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"Normal" is the 20th episode of the first season of New Girl.

Synopsis[]

Jess nervously invites Russell to spend the weekend at the loft; Winston gets a job at a sports radio station.

Plot[]

After spending an entire week at Russell's place, Jess returns the favor by having Russell stay over at the apartment with the guys for a weekend. The weekend however does not turn out as planned. Winston gets his dream job, when he is hired to work for his favorite sports radio host (Phil Hendrie), who turns out to be a short-tempered jerk. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar makes a cameo appearance.

When Russell comes over, Jess makes the guys promise to be on their best behavior, though they all act strangely around him. Nick offers him cheese and quotes Aladin, Schmidt gets upset when Russell substitutes his favorite sushi place over Schmidt's, and Winston takes out his annoyance over his mean boss out on him. This leads to an awkward dinner, but eventually Jess suggests they play True American (a fictional drinking game presumably invented by the loftmates) and everyone agrees. Initially, Russell is a bit lost, but gets into the game after a few beers. Once the game is over, the gang sits at the kitchen table (with the exception of Schmidt and Cece, who are having sex in his bedroom) and talks. They're all very drunk (except for Jess, who appears to be more sober), which leads to Russell continually ignoring Jess' requests to go to bed. He instead stays to talk with Nick about his "Real Apps" invention, a phone case with various tools attached to it. Jess is annoyed due to the fact that she had a nice weekend planned for her and Russell and he was blowing her off.

When we wakes up, she's making his "hangover eggs", which he doesn't want. He also doesn't want to go apple picking; an activity Jess planned for the day. Jess becomes upset but masks her feelings because she doesn't want to fight with Russell like he used to with his ex-wife. The situation escalates when Nick and Schmidt try to introduce their official prototype of Real Apps to Russell, who makes them realize that it sounds too similar to "relapse", leading to a fight between the two. In the heat of the moment, Schmidt and Nick wrestle to get to Russell to give him the Real Apps prototype, but accidentally stab him in the hand with one of the tools. Jess tries to help, but— upon realizing that there's no more band-aids in the loft— tapes a napkin to his hand. Russell (who had witnessed a long series of odd issues in the loft, such as the broken garbage disposal) becomes angry and leaves. However, Jess later goes to his house to speak with him about how she's feeling. She tells him that they're going to fight, and they proceed to argue about the conflicts that arise from their different lifestyles. Ultimately, they make up, with Jess telling him that what he experienced was "her world" and essentially saying that she wasn't sorry for it, except for the incident regarding his hand.

Meanwhile, Winston leaves his job as a part-time nanny for Alvin to work for a sports radio host, Joe Napoli, but he discovers that Joe is actually a huge jerk and a terrible boss. He seeks the advice of Russell, who tells him to dip his “boys” into Joe's beloved shakes. Winston does so in a heat-of-the-moment anger, and decides to also quit his job there. However, when he goes back to tell Alvin, Alvin tells him that he can't be a nanny forever. Alvin then lies to his mother and tells her that Winston asked if he could smoke marijuana around him, thus getting Winston fired and rendering him unable to apply for any other nanny positions. Winston appreciates the gesture but realizes that he needs to get rid of the shakes in order to save his job. He is ultimately too late, but Joe finds the whole thing to be funny and even suggests they play the same prank on Kareem.

Cast[]

Main[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]


' Season 1 Season 2

Pilot · Kryptonite · Wedding · Naked · Cece Crashes · Thanksgiving · Bells · Bad in Bed · The 23rd · The Story of the 50 · Jess & Julia · The Landlord · Valentine's Day · Bully · Injured · Control · Fancyman (Part 1) · Fancyman (Part 2) · Secrets · Normal · Kids · Tomatoes · Backslide · See Ya
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