“What Should We Do With Winston?” seemed to be running theme of New Girl’s second season. It wasn’t Lamorne Morris’ fault; he did fantastic things with what he was given. His quest to find a condom in the episode “Parking Spot” was utterly fantastic. However Winston mostly fell to the wayside when it came to major plot arcs. Those were either given to the will-they-won’t-they ‘roomfriends’ Nick and Jess or to the one-man comedy tidal wave that is Schmidt. (I’m already jumpstarted Max Greenfield’s 2013 Emmy campaign. The Modern Family era needs to end.)

The finale, titled “Elaine’s Big Day,” seems to have found the answer: give Winston an air-horn, a CD of “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” and a badger that may or may not be rabid, and set him loose in the ducts, and the audience will be in for a 24-minute laugh-packed episode. If Morris doesn’t use this episode in his Emmy reel, he would be shooting himself in the foot.

“Elaine’s Big Day” is one of the best, if not the best, episodes of the series, and that’s due in part to the fact that most of the episode is devoted to interactions between the roommates. We got to see Schmidt, Winston, and later Nick join together to sabotage Cece’s wedding, while Jess tries to head them off at every turn. Even the guest cast hit their marks, including Taylor Swift, words I never thought I would say.

As I said before, I was laughing for a good portion of the episode, however there were a few times where New Girl forgot it was a comedy and took a more dramatic approach. When Nick and Jess were having their heart to heart in the ducts, followed by the conversation where they called it, I was shocked at how raw the emotions were. Both Jake Johnson and Zooey Deschanel did great work in these scenes.

I think “Elaine’s Big Day” was less of a season finale so much that it was a prologue for the third season. Schmidt is now locked in a love triangle between his college/current girlfriend Elizabeth, who knew him back in his “Big Guy” days, and Cece, his model ex with whom he can communicate with just one look, who was just left at the alter for Taylor Swift (let’s have her write a song about that one!) Meanwhile, after a tear-filled plea to “uncall it” and possibly one of the best kisses on television this year, Nick and Jess drove off into the night, delaying any further label on their relationship until season three kicks off. And Winston? Last we saw him, he was asking the bartender to call an ambulance because he was bleeding out due to a badger bite. Let’s hope that’s not his arc for next season.

4.5/5