'New Girl's Cast Found Its Sweet Spot

What do you do with a group of insane people? Do you send them out into the woods where all they have is each other, some basic supplies, and mother nature? No, you do not, which is exactly why that's precisely what New Girl did for its Thanksgiving episode. "It'll be the ultimate test of our MANHOOD and our SURVIVAL skills," Nick says to the guys, at which point both I and Jess realize this will in no way end well.

The last two Thanksgivings also weren't quite successes — the flashback montage can be summed up with "[Burning] turkey!" "Dead body!" and "I think I'm into your mother" — and all signs point to this year following suit. Especially when Cece shows up (in quite the snazzy vehicle), because who wouldn't want to spend a weekend in the woods with, as she puts it, "[her] ex-boyfriend and his friend [she] just made out with"?

Cece and Winston bond over their mutual hatred of camping and the fact that they never get a say in the group's activities. The whole situation actually seemed uneventful for a couple of minutes — until it's revealed that Nick didn't bring any food for the trip because he likes the idea of them hunting and foraging for their dinner. It is at this point that the gang realizes their Thanksgiving dinner will be 96 warm beers if they don't get their Survivor shit together, and ASAP.

Here at the highlights/thoughts from thereon out:

• This amazing monologue from Nick, re: the ways society has gone soft: "Do you think George Washington had a cat? No! He hunted them, and he made milk and butter out of their spoils." Schmidt: "Where'd you read this?"
• Winston's taste in ladies: "I'm not hunting; the only Hunt I want is Bonnie or Helen, amirite?"
• We can all rest assured that if Nick Miller were in the Hunger Games, he would die almost instantly.
• The splitting of the group into the men hunting and the women gathering seems a little antiquated, but 1) that might just be my Oberlin education speaking, and 2) the very concept of hunting and gathering is the definition of antiquated.
• I am 90 percent sure this entire plot came about because someone let Nick Miller watch Winter's Bone.
• But Jennifer Lawrence never would've tried to feed her friends a pre-dead fish that had a sock near it.
• Jess eating that pre-dead fish was true love.
• It was nice to see some actual conflict in the Nick/Jess relationship, with Nick feeling like he's losing his masculine side by spending so much time with one of the girliest women on the planet.
• "I got good news from the doctor: You don't have rabies!" TRUE LOVE I SAY.

Overall, this episode was a pretty solid showcase of the truly great ensemble New Girl's got going for it — and considering the recent (and genuinely great) re-addition of Damon Wayans Jr.'s Coach, it was a great opportunity to let them all have some time to actually gel together. And no one got rabies!

Image: Fox