#commjentary

I watched the finale today and ever since, I’ve basically been in a state of internalised screaming and incoherent thoughts.

Hopefully, after all this exam malarkey (pfft, qualifications aren’t that important), I’ll have some more time and finish the commjentary business that I started, and then I can get back down to the analysing. 

For now, however, these are my fangirling ‘informal’ thoughts on the finale:

THIS CANNOT BE THE LAST ONE.

I NEED MORE.

THEY KISSED?

NEED MORE KISS.

CECE’S PREGNANT WITH A PARKING SPOT CARAMEL MIRACLE.

NEED MORE PARKING SPOT CARAMEL MIRACLE.

SCHMIDTY WILL BE AN AWESOME FATHER BECAUSE HE GETS THE UNOFFICIAL MVP AWARD FOR THIS EPISODE.

NEED MORE SCHMIDTY.

WINSTON ALSO GETS A NON EXISTENT AWARD — FOR BRAVERY.

NEED MORE WINNIE.

ALY’S OFFICIALLY MOVED IN WHICH IS AWESOME.

NEED MORE ALY.

YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE WAS AWESOME? THE KISS.

NEED MORE NEW GIRL.

Yeah, I liked the episode, but it’s not like a big deal or anything. 

Thank you :) That’s exactly it! Good on paper narrative. Thank you for putting that into a way more concise and coherent phrase than my “yeah, you know, they be doing dis *insert 5 paragraphs here*”.

This motif was explored briefly in Table 34:

C: I mean, do you like Nick? 

J: Ah! Bah! Mm-hmm. Nah! Neh? Nick? No. I don’t like Nick. I like Sam, ‘cause Sam’s the kind of guy who fixes things that you didn’t even know were broken. And Nick is the type of guy who breaks things that are- he breaks things!

- Cece and Jess, Table 34

Jess’ argument for not liking Nick is that Sam, on paper, is objectively better for her. He’s put together. He’s a doctor; hell, his living is to fix things. He knows what he wants in life, and so does Jess, and therefore they are a ‘perfect fit’.

Nick is not put together. Nick is a mess. He’s the type of guy to accidentally pull apart a scarf you’re knitting while keenly observing it, and Sam is the type of guy to just compliment it. Nick is on table 34; Sam is on table 1.

“Table one‽* It’s almost like you save lives or something. Oh, wait, you do.”

- Jess to Sam, speaking unnaturally loud for Nick’s ‘benefit’, Table 34

(*That, my dudes, is an interrobang. It’s glorious)

Theoretically, Sam is better for Jess than Nick. But that’s the thing: theoretically. As it transpires, Sam ends it before this idea can be fully explored, and in his wake, Nick and Jess have a much more happy, long, fulfilling relationship than she and Sam ever did. Theory holds no bearing in relationships.

THANK YOU! :) 10/10, that’s pretty damn good. You sure you haven’t clicked on the wrong blog?

~

Easy. I have a lot of close joint seconds and thirds but my number one spot definitely goes to Elaine’s Big Day, and it probably always will be Elaine’s Big Day. And I am very okay with that.

Not only does it deliver the emotions, but it delivers the laughs. And the kiss at the end is damn near magical, what with the streetlights in the night shining, and the blurred focus on the background, laughing, and a newfound potential for the future. 

Let me tell you this: I am not a fan of big romantic speeches. I’m just not. They’re too icky for me, a person declaring their so-called all-compassing love for a person just before they leave forever, listing all the things they love about them and being all perfect and polished and charming and crap. Then the other person obviously is all, ‘Oh my god the person was right here in front of me all along and oh look they happen to be a perfect match for me’ and they share a kiss while promising never to be apart again. They have a happy ever after and buy a house with a picket fence and have two perfect kids, one boy and one girl. There ain’t ever a weed on that lawn.

…I loved that speech. I loved the hesitancy and vagueness of it. It wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t a big declaration of love; that would have been out of character. It wasn’t Jess listing why she liked Nick and how she did so, so much. 

It was a woman — who had just escaped from a dickish badger — asking for another chance at a relationship with her best friend because she thought they had something. And she didn’t know what that something was, but it was something. And you know that if Nick had said no — of course he never would have, just bear with me — she would have continued to be his best friend no matter what even if it was painful as hell.

Nick doesn’t need to form a reply. Actions speak louder than words, and from the way he just kisses her, his thoughts are clear as Day without a syllable from his mouth.

They drive off into the night, bickering, and everything seems like it really could be all alright.

