Rewind and Repeat: Time to Ménage, New Girl “The Landlord” 

In a night filled with mixed signals, the best and most awesome has to be when Remy, the landlord, thinks Nick and Jess are inviting him to participate in a ménage à trois. First of all, I have to say how much I love Jeff Kober. It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen him on the small screen and I love that his character starts out as a scary guy who can’t be bothered and ends up as a man just looking for some love. Talk about challenging expectations. And I love Jess and Nick’s dueling ideologies. Jess always thinks everyone has the best of intentions and Nick always thinks people have the worst. And both Jess and Nick are willing to have a three way to prove that the other is wrong.

I think I’m like Jess most of the time. I like to think people have only the best intentions but I can see when a situation is going from good to bad. Sometimes it makes sense to be the skeptic like Nick because it would have kept both of them out of this sticky situation. After the guys tells Jess not to talk to the landlord about some problems with the loft, we quickly figure out there’s only supposed to be 3 people living there. The landlord seems cool with the new arrangement as long as they don’t bother him. But Jess won’t let it go. She apologizes about lying to him and asks him to fix a few things since he’s already there. Jess thinks he agrees because she asked him so nicely but Nick knows different. 

“Ok, any time a man shows a woman how to do something from behind it’s just an excuse for him to get really close and breathe on her neck. Watch any sports movie.”

When Jess doesn’t believe him, Nick goes in for the demonstration. p.s. I loved that demonstration. And I was with Nick on that (before I even knew where the night was headed).

None of the roommates want to stick around for Jess’s thank you dinner with Remy, but Nick changes his mind when he realizes it’s just going to be the two of them. I love that Nick’s so protective of Jess and I make no secret about the fact that I want them together now. Yeah, I know he’s got a girlfriend. Lizzy Caplan‘s Julia is awesome. And? 

Nick is trying to, once again, convince Jess that Remy’s only interested in having sex with her after Remy excuses himself for a bathroom break. Turns out he’s actually interested in having sex with both of them. Like Nick, I did not see that coming. In order to prove their respective points neither Jess nor Nick will back down and is each willing to dip their toe in the pool of possibilities to prove the other wrong. 

As Nick and Jess stand outside her bedroom door, arguing about how serious they are about going through with this, Nick opens the door for Jess to have another look at Remy. Is he doing warm up stretches?

“You would seriously have a threesome with that man just to get me to admit that I’m wrong?”

“Oh, I think we could a lot worse than Remy. He’s got strong arms.”

That’s it. Jess’s shoes come off and she goes into her room. Nick takes a moment to fortify himself before he can join them.

“This is happening. With this guy. This is happening right now, Jess.”

“Yeah.”

“So it’s gonna get a little more uncomfortable. We just have to keep talking to each other, alright?”

The funniest part of what happens next is Nick’s face when Remy starts massaging his shoulders. I also loved the whisper fighting and the dancing, but I probably laughed the loudest when Remy tells Nick he can be the Underpants Captain. Then Remy wants Nick and Jess to get it started. They both keep threatening each other that they will do this, but it’s not until Nick goes in for a kiss that Jess finally admits defeat.

I loved everything about this scene, especially when Winston happened upon them and wanted to know what was going on. That Remy wasn’t quite ready for a four way made me laugh even more.

New Girl airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Fox.