of the fun of next season is going to be watching them be there for each other as they change and grow and go off and find, perhaps, other partners. We're all excited to see where this goes next season and whether or not they can actually survive." Ugh, fine. But can they at least get one (or two or three) more of those hot Nick and Jess kisses in?

Images: Fox; FanPop.com; TheTelevixen.com; Vulture.com; SweatpantsandCoffee.com