New Girl S2 E2 – Katie

Last updated on May 1, 2021

This podcast covers New Girl Season 2, Episode 2, Katie, which originally aired on September 25, 2012 and was written by Elizabeth Meriwether and directed by Larry Charles.

Episode Recap

Jess is still spiraling after losing her job, so Nick suggests that Jess go off the grid. She takes advantage of that when she pretends to be Katie, the date of Sam who enters their bar looking for the girl he’s been talking to online. Schmidt spends the entire episode trying to get Winston’s sister to sleep with him and Nick thinks he may have met his future self.

Episode Notes

On this episode’s Pop Culture section we reviewed:

• Jess and Nick pondered together who they aspired to be when they would watch MTV growing up. 
  • Jenny McCarthy – Jess wanted to be the actress and show host Jenny McCarthy. 
  • Kurt Loder – Nick wanted to be the music journalist Kurt Loder. 

Additional Pop Culture References such as:

• Shaq Attack – Schmidt told Winston his sister is so hot he’ll have to “Shaq Attack” her. Shaq Attack is the phrase fans used when the professional basketball player, Shaquille O’Neal, would show-off in basketball. 
• Nick mentions that Kurt Loder never went to [MTV’s] Spring Break house because he was busy interviewing Pearl Jam. 
  • MTV Spring Break House – From 1987 to the mid-2010s, MTV would host “spring break” parties, typically at houses MTV would rent, featuring numerous live performances from artists in beach towns. 
  • Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam is an American Rock Band from Seattle, Washington that furthered the alternative grunge music sound.
• The Nutty Professor – When Jess shares she wants to remain as Katie, she’s warned about the cautionary tale called The Nutty Professor. The Nutty Professor is a 1996 American slapstick science-fiction comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, who portrays a morbidly obese professor, Sherman Klump, that develops an experimental weight-loss drug and tests it upon himself, hoping to win the affection of the girl of his dreams.
• Tyra Banks – Schmidt comments there’s “a lot of money he wants to deposit into [Alisha’s] Tyra Banks.” Tyra Banks is an American television personality, model, businesswoman, producer, actress, and writer, known for hosting the TV shows America’s Next Top Model and recently, Dancing with the Stars. 
• L.A. Sparks – Winston’s sister played for the L.A. Sparks basketball team. Unlike Winston’s Latvian basketball team, the Los Angeles Sparks are a real American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California.
• Creed – Sam says he’s been to 48 Creed shows. Creed is an American rock band from Tallahassee, Florida and is often recognized as one of the prominent bands of the post-grunge movement that began in the mid-1990s. 
• When Schmidt is thinking about time traveling, he talks about having a vision of himself meeting with Kanye & Beyoncé. 
  • Kanye – Kanye West is an American rapper, record producer, fashion designer, and politician. We dive even deeper to Kanye West in Episode 3 of the podcast! 
  • Beyoncé – Beyoncé is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer from Houston, Texas. Beyoncé was also mentioned in Episode 20, Normal, when Napoli wanted his milkshakes Beyoncé colored.
• Big Momma’s House – When Winston’s Mom, Charmaine, comes in, Schmidt comments “it just became Big Momma’s House.” Big Momma’s House is a 2000 American comedy film, starring Martin Lawrence as an FBI agent who is tasked with tracking down an escaped convict by going undercover as the estranged grandmother of their former girlfriend, unaware of the bond he will form with her.
• Leg Warmers – When Nick and Schmidt pretend to be dancers, they joke about wearing Leg Warmers. Leg Warmers are coverings for the lower legs and are often used as dancewear in order to keep the leg muscles warm and prevent cramping.
• Public Enemy’s “He Got Game” – At the end of the episode when Schmidt was playing basketball with Alisha, this song played. “He Got Game” is both a song and the sixth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy. It was originally released as the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s 1998 film of the same name and was the group’s last album until 2020. 
• Cupid Match – “Cupid Match” is the online dating site Sam claims to have met Katie. While Cupid Match is not real, it’s a mix of OK Cupid and Match.

