Top 10 Nick/Jess Almost Hook-Up Moments on New Girl
Top 10 Nick/Jess Almost Hook-Up Moments
It was pretty clear from the beginning that New Girl would at least flirt with the idea of bringing together cranky Nick Miller (Jake Johnson) and sweetly optimistic Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel); the fun of the show has been watching the writers approach, swerve, and turn back around for another pass before (spoiler alert for those who haven't caught up) the characters finally stumbled their way into a relationship toward the end of season two. This turn has put an end to one of New Girl's recurring tropes: Nick and Jess coming weirdly close to hooking up. Here are the ten best.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Still from THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL10. "Naked" - Season 1, Episode 4
Jess: "I saw Nick's pi-pi. And his bubbles."
Very early in the show, what might have been a more sexually charged moment later in the series is mostly played for awkwardness: Jess accidentally sees Nick naked, and laughs, causing Nick much sitcom-worthy embarrassment.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Greg Gayne/FOX9. "Cabin" - Season 2, Episode 12
Nick: "Fantasy and nightmare colliding…"
Nick and Angie (Olivia Munn) accompany Jess and Sam (David Walton) on a weekend getaway to a cabin, and absinthe consumption gives Angie the idea that the couples are swapping partners. So yeah, it gets weird -- though that weirdness opens up to a moment where Jess tells Nick that Angie doesn't deserve him. Also weird: Jess and Nick both date cast members from the defunct NBC sitcom Perfect Couples.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Patrick McElhenney/FOX8. "Chicago" - Season 2, Episode 20
Jess: "I'm going to be there. I'm going to hold your hand. And I wanted to tell you that last night, but you ran away."
A more emotional almost hook-up comes when the roommates accompany Nick back to Chicago, where he attends his father's funeral and tries to figure out a eulogy. Though it aired after their first kiss, "Chicago" finds Nick and Jess bonding like real-deal boyfriend and girlfriend, even though they aren't nearly there yet.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Clasen/FOX7. "Table 34" - Season 2, Episode 16
Jess: "I saw him this morning and he just panic moonwalked away from me."
A sort of cooldown episode following "Cooler" (more on that one later on the list), "Table 34" finds Nick and Jess picking up post-kiss -- nothing more than that, but far from meaningless, either. After Nick eventually apologizes for the kiss, the two share a hug that seems like it could slip into something else, but ultimately leaves us hanging.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Ray Mickshaw/FOX6. "Cece Crashes" - Season 1, Episode 5
Jess: "I'm not like you! I don't just jump in the potato sack, with the first potato that I meet with diabetes!"
Another early episode from the first season goes even further than "Naked" in pushing Nick and Jess together; Cece, during a temporary stay at the loft, gives Jess some ill-considered advice about how to tell whether Nick might harbor a secret attraction to her. The result isn't a hook-up, though, but rather an awkward shuffle in the aisle of a drug store, as Jess tries to figure out if Nick's feet are pointing toward her; not quite swoon-worthy.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Greg Gayne/FOX5. "Pepperwood" - Season 2, Episode 14
Nick, as his alter-ego Julius Pepperwood: "She was small in stature but not in spunk — and a super-annoying know-it-all."
Jeopardy is supposed to push tentative couples together, but while Nick revealed protective instincts by going undercover (as Julius Pepperwood, "from Chicago") in Jess's adult writing class to find out whether one of her students is a danger to her, the jeopardy they experience is just a little too zany to have Jess and Nick fall into each other's arms.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Patrick McElhenney/FOX4. "Tomatoes" - Season 1, Episode 22
Jess, to Nick: "Stop making that face at me! I hate that face!" Nick: "This is my only face! I don't have a lot of faces! If you don't like my face, Jess, then look at my ass!"
By the end of this episode, Jess's relationship with Russell (Dermont Mulroney) has fizzled out while Nick has fallen back into bed with his ex Caroline (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). At the cross-section of these make-ups and break-up comes one of the most intense and weird of Jess and Nick's sexually charged shouting matches. It starts as an argument over Nick's cowardice but somehow endgames with them shaking their butts at each other rather than just making out already.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Greg Gayne/FOX3. "The Landlord" - Season 1, Episode 12
Remy, the Landlord [to Nick]: "You get to be the underpants captain tonight." Jess: "Great choice, Remy. Nick will make a great underpants captain."
The Nick/Jess pairing is based so firmly in opposite demeanors that one of their closest calls with hooking up is based almost entirely on stubbornness: in conflict over whether their landlord is going to make a pass at Jess or not, Nick and Jess wind up on the brink of what Flight of the Concords called a "man-man-lady threesome" before backing away from the abyss of three-way sex to prove a point.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Patrick McElhenney/FOX2. "Fluffer" - Season 2, Episode 3
Jess [to Nick]: "I can't let you fluff me. I can't let you work in emotional porn! You have too much to offer."
Nick decides he's being treated as Jess's benefits-less surrogate boyfriend, and the eventual result is a long, loud, hilarious verbal throw-down between the two that seems like it could easily result in them falling into bed. That it doesn't happen makes the show seem smarter and funnier for it, even if the hook-up is (and promotion for Nick from the role of emotional fluffer) nonetheless inevitable.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Greg Gayne/FOX1. "Cooler" - Season 2, Episode 15
Jess [to Nick]: "What is the big deal? Let's just suck it up and French a little."
An episode with a titular concept that seems to complement "Fluffer" from earlier in the season, "Cooler" seems wrong for this list at first because, well, Nick and Jess do kind of hook up at the end. But before that crucial coda, they're locked in a room, half-naked, dared to kiss each other in a game of Strip True American, and stubbornly refusing. Basically, the entire final section of "Cooler" is an extended Nick/Jess almost hook-up -- before capping it all with a surprisingly romantic actual hook-up. Well-played, New Girl. Well-played.
Want to know the writers' secrets behind the romantic tension of Jess and Nick? Don't miss THE WRITERS' ROOM: NEW GIRL, Monday 8/19 at 10pm, only on Sundance Channel.
Photo Credit: Ray Mickshaw/FOX
