"Drinking to be cool, Nick? That's not a real thing."
— Jess
"Nerd" is the second episode of New Girl's third season.
Jess tries to impress a group of "cool" teachers at her new school. Schmidt's two-timing adventures continue when both Cece and Elizabeth show up to an office party. Winston realizes that Daisy is seeing someone else just as he's about to catsit for her.
Tropes in this episode:
- Brick Joke: The guys say early in the episode that Schmidt dislikes cats because they're obsessed with his nipples. At the end, Furguson is seen licking Schmidt's nipples while the roommates look on in horror.
- Black Comedy Animal Cruelty: Lightly. Winston has laid out a bunch of ways to kill Daisy's cat (including a rope). The intent is played as horrific, but humorous.
- Blatant Lies: Daisy pretending she isn't seeing someone else. She turned on that shower that's running, and that's definitely her size 12 shoe.
- Future Loser: It's revealed in this episode that underachieving schlubby bartender Nick was the popular kid in high school.
- In with the In Crowd: Jess's plot is lampshaded by the other characters as a grown-up version of the "nerd trying to get in with the high school cool kids" trope. In this case, she's trying to impress cool teachers by drinking a lot and sneaking into their principal's office.
- Shout-Out: In keeping with the office setting and the philandering, Schmidt's new office is "a two-thirds replica of Don Draper's office in Mad Men.”
- Two-Timer Date: Variation. Both Cece and Elizabeth arrive at Schmidt's office party, and he has to maneuver his way out of it without them realizing he's seeing both at the same time. He manages to make Elizabeth leave early with the promise of roleplay (and the lie that Cece is a caterer) and Cece believe this by thinking Elizabeth is his coworker he has to work with after dumping her.
