New Girl S1 E20 – Normal

Last updated on February 7, 2021

This podcast covers New Girl Season 1, Episode 20, Normal, which originally aired on April 10, 2012 and was written by Luvh Rakhe and directed by Jesse Peretz.

Episode Recap

After spending a week at Russell’s, Jess invites Russell to stay overnight at the loft and encourages the guys to act “normal”. They play True American but ultimately the overnight leads to Jess and Russell’s first fight. Winston decides to leave nannying and gets a job at a radio station but finds it is not what he thought. 

Episode Notes

On this episode’s Pop Culture section we focused on:

• Spice Girls + Wannabe – When Jess was fighting with Russell at the end of the episode she quotes the song Wannabe saying, “If you want to get with me, you got to get with my friends, and that is a Spice Girls song” 
• Winklevoss’d – When Schmidt and Nick are talking through Real Apps, Schmidt mentions he doesn’t want to get Winklevoss’d and cut out of the idea. 
• Candyland – The gang all compare True American in part to the game Candyland.
• Shotgun Tip-Off – Russell starts off the game of True American with a shotgun tip-off.

Additional Pop Culture References such as:

• True American References – Throughout the game of True American, there were many references to historical figures (including Presidents like John F. Kennedy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, and Grover Cleveland). There were also a few pop culture references such as:
  • Cherry Tree – The Cherry Tree was used as a link between George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to indicate that they both were big on honesty.
  • “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself” – This is a famous quote used in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Inaugural Address.
• Darwin’s [Jungle] – Schmidt talks about how his bedroom is Darwin’s jungle where open minded people do things to each other. This is a reference to Charles Darwin and the term ‘Darwinism’ which centers around the idea of evolution happening by natural selection.
• Capture the Flag – Schmidt compares having sex with Cece to an intense game of Capture the Flag. Capture the flag is an outdoor game team-based game where the opposing team tries to grab a flag and bring it back to their own base before their flag is stolen.
• Aladdin + A Whole New World – When Russell comes over to the apartment, Nick is offering him cheese while quoting lyrics from Aladdin’s A Whole New World. The film follows Aladdin, an Arabian “street urchin”, who finds a magic lamp containing a genie; he disguises himself as a wealthy prince to impress the Sultan and his daughter, Jasmine. A Whole New World is a song they sing while Aladdin and Jasmine are exploring the town on a magic carpet ride. 
• 4:20 – When Elvin is claiming that Winston smokes pot, Elvin’s mom mentions “It’s 4:20 don’t you have to be somewhere?” 420, 4:20, or 4/20 (pronounced four-twenty) is slang for marijuana consumption and the time to smoke. The term became popular in the magazine High Times and with fans of the Grateful Dead band. 
• Harakiri’d – Schmidt had told Russell and Jess to try a specific Sushi restaurant and mentions how Russell “Hari kari’d that idea”. Harakiri, also known as Seppuku is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment (cutting of the stomach). It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor but was also practiced by other Japanese people to restore honor for themselves or for their families.
• Beyoncé – In this episode, Winston’s boss Napoli requires Winston to have 6 “Beyoncé colored” shakes ready at all times. Beyoncé is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer from Houston, Texas. 

Our “Schmidtims” this week are when Nick and Schmidt fight about “Real Apps” and Nick’s amazement about Schmidt’s alternate name for Basketball. For “Not in 2020” we discuss Russell shushing Jess and the way Winston’s nannying is dismissed as “not a real career”. We also explore the careers of Blake Garrett Rosenthal, Rizwan Manji, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the guest stars of this episode.

This episode got an 8/10 Rating from Kritika whose favorite character was Jess and Kelly rated this episode an 8.5/10 and her favorite character was Nick!

In this podcast we also talk about how to play True American and you can find a compilation of all the True American scenes throughout the series as well as rules below:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxbQaAIjpIQ 
• https://www.trueamericanrules.com/ 
• https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/how-to-play-the-true-american-drinking-game-from-new-girl 
• https://newgirl.fandom.com/wiki/The_True_American_Drinking_Game

Thanks for listening and stay tuned for Episode 21!

Music: “Hotshot” by scottholmesmusic.com