REVIEW TIME!
What I loved: This season was a true bounce-back for the show, with super-strong episodes like “Landline” and “Background Check” reminding the audience why we love the show in the first place. Season 4 definitely contained some defining moments for the show and its characters as well. These include Jess’s personal growth in her time spent with Ryan, discovering what she can and cannot take in a romantic relationship as well as Schmidt and Cece dropping the act and answering the “will-they/won’t-they” question.
Speaking of Cece … Cece freakin’ Parekh! More screen time for her! Though I’ve always enjoyed Hannah Simone’s performance as Cece, she’s proved that the character is more than just Jess’s beautiful sidekick, especially in Season 4. She’s witty, strong, and multi-faceted, and I so look forward to seeing what’s in store for her in the season to come.
What (or rather who) I struggled with: Fawn Moscato.
I wasn’t a huge fan how the Fawn Moscato storyline panned out. Episodes that heavily centered on her motives and her behaviors (particularly “Par 5”) were dry, and her relationship with Schmidt verged on the unrealistic. I sometimes felt the urge to psych myself up to power through their scenes, and I definitely felt uncomfortable watching Schmidt endure her mistreatment. And that’s not a gripe with Zoe Lister-Jones’s portrayal of the fame-hungry councilwoman. I think she captured the role the way it was written well, but the writing and direction of the character was a bit lackluster. There’s not much flair you can inject into something that feels intentionally one-dimensional.
I would have loved to see the business-oriented alpha-female let down her guard during an evening in the gang’s apartment playing True American, or revealing a softer side on an overnight trip that would inevitably lead to all-in-good-fun trouble. We saw a bit of that in “Spiderhunt” and “Panty Gate,” but just barely. A deeper kind of development would have been warmly welcome. Overall, I was left feeling that there was virtually no actual chemistry, just a lot of weird dynamic, between Fawn and Schmidt.
Advertisement