We also cover when Schmidt and Nick discuss Nick’s future self as the “Schmidtism” of the episode. Our “not” for “In the 2020s” was how Schmidt handled being around Winston’s family but our “yes in the 2020s” was the friendship between Nick and Jess and how he leapt around the loft to help her sell the lie that she was Katie. We also explore the careers of Josh Braaten, Josh Gad, and Raymond J. Barry, the guest stars of this episode.

Also in this episode were the following guest stars who we do not discuss in the podcast: Anna Maria Horsford (Charmaine, Winston’s mom), Keenyah Hill (Alisha, Winston’s sister), and David Walton (Sam, who we dive into deeper in Episode 3!)

We discussed fun facts including how at Paleyfest 2013 it was noted that Emily Deschanel, Zooey Deschanel’s sister, was originally supposed to have a cameo as Katie in this episode. We also discuss how Winston’s whistle at the restaurant matches the whistle at the end of the theme song and how Lamorne Morris recently admitted to being the whistler on Instagram. Additionally, while their names aren’t spelled the same, we commented how Katy Perry’s new music video was a spoof on the fact that she used to pretend to be Zooey when she first came to Hollywood to get into clubs. Lastly, in our spoiler section, we also mentioned a Reddit post covering Future Nick’s predictions.

While not discussed in the podcast, we noted other references in this episode including:

• Catnip – Schmidt compares himself to catnip for tough-talking African-American women when speaking to Winston about his mom. Catnip is a plant that is known for the intense attraction that most cats have towards it. It is also popular to be used in herbal teas and valued for its relaxing properties.
• Phone Booth (Book) – When Bearclaw introduces himself he says that he’s in the phone booth but he meant to say he’s in the phone book. A phone book is a listing of all residents of a certain area with the names of the owners and addresses which would allow users to search a person’s number and address. A phone booth is a cubicle with a payphone in it that allows a user to pay to use the phone.
• When Nick talks about a world where time travel exists, Schmidt lists the following women [that he would want to sleep with]:
  • Marie Antoinette – Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was married at the age of 14 to Louis-Auguste, the heir-apparent of the French throne but was very unpopular with her French subjects. She was blamed for France’s financial crisis due to her lavish spending and opposition to reforms. She was known to be a good singer and dancer in addition to being beautiful.
  • Cleopatra – Cleopatra was the last active ruler and queen of the Egyptian Ptolemaic Kingdom. She was Alexander the Great’s companion and was the seventh of her name. Her legacy survives today in ancient and modern works of art and she has become a pop culture of Egyptomania.
  • Ann-Margret – Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer. She’s won 5 Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy over her 6 decades in the industry. Initially known as the female version of Elvis Presely, she started to see success in 1961 with a charting album in 1964. In 1995, Empire ranked her 10th on the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history list.
• Off the Grid – Nick encourages Jess to go “off the grid” in this episode and this is a reference to being untraceable by normal means, such as technology.
• Old-fashioned – In this episode, Future Nick suggests that Nick make Jess an old-fashioned and say sorry for something he does in the future. This is a cocktail made with bourbon, bitters, and sugar.
• When Schmidt goes to talk to Winston about his sister he uses the following basketball references:
  • dribbling up the court – Dribbling is an action where a player uses one hand to continuously bounce a basketball without interruption. Traditionally the phrase that is used to refer to dribbling is dribbling down the court not up the court.
  • Technical foul – A technical foul is a penalty given for either unsportsmanlike conduct or other infractions, like excessive timeouts, a delay-of-game, and when there are more players on the court than there should be.
  • Illegal use of the hands – An illegal hand use in basketball is called when a player uses their hands in ways that are not part of the game such as attempting to block a shot, when an opponent drives to the hoop, or when a player puts their arms around another player.
• “knows how the sausage gets made” – When Jess is talking about how much she loves being Katie, she says that “Katie knows how the sausage gets made.” Sausage is typically made with pork, beef, veal, or poultry but can be made from any animal and can contain almost any part of the animal. This is an idiom to indicate finding out the process behind something that is typically unpleasant but at face-value appears good.

This episode got an 8/10 Rating from Kritika whose favorite character was Nick, and Kelly rated this episode a 9/10 and her favorite character was Bearclaw!

Thanks for listening and stay tuned for Episode 3!

Music: “Hotshot” by scottholmesmusic.com