NEW GIRL Recap: Catfished

I love Halloween episodes almost as much as I love made for TV sitcom games like, True American. That being said I have had just about enough of Schmidt and his breakdown so this episode of New Girl isn’t as great for me as it could have been.

Jess is throwing a Halloween party and she wants Cece to be there but because Schmidt is still mid-breakdown she isn’t sure what to do. Schmidt has progressed to sitting on the couch, yelling at the TV while eating cold cuts. I’m not sure what stage of grief that even is. Nick says he will take care of it but when he sees Schmidt mainlining mayo from the bottle he says he can’t handle it. How ridiculous is that considering what a mess Nick was after the Caroline breakup and how we, in flashbacks, saw Schmidt help handle the situation.
Later Schmidt is so bad he punches Winston’s pumpkin while he is carving it. Winston calls a secret meeting in the empty loft across the hall. He says it is time for Schmidt to get a letter from an old friend. Nick wants nothing to do with this but after some prodding tells Jess the story of Schmidt’s old friend.

When Schmidt was 7 his Dad divorced his Mom and he was having a hard time dealing with it. When Schmidt’s Mom couldn’t find any way to make Schmidt feel better she decided to write a letter to Schmidt from his favorite actor, Michael Keaton. When Schmidt got that first letter his life changed. Since that time every problem he has had Schmidt has written Michael Keaton and Keaton has responded. In fact when Schmidt went off to college his Mom told Nick about the letters and Nick took over as Keaton. Jess accuses Nick of “catfishing” Schmidt but she also wants to use this little trick to get Schmidt out of his doldrums. Nick says he won’t do it, the letters have too much power and he won’t lie to his best friend anymore. Jess doesn’t have the same problem.

Later that day Schmidt announces he won’t be crashing Jess’s party. He heard from an old friend earlier and he thinks Cece needs his space. Nick is not amused with Jess. He is worried that if Schmidt finds out Michael Keaton hasn’t been corresponding with him this whole time he will implode. His whole life has been built around a lie. Jess tries to fix it by emailing him again as Keaton, saying he is going on a vacation. Schmidt doesn’t take it well. He feels like Keaton left him.

Over in the empty loft Nick is going to fix this mess Jess made. He puts on a Batman mask that looks like it was made from garbage bags, pulls out a picture of a brown bear and drinks some whiskey. He sends an email and just like that Schmidt is hooked back in. That is until he sends his reply and hears the laptop dinging from the empty loft next door. He sneaks over and sees what the gang is up to.

That night at the party Jess is Joey Ramon-a Quimby and Nick is just wearing trash from his car, a happy birthday crown from a fast food restaurant and a beach towel as a cape. Winston is dressed as David Letterman and Schmidt is a public serpent. He is wearing a serpent body suit with a tie and a brief case. The gang is surprised to see him there and they put a plan into action, Winston goes to stall Cece while Jess and Nick start emailing from the empty loft as Keaton. Schmidt listens at the door.
Thanks to more alcohol than she should have consumed Jess sees a kid in the hallway dressed as Batman and borrows his costume. She is convinced that she can pull off being Batman. Nick reminds her she is 5’4” and has a woman voice. Jess heads outside to make her grand entrance. When Schmidt comes outside he obviously sees that Jess is not Michael Keaton. He is mad, because he thinks they hacked into Michael Keaton’s email. Shame on them. Nick can’t keep it a secret anymore though and admits he is Michael Keaton and he has been the whole time. He even tells Schmidt how his Mom came up with the idea. Just then Cece comes around the corner and Schmidt freaks out and runs into a bunch of kids who then beat him with their bags of candy.

Cece and Jess go up to the loft where Cece says seeing Schmidt is actually ok. She shouldn’t have been running away this whole time and now she feels like she has some closure.
On the sidewalk outside Schmidt and Nick are talking about all of the things Nick has helped Schmidt through over the years. Nick says he is sorry he pretended to be Keaton. Schmidt says it is okay, they are good.

The next morning Schmidt comes out of his room with a suitcase and box of his stuff. He says he is moving out. The gang says he can’t go. Schmidt heads out the door anyway and into the empty loft across the hall. They laugh off his attempt at moving out and say they will see him tomorrow.

New Girl airs Tuesday 9/8c on Fox