'New Girl' Season 2, Episode 6: 'Halloween' Recap

Nick is panicking at home, having bought new sheets that Schmidt thinks have the thread count of a paper towel. His freshman year love, Amelia, is coming to town, and he’s a wreck. He never told her how he felt about her.

Jess comes in in zombie gear. She is working a haunted house and encourages the guys to come, but Nick refuses, hating haunted houses. They decide she looks like a zombie Woody Allen.

“These brains are terrible. And such small portions.”

The next day, Jess goes to see Sam at his work to return the wallet he left at her place. She finds out he’s a pediatric doctor, and is surprised to find that he’s a caring person. That’s why he doesn’t tell ladies what he does, he tells her, encouraging her not to get all mushy as he greets a young patient.

 “I feel nothing,” Jess insists, smiling.

Winston tells Schmidt that he and Shelby agreed to dress sexy—so hopefully will want to have sex since they’re in a terrible rut.

“She’s a friend that you buy meals for,” Schmidt insists.

Amelia comes in with Nick that evening, reminding Nick of his alter ego, the guy who was in a coma and woke up thinking he invented pie. He shows her the couch he made up for her. She asks if he’s trying to impress her, and he says absolutely. They kiss.

Jess confesses to CeCe tha she is starting to like Sam as she finishes sewing Robbie’s Ninja Turtle costume. Schmidt comes in and invites them to the charity party he will be attending. CeCe isn’t sure but Robbie says forget about his friends, he’d love to hang with her friends.

Amelia and Nick sleep together. Afterwards, she tells him he should have made a move in college. He is infatuated—that is until she starts kissing him again. She is a terrible kisser.

Nick and Jess meet in the hallway and high five for being sluts. Jess admits she might like Sam. Amelia peeks her head out and Jess introduces herself. Amelia gives Nick a long and involved kiss until Jess excuses herself.

Sam comes out and says he’ll call her later. She tells him she’ll be working the last night of the haunted house. She invites him and tells him he should come wearing a costume. He says he never wears costumes, but when she pushes, he says he’ll try to make it.

“If he shows up wearing a costume, he likes me,” Jess decides. Nick scoffs at her logic.

At the Halloween carnival/party Winston shows up as a cop and accidentally harasses an actual cop. Schmidt comes in as a young Abraham Lincoln. Shelby shows up disappointingly dressed in a queen outfit covered in stuffed animals, “reigning cats and dogs.”

Schmidt sees CeCe, as an angel, and Robbie on the carousel and goes to sit on the horse behind CeCe, annoying her. Robbie points out they sort of look like they’re in a couple’s costume, as bride and groom.

Jess tells Nick that she is starting to develop feelings for Sam, and will tell him how she feels that night. Amelia giggles and fawns over Nick, but he calls it “too much.” He compares relationships to the dreaded haunted house.

“You walk in all confident and once you get in its not like you thought it would be, it’s all scary!”

Amelia proves his point by showing him the pumpkin she has carved of her, him, and their future dog.

CeCe is fed up with Schmidt. She tells him to go home and change, she knows he’s doing it intentionally to mess with her. Robbie takes Schmidt for a walk. He admits he knows that Schmidt thinks he is dumb he doesn’t care if he wants to hit on CeCe, but to know that it’s not going anywhere. Schmidt tries to headbutt him—multiple times, but Robby deters it with a quick palm. He tells him they can have a big problem and keep going like they have been, or they can be friends. One more attempt to headbutt. No, two. Three.

Sam appears, but Jess is downtrodden to see that he’s not wearing a costume, even though Nick tries to reassure her that at least he came. As he gets close, he pretends to sneeze, and in the process puts on a big red clown nose. Jess is touched, and they kiss.

In the haunted house, on-duty zombie Jess is telling Frankenstein and a mummy about her plan to talk to Sam. They encourage her to take the chance. Nick tries to chat with Sam outside. Sam is texting someone, and Nick finds out it’s a girl. He asks if Jess knows and Sam is surprised—they have been totally honest with each other, she wants a relationship even less than he does. Right?

Knowing what he must do, Nick forces himself into the haunted house to track down his friend.

CeCe finds Robbie eating a turkey leg as Schmidt enjoys a caramel apple. They have agreed to hang out more, as friends. Robbie says he knows CeCe misses him.

In the haunted house, Nick is having some issues getting past a scary clown. Nick screams like a lady.

Winston and Shelby go through the house, and Shelby has to explain her costume to the scary morgue nurse. Winston is annoyed that she didn’t dress sexy, but she thinks humor is sexy. Winston insists that no one has ever said, “Man you know what’s sexy? A woman with stuffed animals taped to her back.”

Winston tells her it’s not working out. She says she knows. The scary nurse suddenly gets the joke.

Poor Nick is still navigating the haunted house, slapping helplessly at fake monsters dropping from the ceiling. Jess in her zombie make-up leaps out at him and he instinctively punches her in the face. Her friends rush in, dragging him off, and begin to beat him up in the corner.

“This is my nightmare!” Nick shrieks in an impossibly high voice.

Outside the house, Jess nurses her face while Frankenstein disposes of Nick. “You’re the real monster!”

Sam takes Jess away, administers to her and gives her a sucker. Sam wants to go home but she makes him wait, admitting to him that she likes him, cares about him and wants to ask him out for real. She asks him out. He tells her he can’t. He wasn’t lying about what he wanted. He leaves per her request.

Amelia comes up to Nick. “Punched a girl?”

Suddenly she remembers why she didn’t date him in college. He could never seem to tell her how he felt. How does he feel about her now? Nick hedges, and she notes that he still can’t be honest. He confessed he fell in love the first time saw her, but now, it’s not what he thought.

“What’s up with the way you kiss, it’s like reverse CPR!”

Understandably, her feelings are hurt. She leaves.

Robbie and CeCe are playing carnival games. Schmidt tells them they deserve the couple’s costume. He undresses, giving Robbie his costume. Luckily he has his back-up plan underneath: Matthew McConaughey in “Magic Mike,” with shiny red short shorts and a vest. A kid hands him a cowboy hat, and he dances off, CeCe watching, while Robbie admires his thick thighs.

Winston, too, is watching his ex. Shelby accepts appreciation about her costume from strangers, but Schmidt reassures Winston he’s better off without her.

Nick, at home, holds peas on Jess’ face, while he tells her she should be with someone who really cares about her. Winston and Schmidt hold his arms, and he braces himself for his payback punch. But Jess can’t do it. He’s relieved—until she socks him.