New Girl S2 E9 – Eggs

Last updated on July 1, 2021

This podcast covers New Girl Season 2, Episode 9, Eggs, which originally aired on November 27, 2012 and was written by Kay Cannon and directed by Neal Brennan. 

Episode Recap

Sadie and her wife Melissa are visiting for dinner and share that they are pregnant and also that women lose 90% of their eggs by the time they hit 30. This gives Jess much anxiety while Cece is less concerned and they both take fertility tests. Meanwhile, Nick is committed to writing his novel Z is for Zombies and Schmidt learns he may need a little more in bed despite his self-proclaimed va-genius status. 

Episode Notes

On this episode’s Pop Culture section we reviewed:

•  Ernest Hemingway – Nick channels Ernest Hemingway in this episode so he can write his novel, Z is for Zombies. 

Additional Pop Culture References such as:

• Helen Mirren – Melissa mentions that her vagina is old, but gets better with age like Helen Mirren. Dame Helen Lydia Mirren DBE is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the first and only person to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting in both the US and the UK, winning a BAFTA Film Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress, a Tony Award, and an Olivier Award. In the Queen’s 2003 Birthday Honours, Mirren was appointed a Dame (DBE) for services to drama and in 2013 she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She is currently 75 years old.
• Andrew Bynum – While at Winston’s radio show, Nick says he wants to say something about Andrew Bynum’s hair. Andrew Bynum is a former American professional basketball player, who played the majority of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He is known for having many hair-dos. 
• Shazam – In a flashback, Emma says “hold on, I’m ‘shazaming’ this song”. Shazam is an application that can identify music, movies, advertising, and television shows, based on a short sample played using the microphone on the device.
• The Grapes of Wrath / 1930s Dustbowl – Jess says her uterus is like The Grapes of Wrath, inferring that it’s dry and empty. The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939, and won Steinbeck the Nobel Prize in 1962. Set during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on the Joads, a poor family of tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought and economic hardship. 
• Blair Underwood – Winston says he has Blair Underwood-like skin. Blair Erwin Underwood is an American actor known for films like Gattaca, Deep Impact, Just Cause, and Rules of Engagement.  
• When Schmidt is describing how he navigates the vagina, he mentions a few different references: 
  • [Finding] Nemo – Schmidt shares there’s a move he does called ‘Losing’ Nemo. Losing Nemo is a play on Finding Nemo which is an animated movie where a timid clownfish sets out on a journey to bring his son home after he is captured in the Great Barrier Reef and taken to Sydney.
  • Oscar – Schmidt mentions at the end of his moves he “goes on stage to collect his Oscar”. The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in the film industry. They are regarded as one of the most significant and prestigious awards in the entertainment industry.
• Downton Abbey – When Winston says Nick is not a finisher, he said that’s why Nick is only three episodes into Downton Abbey. Downton Abbey is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes.

We also cover a “Schmidtism” when Schmidt is trying to get advice from Sadie and set up an appointment with her. Our “not in the 2020s” was how the episode qualified Sadie and Melissa having a “lesbian” baby and our “yes in the 2020s” was Schmidt’s support of Nick’s constant misspelling of the word “rhythm” and the loft all listening to Winston reading Nick’s book aloud. We also give a brief look into Kay Cannon (Melissa), the Guest Star we feature in this episode. 

Also in this episode were the following guest stars who we do not discuss in the podcast: Carla Gugino (Emma – discussed in S2E7), Nelson Franklin (Robby – discussed in S2E1), and June Diane Raphael (Sadie – discussed in S1E15).

Additionally, while we are not doctors, we did take a look into whether the age 30 was when women lost most of their eggs and referenced these two articles: For Women Who Want Kids, ‘the Sooner the Better’: 90 Percent of Eggs Gone By Age 30; A Breakdown of the Fertility Timeline.  

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

• Curiosity Rover – Through the door of his bedroom, Schmidt says that the Curiosity Rover has touched down on the planet of Mars. This is a reference to the Mars rover that was designed to explore a crater on Mars through NASA. It was launched from Cape Canaveral in November 2011 and landed on August 6, 2012. The goal was to investigate Martian climate and geology and its mission was extended indefinitely. It is still operational and has been on Mars for over 8 years.
• John “Grizzly” Adams – When talking to Schmidt, Sadie refers to vaginas as a “Grizzly Adams.” John “Grizzly” Adams was a famous mountain man and grizzly bear trainer. He loved the outdoors and nature and eventually cared for and trained grizzlys for display, zoos, and circuses.
• Pommel horse – Jess mentions falling off of a pommel horse when being worried about having affected her own fertility. The pommel horse is a part of artistic gymnastics that is traditionally only used by male gymnasts. It has a metal body covered with foam rubber and leather with plastic handles, also known as pommels.
• “Arrive at the bridge, meet the troll, and then answer his riddles three” – When Schmidt is meeting with Sadie he shares the above phrase. While not specific to any one story, this is a common trope in movies and stories where there is a troll guarding a bridge that won’t let anyone past unless they pass a test, usually with 3 questions.
• Studio 54 – One of Emma’s fantasies that she explored with Schmidt on this episode was a French maid handyman with a Studio 54 busboy. Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre in Manhattan and used to be a disco nightclub. It first was an opera house and later an entertainment venue under different names until it became a radio and television studio in 1942.

This episode got an 8/10 Rating from Kritika whose favorite character was Winston and Kelly also rated this episode an 8/10 and her favorite character was Sadie!

Thanks for listening and stay tuned for Episode 10!

Music: “Hotshot” by scottholmesmusic.com