The One Scene New Girl Fans Thought Was Just Too Much
The show "New Girl", which Netflix labeled "witty" and "quirky," banked on that quirkiness to connect with viewers. Zooey Deschanel helms the ship perfectly as a 30-something teacher named Jessica Day. She embodies the perfect blend of nerdy — like the fact that she knits and writes Nancy Drew fan fiction — and relatable, as her journey starts with her looking for a new place to crash after a breakup with her live-in boyfriend. Her search leads her to life in a bachelor pad with a host of interesting roommates.
First up is Nick Miller, the lovable slacker played by Jake Johnson. Schmidt, played by Max Greenfield, is the neurotic neat freak. Damon Wayans Jr's Coach is a former athlete eventually turned, well, coach, who leaves and is replaced by the naive Winston Bishop, portrayed by Lamorne Morrisby. Through all their adventures, Day and company are joined by Jessica's best friend Cece, played by Hannah Simone, who happens to be a gorgeous model. Okay, not everything is relatable.
Episodes of New Girl often push boundaries
Whether it's dealing with the horror of running into an ex and being unable to act normal, or finding out you've unknowingly been sharing a towel with a roommate, who also doesn't think towels need to be washed, "New Girl" does a great job of playing on those fears we have and ones we never knew we should have. "New Girl" has no problems pushing boundaries for a laugh, even ones born of discomfort. However, the show has occasionally crossed the line from just odd humor to storylines that were about topics that aren't usually considered funny.
One example is Jess stalking her ex, Sam, and we're not talking about the random drunken text many are guilty of, it was behavior that resulted in him obtaining a restraining order. Even worse, another episode had Winston and Coach trying to figure out how to get their attractive neighbors to sleep with them, and they each decided, respectively, on pretending to be a nice guy and lying (via IMDb). These episodes did manage to wrap up those storylines in a palatable way, but there is one scene that may have been too high on the ick factor for many fans.
The episode that was too much for fans
The scene that was too much to come back from for some viewers happened during an episode from Season 6 called "The Hike," which can also be seen on IMDb. In the episode, Jess and boyfriend Robby, played by Nelson Franklin, wind up, after the prerequisite number of snafus, waiting out a storm in a cave. They begin discussing how similar they are, and this leads to a shocking revelation neither character nor the fans are ready for. It turns out that they are actually related — a revelation that results in Jess gagging, as Robby horrifyingly reminds her that they've "done stuff."
Fans' reaction wasn't great. On Reddit, this was just a bit too much. User bri_an_h pointed out, "Most sitcoms use the same formula but I gotta say, light incest was a new one for me." Yet another user by the name of slayerette2020 put it bluntly when she said, "it's so ewww." Twitter user @edgeofsunsets wondered, "what were the new girl writers on when they said "we're gonna make jess and robby date and then reveal they're related a few episodes later" like ?????" With fans never really warming to Jess and Robby together anyway it seems like they might have been better off leaving not just this scene, but the whole relationship on the cutting room floor.