It's been an improvement of late, but man it was bad earlier this season. I also guess I'm just a bit past the repetitive Nick/Schmidt stuff. It's kind of gotten to be overkill. Feels less genuine when it's seemingly every week now.

This show can cease Overly Stupid Nick any day now. Please. There used to be something larger at work underneath his failures. But far too often this season he's just been dumb for the sake of dumb. Jake Johnson deserves better.

Bailey blatantly ignored a DNR last week.

Different way of looking at it. I guess I'd have to rewatch the scene with Meredith and feel out his vibe.

Jess producing the stick from behind he back was a wonderful sight gag.

Reagan was so invisible and left zero impression. Can't remember one thing she said or did. Fawn was a one trick pony but she did it quite well.

Well, I hope they got it out of their system with Jess all at once. Deschanel can be so great when the character is presented with even the slightest bit of depth. This story just wasn't very good, and the rest of the episode wasn't strong enough to make up for it. Right there with Wig as the worst of the season.

Also, it's so nice that I actually want to watch the episodes more than once again. Something was lost some way through S4, and I started hitting delete on the DVR immediately after watching. The last few episodes I've revisited 2-3 times each, and they actually merit multiple viewings again. So, so nice.

Nick and Cece was a joke that ran a little too long, but luckily Winston popped in to freshen it up a bit.

Yeah, there is certainly more direction with her. Gives the writers focus or something. The humor got too broad and the characters were too cartoonish. Nick especially has been back to form lately.

Man, it's a good thing they keep Schmidt and Cece in the background more often than not. Cece especially has gotten so saccharine around him that's it's quite off putting. She used to have an edge that put the supposedly "edgy" Reagan to shame. Let her mix it up with Winston and Jess more.

It wasn't awful, but the B story was as thin as they come. Basically a single joke. Winston gave it a bit of a jolt, but the episode as a whole was oddly paced.

They are distracting now that she wears them in seemingly every scene.

Agreed.

I like the writer here acknowledging that this was a Cece/Winston episode. The two most overlooked (at least in plot) characters the series has. Jess seems to give the show focus, but that doesn't mean the other characters can't shine. In fact, it should help it. Glad to have her back.

Deschanel is only like 4 months post baby here, right? I sort of forgot the whole reason she was gone.

Just figured that was Reagan's rental. But the genuine point? Yeah looks like Toyota is ponying up for some product placement. Personally, I miss the Volvo.

She wasn't outright bad, but there was something too soft or weak about her delivery at times. For such a supposed badass, she had very little bite. (Compare to Cece in the pilot, whose delivery of "Please put your shirt back on. Please don't make me laugh at you," was deadpan perfection). She fared much better at…

Fox doesn't add a whole lot, but she's not offensively bad. Some of her line readings are a bit off, but not too distracting.

He's largely gone from the "stunted but not without reason" soul of the show to a dancing monkey that isn't really good at anything until the writers occasionally "presto" him up a law degree or ownership of a bar.