I'll Say It, After 7 Years, 'New Girl' Has the Worst Sitcom Wedding of All-Time

New Girl is a millennial hit. The show re-defined sitcoms for kids who grew up on reruns of Seinfeld and Friends, lovingly expanding existing tropes for the 2010s. Nick (Jake Johnson) and Jess (Zooey Deschanel) perfectly embody this. Nick’s practical and headstrong bartender exterior houses a creative and loyal heart that grounds Jess’s affable but people-pleasing energy perfectly. His cynicism and her optimism serve as both boons and barriers in their relationship, making for a dynamic connection over the show’s seven seasons. Their millennial recession-core dynamic was a bit of a “Ross and Rachel,” and shaped the narrative for the whole show. So it’s surprising – and I’ll say it, a travesty – that Nick and Jess have possibly the worst sitcom wedding of all time.

Schmidt and Cece Proved That ‘New Girl’ Could Balance Comedy With Matrimony

While New Girl charmed audiences with its relatability, it was always comfortable with more outlandish storylines. In Season 2’s “Santa,” Jess spends an episode running into multiple glass doors trying to dodge her ex-boyfriend. In “Pepperwood,” Nick infiltrates one of Jess’s adult learning classes pretending to be a character from his book, Julius Pepperwood, because one of her students might be a stalker. Winston’s (Lamorne Morris) storylines are endlessly ridiculous – Prank Sinatra, sympathy PMS, and his arc of finding a romantic partner for his cat — and both the core friend group and supporting characters inevitably get their moment of chaos. And New Girl can do this well in the context of a wedding.

Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Cece’s (Hannah Simone) relationship ebbs and flows as an undercurrent to Nick and Jess’s. They became the show’s staple, stable couple as Season 4 came to an end. In Season 5, their wedding is featured in two episodes – “Wedding Eve” and “Landing Gear” – that span a wide range of moments. Schmidt loses the jump drive with his wedding vows saved on it, Jess calls for a game of True American in a moment of crisis, Nick and Jess ply guests with champagne to buy time and Winston’s prank fails so badly he has to wear a photo booth curtain instead of his suit, all as Schmidt is trapped on a plane.

He ends up missing his wedding due to flight delays, with Cece’s mother showing up on her own regardless. But all those hiccups are a testament to the group’s loving, found-family dynamic and Schmidt’s goof is ultimately an expression of his love for her. What’s more, the gang meets Schmidt at this moment. When he finally arrives home, everyone is in their wedding formals. They’ve turned the loft into a bright, romantic space, and Schmidt and Cece get married there. With so many memories in the loft, and the show of solidarity and devotion from the entire group, the wedding episode centers on love.

So how does the show completely botch it for Nick and Jess?

Nick and Jess Are Bullied by Their Wedding Episode on ‘New Girl’

New Girl tries – and fails – to have its wedding cake and eat it, too. The show jumps the shark in how silly it gets. Where Schmidt and Cece’s mishaps are punctuated by sincerity, Nick and Jess’s wedding is just a series of outlandish comedic beats. First, there’s the roast of Nick the night before the wedding. Schmidt and Winston insult everything from his writing skills to his sex life, even escalating to telling Jess to leave Nick while she still can. Instead of the trademark goofy, mutual bickering, it’s just the pair punching down on Nick. Nick mentions Schmidt’s plan for the rest of the night for the boys to go back to his place and do skincare. And I think any New Girl fan would’ve taken Winston’s awkward sentimentality and Schmidt’s overbearing devotion challenging Nick’s prickly facade.

Instead, Nick and Jess spend the night together. Jess’s mom, Joan (Jamie Lee Curtis), proclaims they’re cursed for this wedding faux pas when she finds them. After her curse hysteria spreads to the couple, she gives Jess some of her weed to calm down after finding a 30-day eviction notice for the loft. “High Jess” as a concept is successful in episodes like “A Chill Day In,” and Joan’s melodrama gets plenty of laughs elsewhere, but this episode pushes it too far. Jess doesn’t become more confident or silly. Instead, she struggles to recognize Cece, then eats her own wedding cake with her hands. Cake smudges her makeup and covers her dress, joining an eye patch from a shower slip-and-fall, and denying Deschanel and fans what should’ve been the ultimate Jessica Day, twee fashion moment.

Still, the wedding episode could’ve survived this. The comedic quota being met, the episode could’ve easily pivoted into a quiet moment between Nick and Jess, or their friends coming together to save the day. In lieu of that, Nick and Jess are juggling multiple over-the-top angles. Nick’s publisher is at the wedding. The show rehashes Nick’s insecurities about being a real writer, spiraling into him losing his contract for “The Pepperwood Chronicles.” And poor Jess remains the most cursed as her ex Russell (Dermot Mulroney) shows up to confess his feelings. It’s not only that far too much is going on to focus on the relationship that made New Girl an instant classic. Every element of chaos pulls from long-settled insecurities that Nick and Jess – and the show – have outgrown.

Fans Deserved a Sincere Endgame Moment on ‘New Girl’

Image via Fox

Winston’s partner, Aly (Nasim Pedrad), goes into early labor. The wedding party heads to the hospital. Nick and Jess are given a semi-sweet conversation moment, but it’s too brief and light to make up for the episode’s strange, big swings. Instead of the enchanting DIY of Schmidt and Cece’s nuptials, Nick and Jess tie the knot under hospital fluorescents. Schmidt does his best to assemble a balloon altar and line the hallway with gift shop flowers, but the episode is so rushed it never properly frames the scene. The episode steps on the emotion of the moment a final time by giving every person down the makeshift aisle a cheesy quip or visual moment, repeatedly cutting away from Nick and Jess.

Nick and Jess love each other at their messiest. That’s true. But that wasn’t anything fans needed to be reminded of. With the bittersweetness of such a tiny final season, fans needed to feel the warmth and glow of their favorites becoming endgame. Instead, one of the more layered and natural romances on television had a wedding episode too crowded to be funny, with little gravity to the relationship, and a ceremony that was aesthetically grating over narratively meaningful.

All episodes of New Girl are available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.