30 Best Episodes Of New Girl Ranked

An under-appreciated gem, "New Girl" is finally getting the recognition it deserves as one of the decade's best sitcom comedies — thanks in part to its appearance on Netflix. A critical darling with a loyal fan base, it boasted an incredible cast led by actress Zooey Deschanel and Nick Johnson. It also had some of the biggest recurring guest stars you could imagine, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Megan Fox, and Josh Gad.

Chronicling the life of four (and, at different points, five and six) housemates who live in a Los Angeles loft, "New Girl" saw characters grow and evolve, date and break up, get back together and fall apart again. As a romantic comedy, it hit all the right notes while being entirely unpredictable, and defied all conventions of the genre. Despite lagging ratings, it still managed to garner seven seasons and nearly 150 episodes. Wondering which ones are the best? We've got you covered, with a little help from the fans at IMDb.

Lake Bell guest stars in the first season episode "Naked" as Nick's gorgeous co-worker Amanda, who he somehow manages to get a date with. It's a landmark moment, as it's his first real date since his breakup with Caroline, but his evening is threatened when Jess walks in on Nick naked and causes a crisis in confidence. Though Jess tries to downplay the accidental encounter, her attempts to calm Nick down only make things worse.

After his date, Amanda wants to jump straight into bed — but not feeling up to being sexually vulnerable, he insists on cuddling. When he tries for a do-over, Jess is there once again ready to screw things up for him. Meanwhile, Winston goes on a disastrous interview and vows to catch up on pop culture so he can make small talk. He instead goes a little overboard watching viral YouTube videos.

Nick's endeavors to help Jess find out a student's secrets go horribly wrong in the second season episode "Pepperwood." Adult creative writing student Edgar seems misanthropic and isolated, and is conspicuously interested in murder. Worried he may be dangerous, Nick goes "undercover" in Jess' class as a not-so-convincing student from Chicago named Julius Pepperwood — who is also the central character in his latest novel, a "zombie-noir" detective story. Naturally, Nick's attempts to learn more about Edgar get him into trouble, as they follow him home and break into his house looking for evidence. 

Back at the loft, Winston has an awkward moment with CeCe. To relieve the tension, the housemates reveal that everyone has a "pogo" — a quirk that everyone mocks behind their back — so named thanks to Winston's manhood being visible through his pajamas. 

It's finally time for the much-anticipated wedding episode, with Season 7's "Curse Of The Pirate Bride." But like most sitcoms, the laughs come less from the event itself and more from the shenanigans that ensue in the lead up to Nick and Jess giving their vows. When the couple eschew the old superstition and not only see each other before the wedding day, but sleep together, it seems to seriously jinx them. Jess injures her eye, forcing her to wear a protective patch for her wedding, while Nick's deal for his first novel falls through.

Aly, meanwhile, is pregnant, and the baby seems to be coming sooner than anyone expects. And in a last ditch effort, Russell (Dermot Mulroney) turns up to profess his undying love for Jess. Caught in multiple vortexes of bad luck, it'll be a miracle if Nick and Jess ever tie the knot.

"Table 34" sees CeCe attend an Indian marriage convention to find a new partner. But when Schmidt finds out, he promptly crashes the event hoping to win her back and stop her finding a new beau. Jess attends as emotional support, while Nick shows up to support Schmidt, and Winston goes too because, heck, everyone else is going. But, beyond this, this episode is really dealing with the aftermath of a certain romantic moment — Jess wants to talk about it, but Nick wants to ignore it. 

At the event, Winston has to avoid an overzealous woman, Schmidt embarrasses himself, and — when Nick finally gets the nerve to confront the issue with Jess — it creates more problems than it solves. The episode finally sees the end of Jess and Sam too, but not before Sam gives Nick one heck of a right hook and a major blow to Nick's already weak ego.

Lisa Bonet guest stars as Brenda, a bohemian motivational teaching guru at an educators conference that Jess attends in "Teachers." There with Coach and her coworker crush Ryan, Jess can't seem to get him out of her head. Circumstances keep pushing the two into awkwardly quasi-romantic situations that Jess is desperate to avoid. At the same time, Coach is worried he won't be able to measure up as a health teacher, and is freaking out from the pressure. 

With Jess out of town, Nick, Schmidt, and Winston plan a crazy guy's weekend, but things prove much less rowdy and much weirder than anticipated when they discover that Schmidt has never learned how to do laundry. The three friends then bond over teaching each other mundane life skills like teaching Winston how to read a ruler, and Nick how to love.

The gang agrees to attend several different Christmas parties in "Santa," as it will be the last time they can hang out before they go their separate ways to visit family for the holidays. At the first party, guest star Olivia Munn is Nick's new girlfriend Angie — a strong and exciting woman whose adventurous personality intimidates him, especially when she suggests they sneak off to the bathroom to have sex.

Jess freaks out when she encounters Sam, while CeCe and Schmidt are uncomfortable about going together now that they are no longer in a relationship. At the next party, Jess bumps into Sam again. It turns out he is following her in an attempt to win her back, realizing their previous relationship was much more than the casual fling he'd thought.

"Goldmine" finds Jess dating a new man named Ian, who she's worried will be upset to learn she lives with her ex. Nick wants to help, so decides to pretend he is gay as a way of putting Ian at ease. Winston meets two new attractive women who live in the building, and decides to play the long game: Be friendly and helpful in the hopes, of getting in their good graces and romancing them somewhere down the line. 

