Has there been a better comedy with multiple long-running relationship arcs in the 21st century? We don’t think so. Elizabeth Meriwether’s 2010s series New Girl left its streaming home on Netflix after years of bringing joy to the masses, but thankfully both Peacock and Hulu now house all 146 episodes. If you need an excuse to revisit “the loft,” here are a few episodes highlighting the best moments from the entire seven-season run.
Warning: spoilers ahead.
10. “Quick Hardening Caulk” (Episode 2.19)
The will-they/won’t-they dynamic of Jess and Nick (stars Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson, respectively) was the central romantic highlight of New Girl, and while we all know how things turned out, many of the funniest moments came from their sexual tension. Director Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers) helps bring Jess’s attraction to Nick to a hilariously frustrating head (replete with double entendres galore).
9. “Clean Break” (Episode 4.22)
Nick and Jess getting together was an important, inevitable part of New Girl, but Schmidt (Max Greenfield) pining after Cece (Hannah Simone) had as much or more sentiment to long-term fans. After four seasons of more back-and-forth love confessions than almost any other TV couple, the Season 4 finale came up with a beautiful moment to make Schmidt’s proposal to Cece nearly perfect.
8. “Pepperwood” (Episode 2.14)
Nick’s zany antics on New Girl perfectly balanced his constant love for Jess; even when their relationship was not the central topic, their situations were endlessly entertaining. When Jess’s adult creative writing class appears to have a creepy stalker/killer in attendance, Nick bumbles to the rescue as Julius Pepperwood, his hilarious detective alter ego/future novel character.
7. “A Chill Day In” (Episode 5.18)
Though the lead-up to Schmidt and Cece’s wedding had its emotional ups and downs, one of the most purely enjoyable episodes this season was “A Chill Day In,” where Jess and Cece get extremely high before trying to rectify destroying an early wedding present. These hot messes always turned in the best results on New Girl.
6. “Elaine’s Big Day” (Episode 2.25)
The Season 2 finale showed up amidst the peak of dramatic tension between early relationships: Nick and Jess officially tried out being a couple, and Schmidt and Cece couldn’t stop thinking about each other, even though they were both in relationships. During Cece’s first wedding attempt, tension, miscommunication, sabotage, and over-the-top pranks enacted by Winston Bishop (Lamorne Morris) gave us one of New Girl‘s most beloved episodes.
5. “Five Stars for Beezus” (Episode 6.22)
Yes, it was inevitable. Nick and Jess finally, officially, got together for real this time. Thankfully, this moment’s inevitability still made for a heartfelt episode, with “Five Stars for Beezus” forever remaining the highest-rated New Girl episode on IMDb.
4. “Landing Gear” (Episode 5.22)
This sentimental episode, featuring Schmidt and Cece’s wedding, never lets up on humorous situations, starting with Schmidt having to attend his wedding party over the phone. “Landing Gear” also brings back Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.) as a guest, so the extended loft group is together in this episode for one of the last times.
3. “Prince” (Episode 3.14)
One thing that New Girl fans loved to keep track of was the guest stars. The show has had some good ones, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Rob Reiner, Justin Long, and even Taylor Swift and Gordon Ramsay. But one reigns above all: musician/superstar Prince playing himself in one of the funniest Nick/Jess relationship-focused episodes.
2. “Background Check” (Episode 4.06)
People love the season finales of New Girl for their dramatic moments, but in truth, the mid-season episodes are collectively more fun, the best only needing a little context to be otherwise self-contained stories like “Prince.” To revisit “Background Check,” all you need to remember is Winston getting a home visit before becoming a cop – with that, the loft gang brings all the chaos you need (specifically, an accidentally-obtained bag of meth).
1. “Cooler” (Episode 2.15)
The #1 best New Girl episode has it all: romantic tension, sex-based humor, and the loft’s signature U.S. History-based drinking game, True American. “Cooler” is the payoff we waited for, and even if it turned into them breaking up and taking many more episodes to make it work, it was all we needed to keep us watching New Girl to the end.