With a title like that, we go in with some decent expectations …

We start the night off with Nick, who forces himself from the drought he has suffered post-Caroline and asks the socially inept Amanda out on a date. Fresh from six months of tears, tantrums and obsessive late night phone calls to his ex, Nick has some serious anxiety about this date. This, teamed with the bizarre irony Amanda adopts every single time she speaks (yes, it does get old) – the poor guy is a mess.

You can see the paranoia set in; resulting a knee-jerk self doubt reaction about his abilities as a ‘lover.’ Nick does what every man would do in this situation – he gets his junk out and dances in front of a full length mirror in the privacy of his bedroom.

Enter – yep, your guessed it – Jess in all her ‘adorkable’ glory, who takes one look at Nick’s little man, bursts out laughing and leaves the room. I know, I know, she laughed? How could she laugh? Imagine what that’s going to do to they guy’s confidence? And thus, the plot for ‘Naked’ is set.

The rest of this episode is based around an age old ‘tit-for-tat’ premise, that Jess has to reveal herself naked to Nick, to wipe the awkwardness clean between them.

Nick spends his first date with Amanda awkwardly trying to show affection, but can’t get down to business without hearing the haunting laugh of Jess, judging his very manhood.

Amanda, who is obviously only after one thing, agrees to go on a second date with Nick. Just as they are starting to make some serious naked progress in his room, who should jump up from the floor but Jess, wrapped in a towel that conveniently falls to the floor – and they are even! Nick loses the plot, Jess mumbles something incoherent and bails – and the balance is back between the two of them.

Jess and Nick are laying some serious groundwork for a potential hook-up in later episodes – which would not be all bad – but I have the feeling the Jess is far too socially awkward, to get an relationship going with anyone until at least season three or four.

In a nice little subplot; Schmidt and Winston save us from the domestic violence that is Jess and Nick’s friendship with some laughs about the importance of pop culture in a job interview.

It’s a great ep, full of laughs and awkward pauses – and if I hadn’t seen the exact same storyline on a Friends repeat a week earlier – I’d even call it original.

Until next time –

New Girl airs on Network Ten Sunday nights at 8pm.

Emma is a twenty three old Melbournian who likes to absorb herself in film, television and literature – in lives that are much more exciting than her own.
She works in advertising, is addicted to technology and has a habit of breaking everything she touches.