'New Girl' Review: Jess' Sister Provides A Welcome Shake Up In The Loft

In Tuesday’s episode of New Girl,”Sister”, Zooey Deschanel shows us Jess’ even more flustered side when we meet Abigail Day, Jess' zany, dark-sided, older sister. The episode begins when Jess’ mother (Jamie Lee Curtis) calls with less than exciting news: Abby (Linda Cardellini), Jess’ sister is in jail and needs to be bailed out. Jess, embarrassed of her sister, avoids letting her meet Nick (Jake M. Johnson) at all costs.

This episode brings about three or so turning points for different couples in the show. As the show often does, the episode splits up into a few different subplots for each character. Schmidt (Max Greenfield) delivers another episode filled with a half-baked scheme to resurrect his relationship with the loft after moving out by inviting Nick (to a Jewish party to be his wingman. The two play off each other well, as they have in the past, and deliver a clever back-and-forth as they scheme the night away trying to help Schmidt score the affection of his Rabbi’s daughter.

Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.) and Cece (Hannah Simone) come to a turning point of their own in this episode after being forced to couple up at a dinner, despite the awkward couple of months of not talking following their date. Wayans, who has recently returned to the cast after being absent since the pilot, is starting to warm up to the rest of the crew and finally has chemistry being with the rest of the cast, especially Cece. When he and Cece realize that their physical relationship isn’t going to take off, they decide they can actually become just friends.

Although Winston (Lamorne Morris) starts off the episode inviting everyone to dinner at his Birdie’s, he ,as he often does, becomes a background voice in the episode. I sympathize with Winston as his life seems to provide little to entertain the audience while Coach takes over more storylines.

The episode provided a new insight into Jess, exposing her as the baby of the family – the favorite daughter. Her sister’s dark, inappropriate and obnoxious personality is a refreshing shakeup to the quirky, bubbly personality of Jess. It’s clear that the two haven’t always been close, presumably since Abby has always been a problem child and Jess has been the favorite. When Abby sees that she is unwanted Jess immediately calls her mom to deal with the situation, and it is here that we witness a change in Jess. She realizes that her mother may unfairly favor her over her sister and when Jess at last goes to drop Abby off at the airport, she has a change of heart and decides to take her in.

The two sisters bond and although it is clear that Jess knows her sister’s presence will be a handful, she is ready for a challenge and ready to become closer as sisters. Upon meeting Jess’ boyfriend, Abby proclaims that she will be staying with them “a weeks, a month, six months tops.” This new addition to the loft promises to produce at least a few more episodes of looking into Jess’ family and some more entertaining exchanges between Abby and the rest of the loft.

New Girl airs on Fox on Tuesdays at 9 p.m.