Of course, Coach tries to convince Winston that there's a faster, easier way to get their new neighbors into bed. Before long, the two are childishly one-upping each other while the women see right through them. On the other side of the loft, Schmidt is heartbroken when CeCe decides to get breast reduction surgery, and must say a tearful farewell to his two former "best friends."

"A Chill Day In" saw Jess and CeCe mistakenly ruin the wedding gift given to them by Schmidt's mother. The pair must use the day that was supposed to be spent on CeCe's bachelorette party racing to replace it before her fiancé finds out. Unfortunately, by the time they realize what they've done and what they have to do to make it right, they're both stoned out of their minds. 

As a result, what should be a relatively simple task of purchasing a new (but expensive) breadmaker turns into a difficult and wild affair. What comes next is a the kind of zany madcap romp the best episodes of "New Girl" are known for, with Jess and CeCe somehow winding up in jail when it's all said and done.

"San Diego" would finally uncover one of the show's longest running mysteries, with Schmidt at long last revealing his real first name. Most of the episode acts as a flashback to their college years, as Nick, Schmidt, and Winston reflect on how and why Schmidt decided to forego his first name. Meanwhile, Nick is unwilling to confront Reagan over the status of their turbulent relationship, even going so far as to flee the scene and take a train to San Diego to avoid her.

Rob Reiner returns as Bob Day, Jess' father, who is giving his daughter a place to stay while she struggles to move on, admitting that it's because she is still in love with Nick. But when she finds out he and Reagan have called it quits, it leads to a heartfelt phone call between Bob and Nick.

It's Jess's birthday in the appropriately titled "Birthday," a day she normally spends the day at the movies. But when Nick asks to spend the day with her, CeCe gets worried that she may be setting herself up for disappointment, especially since it's Nick we're talking about. But the joke's on us, as CeCe confirms to Nick that Jess has no idea about the big surprise party he has planned. 

While Coach and Winston quibble over what aspect of the party they each should tackle, Nick has a new problem: He has to find a way to distract Jess all day while the gang puts the party together, and pass it off as the actual surprise. And like any good surprise party story, that won't be the only thing to go wrong.

Nick and Jess' relationship continues to evolve in "Quick Hardening Caulk," as Jess finally comes to accept how she feels about him. But things get complicated when Nick's new boss at the bar, who seems attracted to his messy, disorganized, and undisciplined nature — all of the things Jess used to find unattractive. Nick, as usual, is completely unaware of how uncomfortable his new relationship is making her, and hardly notices how turned on by him she suddenly is.

Schmidt, meanwhile, is consumed by his feelings for CeCe. Winston tries to cheer him up with a trip to an aquarium, where Schmidt falls desperately in love with a lion fish. Back at the loft, he buys his own water tank and becomes obsessed with acquiring the forbidden fish — the perfect allegory for his unrequited love.

In one of the biggest guest star appearances in sitcom history, "Prince" sees the famous rocker appear as himself in a role made possible thanks to the star's own call to producers. Far from just a walk-on role, Prince plays a vital role not just in this episode, but in the ongoing story of Jess and Nick and their will-they-won't-they relationship. It starts when Jess and CeCe get invited to a private party at Prince's home. Just as they're leaving, Nick finally works up the courage to tell Jess he loves her, and Jess can't respond in kind.

At the soiree, Nick shows up looking for answers, and finds himself alone with Jess for a private moment. But it's short-lived as none other than Prince breaks the silence and after hearing their story, gives Jess some words of wisdom. Of course an episode with a global pop megastar can't end without a rocking musical number, where he's joined on stage by Jess and the gang.

"Background Check" has Winston finally getting accepted into the Los Angeles Police Academy after an exhaustive application process. He and his housemates undergo a stringent background check, including an in-person visit to the loft from Sgt. Dorado. It's all hands on deck as the gang rushes to make sure there's nothing that could stand in the way of Winston's getting accepted to the academy, but they are all in disbelief when Jess reveals she has a bag of meth in her closet. 

Before everyone can be ready, Sgt. Dorado arrives for the background check, and Nick panics knowing he's not going to be able to lie. Stuck with a bag of meth in her bra, Jess begins a desperate bid to shed the drugs before she can be found out and ruin Winston's dream job.

In "Cooler," Nick, Schmidt, and Winston take a night out to themselves at the bar to try to pick up women, and Jess isn't invited because she's Nick's "cooler" — the one who will get in the way of finding a woman. With Jess by herself in the loft, she decides to spend her time cleaning out her closets. At the bar, Nick and Schmidt fight over a bizarre woman named Holly, who seems to be attracted to their misery.

Winston spends the evening out with a married woman named Daisy, who helps him learn how to talk to women. But it's the episode's final moment that makes it so beloved, as Nick and Jess share a completely unexpected — and uncharacteristically spontaneous — passionate kiss, in a moment fans had been waiting for since the show began.

In what was almost the series finale, but wasn't thanks to a last minute renewal, the episode "Five Stars For Breezus" tied up just about every lingering storyline from the series at the end of the show's sixth season. After six long years of indecisiveness, Jess and Nick finally get together for good, and Nick at long last receives interest from a publishing house who wants to sign him to a book deal. But what the episode does best is execute a number of emotional callbacks to the series premiere, including a reenactment of the first time Nick and Jess met.

Thankfully, "New Girl" would get a seventh and final season that would put a final bow on the series, but as the highest rated episode, "Five Stars For Breezus" proves it could have been a perfect sign-off too.