“Five Stars For Beezus” grapples uncompromisingly with fear. When Schmidt corners Nick into admitting why he was reluctant to let Jess move in six years ago, Nick confesses, “Because I was afraid.” Anyone hearing Nick reminisce about his first sight of Jess would know he was in love with her, but it’s not until his prospective publisher, Merle Streep (Brian Huskey, perfectly straddling the margin between odd and unobtrusive) of Park Bench Press, suggests killing off Jessica Night that Nick realizes what he stands to lose. “Jessica Night is the whole reason Pepperwood gets out of bed every day.”

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Nick’s not afraid to make the suggested changes in his novel; he doesn’t want to make those changes because they’re “really bad.” And now he’s not afraid to make changes in his life, because those changes could be really good. As Nick reminisces about his first sight of Jess, Jess is reminiscing, too. A yellow cat bucket hat reminds her of the day her new roommates stood up for her, rescuing her possessions from Spencer. But it’s the oldies station Winston chooses for the drive to Portland that clinches it, calling back to New Girl’s pilot, and the fractured serenade they perform. And who led that serenade? Nick.

Running from the moving truck only to be stuck outside the loft without her keys, Jess unknowingly re-enacts the first time Nick set eyes on her, and the moment he first fell for her. This scene would have more resonance for the audience if it were recreating a scene we’d witnessed before—if it were bookending a scene from the pilot, or if Nick had previously mentioned it. But there’s something sweet about the idea that his first sight of Jess resides only Nick’s mind, that it’s a memory he’s lingered over from time to time for the past six years, and that only now is anyone else hearing about it, just before we watch it play out anew.

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Jess runs out of Nick’s reading too quickly to hear his follow-up to the romance question: “Pepperwood… he blew it. Sometimes you don’t another chance to fix the mistake.” But sometimes you do. In classic New Girl fashion, this reunion is stymied by missed connections and over-eagerness and comical interruptions, and in classic New Girl fashion, it all works out for the silly, sappy best. Nick’s plea to a delivery man to hurry because “I gotta tell my best friend I’m in love with her,” with Jess overhearing their friendly insult-slinging, isn’t a perfect romantic moment, but it’s a perfect Nick Miller moment.

To the thrum of Lorde’s “Green Light,” Nick and Jess run, stumble, and jump their way to each other. It’s a rom-com cliché because it’s a rom-com classic: The path to love is rarely smooth. But love is worth overcoming the obstacles. And once you reach it, those obstacles seem like nothing at all.

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Stray observations