Last updated on September 11, 2022
This podcast covers New Girl Season 3, Episode 13, Birthday, which originally aired on January 21, 2014 and was written by Kim Rosenstock and directed by Richie Keen.
Episode Recap
It’s Jess’s birthday and Nick has gone all out to plan her a surprise birthday party but forgets to plan the day of… meanwhile Coach and Winston have a bake off of who can make the best birthday cake and Schmidt helps Cece at her new bartending job.
Episode Notes
On this episode’s Pop Culture section we reviewed:
- Boomer – The cake Winston brought home said “Happy Birthday Boomer!”
- [Instagram] – Schmidt mentioned he would pass time by double tapping some “insta-g’s”.
Additional Pop Culture References such as:
- Witness / “Be careful out among them English.” – When Rose is out with Jess at the beginning of the episode, Rose shares that her parents took her to see Witness and then they never came back; Rose then quotes a line in the movie. Witness is a 1985 American neo-noir dramatic crime thriller film starring Harrison Ford & Kelly McGillis. The film focuses on a police detective protecting an Amish woman and her young son, who becomes a target after he witnesses a brutal murder in a Philadelphia train station. The film earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Ford, and won Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
- Rudy – When Nick is working on putting together Jess’s party Schmidt shares he’s been an inspiration and that this will be their “Rudy.” Rudy is a 1993 American biographical sports film starring Sean Astin. The story is an account of the life of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, who harbored dreams of playing football at the University of Notre Dame despite significant obstacles. It was the first film that the Notre Dame administration allowed to be shot on campus since Knute Rockne, All American in 1940. Rudy was named one of the best 25 sports movies of the previous 25 years in two polls by ESPN.
This episode we discuss which one of us is most likely to guide someone through how to make a great cocktail, mess up a standard drink recipe, plan a surprise party, and get really excited about their birthday. We give an honorable mention to Schmidt’s contribution to the birthday video but cover the scene where Schmidt walks Cece through how to make an old fashioned as our “Schmidtism” this episode. For our “Not in the 2020s”, we briefly touch on Mike’s comments about Cece’s body and also the flip phone during the video Nick put together. In our “Yes in the 2020s” we discuss the lack of toxic masculinity with Winston and Coach doing a bake off and Winston standing up for himself regarding basketball. We also explore the career of Ben Falcone (Mike), the guest star of this episode and specifically mentioned an Instagram story where Ben and Melissa asked to be in Thor and a recent link of Ben and Melissa on James Corden.
Also in this episode were the following guest stars who we do not discuss in the podcast: Jamie Lee Curtis (Joan Day – Previously Discussed in S2E8), Angela Kinsey (Rose – Previously Discussed in S3E2), Jessica Chaffin (Bertie – Previously Discussed in S3E9), Josh Gad (Bearclaw – Previously Discussed in S2E2), Curtis Armstrong (Principal Foster – Previously Discussed in S2E24), June Diane Raphael (Sadie – Previously Discussed in S1E15), Steve Agee (Outside Dave – Previously Discussed in S2E17), Ralph Ahn (Tran – Previously Discussed in S2E7), Rob Reiner (Bob Day – Previously Discussed in S2E8), Cheyenne Nguyen (Jenny), and Tom Lommel (Patron).
We also touch on an editing goof on this podcast when Coach throws a bag into the kitchen and it is missing in the next shot. Additionally, we do a deep dive on the character’s birthdays and what we have seen so far in the show. This episode we did not find any new bears.
While not discussed in the podcast, we noted other references in this episode including:
- Old Fashioned Cocktail – This episode, Cece’s struggling at the bar and Schmidt teaches her how to make an Old Fashioned cocktail. This cocktail is made with whiskey, sugar, Angostura bitters, and an orange peel (or cherry) for garnish and is a cocktail made for whiskey lovers. It was developed in the 19th century and given its name in the 1880s.
- Griffith Park – When Nick is trying to distract Jess, he asks his friends if they know any time consuming and free activities in Griffith Park. Griffith Park is a large park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles and contains popular attractions like a zoo, an observatory, a history museum, and the Hollywood sign. It is much larger than Central Park in New York and the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
- When Schmidt is trying to make Cece feel better about not graduating high school, he lists the below group of people who didn’t graduate:
- Einstein – Albert Einstein was a German theoretical physicist who is best known for his theory of relativity. While he was a good student, he could not stand school as he did not like the way the teachers taught, objectively. He quit at his teacher’s suggestion at 15 and never returned.
- Bill Gates – Bill Gates is an American businessman, software developer, philanthropist, and author who co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend. While he was excused from his math class (in high school) to focus on computer programming, he dropped out from college at Harvard instead of high school.
- Anne Frank – Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank was a Jewish girl who kept a diary during World War 2, documenting her life in hiding while Germany was under Nazi persecution. She died at the age of 15 in a concentration camp.
This episode got a 9/10 rating from both Kritika and Kelly; Kritika’s favorite character was Nick and Kelly’s favorite was Schmidt.
Thanks for listening and stay tuned for Episode 14!
Music: “Hotshot” by scottholmesmusic.com
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