'New Girl' Season 1, Episode 16 Recap - 'Control'

Hey, remember back in the Thanksgiving episode when Schmidt nearly hurled when Cece stuck her hands in the food? Well that whole Schmidt OCD thing is back, and it's a good thing too, because that's too juicy a character trait to ignore.

Despite the warnings of the guys for her not to upset the "delicate ecosystem" of the house, Jess tries to get Schmidt to relax and be a little less tightly wound after an incident with a pine hutch (and a bunch of other stuff) that Jess found on the street. Her plan is to take Schmidt to the Venice Boardwalk and have him hang out with the dirty, dirty people there, and with a little coaxing from some hot hippie drum circle girls, it actually works.

The problem is, once Schmidt gets a taste of relaxing, he can't stop. He doesn't show up to work for days, and the house quickly falls into disarray because Schmidt refuses to clean (and Nick and Winston certainly aren't going to do it). Eventually, the gang stages an intervention, gets Schmidt to stop wearing his crystal necklace, and tempts him back to his Schmidt side with a pair of Calvin Klein slacks.

Meanwhile, Nick doesn't seem to have taken his vow of more responsibility from last episode very seriously, as he drunkenly loses nearly $500 to Winston in poker, and then neglects to pay him. This results in a gradually escalating argument that ends in a slap fight at the grocery store, but is just as quickly resolved.

So clearly, it isn't an episode for character development for Jess, Nick or Winston. Schmidt is the star of the show here, and even he doesn't make a huge leap forward. He does, however, come to terms with his lack of control in his relationship with Cece, which is good because he should probably keep that going as long as possible.

Notes & Quotes:

- "I have my slippiest loafers on!"

- "Why is there no girl version of you, my man? Eugh. Moving on."

- "Oh, so that's probably not a mossy cave."

- Winston's letter to Nick. Amazing.

- Slap fight in the grocery store!

- "I'll let you clean my room." "The white whale?"