'New Girl' Season 1, Episode 3 Recap - 'Wedding'

It's a testament to the writing on "New Girl" that the third episode of the series ("Wedding") went exactly where it needed to: away from Jess and toward the guys.

There's nothing wrong with Jess. We love Jess. Zooey Deschanel still has her pegged and provides added nuance to her that makes her a broad but believable character. Did you catch that little moment when she screwed up the Chicken Dance at first? That's the kind of thing that Deschanel brings to the table. And it's amazing.

But Winston, Schmidt and Nick needed some attention, and quickly. The only real complaint with "New Girl" through the first two episodes is that the guys were a little too one-dimensional... they were just guys.

Last night, though, we saw Nick dealing with running into Caroline at the wedding and using Jess as a pretend girlfriend, Winston having some alpha dog issues with a ten-year-old usher, and Schmidt pursuing an old crush. It was all about the boys.

Of course, things didn't turn out quite as planned, and most of it was on Jess: she freaked out Schmidt's crush in the bathroom by brandishing a knife, and made Caroline so jealous with her flaky new girlfriend act that Caroline spent the rest of the night flirting with Nick... which is the opposite of what we want for the poor guy.

So we ended up with Winston showing his softer side, Schmidt showing some vulnerability (amid the continued douchebaggery), and Nick showing just how heartbroken he's been and how close he's becoming with Jess. We also got the guys coming to terms a bit with who Jess is, and going back on their request for her to not be herself. And we ended up with a slow-motion Chicken Dance. Adorable.

Bonus points for the guest appearance by Natasha Lyonne, who had some solid one-liners as Schmidt's perrennial wedding hook-up. Extra bonus points for Jake Johnson showing off his comedic skills by living in his photobooth.

Extra extra bonus points for "Who let the slut out of the sluthouse?"