~

These characters are inherently flawed. I love that, and I love how the episode/show doesn’t gloss over that and instead uses these to make them more captivating. The funny imperfections are what make me want to root for Nick and Jess, and for all the characters, in fact. They are what make these characters seem real, and therefore, in a way, they are real to us.

I’ve watched the ending so much that It’s Always You by The Vaccines has become one of my favourite songs of all time.

One thing I forgot to mention in my thoughts on The Cubicle is that when Robby leaves, it is daytime. 

Cut to Nick and Jess at night.

…But then what else are we supposed to do with our time?

They’re writers, Anon. It’s their job to think about these things. And maybe they’ve hit some lows recently, but when they go high, they really go high on weed. 

It’s very easy for us to criticise what they’re doing wrong and how they’re doing it wrong, however we aren’t the ones in their shoes. We don’t get pressure from the network about ratings and castings. We don’t get told that this scene needs to be censored to meet guidelines, we don’t get critics evaluating every plot, we don’t get the stress of coming up with funny, thoughtful dialogue. We don’t get the backlash and scrutiny that working to put a show on television brings. 

We aren’t the ones under pressure here.

And it’s all very well for us to say that we could do a better job or they don’t know how to write, but at the end of the day we’ll never truly know. The only thing we can do to make a positive influence on the writing is to support them.

So yeah, I can come up with a good plot. Can I come up with a fully-written script every week for eight months? One that meets the network and production’s standards, let alone the audience? Absolutely not. Yeah, it’s their jobs. Yeah, it’s not just one person, it’s around twenty. Yeah, this is what they are trained for.

For Anon! I’m sorry it's 2 days late. I do have a good reason, except that I don’t actually have a good reason. I hope you’ll carry on asking me stuff. It’s a delight to receive and answer.

In her relationship with Robby, Jess was always the one who is worrying about everything and picking arguments. Nick was right: she looks for reasons to doubt things when they are going well. But rather than confronting those issues head on like she and Nick always did, she and Robby either don’t acknowledge them or do and don’t do anything about it.

Even when Reagan has moved in, she still goes out of town. Distance may still be a problem in her and Nick’s relationship.

Third cousins share great-great-grandparents. That’s four generations back, people. That’s pretty distant. In some parts of the world, cousins can marry, and I’m fairly sure no laws anywhere restrict third cousins from marrying or having a relationship given remotely connected they are. Heck, in researching this, I found an article on why people should marry third cousins.*  Therefore, I did find it quite cringy how big a deal they made out of it.

Honestly, it just seems like Jess used this to sabotage the relationship. Robby asks her at the end if they’re broken up; if she had said no, I think he would have gone along with it.

Winston makes Aly laugh without trying. Nick makes Jess laugh without trying.

When Jess turns up at the dinner-turned-mosh-pit, Schmidt’s first concern is her getting dirt on the furniture, Cece immediately asks what happened, and Nick asks if she is okay.

“Of course you do,” Jess promptly responds when Nick declares his deep love for shrivelled grapes. The inflection in her voice is as if to say, “great, another reason why we’re suited to one another, except that you have a girlfriend and probably don’t have feelings for me.” (Of course he does.)

Another thing to add to the list of how the writers have been indirectly addressing the reasons why Nick and Jess broke up: - ‘Not having enough in common.’ Jess and Robby are too similar, and so are Nick and Reagan — the raisins scene at the end shows that maybe being different is a good thing. - They couldn’t live in the same room as one another. Ryan, long-distance. Jess hoped her next boyfriend would ‘live close by’. - Different ideas about the future.  Nick is actually pursuing success. Also, in Bob & Carol & Nick & Schmidt, Nick states that he wants to be a father; that’s something like a plan. He also warmed up to Schmidt’s life plan. - Different ideas about how to live life. It used to be that everyone looked down on Nick for being a bartender, and Jess would subtly try to push him to become better and more successful. Now, Nick has taken on more responsibility. He’s a part-owner of the bar, a bar manager, an aspiring author, and no one looks down on him anymore. Everyone loves his book. And Jess has come round to his way of thinking. They’re meeting in the middle.

“I wanted him to have a plan for his life and not keep his money in a box in his closet. And he wanted me to not care about those things.

[..]

I don’t think any of that stuff matters.”

- Jess Day, Landing Gear

*Apparently Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip are third cousins and they’re fine and dandy. The more you know, people.

I enjoyed this episode, despite having a part of it spoiled for me :) (Do you sense the passive aggressiveness? *cough* people not tagging spoilers *cough* )

Anyway, I liked this episode, especially in terms of character development. We’re getting to the juice now, folks. It’s being squeezed out like a baby. Adon’t want to keep you, so here goes:

Very interesting how in the dining table scenes, Nick and Reagan are not sat next to each other. Neither did the director frame them as a couple in the same shot, only in a group shot.

