This podcast covers New Girl Season 2, Episode 7, Menzies, which originally aired on November 13, 2012 and was directed by Jason Woliner and written by Kim Rosenstock and Elizabeth Meriwether.
Here’s a quick recap of the episode:
Jess has her period and all the emotions along with it. She’s still between jobs and in this episode, she interviews to get a job as an Adult Education teacher. Meanwhile, Winston thinks he has sympathy PMS and Nick meets a guy on a bench who helps him process his feelings. Also in this episode, Schmidt signs a sex contract with his boss, even though Cece seems to be interested again.
We discuss Pop Culture References such as:
- “Jump Around” by House of Pain - When Jess announces she got a job, Schmidt plays this song to celebrate the return of hot water to the loft.
- To Kill a Mockingbird / Boo Radley - In Jess’ interview she mentions the adult students wanting to read To Kill a Mockingbird and the interviewer mentions her “puppy in a cup” was named “Boo” after the book’s character Boo Radley.
Additional Pop Culture References such as:
- Ken dolls - Jess mentions, in rage, that she’s going to kick the testicles off the guys so then they’ll look like Ken dolls. Ken is a fashion doll and fictional character introduced by Mattel in 1961 as the counterpart of Barbie, who was introduced two years earlier. As most dolls do, the Ken doll is nondescript with body parts.
- She-Hulks - Cece remembers Schmidt calling his co-workers “Pant-suited corporate She-Hulks”. She-Hulk is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books first in 1980 published by Marvel Comics. She-Hulk’s premise is that Jennifer Walters, a lawyer, received an emergency blood transfusion after an injury from her cousin, Bruce Banner, and acquired a milder version of his Hulk condition.
- Judy Blume - Winston’s experience of sympathy PMS was mentioned to be like a character in a Judy Blume novel. Judy Blume is an American writer of children, young adult, and adult fiction. Blume began writing in 1959 and has since published more than 25 novels. In her children’s novels, Judy Blume is known for teaching children and young adults about their bodies.
- [The Chronicles of] Narnia - Schmidt mentions he wants to wander into Emma’s “Narnia of Sexual Terror”. Narnia is a reference to the fictional realm of Narnia, a fantasy world of magic, mythical beasts and talking animals depicted in The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Originally published between 1950 and 1956, The Chronicles of Narnia have been adapted for radio, television, the stage, film and computer games.
- Visual: Maneki-Neko - When Jess was interviewing there was a waving lucky cat behind the interviewer in the office. The maneki-neko is a common Japanese figurine which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner. In modern times, they are usually made of ceramic or plastic. The figurine depicts a cat, traditionally a calico Japanese Bobtail, with a paw raised in a Japanese beckoning gesture.
We also cover the scene where Jess and Nick play out a drumroll for Schmidt as our “Schmidtism”. Our “not in the 2020s” include the way the character Emma was portrayed and acted as well as Schmidt’s slight mention of Cece having a “curry smell”. Our “yes in the 2020s” include how Nick talking with Tran was portrayed as well as seeing an episode of TV centered around periods and PMS! We also give a brief look into Carla Gugino (Emma) and Ralph Ahn (Tran), the guest stars in this episode.
Also in this episode were the following guest stars who we do not discuss in the podcast: Molly Cheek (Marion, the interviewer), Dalila Ali Rajah (the interviewer who called Jess back to Marion), Jacqueline Suzuki (the flute player), and Stone Eisenmann (Young Nick).
We also discussed Netflix’s captions around Nick leaving for the park at the beginning of the episode, what rock bottom actually means, and Jess’s swimsuit changing color.
While not discussed in the podcast, we noted other references in this episode including:
- Tinny music - While not stated in the episode, Netflix captioned the hold music when Schmidt is talking to the gas company as tinny music. Tinny music isn’t a genre of its own, however tinny music refers to music that is thin in tone.
- Compact discs - When Jess is trying to pay Schmidt for her share of the bills, she says that a library card now helps with more than books since you can also check out compact discs. Compact discs also known as CDs are a digital disc data storage format that is used to store and play audio recordings. It was later adapted to also store data and drove other format adaptations for other types of media. It was introduced in 1982 and by 2007, 200 billion CDs had been sold worldwide.
- This episode revolved around “menzies” or menstruation and PMS and the following items were either referenced or shown on screen:
- Sympathy PMS - While not exactly what Winston describes, there is a similar behavioral state called irritable male syndrome which has similar symptoms to PMS.
- Hot Water Bottle - Hot water bottles are useful when one is experiencing PMS cramps as it improves blood flow and relaxes tight muscles. This should always be wrapped in a towel for safety purposes.
- “Red devil in my belly” - The term “red devil” is sometimes used to refer to one’s menstrual cycle.
This episode got a 7.5/10 Rating from Kritika whose favorite character was Nick and Kelly rated this episode an 8/10 and her favorite character was Jess!
Thanks for listening and stay tuned for Episode 8!
Music: "Hotshot” by scottholmesmusic.com
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