Hello, fellow Roomfriends! I hope you all had a nice Super Bowl Sunday (especially all of you who are Seahawks fans—Go Hawks!), and I especially hope you all tuned in for FOX’s post-Super Bowl comedy showcase last night.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my New Girl reviewing format lately, and I decided to add a new section to my weekly list of talking points—Question of the Week. Many times this season, I’ve been left with a question about a character’s motivations or why an episode had the tone it did—or even bigger questions about where New Girl is going as a show. I hope this allows me to still keep these posts a fun, quick breakdown of each episode while voicing any pressing concerns/questions I have as they come to me. Feel free to ask your own questions, too!

Title Prince

Two-Sentence Summary The guys attempt to crash a party at Prince’s mansion after Jess and Cece get an invitation. At the party, the host himself helps Jess work through her anxieties following Nick’s unplanned, first “I love you.”

Favorite Line “Hey, guys, how are we going to transport all this cargo? Oh, great, we have Nick’s pants—we’re saved.” (Schmidt)

Episode M.V.P. “Prince” was a fun ensemble piece that introduced each of New Girl’s characters to a wide, post-Super Bowl audience by showcasing what they do best. Max Greenfield pronounced things strangely and swerved between d-bag tendencies, awkwardness, and sincerity with the dexterity only he possesses. (Schmidt in Prince’s tree was a personal favorite moment of mine.) Jake Johnson screamed like a little girl, gave audiences a taste of drunk Nick, and disarmed us all with the way he looked at Jess like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. (Seriously, Jake Johnson, you need to stop having such a perfectly expressive face. It’s not helping me set realistic standards for the male gender.) Hannah Simone was the queen of reaction shots (and ping-pong, apparently). Zooey Deschanel had some fun moment of physical comedy and got to show off her great comedic timing opposite one of music’s biggest stars (the whole pancake scene was just zany, fun TV gold). And even Prince himself was a fantastic treat for viewers—not taking himself too seriously and proving himself more than capable of holding his own with such a talented comedic cast.

But the true stars of this episode were a little duo I like to cal Fire and Ice. Lamorne Morris and Damon Wayans Jr. proved just how great they could be as a comedic duo in “Birthday,” and I hope their continued pairing off in this episode is a sign of things to come. These two actors have very complimentary comedic energies, and putting them together seems to finally have given both of these characters something both fun and productive to do on the show. From the “warm water!” unveiling of Fire and Ice to their interrupted flirting session with supermodels, these two were a dream team. If I were a first-time viewer, I would want to tune in again just to see what antics Winston and Coach would be taking part in next, because whatever it is, it’s sure to be hilarious.

Favorite Moment There’s nothing quite like watching the men of New Girl trying to one-up each other, so Nick and Schmidt’s attempt to create their own version of Fire and Ice (called Ham and Cheese) was the funniest part of one of New Girl’s funniest episodes of this season. I loved how smooth Winston and Coach made their routine look because it spoke to a sense of shared history between the characters, which is something this show does really well. I believed that they’ve danced this dance numerous times before, which was only highlighted by Schmidt and Nick’s failure to capture some of that magic for themselves. I love watching Greenfield and Johnson go head-to-head in comedic scenes because they bring such odd and wonderful things out of each other, and this was no exception. They just seem to have fun sharing scenes together—no matter how ridiculous those scenes may be (and often, the more ridiculous it is, the better it is for us watching).

Question of the Week Why did Jess have so much trouble saying “I love you” to Nick? Is it because she’s still scared of getting hurt after she was cheated on by the last guy she really loved? Is it because she’s still unsure of Nick and this relationship’s stability? (Gosh, I hope not.) Is it because Nick surprised her and she felt ambushed? Or is it simply because the episode needed some relationship drama to build up to the big “I love you” moment for Jess and include Prince in the Nick/Jess storyline?

A New Girl GIF* For My New Girl Feelings

This moment made me laugh so hard I choked, just like Winston’s date. And it was a perfect reflection of what I hope this episode was for new New Girl viewers after the Super Bowl: a slightly off-kilter, loud, but very sincere bit of fun in today’s television landscape. And yes, Winston, I love you, too (because sometimes they don’t say it back…but sometimes they do).

*I have no talent for GIF-making. Thankfully, I am highly skilled at searching Tumblr for the best GIFs. I take no credit for this beauty.