Jess loves Nick's book so much that she can quote the characters and make puns about them. Reagan falls asleep. She doesn't like reading fiction; Jess taught students how to write fiction.

Robby doesn't think Jess ever does anything wrong; to be fair, he doesn't see anything wrong in anyone. She hates this. Nick is the opposite. "How can I date someone realistically?" Jess ponders. "I mess stuff up all the time. Ask Nick, he knows." Jess doesn't know if she can date someone who doesn't see her flaws. This is not a problem with Nick.

Nick does not attempt to resolve or interfere in the argument between Jess and Robby. In fact, he tells them to “please, keep fighting” while he drinks himself numb in the cubicle. It’s almost as if he wants them to argue.

When Robby tells Jess he is not going to sue her, she responds “Then how can I ever trust you?” Nick and Jess had many issues, but they certainly had no trust issues. Jess completely trusted Nick, and vice versa. Neither questioned this, ever — not in their friendship or relationship, in six years.

The only isolated pairing we see inside the cubicle are Nick and Jess, in dim romantic lighting — not Nick and Reagan, or Jess and Robby. Not only are they inside the cubicle, they’re also next to one: alcohol is like a cubicle for your body.

When asked what is wrong with Jess, not only does Nick have an answer, his mind immediately goes to how she acts in a relationship; how she acted in theirs. He doesn’t state it outright but Jess understands anyway. This is a contrast to him and Reagan, who have trouble communicating and usually avoid doing so. 

When told that she looks for reasons to doubt things if they’re going good, Jess first response is to ask if this was about their relationship. Her feelings for Nick leads to her first thought being about them as a couple. This was Nick’s first thought too. They briefly discuss what went wrong in their relationship, before concluding:

N: "I don't want to fight with you." J: "Let’s not fight."

Then, they simply don't fight. They've matured from being kids, thirty-something year old kids, and they can let things go for the sake of each other’s company.

Nick and Jess conclude that they need to face the music. It plays, and it takes another 10 seconds of looks before they finally do face the music.

Again, Nick and Reagan have problems communicating. This time, however, they resolve it themselves, which is an improvement. Though you could say Jess indirectly pushed Nick to confront them.

Like Emily L. Stephens of the AV Club said, Jess and Robby’s relationship issues are only temporarily resolved — Robby will pay the bills because he’s rich and Jess will knit him their worth in scarves. They reached a compromise instead of really making Robby see her flaws, or Jess considering this as detrimental to their relationship as she was. It’s patching a roof instead of replacing it. This issue may very well come up again in the future and possibly turn out to be fatal...for the relationship, not the characters.

Is it just me who likes Reagan? I’ve never really harboured negative thoughts towards the character, but now she’s really grown on me. She questions the most simple things: “Would that mailbox be functional?”

Reagan’s taking part in a wider variety of jokes rather than the deadpan ones, and playing them more freely: see the physical comedy of standing up too quickly, or kidding about going to sleep. I like Reagan. I might just love her. I’ll miss her when she leaves, and I hope she sticks around as a friend.

Personally, I interpret that as Nick and Reagan simply ‘going through the motions’ without much feeling or affection, which doesn’t bode well for their relationship. You’re right, though.

It could also be said that Nick hasn’t made a big relationship move; it’s mainly been Reagan, moving in and changing her job for him. He did plan to fly to New Orleans, but Jess nullified that. Nick didn’t even want to show her his novel — she was reluctant to read it.

A lot of bad signs.

Again, I do agree with you on the ‘Why Nick?’ question. I think the writers could expand on that a little more. I would say this: Reagan only really began to be attracted to him from Heat Wave to Goosebumps Walkaway.

”[Nick] kisses you like a coal miner greeting his wife.”

- Reagan, Goosebumps Walkaway

And honestly, I don’t think the character herself knows.

J: Nick kind of sneaks up on you. You think he’s one thing and then-R: Yeah, Nick is great.

- Jess and Reagan, Goosebumps Walkaway

Jess says it herself: Nick catches you off guard. He showed he was thoughtful in The Decision, and he eventually shows himself to value her for more than her looks:

You’re beautiful, and you’re smart, and you’re mean, but in a hot way. And you have the mind of a electrician, which is so confusingly hot, because that is not, like, a sexy [thing].

- Nick to Reagan, Heat Wave

To answer your question, I would say it is because Nick has/had a crush on her, likes her for who she is, he’s a good guy, and he’s a good kisser. 

And also I think there’s a part of her that really likes being around his friends; Jess in particular.