Jessica Day aka Jess (Zooey Deschanel) from New Girl is perhaps the sunniest protagonist to ever appear on television. The peppy, polka-dot-rocking go-getter was a fan favorite from day one and her character arc on the show was also charted in a way that was balanced and organic.
But there are some things about Jess that have baffled fans and some of her decisions and actions just do not make sense. In fact, fans have even called out the show for introducing outlandish plot devices just to keep the show running with Jess as the protagonist. New Girl did wrap up after seven successful seasons, but there are a lot of unanswered questions that need to be addressed. Here are some things about Jess that just do not make sense.
Her Career
In the beginning of the show, Jess is a teacher. She enjoys spending time with children and is happy with her job. However, she is eventually fired and in season 2, after some random part-time jobs, she takes up a job as a creative writing teacher for adults. She successfully makes a connection with the adult students, as well, but this shift is never acknowledged.
In season 4, she joins a middle school as a substitute teacher, implying that she is only interested in teaching, but she does not go back to teaching after her long stint with jury duty, which also raises a lot of questions.
Her Efforts To Reunite Her Parents
It was revealed that Jess had always wanted her divorced parents to get back together, even though she knew that they constantly fought and resented each other. In fact, she invited them for Thanksgiving in separate time slots so they wouldn’t have to see each other.
But why would Jess try so hard to reunite them? Jess tried to make her dad jealous by prompting Nick to flirt with her mom, but fans couldn’t understand why she would want to try to bring together two people whose marital dynamic actually makes Jess so anxious and uncomfortable.
Her Dual Identity Crisis
Jess is easily the most self-aware person on the show and she also often takes the moral high ground and is the better person. So it was odd when she pretended to have a completely different identity just to be with Sam.
Jess pretended to be a dancer named Katy because it made her feel better about herself and also let her be someone else without having to deal with her personal hang-ups. This is very inconsistent with Jess’s character because she’s not someone who would deceive someone just to sleep with them. What was even weirder is that she considered playing along with it for a long time.
Her Take On Cece’s Career
Jess is someone who believes in empowering other women, so fans of the show were quite shocked when it was revealed that she actually looks down on her closest friend Cece because she was a model. Granted, Jess was also dealing with some anxieties as she felt she and Cece had grown up to be two very different people, but it doesn’t make sense for her to think that Cece’s modeling career is silly.
Jess made it clear that she believed Cece was too good to be ‘just a model,’ which implied that she thinks Cece is dumb for pursuing a career in fashion and so she shamed her for it. This is very out of sync with Jess’s character.
Her ‘Mothering’ Instinct
It becomes pretty clear that Jess loves playing the mother hen, be it to her roommates, her BFF, or even her boyfriends. This is probably why she opts for men who cannot deal with the pressures of being a functional adult, like Nick or even Spencer.
Jess enjoys taking care of others, but this also makes her somewhat overbearing and takes a toll on many of her relationships since she doesn’t respect boundaries. Jess is also really self-aware and has often called out her own toxic habits, so it’s weird why she doesn’t realize that her instinct to ‘mother’ others leads to many personal disruptions.
Her Need To Fit In With Cece’s Friends
For obvious reasons, Jess, a middle school teacher, does not fit in with the model friends of her BFF Cece, but that’s not exactly a big issue considering how she never spends any time with them. But when Cece invited Jess to her birthday party, Jess tries very had to look and act like the people in Cece’s friend circle.
This is unrealistic on so many counts. It should be obvious to Jess that she and Cece have very different lives, but that doesn’t need to impact their relationship. Jess being upset over Cece’s life doesn’t make sense, especially since Jess is someone who’s usually the reasonable one.
Her Need To Fix Nick
There are many things about Nick and Jess’ relationship that baffled fans, especially how they could never seem to commit to each other. What’s even weirder is that Jess knew full well who Nick was and how he wanted to live his life.
So, her efforts to sort out his financial messes and to make him a better adult do not make sense because they didn’t exactly have a whirlwind romance. Jess had, in fact, spent a lot of time thinking about whether she really wanted to be with Nick, so her efforts to clean up his act do not make sense.
Her Sense Of Fashion
Jess’s wardrobe was something her fans have always loved because despite being critiqued, she never ditched her sunny, vibrant fashion sense. Her clothes always stood out, usually because they were the brightest in the room. She was always a snappy dresser.
But after her return, Jess’s clothing started getting safer and more generic. This was quite a disappointment to fans, as Jess was quite particular about her fashion sense and had defended it quite a few times. It made no sense when the brave dresser only wore moody, solid-colored numbers and ditched her beloved prints and polka dots altogether.
When She Ranted About Cece To The Boys
Jess and Cece have been friends since they were kids and they have worked at their relationship consistently to sustain their bond, which is also why they were such good friends.
So it doesn’t make sense that Jess would rant about Cece to her roommates who she just met a few days ago. This is also bizarrely out of character for Jess who is otherwise quite loyal, and criticizing her oldest friend in front of her new social circle is not something someone like her would do.
Her Over-Involvement In Ruth’s Life
Jess is close with Cece and Schmidt, so it makes sense that she is also very involved with their daughter, Ruth. But fans have questioned her unhealthy overbearingness when it comes to making decisions for Ruth.
Jess doesn’t really respect Schmidt and Cece’s boundaries as parents. This could be a plot device to give Jess more screen time since Schmidt and Cece became such pivotal characters, but fans have called out Jess’ over-involvement in Ruth’s life.
