In the car, Schmidt lies to Cece and tells her that Nick is cheating on Jess with a “much older, deeply Korean” woman and pretends to be righteously angry. Cece wants to go to the restaurant to junk punch Nick, and orders a reluctant Schmidt to drive to Picca. Behind them, Jess and Nick are trying to catch up with Nick’s granny driving. Nick still thinks it’s a bad idea to get involved, and Jess accuses him of being a wimp who’s afraid of everything. “When someone I love gets hurt, I get involved,” she tells Nick as she heads into Picca to tell Cece.
Nick decides to take Jess’s words to heart by telling Schmidt he has to own up to his crimes, and then chooses to tell Cece himself to avoid putting Jess in the position of bearing bad news. Cece, true to her word, punches Nick in the junk twice (still believing he’s a love rat), but is crestfallen when Schmidt confesses about cheating on her with Elizabeth. “I didn’t want to hurt you. You have to know that,” Schmidt says sincerely, but a heartbroken Cece says good-bye to Schmidt. Offscreen, she calls Elizabeth, who later pays a visit to Schmidt by shoving pie in his face.
This experience has made Nick and Jess stronger, as they both now realize that Nick is capable of supporting Jess. Schmidt, however, blames them for ruining his plan to supposedly settle the situation without hurting anyone, and vows to break them up. The episode ends wonderfully with a terrified Nick and Jess sorting through issues Schmidt might use to break them up (Jess is afraid pears and pear shaped people, while Nick prefers Craig Kilborn as “The Daily Show” host, but they both believe horses are from outer space).
Final thoughts: as a stated non-enthusiast of Nick and Jess’s relationship, I think it’s a brilliant idea to have Schmidt attempt to sabotage their relationship, but I’m actually growing to appreciate how the writers have kept the comedic tension between Nick and Jess’s personalities intact by not overshadowing it with their coupledom. I also wonder to what extent this subplot will detract from any development of the potential bromance that needs to happen between Schmidt and Winston.
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